posted May 17, 2002 06:16 PM    

I would have to wait for the Steranko History of Comics (vol. 1) to get the behind the scenes story.

Google searching has not turned up any good sites for that Steranko book--none that have any quotes that I might copy onto this thread. So I'll have to do things the old fashioned way and transcribe passages from Steranko.

As a teenage boy reading Steranko's chapter on the Cleveland boys and their creation, "The Super Star," I felt an immediate sense of identification--

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On a sweltering summer night in 1933, Jerry Siegel lay in bed counting the cracks in the ceiling of his Cleveland, Ohio bedroom. The air was still and heavy. Clouds drifted past the moon. Up there was wind. If only I could fly. If only...and SUPERMAN was conceived, not in his entirety, but little by little throughout a long and sleepless night.

Siegel tells it this way, "I hop right out of bed and write this down, and then I go back and think some more for about two hours and get up again and write that down. This goes on all night at two-hour intervals, until in the morning I have a complete script."

Without stopping for breakfast he raced through the deserted dawn to awaken his friend Joe Shuster, 12 blocks away. Breathlessly, he explained the nature of his creation. Shuster was ecstatic. Without wasting a moment, they began developing the character in comic strip form. Both were 17 years old.

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posted May 17, 2002 06:39 PM    

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Initially, Superman was a variation of pulp heavyweight Doc Savage. The concept, and even the name Superman, could easily have been inspired by a Street & Smith advertisement that ran in the early 30's pulps. Comparison between Shuster's original Superman drawing and Doc's promotional ads bears marked similarities.

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(see the preliminary sketches shown on http://members.ttlc.net/~bobhughes/JOE_SHUSTER.htm http://members.ttlc.net/~bobhughes/JOE_SHUSTER.htm )

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Siegel's Superman concept embodied and amalgamated three separate and distinct themes: the visitor from another planet, the superhuman being and the dual identity. He composed the Superman charisma by exploiting all three elements, and all three contributed equally to the eventual success of the strip.

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(I'm almost tempted to put the above in bold since it serves my basic argument...)

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[Siegel's] inspiration, of course, came from the science fiction pulps.

The idea of a visitor from a world other than our own probably took its fictional bows in Voltaire's 1752 tale Micromegas. Since then, countless authors have employed the idea including H. G. Wells in War of the Worlds. More probably the thought came from John W. Campbell's AARN MUNRO stories about a descendant of earthmen raised on the planet Jupiter who, because of the planet's dense gravity, is a mental and physical superman on earth. Siegel used this man from another planet speculation to explain the reason for his protagonist's extraordinary physical development. The idea of Jor-El saving his only child by propelling him off the planet in a tiny rocket had its biblical counterpart in the parable of Moses and his concealment from the Pharaoh. The doomed planet Krypton exploding at the point of escape was a perfect dramatic touch that lent an epic quality as the first episode unfolded.

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posted May 17, 2002 06:49 PM    

Steranko then continues...

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Wylie's story was one of Siegel's favorites; he even reviewed it in his S-F fanzine . . .

The business of being a reporter and having an alter ego had been done dozens of times before. The only difference was that Superman was playing the role of Kent. Siegel's mythical blending of the three themes was inspirational.

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(should I put that in bold? I shall...)

"Siegel's mythical blending of the three themes was inspirational."

posted May 17, 2002 07:27 PM    

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Superman was a bold, bright figure displaying the three primary colors, red, yellow and blue, with poetic legitimacy. Not only would every costumed hero to follow be patterned after the Man of Steel's powers, but his costume would, of necessity, be some blend or synthesis of Superman's own.

Every other hero to follow acquired his or her title in some devious way. Not Superman. He was nobility among other super heroes. He was born a monarch. He never even found it necessary to wear a mask like the rest, another factor for his success.

