Tucked inside of the first issue of “Superman Unchained,” a new series debuting Wednesday, is an industry first – a foldout double-sided vertical gatefold poster that’s actually part of the story. The comic lands in a week when Superman returns to the big screen with “Man of Steel.”
DC Comics’ highly trumpeted release of “Superman Unchained,” written by fan favorite Scott Snyder, coincides with the 75th anniversary of the superhero’s 1938 debut in “Action Comics #1.”
Artist Jim Lee dreamed up the concept in an effort to make his comic more cinematic. One side features a wide shot of Superman smashng up a space station as if panned out by a camera; the other is a jarring close-up of the caped hero in midpunch.
It took artist Jim Lee two days to pencil each side of the gatefold. At least part of that time was devoted to periodically standing on his chair and photographing the page with his iPhone because it was too large to see all the details up close.
Lee called the first side of the gatefold a ‘Where’s Waldo’ image since it’s so hard to spot Superman amid the giant space station.
“That came from just a simple desire to do something that I haven’t seen before in my 26 years of working in the business or my probably 45 years of looking at comics,” Lee, whose day job is DC’s co-publisher.
“I didn’t know what a can of worms I was opening up because it’s actually a very tough logistical production issue to do. I don’t think we’ll be doing it again, actually.”
