The Great Superman Book
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Over the years, Superman's unparalleled popularity has even rubbed off on members of his immediate comic book "family": his girl friend [[Lois Lane]], his pal [[Jimmy Olsen]], his cousin [[Supergirl]], and his boyhood self, [[Superboy]], have all, at one time or another, become headline characters in comic book series of their own. These spin-off series have not been chronicled here. To have done so would have produced a volume three or four times the size of this one and would have added little truly substantive to our appreciation of the Superman legend. Similarly, this book contains no information concerning either the literary and artistic genesis of the characters or the literally dozens of writers and artists who have, since 1938, been creatively responsible for shaping Superman's destiny. | Over the years, Superman's unparalleled popularity has even rubbed off on members of his immediate comic book "family": his girl friend [[Lois Lane]], his pal [[Jimmy Olsen]], his cousin [[Supergirl]], and his boyhood self, [[Superboy]], have all, at one time or another, become headline characters in comic book series of their own. These spin-off series have not been chronicled here. To have done so would have produced a volume three or four times the size of this one and would have added little truly substantive to our appreciation of the Superman legend. Similarly, this book contains no information concerning either the literary and artistic genesis of the characters or the literally dozens of writers and artists who have, since 1938, been creatively responsible for shaping Superman's destiny. | ||
===Definitions=== | ===Definitions=== | ||
| − | '' | + | Throughout the encyclopedia, the word "text" is used to designate a single comic book story, and the word "texts" is used to designate two or more comic book stories, or, occasionally, as a synonym for "chronicles." The word "chronicles" is used to designate all the texts which, taken together, comprise the Superman legend. The word "chroniclers" is used to designate the artists and writers who have been collectively responsible for "recording" Superman's adventures for posterity. |
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| + | In comic books, the thoughts and dialogue of the characters appear printed inside roughly ovular shapes called "word balloons." Other writing, usually narrative and frequently in the third person, appears at the opening of each story and above or below some of the pictures. In ''The Great Superman Book'', these fragments of narrative writing, known as captions, are referred to as the "narrative text" or "textual narrative." | ||
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===Treatment of Events=== | ===Treatment of Events=== | ||
''coming soon'' | ''coming soon'' | ||
Revision as of 08:44, 12 February 2005
Contents |
The Great Superman Book
Preface
How to Use This Book
The Great Superman Book is a comprehensive encyclopedic chronicle of the comic book adventures of Superman for the first twenty-eight years of his ongoing career. Comprised of well over 1,000 entries-assembled in a convenient A-Z format and ranging in length from a few short lines to more than 100 printed pages-it contains detailed accounts of more than 1,000 separate adventures. In addition, this encyclopedia contains 446 illustrations culled directly from the comics, including pictures of Superman, his friends and adversaries, and scenes and diagrams of such diverse places of interest as the Fortress of Solitude, the planet Krypton, and the bottle city of Kandor.
The entries in The Great Superman Book are based on detailed notes taken by the author and his assistant on each of the comic books containing Superman's adventures. The entries contain a wealth of detail on the plot of each adventure, the powers and equipment employed by Superman and his adversaries, the major themes and relationships that emerge from Superman's collected adventures, and on every other topic of interest to students of Superman. No reference work can serve as a substitute for its subject, but a conscientious effort has been made to organize and record within this volume data pertaining to every aspect of Superman's life and adventures. In studying the comic books containing Superman's adventures and in writing the entries in this encyclopedia, the author and his assistant made use of no outside sources whatever. Only the direct, firsthand evidence of the comic books themselves was used. Accordingly, The Great Superman Book is a detailed reference guide only to the comic book adventures of Superman. No information has been recorded here concerning the appearance of Superman on radio and television, in cartoon and live-action movies, on the Broadway stage, or as a newspaper comic strip. Indeed, it is in comic books that the character originated, and there that he has achieved his greatest renown.
Over the years, Superman's unparalleled popularity has even rubbed off on members of his immediate comic book "family": his girl friend Lois Lane, his pal Jimmy Olsen, his cousin Supergirl, and his boyhood self, Superboy, have all, at one time or another, become headline characters in comic book series of their own. These spin-off series have not been chronicled here. To have done so would have produced a volume three or four times the size of this one and would have added little truly substantive to our appreciation of the Superman legend. Similarly, this book contains no information concerning either the literary and artistic genesis of the characters or the literally dozens of writers and artists who have, since 1938, been creatively responsible for shaping Superman's destiny.
Definitions
Throughout the encyclopedia, the word "text" is used to designate a single comic book story, and the word "texts" is used to designate two or more comic book stories, or, occasionally, as a synonym for "chronicles." The word "chronicles" is used to designate all the texts which, taken together, comprise the Superman legend. The word "chroniclers" is used to designate the artists and writers who have been collectively responsible for "recording" Superman's adventures for posterity.
In comic books, the thoughts and dialogue of the characters appear printed inside roughly ovular shapes called "word balloons." Other writing, usually narrative and frequently in the third person, appears at the opening of each story and above or below some of the pictures. In The Great Superman Book, these fragments of narrative writing, known as captions, are referred to as the "narrative text" or "textual narrative."
Treatment of Events
coming soon
Dating
coming soon
Characters with Dual Identities
coming soon
Entries
coming soon
Titles
coming soon
Extraterrestrial and Extradimensional Aliens
coming soon
Quotations
coming soon
Cross-References
coming soon
Textual References
coming soon
In Conclusion
coming soon