Superman's creators came from similar backgrounds. Siegel's parents ran a men's furnishing store, barely making a living for their six children. The Shusters had it even tougher. Joe's father was a tailor and had four besides himself to feed. Joe worked at odd jobs. He learned to draw after winning a scholarship at the Cleveland School of Art and later at the John Huntington Art School where he paid for lessons a dime at a time.

Siegel and Shuster met in school and began collaborating in Science Fiction, a small mimeo fanzine. Siegel submitted stories to leading S-F pulps under the pseudonym of Bernard J. Kenton. Both boys were heavily influenced by the pulps. They "inspired me to devote myself to writing science fiction literature," Siegel confessed...

The secret of Superman's existence, of course, lies deep within the psyche of his creators. Described as "two small, shy, nervous, myopic lads," Siegel and Shuster made the Man of Steel everything they weren't: massive, confident, strong, handsome; a being with perfect reflexes and super vision. They were, in their own way, striking back at a world of bullies that had threatened, bruised and beaten them. No small measure of Superman's success can be attributed to their explicit tenacity for acting out their juvenile fantasies of swift justice against their persecutors.

From Plato's Republic to Opar to Kane's Xanadu, at every level, the human imagination has attempted to fashion something better for itself than the existing society, to establish a personal primacy in a world in which reality diminishes the individual. Nietsche said man is only a rope over an abyss, a rope between animal and Superman. The strip's appeal seemed to prove that out...

In a way, Superman was hung-up with a psychological handicap. He transcended it in the only way available. He became Clark Kent. He could have been king, emperor of the whole world or even leave it if he chose. But as Kent he looked and acted human, complete with human imperfections like eyeglasses. Eventually, he became more human than alien.

For a superman who was able to be whatever he wanted, he chose to be Kent, to be accepted as Kent. He became bored with the perfection of Superman, preferring instead the flaws of Kent. He knew that perfection is dull and insipid, that it is the flaws, the accidents, that are interesting, often exciting.

Superman could have been Superman all the time giving us more pages of solid muscle in each story if he chose to do so. Why the 9 to 5 job? Why the silly hat, glasses, suit and tie that stifled not only bravery but brains? Why put up with Perry White's badgering? Why tolerate Lois Lane's snide remarks? Either Superman was a masochist or there was more here than meets the eye.

Remote speculation? Not at all. His creators were ordinary people. Siegel, in fact, had difficulty getting through school. Whether by accident or intent, his creators tempered their vision of the super-being by endowing him with a common, all-too-human personality. The contrast lifted the strip from ordinary (after all, Mandrake could produce super-illusions and Buck Rogers could fly) to the remarkable.

Behind his morality play simplicity and big top displays of brawn was an inner core of truth that was Superman's real strength. Atlas and Hercules performed super-human feats. Why weren't they comic book headliners? Because they lacked a weakness with which we could identify. Clark Kent existed so that we might lock into that part of him in our own fantasies, hoping somehow that a superman lived inside us until the right moment came for him to emerge. Superman, in turn, used Kent to identify with us.

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posted May 18, 2002 07:02 PM    

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Harold R. Foster

(1892-1981)

Harold R. Foster was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on August 18, 1892. At 18 he earned money as a prize fighter and later he prospected for gold. He discovered a lode but had it taken away from him by a band of thieves, after which he abandoned the job. He rode a bicycle 1000 miles from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Chicago in 1921 to enroll in the Chicago Art Institute, later doing additional studies at the National Academy of Design & the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

He became an illustrator in the middle twenties doing magazine illustration as well as advertising posters. Some of his work at this time appeared on the covers of Popular Mechanics. While in Chicago, Foster also became an assistant to J. Allen St.John, one of the top illustrators of the time. St.John was the artist whose work was most closely associated with Edgar Rice Burrough's "Tarzan", and in 1928 when Joseph Neebe acquired the rights to produce a Tarzan comic strip, he went to St.John's studio to persuade him to draw the strip. St.John refused, but Neebe reportedly spotted Foster, who he had previously worked with and signed him to illustrate only the first episode in the first few months of 1929 at which point he went back to advertising illustration.

