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As part of what's probably the best example of the gift-you're-so-happy-to-have-never-received that keeps on giving phenomenon, visual effects artist Steve Johnson has unleashed via Facebook even more behind-the-scenes photographs and designs from the mercifully aborted Tim Burton film, Superman Lives. We spotlighted a great deal of the sadistically awful costume designs back in November, including some excessively creepy and unnecessarily anatomical mannequins modeled after would-be star Nicolas Cage, and you quite naturally wretched in terror while sighing in relief. The new images are similarly complex in nature, painting a grim picture of a reality that surely exists in some awful dimension where there is only war.

Check after the jump for more images and background on Superman Lives.

The latest batch of what could more accurately be called crime scene photos reveals in greater detail Burton's self-surpassingly grotesque approach to Superman, whose outfit was to reflect less the Man of Steel and more the Borg of Disco. Illustrations in Johnson's latest communique (can there be any doubt that this man is some kind of Hollywood insurgent? A one-man superhero Wikileaks? Should we send help?) include concepts for Doomsday, the best (read: laughably worst) of which depicts the prehistoric Kryptonian beast with a bunch of extra faces all over his body, like on his knees and shoulders, because that's much scarier than Nicolas Cage dressed up like Lady Gaga.

As we mentioned previously, the shocking wrongness of Superman Lives can be traced back to its earliest days in development, around when producer Jon Peters hired Kevin Smith to write the screenplay. Smith's earnest work was jettisoned when Burton and Cage became involved, and Smith went on to tell one of the best Hollywood stories ever in a filmed accounting of his time with the witless Peters. You can watch it at the bottom of the page here.

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