Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Superman Post-Crisis #12

by John Byrne, Ron Frenz, Jerry Ordway

Vintage children's book

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Superman

191 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.

Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of Superman stories. Think of it as a time capsule from the eighties and nineties. It is a best of collection that was the inspiration for the TV show.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)


I'm finally going through my physical tv, film etc. tie in library owned book list, to add more older basic reviews. If I liked a book enough to keep then they are at the least a 3 star.

I'm only adding one book per author and I'm not going to re-read every book to be more accurate, not when I have 1000s of new to me authors to try (I can't say no to free books....)


First time read the author's work?: Yes

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories from the late-80s and early-90s which serve as the inspiration for the (then) new TV series of the title.
As the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane develops, Superman is forced to confront foes like Brainiac and Mr Mxyzplk.

Whilst this book was released as a tie-in to the Lois & Clark TV series, and has Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher smiling on the cover, don't be deceived into thinking this is an adaptation or is actually based on the show; the stories on offer here are all from DC's mainline continuity.

And it has to be said that the era these stories originally came out in was something of a golden age for Superman stories; post the reboot of 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' but before things went really off the deep-end in the mid-to-late 90s (when Supes got long hair, grew to Hulk-like proportions and then split into two electric versions of himself).
What this means is that the stories on offer here are simply excellent in terms of their quality, tone and subject matter. There're several classic hero-versus-villain stories but there are several others that are more cerebral or emotional. The Christmas special in which a member of the Daily Planet team is revealed to be homeless due to spiralling debt is an impressively insightful and sensitive one, with some surprisingly socialist messaging considering the gross capitalism of the 80s.
I also really enjoyed 'The Limits of Power' in which Superman tries to help four irradiated astronauts (clearly a pastiche of Marvel's Fantastic Four) before they die. It's a touchingly tragic story and has long-lasting repercussions because one of those astronauts is Hank Henshaw (later known as Cyborg Superman).

Unfortunately I can't really give this book the top marks the quality of its writing deserves simply due to how the book as a whole is put together.
The stories are plucked somewhat randomly, with no real narrative through-line and time jumps that make it jarring to read as you pass from one story to the next. Honestly, the stories don't even focus on important moments in Clark and Lois' relationship as the title might have you expect, instead simply just being some stories lumped together because 'reasons'.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *

[Yafu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una antología oportuna para subirse al fenómeno Lois & Clark que según la descripción trae:
Action Comics #600
Action Comics #655
The Adventures of Superman #445
The Adventures of Superman #462
The Adventures of Superman #466
The Man of Steel #2
Superman Annual 01
Superman #9
Superman #11

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of seemingly random Superman stories, the main reason this gets four stars is the inclusion of the Titano story, which is sublime storytelling.

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read too much Superman from this era, so this was an interesting collection. I liked the evolution of the characters. It seems like this was the time when they started making the the supporting charcters interesting and fresh. That being said, the connection to the TV show "Lois & Clark" was tenuous at best. I could see it in some of the character interactions, and especially in the character of Cat Grant, but the stories themselves were a little more fantastic than the TV show ever was. Lois & Clark never met Titano! Overall, this was a good read.

We discuss favorite Superman stories in a special episode of the All the Books Show Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an decent collection of Superman stories, some of which are already in the Man of Steel series of trade paperbacks. The stories span a long period of time - which makes the book annoyingly hard to fit into chronology - but some of them are pretty adult in theme.

Although the front cover features Messrs Cain and Hatcher, the book has nothing to do with the TV series.

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since so many people know the history of Superman this a great way to introduce people to the older comics.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Edición mexicana a cargo de Vid.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encantaría saber si lo tengo o tuve o sólo lo leí de prestado hace mil años, pero por ahora me quedo con la duda y el lejanísimo recuerdo de que me había gustado.

[Brandi Leblanc]

This one was really good. It has the cover of Lois and Clark, but it's the comic book stories that inspired the TV Series "Lois and Clark the New Adventures of Superman". I really enjoyed this book.