Comic Strip Heroes: Music from Gotham City and Beyond

Various Artists

01 - SPIDERMAN: Main Theme (4:43)

02 - SUPERMAN: Main Theme (4:10)

03 - SUPERMAN: Love Theme (6:12)

04 - FANTASTIC FOUR: Main Titles (2:44)

05 - BATMAN BEGINS: Eptesicus (4:51)

06 - BATMAN: Suite (12:57)

07 - THE SHADOW: Main Theme (2:37)

08 - THE INCREDIBLES: Suite (5:42)

09 - JUDGE DREDD: Suite (4:50)

10 - X2: X-MEN UNITED: Suite (7:50)

Conducted by Nic Raine & James Fitzpatrick

Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Produced by James Fitzpatrick

Released by Silva Screen Records on July 11, 2006

Total Running Time: 58:32

     It's funny that the subtitle to Silva Screen's latest compilation album, Comic Strip Heroes, is "Music from Gotham City and Beyond". The included pieces from both the Elfman and Zimmer/Newton-Howard Batman films arrives in the middle of the album. John William's Superman score takes up two cues just by itself (though total running time is about 6 minutes less than the combined Batman material). It could have just as easily been "Music from Metropolis and Beyond". But nitpicking aside, there's plenty of material in the "Beyond" part that covers the range of most of the better superhero films that have come out over the last three decades.

     The album opens with a disappointing rendition of the main theme from Spider-Man. The elements that make up this performance are fine enough, especially where the chorus is concerned, but the performance is far too slow. It makes it nice for those who'd like to make out the actual construction of the theme, but the speedy, quirky pace to the main theme was Elfman's point in the first place. Removing that element really hurts the piece and leaves a bad first impression. The horns also get a little out of whack in the opening moments, but that was the only flaw I found with the performance outside of the tempo.

     Thankfully, the two Superman cues make up for it. It's hard to mess up these pieces, and the performances are taunt and powerful, showing that there may be some decent material to be had after all. I'm not at all familiar with Ottman's score to Fantastic Four, but the theme included here sounds pretty good. The first Batman piece is from Batman Begins. I personally wouldn't have picked Eptesicus as the featured cue. However, it does get the point across without being as complex as a performance of "Molossus" would be, and the slower pacing would have probably reared its ugly head again for that one, which would have negated the idea behind the piece yet again. More successful is the suite from Danny Elfman's Batman score. It's a well-constructed suite, but I felt myself wishing that a few select moments had been allowed to continue instead of moving into another section of the score. This would have upped the running time by a minute or two, but I feel that such a move would have helped the flow of the suite.

     The main theme from The Shadow is done very well, and being a big fan of this Goldsmith score, I appreciated that a lot. It's not exactly a suite, but it does a similar job. The suite from The Incredibles is spot on for the most part, but falls apart as soon as the main theme arrives. Where everything up to the main theme was, well, incredible (I know, I know), the main theme itself is hindered by spotty performances from the horns. I expected to be blown out of my chair, not falling out of it due to laughter. It's almost an embarrassment and some more rehearsal was definitely needed for that one.

     Closing out the album are suites from Judge Dredd and X2: X-Men United. Like Fantastic Four, I'm not familiar with Goldsmith's score to Judge Dredd, but the suite here sounds pretty good and close enough to what little music I have heard from that one. I have lukewarm feelings towards Ottman's X2 score (John Powell did a much better job with the sequel). The tempo is slower here like with Spider-Man, but it doesn't hurt the piece that much. The horns show their weakness with this piece as well, but not as blaringly so as with some of their other flawed moments.

      As Silva compilations go, this is a decent effort with some great material. Unfortunately, the album is about half-and-half with hits vs. misses. Those with most of these scores already will have no reason to purchase, but those who prefer the superheroes in small doses may find something to like about this one.

Reviewed on February 11, 2007