The most recent Superman movies have been darker, meaner, more cynical than the old flicks. Some people love it, but others yearn for the Superman of old that was wondrous and optimistic. Here’s a poster that embodies that oceanic sentiment.
Artist JC Richard allowed us to debut his latest print, “Son of Krypton”. It’s a signed and numbered limited edition screenprint in an edition of 200.
The poster, inspired by Richard Donner’s original Superman film, was Richard’s reaction to seeing Batman v Superman. He just felt he needed a reminder of the more idealised version of the character. We think he delivered.
“I’m still not sure what happened,” Richard told us. “All I remember is stumbling back to the studio in a kind of mild fury, resentful of the way this new film had treated my beloved hero. So I did as I so often do, sought immediate solace in the past, threw in the 1978 movie and filled my thoughts with Reeve, Ford, Brando, data crystals and classic suit colours. Watching Superman the Movie for the 500th time, I was again inspired by Jor-El’s sacrifice and lessons, by Pa Kent’s quiet wisdom, by Clark’s extreme kindness even when faced with personal suffering and fear. Over the course of those two hours everything else fell away, and Superman became a hero all over again.”
The poster will be exclusively on sale on Richard’s website www.microcosmicmedia.com, Saturday April 16 at 4am AEST.
Comments
3 responses to “This Superman Poster Encompasses Everything Great About The 1978 Movie”
That’s a goddamn nice picture. That encompasses a lot that’s great about Superman in general. Love the bright colours, love the crystalline Fortress of Solitude, love everything about it. Really makes me wish they had of given Brandon Routh a much better movie script to work with rather than what he got…
They tried to recreate the magic from the Donner film with Routh in Superman Returns and it was tepid in revenue and response (had it’s moments for me). Time has moved on and the bronze-age, Jimmy Olsen’s pal, “Luthor, you snake!”, stumblin’ and bumblin’ Clark Kent are long gone. Today’s Man Of Steel/Clark Kent is much more like the George Reeves version (especially in the black and white episodes with Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane). Snyder/Cavill’s version of Superman is only on the job for a little over 18 months (since Man Of Steel. He was Superman for just half an hour in that) and that seems not to be noticed by some. Given time, he will become the hero we all remember and need. Superman has been around and changed much since 1938 and while mastered in 1978, that time is long gone. Today’s Superman in his early phase, is fearful, anxious, concerned and lacks trust and faith…..just like we all are at times. He IS us. He’s relevant to today, in a world that has changed much since 1978, let alone 1938. In future adventures, he’ll be that Guy….albeit, relevant to today. The king is dead, long live the king………GREAT poster though…
Some very apt themes there with the 1978 superman mimicking the modern posi ‘american dream’ era vs todays ‘fox news we’re at war with everything’ era. I never really thought about it this way but it totally makes sense. On one hand you can’t make a movie anymore where superman embodies the american dream ala Hulk Hogan in his prime, but I think the modern iterations being downers/realistic is just wrong.
I would love to see some balance there, give superman some mixed publicity because it’s fair to assume that he’ll have people in both camps. Give him an 80% positive outlook on everything with his morals in check…. then in the films get Lex (or any villain) to push his buttons and stretch his patience to boiling point so we can see him snap (in a way that’s similar to Heath Ledger, not a second rendition of Zuckerberg……). This way we get to see both sides and we really feel like he’s a good guy trying to do good things. When the world is bleak and superman/kent is a hollow pushover that’s best scene was him getting into a bathtub with his clothes on, it makes for a total emotionless yawn-fest.