I first met New York Times bestselling author Robert Venditti through his work, then in person at the Christopher Reeve Legacy Reunion in 2022, where he and “Superman ’78” co-collaborator/artist Wilfredo Torres were special guests (along with almost every surviving main cast member of the original Reeve films).
This interview was an excerpt of a much more in-depth one-hour discussion I had with the author. We have provided the complete version for your full enjoyment in audio form here.
Our tables were side by side. He and Wilfredo met fans and signed books, I had the honor of promoting (in costume) the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and raising awareness for Valerie Perrine’s film, “Valerie” — the proceeds of which fund her Parkinson’s treatments.
For three whirlwind days we got to be around legends. More than once Robert and I exchanged glances of “wow.” His 6-issue comic book series “Superman ’78” had been revealed to the world to overwhelmingly positive response from die-hard Christopher Reeve Superman fans online and now in person at his table.
It was no surprise we did not have a lot of time to talk.
Two years (and a second “Superman ’78” series) later, we made up for that with what is hopefully a swell thing to happen to any Superman writer — a one-on-one interview with a reporter from the Daily Planet.
Daniel: How has the fan response been for you?
Robert: It’s been one of the most positive fan bases that I’ve ever interacted with. The fans who liked the film really seem to embody that positivity and hopefulness that the whole creative team and all the actors conveyed in those films.
I was very nervous when I got the gig and wrote the project. This is such a beloved property and if I got it wrong I was going to feel really bad because it was something that was very personal to me too.
For Wilfredo and I to be able to be stewards of that and to do something that that fan base reacted well to, and feeling like we hit those notes, was just a great feeling because it is very personal. The film is very personal to Wilfredo as well. So, yeah. Couldn’t have asked for it to go better.
Daniel: Did you have a moment where you had a sigh of relief of, “I didn’t mess it up! I think I may have stewarded this well!”
Robert: I really felt like we hit it when I was writing the first issue. On page 10, you get the first “S” moment. It’s just two panels. The first is the shirt ripping open. You see the “S” and then the second panel is just Superman flying at you.
Normally when I write a comic book, I would put special effects there of some kind. But when I wrote the script I said to Wilfredo, “I want to try to go silent here. I want to see if when people see this, they hear the Williams score,” which is very hard to do in comics.
And sure enough, when that first issue came out, there were a lot of people that picked out that page and said, “I can hear the score.” And that was when I felt like we got it. We hit it.
Daniel: Series one, when Brainiac is threatening everyone and Superman says, “Take me,” and then has to say goodbye to Lois — with that “I have to do this” moment you could hear the Williams music. You could feel that tear between the two of them. That goodbye was heart-wrenching. It was every bit as Reeve and Kidder and Donner as if it had been filmed.
Robert: I appreciate that. So much of it — I can’t say it enough — comes down to [artists] Wilfredo Torres, and now Gavin Guidry, capturing the acting of those characters to help convey it. Because if the acting didn’t match those iconic versions, then I think the dialogue would probably fall flat.
I also think it says a lot about the films that you go anywhere in the world and you ask somebody on the street and they’ll know who Superman is, and they’re probably going to think of the Christopher Reeve Superman — almost 50 years later.
There’s just something so hopeful and aspirational about those films and their portrayal of Superman. There’s a tendency in a lot of the newer stuff to darken Superman up. To me, those efforts fall flat because they kind of missed the point.
The point is that he’s incorruptible. He could do wrong if he wanted to and there’s no way anyone could do anything to stop him. But instead, even though he can do anything, he always chooses to do the right thing.
As a kid when I saw the films, I wanted to believe in a world that was that way — that people would do things because they’re the right things to do.
Daniel: I think what really resonated for a lot of readers is that when we think about Reeve’s Superman, we like to think we know him so well we know what he would do in a situation, which is: the best thing, the right thing, the gentle thing, the reassuring thing, the loving thing.
You were somehow able to create these new situations that still felt like, “Yes, that’s what he would do here. That’s how he would talk to Lois in this goodbye. This is how he would be.”
Robert: To me, you do always know that Superman is going to do the right thing. The trick of Superman is coming up with situations where it seems impossible for him to do the right thing.
“The Metal Curtain” is a cold-war story. But Superman is not the kind of guy that would go to Russia and just beat up the Soviet Union. There’s people there, you know what I’m saying? He just wouldn’t attack it that way, but in the new series he’s fighting an enemy that very much attacks it that way, so how is he going to deal with that?