It is interesting to note that the first Tarzan daily strip appeared on the same day that Dick Calkin's first Buck Rogers daily strip appeared, January 7, 1929.
However, the Neebe office was not altogether happy with Foster's replacement (Rex Maxon) and in 1931 lured Foster back to draw the newly syndicated Sunday page Tarzan beginning in September 1931.

Foster's "Tarzan" was one of the most beautifully drawn strips and became an immediate smash. Foster's artistic style was copied by many at the time. But in 1936 he began to tire of illustrating the droll scripts he had to work with and his fertile imagination began to swirl with new ideas, so in February 1937 his "Prince Valiant" premiered.He was far enough ahead with his Tarzan pages that his last Tarzan did not appear until May 1, eleven weeks after Prince Valiant began to appear in the same papers.

Prince Valiant, along with Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon" were the premier adventure strips of their time and these two artists are responsible for inspiring generations of artists including Lou Fine, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Wayne Boring (who assisted Foster from 1966-69) and Mark Shultz among scores of others. His Prince Valiant is revered in the annals of comic art and his originals are highly prized works of art.
His virtuosity with pen and brush techniques made each page an amazing conglomeration of lines. His dry brush style was an inspiration to the young Alex Raymond before the first Flash Gordon page was a spark in Raymond's imagination. Foster's use of dialogue also took on a unique form. His text was not to explain the story as much as to compliment the artistic visuals. It is known that Foster took some sixty hours weekly to produce each Sunday episode (there was never a daily), and he never included a local that he had not personally visited for thematic accuracy.
In 1971 he drew his last Prince Valiant Sunday page, handing over the artistic chores to John Cullen Murphy. He had illustrated 1789 Prince Valiant pages. He made appearances at many comic book conventions and was a fan favorite for years. He died in 1981.

Site design by Sharkfire

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posted May 20, 2002 12:59 AM    

Yes... For me, Superman's originality lies in his bringing together of various elements that (unquestionably) already existed in popular fiction.

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It's not where you start from, it's where you end up.

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I agree. Superman very quickly evolved and became something far greater than the "sum" of his "elements".

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Forgive my mistakes on the italics...

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Where's that "edit" function we need? (grumble-grumble)

As I said a while back on the Archives board, I was given All In Color For A Dime when I was a young kid. It's a very important book to me, too. Still a favourite of mine. How many people has that little book influenced?

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I would have to wait for the Steranko History of Comics (vol. 1) to get the behind the scenes story.

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Question: Is that the book that is more like a magazine, large format but relatively thin? And is that the volume where Steranko includes actual excerpts from the Wylie novel? If so, I have that book. (It's buried somewhere in my closet.) I got it when I was about 17, and it's the reason I decided to vehemently track down Gladiator. (As it turned out, I couldn't find a copy in New Zealand, but I found a very old library copy years later in Australia.)

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"More probably the thought came from John W. Campbell's AARN MUNRO stories about a descendant of earthmen raised on the planet Jupiter who, because of the planet's dense gravity, is a mental and physical superman on earth."

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Isn't that striking? There's one of the Superman elements right there, for the taking!

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(should I put that in bold? I shall...)

"Siegel's mythical blending of the three themes was inspirational."

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It sure was!

posted May 20, 2002 01:48 PM    

But I think that we're talking about the same books here.

Anyone who has read the Roy Thomas Young All-Stars will recognize that Aarn Munro & Hugo Danner were reimagined by Thomas as a composite in the person of Iron Munro (who post-Crisis was supposed to take the place of Earth 2 Superman in the retcon golden age).

posted May 20, 2002 04:54 PM    

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But I think that we're talking about the same books here.

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We are. I just went to the double closet where I keep all my comic books, and did a bit of digging. I found the Steranko book plus a few other little gems I haven't looked through for years.

