It’s Superman from Tom DeHaven, author of the funny papers trilogy (Funny Papers, Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies and Dugan Under Ground), was given the keys to Superman and took advantage of it. He created a book about Superman’s early adult life and set it in the later years of the Great Depression. De Haven’s idea about setting the story in the same time frame when Shuster and Siegel created the character really brings out the best in Superman. With Lois Lane and Lex Luthor joining in the fun, It’s Superman is a must read.

It’s Superman starts off with Clark Kent in the concession line at a movie theater while on a date. An escaped fugitive in disguise starts making trouble and shoots at Clark twice. The story Clark tells the police is that one bullet misses and the other one bounce back off something and blows up the gun. What he doesn’t tell the police is the bullet he caught in his hand and the red mark on his forehead is where the bullet bounced. Clark is shocked and amazed, he knows he can run 7-8 miles in 10 minutes or so, but bullets bouncing off him isn’t anything he’d ever considered.

Over in Metropolis, Lois Lane’s boyfriend, Willi Berg,  had to pawn his camera to join a poker game, but needs it back because he knows where a factory fire is going to be. Since he doesn’t have the money, he sneaks into the pawn shop to steal it back and finds the pawn shop owner dead on the floor. Willi grabs his camera and takes a few pictures until a few more people join him in the pawn shop. Willi recognizes one of the people as Alderman Lex Luthor, an up and coming politician. He snaps a picture and runs out of the store while being shot. Willi wakes up in jail and charged with murder, his fingerprints are all over the pawn shop.

With Lex Luthor searching for him and his incriminating picture, Willi escapes and goes hiding as a WPA photographer and runs into Clark Kent, whose Mom has just died. Together Clark and Willi go on an adventure across the country, with Willi hiding from Lex Luthor and Clark trying to figure out his powers with Willi’s help. The friendship of Clark and Willi propels the middle section of the book with all the main characters (Clark, Willi, Lois and Lex) coming together for the final act.

De Haven has created a new Superman, built on top of the Siegel/Shuster legacy, that explores what it truly means to be a hero. This is a wonderful look at the Superman mythos and America in the Great Depression.