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Superman Returns: Library Edition
Following a mysterious absence of several years, the Man of Steel comes back to Earth in the epic action-adventure Superman Returns, a soaring new chapter in the saga of one of the world’s most beloved superheroes.
While an old enemy plots to render him powerless once and for all, Superman faces the heartbreaking realization that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, has moved on with her life. Or has she? Superman’s bittersweet return challenges him to bridge the distance between them while finding a place in a society that has learned to live without him. In an attempt to protect the world he loves from cataclysmic destruction, Superman embarks on an epic journey of redemption that takes him from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space.
Audio Cassette
First published June 1, 2006
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About the author
Marv Wolfman
2,304 books304 followersMarvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 13, 2013
When I started reading this book,I never watched Superman Returns,a film which this novel is based upon (novelization of the film). So,I can't compare between the two; which version is the best. However,I must say that reading the novel is entertaining experience for me.
Plot and storyline of the novel is simple and not complex. Pretty straightforward,indeed. The English used is also quite simple and not perplexing,especially for international readers who mastered only intermediate level of English. I'm not a big fan of Superman. But,it's a very interesting read. If you're a fan of Superman,don't miss out to read this novel and put it on your shelf to add up as another reading material of Superman.
Plot and storyline of the novel is simple and not complex. Pretty straightforward,indeed. The English used is also quite simple and not perplexing,especially for international readers who mastered only intermediate level of English. I'm not a big fan of Superman. But,it's a very interesting read. If you're a fan of Superman,don't miss out to read this novel and put it on your shelf to add up as another reading material of Superman.
July 12, 2007
Superman is my favorite superhero so I waited with great anticipation for the movie to be released. Unfortunately, with a little baby in tow, I didn't have the time to make it to the theaters. As a compromise I picked up the book instead.
There's really nothing to be said in terms of the quality of writing for these sort of books. They read like screenplays. And as for the story, Superman having a child? Ugh. That goes against the whole cannon of Superman.
Skip the book if you saw the movie. And if you haven't seen the movie yet, skip it too.
There's really nothing to be said in terms of the quality of writing for these sort of books. They read like screenplays. And as for the story, Superman having a child? Ugh. That goes against the whole cannon of Superman.
Skip the book if you saw the movie. And if you haven't seen the movie yet, skip it too.
January 3, 2012
Pretty good as far as graphic novel adaptations of movies go.
December 1, 2011
You'd think the greatest superhero of all time already has it all. Save for the rarer than rare kryptonite, the man of steel is invulnerable, independent, and self-assured. So what more can he ask for?
This book candidly shows the human side of Superman, the longing for affection and understanding that can only be found effectively in someone who is like him. But, there's just no one else like him. At all. Never will be. A lifetime of being alone is a bleak prospect. For how can success and failure be what they are if there is no one to share them with? When your isolation is heightened by people who all belong to families that surround you? This story exhausts the scenario of what the world gets out of Superman, and there is pitifully meager that the world gives him in return. Pity is the last emotion I would have felt for Superman, but there it is.
Thankfully, the ending, like in the movie, provides the hope that could brighten the darkest hour, and lift the heaviest heart. Of course he had a son! Yes! In that final moment of realization, I can almost feel Superman's world shift: the stormy skies dramatically clearing to make way for the silver lining beyond, complete with trumpets blaring in the background to herald the good news. Wow! I am now heavily anticipating what his son will be capable of. A contemporary Superboy movie or book for Y.A., please?
March 11, 2010
Well...what can I say. It's a book that was written after a movie. So it wasn't awesome...especially since the author changed some of the parts from the movie. I liked it, but I'm glad that I only paid $1 for it at the dollar store. :) The thing that made it readable for me was the thinking. I love to know what actors are thinking - books like this just add to the performance and help me to get to know the characters better. I do like the ending to the movie better than the book however. But whatever...I'm done reading it now and will move on.