The Steranko History of Comics 1. 1970. Dedicated to Jack Kirby. A foreword by Federico Fellini. "The first in a projected series of six volumes."

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There were two volumes...

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I take it the last four volumes were never produced...?

Volume one is a great book. As with All In Color it gives the reader an injection of enthusiasm for the subject (not that we really need it).

It has a reprint of the 1934 Doc Savage: Superman advertisement, showing Doc complete with curling forelock! Yes, the excerpts from Gladiator I remembered are there; they inspired in me a determination to track down the novel. And I wasn't disappointed. Steranko includes the Pa Kent-type speech from the Wylie novel. (I think I mentioned that speech earlier in the thread.)

As Steranko says: "Gladiator... served as a blueprint for Siegel's character."

Steranko talks about Superman's "self-imposed psychological barrier." (That is, dressing up as Kent and pretending he's normal.) I love that line.

India, you've quoted quite a lot of the article, so I won't go on -- suffice it to say, this:

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Posted by India Ink
pre-1938--the Creation of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

1938-1948--the Development of Superman by Siegel and Shuster.

1948-1958--the Transition (or "Flux"), after the departure of Siegel and Shuster, as new ideas grew and changed, leading eventually to what we call the Weisinger Era (that era that is the prime concern of "Superman in the Sixties").

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gives us so much scope for enthusiastic discussion, it'll take us years to exhaust the topic (if that can be done at all).

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I also found another book, the same size as the Steranko one (about 10.5 x 14 inches), called the Official Metropolis Edition of the Amazing World of Superman. 1973. I think you have mentioned this book before, but I'm not sure. It opens with the Superman comic, "Superman in Superman Land." Next we have "How to draw Superman." Then a Superman Family portrait. Then a Krypton-Earth space chart. Then "How a Comic Magazine is Created" featuring Infantino, Schwartz, Bridwell, Milt Snapinn and other creators. Then the Superman comic, "The Origin of Superman." Then a giant colour fold-out map of Krypton. Then excerpts from the newspaper comics. Then a feature on Metropolis, Illinois and their enthusiasm for Superman (including a "Superman Day"). Then a feature on Superman villains. Then a feature about the secrets of Superman's fortress -- this is just a reprinted title sequence from a 70s comic book, which I think I've reviewed in the "Superman in the 70s" thread. Then an article on the Broadway musical. Then Superman's salute to N.A.S.A. Then important dates in Superman's life. Then "Superman's Mission for President Kennedy." Then "The Superboy Legend." Then a feature about the Super-costume. Then finally a Superman photo album with pictures from the TV show (George Reeves) and the movies.

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posted May 20, 2002 09:57 PM    

These books were important in my life. Each came like some great revelation, exposing secrets that seemed to belong to only a private mystery cult. My mind was fixated with every minute detail they disclosed.

I don't know if a newer generation can appreciate this fact. With a click of a mouse, a few letters tapped on a keyboard, any kid can find out secrets that I worked for years to discover (literally worked since the money I saved as a paperboy went toward buying these volumes--often through the mail, at an early age I learned about postal money orders). And maybe for this newer generation, because it's so easy to access this information there's not as much fun in it so they don't even bother to look for it.

The thing I half regret/half take pride in--is that I felt compelled to literally take these books apart. From the Metropolis Edition I removed the inset colour map of Krypton, and taped it up on my bedroom wall, along with my Beatles, Bee Gees, John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, Superman, Cheryl Tiegs, Lynda Carter, Batman, and Charlie's Angels posters. I can find lots of those other posters, but I haven't been able to find the map of Krypton.

And with Steranko Histories I took out the staples, took off the wrap around covers. I never actually taped these up on the wall, I don't think, but I kept them separate from the inside pages of both volumes.

