Superman at Fifty!: The Persistence FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
This quirky but delightful chronicle is decidedly chauvinistic: while it grudgingly concedes that Superman was born on the planet Krypton and not in Cleveland, it nonetheless suggests that everything else connected with the Man of Steel bears some relation to Ohio's largest city. The creators of the original comic strip, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, were native sons, and almost every contributor to this collection is either a native or a resident. The essays gathered by Dooley, of the Cleveland Foundation, and Engle, who teaches at Cleveland State University, cover the Superman comics, radio, TV shows and feature movies, and include ``serious'' articles like ``What Makes Superman So Darned American'' and campy discussions of how the indestructible hero might have voted in various elections or what his astrological sign is. The book is captivating and should sell briskly on Krypton and in Cleveland. Illustrations. (November)
Library Journal
These essaysa tribute to Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shusterare a strange brew of sociology, psychology, politics, and general interest. Superman gets uneven, often heavy-handed treatment in pieces on the sexual ramifications of flight or the science of leaping tall buildings (by a physics professor). Clever, well-written appraisals come from Dennis O'Neil and O. Henry Award winner Lee K. Abbott. Popular culturists, history buffs, and comics fans will want this; others wouldn't write home to Krypton about it. Jo Cates, Poynter Inst. for Media Studies Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
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