Superman Through the Ages! Forum

For Immediate Release:  5-6-2005

STILL SUPER AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Superman Writer Pens New Novel

    Writer Roger Stern revisits old friends this June with his new novel,
Superman: The Never-Ending Battle.  Stern's 1993 debut novel The Death and Life
of Superman quickly became a New York Times bestseller.  In returning to the
cast of that first book, the writer says that he found part of the inspiration
for his new novel in recent newspaper headlines.  

    "The Never-Ending Battle is an action-adventure story, peopled by
fantastic beings, but the threat they face is global terrorism," says Stern.  
"Superman and his teammates in the Justice League of America must hunt down the
mysterious leader of a worldwide cult who is working to destroy civilization.  
That's not easy, even for Superman.  And what makes it especially difficult is
that this particular cult leader has found a way to use the world's weather as a
weapon."
   
Superman: The Never-Ending Battle is a defining tale of the legendary Man of
Steel, delving deeply into the life of the man behind the myth and exploring
why he risks his life again and again.  "Still, at its heart, it's a love
story," adds Stern, who notes that Clark Kent and Lois Lane were engaged at the
time of The Death and Life of Superman.  "Now Clark and Lois are newlyweds, with
all that entails."  

    In addition to his novels, Stern has also written for radio, television,
the stage, and the computer screen, creating scripts for everything from
commercials and sketch comedy to trading cards and flash-animation.  With more than
a quarter century of experience in the comic book industry, he has written
hundreds of stories about such diverse characters as Spider-Man, the Fantastic
Four, and the Incredible Hulk for Marvel Comics, and Green Lantern, Supergirl,
and Starman for DC Comics.  For ten years, he was the senior writer of the
Superman series of comics for DC.  He has written several graphic novels,
including Superman: A Nation Divided, Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and
Torment, and The Incredible Hulk vs. Superman.  

    Stern's second novel, Smallville: Strange Visitors-an original story
based on the characters from the hit WB television series-was published by Warner
Books in 2002.

    His first novel, The Death and Life of Superman, returned to print in a
new trade paperback edition from Barnes & Noble Books in 2004.  

    Stern lives and works in upstate New York with his wife, Carmela Merlo.

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-- Cover Artwork and pre-order information (http://superman.nu/a/Novels/neverending.php) --

Ooh...

And "Strange Visitors" is a Superman novel that I actually don't have. Is it any good?

Read them both. Strange Visitors is okay. . .treat it like a snapshot from the life of young Clark Kent more than any kind of Superman story (it's a Smallville tie-in, natch), but it's a decent read. You don't need to have watched the show to enjoy the book, but it helps a bit.

 JLA: Superman: The Never-Ending Battle is really very good. It's not Silver-Age Supes--the Kents are alive, Clark and Lois are married, etc--but it's got a nice feeling to it. I'd never heard of Dr. Kent M. Keith's paradoxical commandments before, but they really fit Kal-El to a tee. Everyone in the League has a moment to shine in the novel, though it's focused primarily on the Man of Steel. No new ground broken or anything but it was a fun read, flowed really well, and moved at a nice clip keeping me entertained the whole time. I'd reccomend it. Stern really knows Superman, at least in his current incarnation, and focuses more on the positive aspects of Superman as both heroic icon and a good man besides.

 Good stuff. Throw in Kingdom Come and Last Son of Krypton and you'd have a good day's worth of superheroic reading. :)