And some of the books I ordered through the mail I continued to keep in their crush proof mailers, as a way of storing them, and as a result lots of these books are rather brown.

posted May 21, 2002 12:57 AM    

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Posted by India Ink:
I don't know if a newer generation can appreciate this fact. With a click of a mouse, a few letters tapped on a keyboard, any kid can find out secrets that I worked for years to discover (literally worked since the money I saved as a paperboy went toward buying these volumes--often through the mail, at an early age I learned about postal money orders). And maybe for this newer generation, because it's so easy to access this information there's not as much fun in it so they don't even bother to look for it.

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What you say is true, I would think.

I remember it being such hard work to track down and buy the comic books I wanted. At first I had to beg my father to buy a comic book I wanted; later I spent my pocket money (allowance) on them. But all the early stuff in my collection was hard-won. Does that give it more meaning? A new comic book, for me, was an occasion of great excitement. I was a solitary kid, and I grew up not really knowing anyone else who loved comic books, or Superman or Green Lantern or Spider-Man. So it was a pretty obscure interest at the time (in my country).

The books like All In Color and Steranko's History were very important to me, in that, they proved other people cared about this stuff too! And, like you, I devoured the details.

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The thing I half regret/half take pride in--is that I felt compelled to literally take these books apart.

....

And with Steranko Histories I took out the staples, took off the wrap around covers.

....

When I was in my teens I cut out some of the figures and decoupaged them onto my wooden chest that doubled as a comic box--along with lots (read hundreds) of other pics that I cut out from comic books and magazines.

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I would never, never, have cut anything out of a comic book, or undone a staple, or removed something from a book! How different we are on that score!

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From the Metropolis Edition I removed the inset colour map of Krypton, and taped it up on my bedroom wall, along with my Beatles, Bee Gees, John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, Superman, Cheryl Tiegs, Lynda Carter, Batman, and Charlie's Angels posters.

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My love of The Beatles was a few years away, and my only major claim on this era is I had a poster of Lee Majors on my wall. I surely did love Six Million Dollar Man when I was small. I was a bit too young to fully appreciate the charms of Cheryl or the Angels. I did like Wonder Woman, but a poster was out of the question. I think you may be a little older than me (I'm 34), but we're obviously of the same generation of fandom.

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I can find lots of those other posters, but I haven't been able to find the map of Krypton.

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The map of Krypton (from the centre pages) is a pretty crude affair, really. My copy is still stapled and intact, but folds out to about 21 x 28 inches in size. It has an "Old World Hemisphere" and a "New World Hemisphere". On the old side we have the Striped River; Erkol, oldest city on Krypton; Fungus Caverns; Boiling Sea; ruins of the ancient city of Xan; Mt. Mundru, highest peak on Krypton; Glass Forest; Jerat, the 'ghost city'; Vathlo Island; Antarctic City. On the new side we have Kandor, capital of Krypton till it was stolen by Braniac; Kryptonopolis, birthplace of Superman; Undersea Palace; Fort Rozz; Atomic Town; Jewel Mountains; Rainbow Canyon; Gold Volcano; Fire Falls; Scarlet Jungle; Meteor Valley; Argo City, Supergirl's birthplace; Bokos, independent island of thieves; Magnetic Mountain; Lost Valley of Juru (unexplored).

If you feel the map is something you need in your collection, let me know. I can try to get it photocopied, and I could post a copy to you.

posted May 21, 2002 12:20 PM    

A while back, on another forum, I asked about the projected six volumes of Steranko's History of Comics and I was provided with an answer--but I can't remember the explanation now. For some reason Steranko was prevented from getting the other volumes published, but they were in the works it seems.

