Le Jeu…

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Concluding the month of rare collectibles from France on SUPERMANIA is this fantastic boardgame released by Miro in 1979, one of three different formats to be marketed across Europe (the others being Greece and Italy).

Featuring great box and interior art (despite the lid image being flipped, top pic) this game for two to four players typically contains board, (third pic,) dice, instruction sheet and an assortment of Superman counters plus one Lex Luthor counter.

Interestingly, despite Superman: The Movie’s global appeal, the only territories not to produce similar games were the US and UK, something that would be later rectified with popular games produced for Superman II & III…

 

Le FIlm Pt.2…

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Resuming the posts dedicated to collectibles originating in France, these two fantastic jigsaws are a recent acquisition and are both complete and in splendid condition for their age.

Though numerous jigsaw puzzles were released in conjunction with Superman: The Movie stateside and elsewhere in Europe, this pair of 150-piece iconic poses were unique to French makers Capiepa although many found their way to UK shores.

More often than not found in dilapidated boxes and inevitably with pieces missing, these are surely among the best surviving examples and are now an essential addition to the SUPERMANIA archive…

 

Not a Man…

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We interrupt our scheduled posts in the wake of the brand new viral promo from CBS currently polarising comic fans across the globe – for the Maid of Might has taken to the airwaves once again.

In this unprecedented six-minutes of footage we see much of the established comic -canon has been given a contemporary makeover (for better or worse).  While it may be galling to see a character as iconic as cub reporter Jimmy Olsen upgraded from ginger hair & freckles to tall black man, Kara Danvers (apparently not Linda Lee) thankfully seems to have most of her character traits intact.

Amid all the camp, teen angst and homages to The Devil Wears Prada, there does seem to be some compelling action, decent effects, great costume (courtesy of designer Colleen Attwood) and most importantly an acknowledgement of previous ‘Super’ stars – exemplified by the appearance of Dean Cain and Helen Slater in as yet unidentified roles (Earth Parents??).

And so in true SUPERMANIA fashion we go retro to 1984 to revisit and celebrate the Salkind’s mega-budget incarnation of Supergirl on the big screen with these scarce behind the scenes portraits above – firstly with a studio shot of Helen Slater perfectly cast as Kara Zor-El (top) and alongside her stunt double (Wendy Leech?) On location in Scotland with ‘cape wrangler’ to hand (If anybody can identify the crew here it would be appreciated!) and finally a magnificent front projection shot in-flight.

Supergirl will fly again in November…

 

Le Film…

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Bonjour Superfans – This month’s posts on SUPERMANIA are devoted purely to rare collectables originating from Producer Pierre Spengler’s home country of France, where Superman:The Movie was released as Superman: Le Film. 

Shown above is the bumper French Press book, its 60 pages filled with sharp B&W portraits and biographies of cast and crew under its crisp white cover (top).  Considerably sleeker than the no-frills campaign books produced in the UK, this A4 sized volume profiles everybody from Geoffrey Unsworth to Yvonne Blake.

And found resting under a sheet of tissue inside the back cover were three loose glossy ad blocks in various sizes intended for reproduction in newspapers and magazines.  Featuring art from the US one sheet and UK Quad (third pic) for layout options, its unknown if they formed part of the original press package but compliment the package perfectly…

Coming soon – Le Jigsaws…