A common question asked by moviegoers is, "Which was better, the book or the movie?" However, in the case of "Superman Returns," it's "Which was better, the comic book or the movie?"
For myself, it's hands down the 72-page comic book over the 154-minute movie — if only because it contains important story details that were either deleted from the final movie script or relegated to the cutting-room floor.
But be warned, the comic book of "Superman Returns" costs more than a matinee movie — $6.99, plus tax. (Plus another $3.99 times four if you purchase the four movie-prequel comic books that have also been printed.)
SPOILER ALERT: Read no further if you haven't seen the movie as "surprise" plot points will arise in this overview of what the "Superman Returns" comic contains that the movie left out.
Two pages showing Superman's return to Krypton. Oddly, pieces of Krypton are not Kryptonite here, but Superman gets some closure from his five-year trip to his solar system when he finds his "S" symbol on a piece of rock, confirming that his home planet was destroyed.
Shortly after he returns to Earth, Superman sees copies of Lois Lane's Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial about there being no need for Superman, causing him to refrain from putting on his costume right off the bat.
Superman's mother announces she has been dating Ben Hubbard, a long-time neighbor, and that she is selling her farm and moving to Montana with him. (There's no mention of marriage here, or the inconsistency of Superman having already said he buried his spaceship on the farm.)
Mrs. Kent mentions regular postcards she mailed during Superman's five-year absence in order to keep up the facade that Clark Kent was on a lengthy world tour.
Lex Luthor's girlfriend remarks that one part of the Fortress of Solitude is like a huge garage, and Luthor remarks that he believes a spaceship once stored there is indeed missing — so, apparently, Superman's rocket was there. (Don't Kryptonian ships have brakes, since all they do is crash?)
One panel in the comic book shows that Superman imprisoned the criminals who were involved in the machine-gun and bullet-in-the-eye sequence by having them dangle from a mangled helicopter blade to await the arrival of police.
Jason, Lois' son, is never mentioned in any way to be Superman's son in the comic book, and the boy doesn't toss a piano around, either.
The crystal rock Superman hurled into space is mentioned by scientists as still growing somewhere between Mars and Jupiter.
So, if these scenes were filmed, there could be up to 20 minutes of "Superman Returns" that ended up on the cutting-room floor and could find their way to the bonus features when the film goes to DVD.
And, by the way, I'm a little weary of Luthor being the only Superman villain in the movies. Where are Brainiac, Darkseid or Bizarro?
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com