There’s a moment in the final issue — it’s a big splash page of Superman — and he says something there that to me perfectly encapsulates who that version of Superman is as a character and everything that he stands for and his approach to everything and his approach to the world, and if nothing else except that one page exists — to me, I’m happy.
Daniel: Where do these stories fit into the movie continuity?
Robert: The stories that we’re doing take place after “Superman II” and before “Superman III.”
In “The Metal Curtain,” Superman takes Lois to the Fortress of Solitude and she has no memory of having been there before because there’s already been the super-kiss at the end of “Superman II.”
There are moments in the dialogue where you can kind of see that I’m pointing at that. Like, Superman knows she’s been here before and he remembers it very fondly and Lois has no memory of it whatsoever. Those kinds of moments, for me, that’s where the continuity fits in.
Daniel: Are there any times you have to work with the actor or the estate of an actor to use the likenesses?
Robert: That would be all stuff that would happen, or not, on the publishing side. As creatives, that would never be something that we would be a part of.
Daniel: So Helen Slater’s Supergirl might make it onto the pages of a future story? That’s not off the table?
Robert: Not as far as I know. I haven’t been told we couldn’t. I’ve definitely got some plans for some other things that I want to do. I’ve got at least two more story ideas that I would hope to get to. We’ll have to see how the second series does. If these things keep doing well, they’ll keep doing them.
I also don’t want to just put Helen Slater in the book so that people can be like, “Helen Slater!” I didn’t need Otis in the Brainiac story. I didn’t need Otis in “The Metal Curtain.” As tempting as those things are, I want to do what’s going to make a good story first.
Daniel: As much as we would all love to see a Robin Williams Mr. Mxyzptlk, it has to be in service of the story.
Robert: Yeah. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see that someday. Maybe we’ll see Otis someday. I don’t know.
Daniel: I’ll speak for everyone when I say we wouldn’t mind seeing Non and Ursa.
Robert: Yes, I have an idea of how I can get them in there.
Daniel: Will there be a series three or four? For how long could you enjoy writing them the way you’ve enjoyed the first two?
Robert: It’s hard to say. You always want to say “forever,” but I imagine at some point the ideas run out.
I couldn’t sit here and say I have a dozen “Superman ’78” stories lined up. I don’t. But I feel like if they kept coming back to me 10 more times, every time I’d come up with one.
Daniel: I’m so heartened seeing all the different collector’s editions that have come out. It’s included in the metal ultimate 5-movie box set. It’s been reprinted. It’s been hardbound. It’s not even in paperback yet. What does that feel like?
Robert: It’s unfathomable. All I ever wanted to do my whole life was to be a writer. Every time somebody asks me for an autograph it sincerely never doesn’t surprise me, because I just don’t come from a background where I knew anybody who did anything artistic for a living. It’s inconceivable that I would grow up and do this one day.
There’s definitely that sort of Mount Rushmore of projects that I have for myself. Of the five faces that are on my mountain — my top five projects — this is definitely one of them. I’m going to be hard-pressed to knock this one off the mountain when I’m 80 years old and my grandkids don’t believe that I wrote comic books. [laughter]
And I wrote about Superman! This will be one of the things I hand them proudly, because I feel like even then it will still be a good book. And so I’m incredibly grateful for it. I don’t take it for granted. I don’t feel like I deserve it any better than anybody else. I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I do and to have people respond well to it.
Daniel: Well, we are anxiously anticipating issues five and six. It feels almost like when it was 1979 and 1980 and another movie is coming and that delicious feeling of knowing “another one is coming.” I encourage everyone — if you haven’t already started to read “Superman ’78: The Metal Curtain,” pick up the first four issues.
There are two more where none of us know what’s going to happen yet. But apparently we have it on good authority there’s a heck of a line at the end of issue six.
Robert: Towards the end, towards the end.
Daniel: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me and all the fans. This was beyond enjoyable. I feel like I’m just lucky to live in this Reeve Superman renaissance you’ve helped create, and on behalf of all of us — our deepest, sincerest “thank you.”
Robert: I appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks to everyone for reading. I can’t thank y’all enough for supporting it. Have a wonderful night.
Author’s note: At this point, Robert told me “the line” from the upcoming finale that made the whole series worth it. It took me a moment to process all the feels from hearing it. What was the line? I will never tell.
But you NEED to buy this book.
This article was featured in our Winter 2024 Daily Planet Magazine. You can read, print and/or download the issue for free here.
