- Paperback: 96 pages
- Publisher: DC Comics (30 Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1401200230
- ISBN-13: 978-1401200237
- Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 16.5 x 0.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,312,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
Western Daily Press December 2004: "A rollicking adventure with an eccentric English take on the Superman myth."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
First, the good points: It's got lovely artwork. 1980's fan favourite (and the man entrusted with the late 80's reboot of the Superman mythos) John Byrne inked over by long-time Alan Davis collaborator Mark Farmer, famed for his 'clean' style. It looks great.
The story is good as well - an opportunity to parody the S** and the rest of the British tabloid press, with Colin (Superman) Clark's newspaper editor boss clearly modelled on a certain fictional Torquay hotelier. There are some lovely twists on the long-familiar Superman stories, including some lovely cartoony moments (how does a teenage Clark stop himself from looking in the girls' changing rooms with X Ray vision?; what if young Clark switched on heat vision whilst looking at a 'hot' girl? etc) Indeed, Clark's parents are more caricatures than 'real' people to keep in with the 'just for laughs' style.
Where I have an issue is with the use of John Cleese as a co-author of the book. I suspect that he's had very little to do with this. True, there are numerous in-jokes hidden away for the fans covering both Python and Fawlty Towers, but would Cleese really have allowed a conversation between Clark and his earthly dad to have allowed the use of the term 'sidewalk' instead of 'pavement'? (Just how British is the writing team?) This has all the hallmarks of one of those Chris Claremont X-Men stories where Britain consists of the Houses of Parliament, Beefeaters, and little else. Austin Powers would feel at home here.
Overall, disposable fun, but I'm glad I borrowed this from the library - it's written as much with one eye on pandering to the preconceptions of the US market as it is on giving us Brits 'our own' Superman story. For a quality alternative in a non-comedy vein, I'd recommend Batman: The Scottish Connection by the all-Scots team of Grant & Quitely. They'd even included Rosslyn Chapel years before the Da Vinci code got there...
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I can live with the cliché's, I can live with the patronising ex pat, 'ollywood cockernee type characterisation's, I can even forgive John Byrne (once a legend in this business), but what I cannot forgive is that this is very poor and worst of all NOT FUNNY! It is simply short of the mark and way off target and desperately tries to capture a long dead zeitgeist that probably only ever existed in the minds of Americans watching "The Avengers" re-runs on TV as kids and in the long since dried up comedy brain of John Cleese who clearly spends way to much time in La La Land and out of England to recognise this for the poor excuse of a parody that it fails to be...shame
Format:Paperback
Origin stories, particularly alternate origin stories are popular fare. The Superman story Red Son sees him grow up in Russia. True Brit has him fall to earth in Britain and raised as Colin Kent. But this is not the Britain any of its natives would recognise but the cosy, quaint, repressed Britain that comes from the American mind. John Cleese is credited as one of the creators and you can see the slapstick of Python and Fawlty Towers in there.
There isn't much of a story here and there fun comes from spotting how the American characters translate into a farcical British setting. Disturbingly the whole work seems to be a thinly veiled attack on the newspaper industry. Very thinly veiled at times. It seems like someone had an axe to grind and wasn't clever about doing it.
The art is perfectly serviceable and harks back to the style of popular British comics such as the Beano and Whizzer & Chips but with infinitely more colour. It is a nice idea and interesting to see how the familiar is relocated with some appalling puns thrown in. It is a Thumbs Up but barely.
There isn't much of a story here and there fun comes from spotting how the American characters translate into a farcical British setting. Disturbingly the whole work seems to be a thinly veiled attack on the newspaper industry. Very thinly veiled at times. It seems like someone had an axe to grind and wasn't clever about doing it.
The art is perfectly serviceable and harks back to the style of popular British comics such as the Beano and Whizzer & Chips but with infinitely more colour. It is a nice idea and interesting to see how the familiar is relocated with some appalling puns thrown in. It is a Thumbs Up but barely.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Silly
When it comes to British superheroes, I tend to be a little wary of DC Comics, as their stable of British heroes leaves something to be desired. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Andrew Norris
Avoid
There's not much to be said about this, except don't bother. I loved RedSon, which imagines Superman if he'd arrived in the USSR, so I thought that this could be as clever as that. Read more
Published 12 months ago by D. Mackay
Another Cleese's hate letter to England
I love John Cleese, he's a master comedian and his works with the Pythons, Fawlty Towers and A Fish called Wanda are true timeless masterpieces. Read more
Published on 9 April 2010 by Anasui
Superman: True Brilliance!
This book was fantastic!, The humour in it was very british and i enjoyed it greatly. The appearance of Batman in it wasn't the best idea and i thought even though it was slightly... Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2005 by D. Smith
And Now for Something Completely Different!!
This is a refreshing change to the Man of Steel! With the combined talents of Messrs. Johnson, Cleese, Byrne and Farmer, it answers the seemingly bizarre question, "What... Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2005 by "castillo710"
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