September 26, 2015
As novelization of movies go, this one was fairly good. There were some revelations that weren't evident to me when watching the movie - mostly about the Krypton tie-in.
Scott Brick is a popular narrator with Audible customers, bad he delivers in his reading of the novel.
It was a fun read, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good time with a book.
Scott Brick is a popular narrator with Audible customers, bad he delivers in his reading of the novel.
It was a fun read, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good time with a book.
April 7, 2013
It was good and helped fill in some stuff
April 5, 2024
I wasn't vibing with this from the start but I really lost it at "he slipped his glasses into his CAPE POCKET."
His cape pocket?!? REALLY??? 😂😂😂
Look, I liked this movie. It's not great, it's got problems, but I liked it (Brandon Routh is absolutely aces 👌). Being this was the novel of the movie, I did actually expect it would be better, and it was... definitely way worse, tbh.
It was so shallow and emotionless, or the emotions were dead flat. For some reason the story starts with Clark/Kal-El literally in his mother's womb, which was very weird and felt super out of place, and then it felt like it spends waaay too long in like, prologue mode, talking about Kal-El on his journey and remembering womb memories and memories as a baby (I guess because he's an alien he can do this? ....sure) but also not actually sharing interesting lore? Just really slow, strange, repetitive, and pretty much entirely unnecessary. Also, the general writing style was frustrating to read as it flipped around from character to character wheneverit was convenient (I guess it was technically omniscient except when it wasn't in the next sentence or at random??)
Luthor came off just ranting and pointless, and considering he had so much "air time" in this book, it should've felt like his scenes meant something instead of just monologuing filler, but... It was almost like the worst parts of the movie, on the whole, got amplified while the best parts of the movie were downplayed, when of course it should've been the opposite.
Despite all this, I didn't *completely* hate it, it wasn't total trash, so hence the 2 stars from me. 😂 There *were* decent moments, decent story bits, a few things that were some nice additions to the movie, some cute Clark moments.
It was a book, I read it, it was utterly mediocre at best, and here we are. 🤷♀️
(I ended up watching the movie again after finishing reading, and ya, it's still not great, but I still like it, and it's better than the book.🤷♀️ I said what I said. 😂)
His cape pocket?!? REALLY??? 😂😂😂
Look, I liked this movie. It's not great, it's got problems, but I liked it (Brandon Routh is absolutely aces 👌). Being this was the novel of the movie, I did actually expect it would be better, and it was... definitely way worse, tbh.
It was so shallow and emotionless, or the emotions were dead flat. For some reason the story starts with Clark/Kal-El literally in his mother's womb, which was very weird and felt super out of place, and then it felt like it spends waaay too long in like, prologue mode, talking about Kal-El on his journey and remembering womb memories and memories as a baby (I guess because he's an alien he can do this? ....sure) but also not actually sharing interesting lore? Just really slow, strange, repetitive, and pretty much entirely unnecessary. Also, the general writing style was frustrating to read as it flipped around from character to character wheneverit was convenient (I guess it was technically omniscient except when it wasn't in the next sentence or at random??)
Luthor came off just ranting and pointless, and considering he had so much "air time" in this book, it should've felt like his scenes meant something instead of just monologuing filler, but... It was almost like the worst parts of the movie, on the whole, got amplified while the best parts of the movie were downplayed, when of course it should've been the opposite.
Despite all this, I didn't *completely* hate it, it wasn't total trash, so hence the 2 stars from me. 😂 There *were* decent moments, decent story bits, a few things that were some nice additions to the movie, some cute Clark moments.
It was a book, I read it, it was utterly mediocre at best, and here we are. 🤷♀️
(I ended up watching the movie again after finishing reading, and ya, it's still not great, but I still like it, and it's better than the book.🤷♀️ I said what I said. 😂)
January 13, 2018
I enjoyed this book it was similar to the movie but the arthour took out a very important part in my opinion.
