It's Superman!

October 3, 2005
A focus on Clark Kent's high school years only makes comparison to the popular WB show Smallville all the more inevitable - and intentional. De Haven, whose Derby Dugan trilogy beautifully reimagined 20th-century American history through a pleasant sheen of media-tized irony, presents the man of steel as a sullen Depression-era teen, a bad WII-era reporter and as ambivalent about his super powers throughout, all with a kind of knowing that reflects a deep immersion in pulp. De Haven drives his coming-of-age tale toward Superman's first showdown with Lex Luthor and his robot "Lexbots" in the middle of (the real!) New York City - prompted, of course, by the need to save Lois Lane. He gets knocked off his feet by the Lexbots and temporarily dazed. He doesn't want to continue, doesn't think he can win. Suddenly, in an echo of recent Batman and Spiderman film adaptations, a disembodied voice rings out: "Now get off that silly chair and go do something. Doesn't matter what. Just do something, Clark." (It's his mother.) If that's not over-the-top enough, plenty of short chapters begin with lines like "Despite Lex Luthor's savvy and sensitive draft report on the Harlem race riot...." De Haven gives readers X-ray vision for determining when his tongue is in his cheek here; using it is great fun.

Starred review from February 26, 2007
Scott Brick gives a super performance in his reading of this revisionist telling of the Superman legend. Set in the 1930s, De Haven's Superman is not the stalwart do-gooder of the comics. He's just a simple, decent guy, with all the faults and doubts of any young man coming of age during the Great Depression. It just so happens he can leap buildings in a single bound, bend steel with his bare hands..., etc. His journey from Smallville to Hollywood then New York City, where he meets Lois Lane, and his arch nemesis Lex Luthor makes for a rich, multilayered novel. From Brick's enthusiastic reading of the book's title, which is reminiscent of the old Saturday morning serials, it is clear that he fully embraces this material. Brick smoothly handles the novel's descriptive passages, loaded with historical and pop culture references to create an authentic sense of time and place. His characterizations are spot on, whether it's the arrogant smugness of Luthor, the shy, polite stammering of farm boy Kent or the plucky assertiveness of Lois Lane, Brick shines throughout. This is an audiobook not to be missed. Ballantine paperback (Reviews, Sept. 26, 2005).

September 26, 2005
A focus on Clark Kent's high school years only makes comparison to the popular WB show Smallville
all the more inevitable—and intentional. De Haven, whose Derby Dugan
trilogy beautifully reimagined 20th-century American history through a pleasant sheen of media-tized irony, presents the man of steel as a sullen Depression-era teen, a bad WII-era reporter and as ambivalent about his super powers throughout, all with a kind of knowing that reflects a deep immersion in pulp. De Haven drives his coming-of-age tale toward Superman's first showdown with Lex Luthor and his robot "Lexbots" in the middle of (the real!) New York City—prompted, of course, by the need to save Lois Lane. He gets knocked off his feet by the Lexbots and temporarily dazed. He doesn't want to continue, doesn't think he can win. Suddenly, in an echo of recent Batman and Spiderman film adaptations, a disembodied voice rings out: "Now get off that silly chair and go do something. Doesn't matter what. Just do something, Clark." (It's his mother.) If that's not over-the-top enough, plenty of short chapters begin with lines like "Despite Lex Luthor's savvy and sensitive draft report on the Harlem race riot...." De Haven gives readers X-ray vision for determining when his tongue is in his cheek here; using it is great fun.