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La-La Land Records’ current slate is nothing short of super-powered, with six(!) titles streeting this month with a root in comic books – five of which come from DC Comics properties.

By far the biggest of the titles in terms of both depth and recognition is the debut standalone release of Ken Thorne’s scores to Superman II and Superman III, the first two sequels to 1978’s blockbuster adaptation of The Man of Steel. Richard Donner’s original film was memorably scored by John Williams; Thorne’s adaptations were one of many changes to the series following the first film. Donner, who clashed with producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind during the complex, simultaneous production of the first two films, was removed from the production shortly after the release of the first film. In his place was British director Richard Lester, who’d helmed A Hard Day’s Night and Help! for The Beatles and The Three Musketeers (and its simultaneously film sequel, both produced by the Salkinds). He finished the sequel, which found General Zod (Terence Stamp) and his Kryptonian minions, imprisoned at the beginning of the first film, breaking free from The Phantom Zone and challenging Superman (again ably played by the late, great Christopher Reeve) just as he elects to walk away from his planet’s powers and lead a normal life with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder).

Lester’s tonal shift from light seriousness to more overt humor was not met well by writer Tom Mankiewicz (a creative consultant for the project) or actors Marlon Brando (as Superman’s father Jor-El) and Gene Hackman (the villain Lex Luthor), all of whom declined working with Lester. Gone too was Williams, tasked with scoring The Empire Strikes Back; Lester in turn hired Thorne, with whom he’d collaborated with for Help! and an adaptation of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. His work was primarily adaptation, relying heavily on the themes made famous in the first film, albeit with a smaller orchestra. (In 2006, Donner oversaw the release of a dramatic re-cut of the film, closer in line to his vision for the film; Thorne’s score was replaced with cues from Williams’ original.)

Lester and Thorne returned for Superman III, which took the series in a new direction. Here, Superman travels to his hometown of Smallville and reunites with high school flame Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole). It isn’t long before he has to thwart the plot of a greedy millionaire (Robert Vaughn) and the bumbling computer programmer in his employ (Richard Pryor). The lighter tone in both film and score sets Superman III quite apart from other films in the series, and Thorne was allowed to deviate from Williams’ themes (though he didn’t abandon them entirely).

Following La-La Land’s breakout of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace from Film Score Monthly’s masterful 2008 box set of a decade of Superman music, the scores to Superman II and Superman III will be released in a triple-disc set, limited to 3,000 copies. A third disc features a treat for Super-collectors in the form of source music not only from both films (including a side of Giorgio Moroder-produced pop tunes from the Superman III soundtrack LP, featuring rare cuts from Chaka Khan and Marshall Crenshaw), but all the source cues from Superman: The Movie as well – including five previously unreleased cues. Does this tease a standalone release of the score to that film, just in time for its 40th anniversary? Time will tell.

Also available now are more scores from DC’s thriving “Arrowverse” slate of series on The CW, most written and composed by Blake Neely. There’s music from the sixth season of Arrow, the fourth season of The Flash (co-written with Nathaniel Blume), the third seasons of Supergirl and Legends Of Tomorrow (both co-written with Daniel James Chan). These seasons featured the four-part crossover “Crisis On Earth-X,” where the heroes are pitted against an alternate universe where the Axis powers won World War II. All four titles are limited to 2,000 copies save for Arrow, which tops out at 3,000.

And there’s even more for sci-fi and comic fans from the label, too: Neely and Sherri Chung’s score to the second season of Riverdale (the teen-friendly, sci-fi adjacent adaptation of characters from Archie Comics), will be released 2,000 units strong – and a compilation of scores from the British-American anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams is added to the label’s core catalog, with works by Harry Gregson-Williams, Bear McCreary, Mark Isham and BT.

You can order them all at La-La Land’s official site now, and check out the full specs on the Superman set below!

