One documentary and one critic who are neither super

BY MARLON RICHMOND, for THECOMMENTARY.CA

Saturday, 24 December 2005

[An Editor's Note: This piece was originally assigned to Marlon in August. In typical Marlon fashion, he disappeared and has not been heard from since. The other day, I got a knock on my door. When I opened the door, there was a strange, bearded man running quickly down the street, and a large parcel full of deranged ramblings making absolutely no sense, sitting on the doorstep. Among them was this review of a Superman documentary, written in crayon. I have proceeded to type out his work for so that it is readable to the masses. Marlon, wherever you are, we wish you well.]

Superman was never my favourite comic book character. The original Superman was always invincible, and too much of a goody two-shoes to seem relevant to most people's lives. But he is always the hero. He is a drawn and acted out example of what many boys aspire to be, which is to be unstoppable and to become the pinnacle of human greatness. Yet, at the same time he is an alien, and as the character Bill said in Quentin Tarantino's last movie, Superman chooses to disguise himself as what humans consider the worst of male characteristics, as he dons the alter ego of Clark Kent.

The original creators of Superman, Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster (a Canadian, as the famous Heritage Minute tells us), sold off their rights to the Superman character to greedy publishers, and therefore got screwed out of legitimate money owed them for being the creators. Also, their credits did not appear in the comic soon after it started. By the 1970s, Warner Brothers righted National Comic's wrongs by finally giving the creators credit and some money for their previous efforts.

The documentary In a Single Bound by Ross Marroso talks about some of the history of Superman. It is well made, but is currently incomplete. It discusses the history of Superman, but mainly just uses interviews to talk about its successful adaptations. The opening starts with Superman fans defending his Boy Scout image, but the documentary in its current form fails to properly analyse Superman's popularity with multiple generations and how the comic book character has had to adjust throughout the years.

Many adaptations of the original comic have been produced. My favourites are the old Max Fleisher cartoons from the 1940s, drawn with rich, full animation, and in a film noir style. Compared to the Superman cartoons on television in the 1960s, which are terrible, one wonders why the originals are not well known in our era. Also, spun-off was the radio show, the live action serial (which included somewhat cool animation for the flying scenes), the movie Superman and the Mole Men, and the TV shows The Adventures of Superman. The 1950s started out serious, but eventually became campy and lighthearted. The Superman movies are barely referenced in In a Single Bound, and the latest series Lois and Clark and Smallville aren't mentioned at all.

Some of the topics don't fit in pacing wise either, particularly the story about the lawsuit DC filed against the Captain Marvel comic book. My biggest complaint is that nobody says that George Reeves's early death was by suicide, and that it is made to seem as if the actor had died by some sort of event beyond his control. The documentary also does not mention anything about Christopher Reeve's paralysis and death.

In a Single Bound is currently only available on the internet. Hopefully, the documentary will be expanded and will be released on DVD. Some improvements that should be made would be to include the later history of Superman; adding a better narration technique, such as the one used in Comic Book Confidential; and also to include some sort of reference to George Reeves's cause of death.

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In a Single Bound by Ross Marroso can be viewed at www.supermandoc.com.

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