SPOILERS (if you havnt seen the movie)
This book cut out the fact that the kid was SuperMans Son. I guess I know why they did it but still I really enjoyed the movie for that fact and it was taken out in the book.
SPOILERS (if you havnt seen the movie)
This book cut out the fact that the kid was SuperMans Son. I guess I know why they did it but still I really enjoyed the movie for that fact and it was taken out in the book.
March 29, 2025
Provided a lot more details than the movie and tied up some loose ends, but not a fan of how seperate superman was from Lois lane. The story explores the emotional turmoil of superman and Lois, but then drops it just as it gets interesting. Might not be the author’s fault though, since the book is based on the movie.
February 11, 2018
Apparently many people didn't like the movie that Wolfman's novel is based on. But I did. And I thoroughly enjoyed the novelisation, which fleshed out some scenes from the movie and gave us an idea of what the main characters were thinking. Fun read.
January 31, 2020
I love Superman in all his forms, but Superman Returns (the movie) is one of my least favorites. This book is a bit better, more detail and a good narration, but still felt as unfocused and (sometimes) as un-Superman-like as the movie. I'm sorry, I really wanted to like it more.
January 31, 2025
Not spectacular, but I love the movie and I love novelizations, so this was a slam dunk for me. Added a lot to the movie that I was always missing - Clark actually looking for Krypton and what happens with the giant island he throws into space at the end. They should have kept both in the movie!
August 8, 2025
The best of the superhero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2019
The book is better than the movie. Long prolog on recapping the superman origin story. More emotional and strangely less focus on superman's son.
January 21, 2022
Superman returns to save Lois, her son and husband. Lots of flying.
November 8, 2024
I love the movie and I’m glad I read this because it gave more insights into the characters. Particularly Superman.
August 1, 2022
Reads a whole lot better than I remembered. Not a bad novelization but only slightly better than the movie it's based on.
Considered to be the impossible becoming possible, Bryan Singer had brought Superman back to the big screen for the first time in nineteen years. For that simple fact alone the film's premise is based on Superman being gone for so long in a sort of art imitates life. On the surface, it wasn't a good idea, but DC signed off on it and put millions behind it.
The movie did okay but it wasn't the box office smash that they wanted. Still, it was good all things considered. This novel in many ways is loads better than the movie. Written by comic book scribe Marv Wolfman, who had written Superman stories in the 1980s and 1990s, this turned out to be a splendid read. Wolfman does a better job of telling the story than Bryan Singer. I especially like what is plenty of deleted scenes adapted into this story from the discovery of the remnants of Krypton, Clark's return to Smallville and the flashbacks that accompany it. As well as scenes in Metropolis that have been shown in special edition photos and Blu-ray/DVD special features. As well as a couple of backstories from Richard Donner's original movie and Wolfman's imagination.
I especially love how Wolfman didn't adopt Singer's surprise concerning Lois' son, which I think was a bad idea on Singer's part.
Still, compared to the more successful Dark Knight Trilogy by Christopher Nolan, this story wasn't as great. It's a good read for those that enjoy the Richard Donner style that Bryan Singer wanted to bring back and for those who feel Zack Snyder didn't understand Superman as well as Bryan Singer does in this story.
Good in its way. B-
Considered to be the impossible becoming possible, Bryan Singer had brought Superman back to the big screen for the first time in nineteen years. For that simple fact alone the film's premise is based on Superman being gone for so long in a sort of art imitates life. On the surface, it wasn't a good idea, but DC signed off on it and put millions behind it.
The movie did okay but it wasn't the box office smash that they wanted. Still, it was good all things considered. This novel in many ways is loads better than the movie. Written by comic book scribe Marv Wolfman, who had written Superman stories in the 1980s and 1990s, this turned out to be a splendid read. Wolfman does a better job of telling the story than Bryan Singer. I especially like what is plenty of deleted scenes adapted into this story from the discovery of the remnants of Krypton, Clark's return to Smallville and the flashbacks that accompany it. As well as scenes in Metropolis that have been shown in special edition photos and Blu-ray/DVD special features. As well as a couple of backstories from Richard Donner's original movie and Wolfman's imagination.