Ken Thorne (from original material by John Williams), Superman II & III: Expanded Archival Collection (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1xxx, 2018 – original films released 1980 and 1983)

Disc 1: Superman II

1. Preface/Villains In The Zone/Main Title March
2. Superman To Paris/Lois Climbs Tower
3. Walkie Talkies/Gelignite Bangs/Superman Saves Lift
4. Lift Into Space – Releasing The Villains
5. Orange Juice/Prison Intro/My Little Black Box
6. Ursa Flies Over Moon/Spacecraft Wrecked/Moon To Earth
7. Lex Escapes
8. Sleeping Arrangements/Relaxing At Niagara/Looks Familiar/Superman Saves Boy
9. Lex and Miss Teschmacher To Fortress/Lex Plans Partnership
10. Suspecting Lois Takes The Plunge/Clark Fumbles Rescue/Villains Land By Lake
11. Clark Exposed As Superman
12. Sheriff and Duane Meet Villains/Lovers Fly North
13. Daddy’s Rise and Fall/Flight For Flowers/East Houston Battle
14. Lovers At Dinner Table/Zod Meets General
15. Mother’s Advice
16. To Bed – Mt. Rushmore – Sweet Dreams
17. President Kneels Before Zod
18. Fight In Diner
19. TV President Resigns – Clark To Fortress
20. Return Of The Green Crystal/Bored Zod
21. Non Wrecks Office
22. Aerial Battle/Zod Throws Slab/Superman Saves Spire
23. Superman Saves Petrol Tanker/Superman Battles Zod/Superman Flies Off

Disc 2: Superman II continued and source music from Superman (John Williams, 6-16), Superman II (Ken Thorne, 17-22) and Superman III (Ken Thorne, 23-25; various artists, 26-30)

1. Villains Take Lex and Lois To Fortress/School Games
2. Superman Pulls Big Switch/Superman Triumphs Over Villains
3. Sad Return
4. Lois Forgets
5. Happy Lois Back To Normal/Superman Replaces Stars and Stripes/End Title March
6. Can You Read My Mind (Instrumental No. 1)
7. Sunday Meeting *
8. Kansas High School
9. Kansas Kids
10. Late Night Country Music *
11. Luthor’s Luau
12. Lois’ Pad *
13. Desert Riff *
14. Lois Car Radio
15. Kids On The Bus *
16. Can You Read My Mind (Instrumental No. 2)
17. Honeymoon Hotel
18. Country & Western
19. East Houston Café
20. Car Radio For Ride Back
21. Diner Jukebox No. 1
22. Diner Jukebox No. 2
23. Colombian Storm Intro
24. Olympic Parade
25. Après Ski
26. Rock On – Marshall Crenshaw
27. No See, No Cry – Chaka Khan
28. They Won’t Get Me – Roger Miller
29. Love Theme – Helen St. John
30. Main Title March – Giorgio Moroder

Disc 3: Superman III

1. Main Title (The Streets Of Metropolis)
2. Gus On Computer After The Cents
3. Saving The Factory – The Acid Test
4. Payday For Gus/School Gym – Earth Angel/Vulcan
5. Lana and Clark In Cornfield/Clark Rescues Ricky
6. Gus Shows The Booze/Gus Finds a Way
7. Montage
8. Colombian Storm
9. Kryptonite/Gus Down Building/Searching For Kryptonite
10. Lana and Clark On Telephone/Kryptonite Sting/Superman Affected By Kryptonite/Superman Too Late
11. Tower Of Pisa/What Will It Do For Me
12. Superman and Lorelei On Statue/Superman Ruins Tanker
13. Boxes In Canyon/Drunken Superman
14. The Two Faces Of Superman
15. The Struggle Within
16. The Final Victory
17. Preparing Balloons/Superman Coming/Computer
18. Rockets/Video Games/Big Missile
19. Superman Confronts Ross/Computer Takes Over/Gus Fights Ross
20. The Computer Comes Alive/Superman Leaves Computer Cave
21. Metal Vera/Computer Blows Up
22. Gus Flying With Superman
23. Diamond Sting/Thank You Superman/Superman Gus/Clark Gives Lana Diamond Ring
24. End Credits

All tracks except * released on Superman: The Music 1978-1988 – Film Score Monthly FSMBOX2, 2008

• Portions of Disc 1, Track 1, 4, 6-7, 9-12, 15, 19 and 22 and Disc 2, Tracks 3, 5 and 17 first released as Warner Bros. Records HS 3505, 1980
• Disc 2, Tracks 11 and 16 first released on Superman: The Movie – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Warner Archives/Rhino R2 75874, 2000
• Disc 2, Tracks 26-30 and portions of Disc 3, Tracks 1, 3, 6, 14-15 and 24 first released as Warner Bros. Records 23879, 1983