I dimly recall what those volumes were supposed to contain. I'd hazard a guess that vol. 3 would have been about other publishers of the golden age--Fiction House for instance--maybe some funny animals, maybe MLJ. Then I'm sure that there was a plan to do EC, which would probably be in vol. 4. I believe volumes 5 & 6 would have dealt with the comics revival--what we call the "Silver Age," although in the mid-seventies I'm not sure Jim Steranko had a clear idea just what that was--there would have been a lot of inside info about Marvel, probably a really great interview with Jack Kirby. Whether Steranko would have approached DC, or the other publishers of the sixties, with the same level of detail I rather doubt.

posted May 22, 2002 02:00 AM    

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Posted by India Ink:
what we call the "Silver Age," although in the mid-seventies I'm not sure Jim Steranko had a clear idea just what that was

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In The Steranko History of Comics 1, there is a great paragraph in the "Playboy Hero" section, on page 47. Steranko talks about Jerry Robinson, circa 1939-1940, during The Batman's formative period, and Robinson's sharing of an apartment with other comic book creators of the time -- the apartment was a hangout for comic men. "Frequently a half dozen artists and writers like Charles Biro, Bob Wood [India, who is this? The only Wood I know is Wally], Mort Meskin and Whit Ellsworth would congregate there to finish a few pages and discuss storytelling techniques or what the competition was doing [India, who were the "competition" in 1939?]. Steranko then goes on with this great paragraph:

posted May 22, 2002 02:47 AM    

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Comic pages were tacked up everywhere. Walls were floor-to-ceiling comic murals. Even the old radio which kept them in touch with the world was covered with so many sketches only the knobs could be seen. The two sofas in the room slept whoever got to them first. The clan ate from tiles peeled from the bathroom walls. If they found the going tough, no one mentioned it. They were too busy creating comics "golden age."

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posted May 23, 2002 04:43 PM    

At a swap meet about a month ago, as I was looking through a box of sixties Action, a young women came running over to her boyfriend (who was standing next to me, looking through another box) and she was showing him this ragged copy of a golden age Daredevil comic--with the Little Wise Guys. She was wondering who this Charles Biro was, this guy who did such great facial characterizations, never having heard of him--nor had her boyfriend. Ever the introvert, I didn't interject, but I was stunned to think that anyone (anyone with a serious interest in comics) would not know who Charles Biro was!

posted May 25, 2002 06:21 PM    

I really miss the kid gangs.

posted June 06, 2002 06:04 PM    

I just wanted to cut and paste this bit that I found on a geocities homepage, as it mentions both Gaines and Lev Gleason. These two guys seem to have travelled around a lot pushing the comics medium in new directions...

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Funnies on Parade

BEFORE 1933, COMIC BOOKS as we know them today didn't exist. The newspapers were where most of today's great comic writers and artists would have had to publish their work if they wanted to get into the business. Of course, back then comic strips were more detailed -- and a lot more highly regarded -- than they are today. Once the syndicates realized how popular their strips were, they published hardcover and softcover collections of the black-and-white daily strips and the color Sunday comics.

In 1933, those reprint books would become the inspiration for an interesting experiment. Three men at the Eastern Color Printing Company in Connecticut -- Harry Wildenberg, M.C. Gaines, and Leverett Gleason -- were amazed by the full-colour comics that rolled off their presses, especially their ability to increase the sales of newspapers in which they appeared. They figured that the brightly colored pieces of paper could also sell other products, if they were marketed in the right way. Then, according to legend, Wildenberg was playing with a sheet of newspaper one day, and discovered that a standard sheet could be trimmed to produce 16 pages. Even better, they found the comics of the day could be shrunk to fit without losing their readability.

Wildenberg made an arrangement with the McNaught and McClure Syndicate for permission to reprint some of its popular strips, and Gaines lined up Proctor & Gamble as a sponsor. The idea was simple: Consumers would clip coupons off their favourite P&G products and then send them in to receive a comic book in the mail.

The promotion was a success, and other manufacturers were soon sold on the idea. The comic book, at least as a promotional item, was born.

The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

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I'll have more to say on these fellows at a later date.

posted June 07, 2002 12:18 AM    

When I suggested that Charles Biro and Bob Wood had a loose partnership I was in error, in that they had a real official partnership indeed--more on the level of a Simon and Kirby or Andru and Esposito.