I especially love how Wolfman didn't adopt Singer's surprise concerning Lois' son, which I think was a bad idea on Singer's part.
Still, compared to the more successful Dark Knight Trilogy by Christopher Nolan, this story wasn't as great. It's a good read for those that enjoy the Richard Donner style that Bryan Singer wanted to bring back and for those who feel Zack Snyder didn't understand Superman as well as Bryan Singer does in this story.
Good in its way. B-
August 6, 2014
I saw this book at the library and thought, " I like Superman. Surely I will like a Superman book. Right?" Hm... this book has Superman's name on it but maybe a total of 5% of it he is actually doing "Superman things".
Things I liked :::
- The few Superman moments that there were were good.
Things I didn't like :::
- The whole thing read as a melodrama. Lois Lane having a kid (a wimpy one at that), her being married to someone else. Blah blah blah.
- Some of the characters were so flat and annoying I thought the book could have lived on with out them. This list in no specific order is: Kitty, Jason, all of Lex's cronies.
- The book was long and the pay off was pretty pathetic.
In the end, if I had not been listening to this book on tape in the car on my way to work there is NO WAY I would have finished this book.
Things I liked :::
- The few Superman moments that there were were good.
Things I didn't like :::
- The whole thing read as a melodrama. Lois Lane having a kid (a wimpy one at that), her being married to someone else. Blah blah blah.
- Some of the characters were so flat and annoying I thought the book could have lived on with out them. This list in no specific order is: Kitty, Jason, all of Lex's cronies.
- The book was long and the pay off was pretty pathetic.
In the end, if I had not been listening to this book on tape in the car on my way to work there is NO WAY I would have finished this book.
September 4, 2012
I think this book was better than the movie. While many did not like the movie, I actually did. So I was pleased that book was even better. There were some parts of the movie I did not like though and I found that with the parts of the movie I did not like, the book got right. I don't know that I would recommend this book to a lot of people, but I do recommend it to Superman fans.
The book goes into greater detail and features a lot that the movie does not. Specifically Superman's journey to Krypton. There are not many books out there about Superman, so this really is worth a read for those who want to read and see more on the Man of Steel.
The book goes into greater detail and features a lot that the movie does not. Specifically Superman's journey to Krypton. There are not many books out there about Superman, so this really is worth a read for those who want to read and see more on the Man of Steel.
September 2, 2010
Although I liked the movie, THIS is how it should have been released. Just the novel. Loved it! Having read it before seeing the movie is probably the reason I liked the movie in the first place. Took some of the wind out of the "WTF?" sails in the movie.
August 13, 2016
I liked it. I saw the movie first. I was not too fond of the movie. The book gave some background to the movie that linked the movie to the original movies with Christopher Reeve. I also liked that it gave some side stories that explained some of the missed details from the movie.
September 1, 2016
It was a fun book, and I didn't even know what was going to happen as I had only watched parts of the movie. But still i recommend it. The ending was nice but I needed to see more (this always happens with every book I read lol)
August 27, 2007
Not good.
October 21, 2009
so far i like the book alot of good thigs r happening his finding out how he is
June 16, 2011
Above average novelization of a mediocre movie. The author did the best he could with a story that sucks.
September 25, 2012
Leave the super and focus on the man. That's superman returns for you. Humane in touch. Lex Luthor steals the show as usual.
January 9, 2013
Much better than the movie
October 11, 2015
Nothing more than an expanded script of the movie. The movie bombed at the box office for a reason: terrible script and storyline. The novel is no different.
June 30, 2016
Read this to see how he mentioned himself, Clark? Superman? or by his home planet name. Ok read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews