Candid images from the set of Jeremy’s school from Superman IV: The Quest For Peace – In reality the Woughton Campus of the Sir Frank Markham Comprehensive School in Milton Keynes, UK, Circa 1986. Note veteran make-up artist Stuart Freeborn attending to Reeve’s sideburns – Freeborn was the Make-Up Supervisor on all four pictures;
From Starlog Magazine #119; “It takes about an hour and a half to make Chris up as Superman, and about thirty minutes to do his Clark Kent makeup. Chris’ face is just about the same as it was ten years ago – I know makeup men are supposed to say that anyway, but in this case, its really true…”
Presenting the final chapter serialising the hit movie of 1978 published in its entirety for the first time anywhere on the ‘net! (scroll through previous posts for the rest).
And coming soon, the first few parts of the BRAVO Superman life-size collage!
Once DC comics sold the rights to adapt Superman for the Silver Screen to European producer Alexander Salkind, among the mess of litigation that took almost thirty years to unravel was the ownership of the story.
Mario Puzo was credited as the writer of both Superman: The Movie and Superman II yet little of his work beyond concept and structure made the final cut. This is one theory as to why there was never a comic-book adaptation of the first two Superman Movies, The other is nobody at DC had thought of it yet.
Over the next decade the situation was rectified and adaptations of Superman’s III and IV took their rightful place on newsstands along with every major DC property to follow. Fans have longed for the set to be complete for decades along with Puzo’s original colossal volume. During the wait some visionary DC Writers and artists have taken it upon themselves to envision an origin story using the theme and tone of the movies as a major influence. The best of these is John Byrne’sMan Of Steelmini-series from 1986 and the bang-up-to-date Superman: Secret Origin series by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank.
From the top; French Superman No: 136 (Circa 1979 – Although the perfect cover for an adaptation sadly houses nothing more than a reprint of two silver-age adventures) Superman III Movie Special, Superman III 7Up Promotion Cover variant and Superman IV; The Quest For Peace Movie Special…
Easily the most recognisable and iconic prop from the movie series – Star Wars designer John Barry’s conception that Krypton was a world forged from Crystalline would also be utilised as the basis of their technology.
A staple of the comic mythos today, the knowledge crystals (now named Sunstone Crystals) and the use of symbols to denote Kryptonian clans were nonetheless elements introduced by the movies.
Replicas of Jor-El’s gift to his son have been prevalent for some years in the form of resin castings. These, while adequate, are traditionally not based upon actual props but a generic close-enough design and often identifiable by rough and/or bubble-filled casting. The replica above has been cast in a very limited run in REAL crystal and is a direct copy of the prop used by Christopher Reeve in his scenes from Superman II…
