Review: Superman: True Brit

Superman: True Brit by Kim Howard Johnson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



What if Kal-el had landed in Britain instead of the USA? This book is a hilarious look at that What-if, showing what Superman would have been like if it's followed his parents' motto: WWTNT (What would the neighbors think?) I'd seen this graphic on the shelves at the library for awhile, but hadn't picked it up. Then today, on a whim, I decided "Why not?" And I'm so glad that I did.

The writing is witty (but what would you expect from something co-authored by John Cleese) and there were far too many parts where I needed to stop and explain my laughter to Rich. Seeing the British versions of some of the iconic characters of Superman had me rolling with laughter - Perry White, respected editor, has turned into Peregrine Whyte-Badger, the owner of most of the tabloids in Britain and the King of Sleeze. Lois Lane's counterpart is Louisa Layne-Ferret and rather than the hard-nosed reporter, she is a Page 3 girl and Whyte-Badger's secret agent trying to ferret out information from Colin Clark (aka Superman). I do like the fact that they didn't completely ignore those icons, though. Louisa's cousin, Lois, is a newspaper reporter in Metropolis and comes over to do a story on Superman. When things start to fall apart for Supes at the end of the book, I think she's a large part of the reason why he decides to relocate to America.

The book has a perfect set-up for more comics in this alternate world, seeing several of the British Characters coming to America, all unaware of the others' arrivals. I could imagine a lot of fun with it, honestly.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes comics and has a sense of humor. Because it will tickle both of those quite nicely (especially when you meet the Bat-Man. ;))



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