Gleason began publishing Silver Streak Comics with Arthur Bernhardt in the early forties--under the name of Rhoda Publications. The notable feature in this comic was "The Claw" created by Jack Cole (an extreme Fu Manchu type villain). Many different heroes went up against the Claw. With the Daredevil finally taking on the villain. The Daredevil then became so popular that he pushed out the Claw. And when Biro was doing Daredevil Comics, the Little Wise Guys virtually edged the Daredevil out of his own book.

Rhoda went through some name changes and Lev Gleason eventually bought out Bernhardt, becoming the sole publisher of what was then called Comic House, Inc. In the mid-forties the Gleason comics had his name right on the cover. On the covers of Daredevil, Boy Comics, & Crime Does Not Pay, Lev Gleason was listed as Publisher, while Charles Biro and Bob Wood were listed as Editors (apparently they co-edited everything).

posted June 07, 2002 06:18 PM    

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Originally posted by India Ink:
Another important figure we have to discuss is M. C. Gaines who plays a many and varied part in the early history of Superman.

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posted June 18, 2002 08:04 PM       

“Three Supermen From Krypton” from Superman #65 (Jul/Aug 1950) – 1st appearance of Kryptonian villains

“Superman's Super-Magic Show” from Action #151 (Dec. 1950) – featuring the Prankster, Luthor, and Mr. Mxyztplk

“Citadel of Doom” from Superman #79 (Nov/Dec 1952) – battle with Luthor

“Superman's Big Brother” from Superman #80 (Jan/Feb 1953) - Mon-El prototype?

“The Menace from the Stars” from World’s Finest #68 (Jan/Feb 1954)

“The Girl Who Didn’t Believe In Superman” from Superman #96 (Mar 1955) – Superman tries to convince a blind girl of his existence.

“The Super-Dog From Krypton” from Adventure #210 (Mar 1955) – 1st Krypto

“The New Team of Superman and Robin” from World’s Finest #75 (Mar/Apr 1955) – Robin must sub for an injured Batman.

“Superboy’s Last Day In Smallville” from Superman #97 (May 1955)

“The Six Jimmy Olsens” from Jimmy Olsen #13 (June 1956)

“Mrs. Superman” from Showcase #9 (Jul/Aug 1957) – quasi-imaginary story featuring what a Superman/Lois marriage might be like.

“The Super-Duel In Space” from Action #242 (Jul 1958) – 1st appearance of Brainiac and Kandor.

“Titano the Super-Ape” from Superman #127 (Feb 1959)

“The Ugly Superman” from Lois Lane #8 (Apr 1959) – Lois dates a wrestler with the moniker of “Ugly Superman”!!

"The Supergirl From Krypton" from Action #252 (May 1959) – 1st Supergirl

“The Battle With Bizarro” from Action #254 (Jul 1959) – 1st time the adult Superman encounters Bizarro.

“The Bride of Bizarro” from Action #255 (Aug 1959) – 2nd part of 2-part Bizarro story introducing Bizarro-Lois

The 1st Fortress story, "The Super-Key to Fort Superman" and the 1st Lori Lemaris story are not here, but they have also been reprinted on numerous occasions, most recently in the Superman Annual replica from a few years back.

posted June 19, 2002 03:56 PM    

I also think it's "cheating" to include the WORLD'S FINEST story with Robin in a solo Superman collection, especially since it will be reprinted in a World's Finest Archive edition long before any of the Fifties' other Superman stories will be reprinted in Superman archives.

posted June 19, 2002 07:54 PM       

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Originally posted by Continental Op:

I also think it's "cheating" to include the WORLD'S FINEST story with Robin in a solo Superman collection, especially since it will be reprinted in a World's Finest Archive edition long before any of the Fifties' other Superman stories will be reprinted in Superman archives.

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