By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring & the Shuster Shop (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-190-8
In comic book terms at least Superman was master of the world, and had already utterly changed the shape of the fledgling industry by the time of these tales. There was a popular newspaper strip, foreign and overseas syndication and the Fleischer studio was producing some of the most expensive – and best – animated cartoons ever conceived. Thankfully the quality of the source material was increasing with every four-colour release, and the energy and enthusiasm of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had infected the burgeoning studio that grew around them to cope with the relentless demand.
This sixth collection of the Man of Steel’s enthralling adventures – represented in the order they were originally released – takes us from summer to autumn 1941 via his appearances in Action Comics #37-40, the bi-monthly Superman #10-11 and his first two tales in the quarterly World’s Finest Comics #2-3. As always every comic appearance is preceded by the original cover illustration, another fine bunch of graphic masterpieces from Paul Cassidy and Fred Ray.
This volume all the stories are scripted by Siegel, (although like most stories of the time there were no original titles and these have been concocted simply to make my job a little easier…) and first up are four cracking yarns from Superman #10 (May/June 1941) ‘The Invisible Luthor’ (illustrated by Leo Nowak), ‘The Talent Agency Fraud’ (ditto), ‘The Spy Ring of Righab Bey’ and ‘The Dukalia Spy Ring’ (both by Wayne Boring & the shop), topical and exotic themes of suspense as America was still at this time still officially neutral in the “European war.â€
Action Comics #37 (June 1941) returned to tales of graft, crime and social injustice in ‘Commissioner Kent’ (with art by Cassidy) as the timid alter-ego of the Man of Steel is forced to run for the job of top cop in Metropolis, and from World’s Finest Comics #2 (Summer 1941) comes Nowak & Cassidy’s ‘The Unknown X’, a fast-paced mystery of sinister murder-masterminds, whilst Action #38 provides ‘Radio Control’ (Nowak & Ed DoBrotka), a spectacular battle against a sinister hypnotist.
Superman #11 (July/August 1941) was an all Nowak affair, beginning with ‘Zimba’s Gold Badge Terrorists’, as thinly disguised Nazis “Blitzkrieg†America, “giant animals†go on a rampage in ‘The Corinthville Caper’, seeking a cure for ‘The Yellow Plague’ takes Superman to the ends of the Earth and ‘The Plot of Count Bergac’ finds him back home crushing High Society gangsters.
Horrific mad science was behind ‘The Radioactive Man’ (Action #39, by Nowak and the shop) whilst issue #40 featured John Sikela’s ‘The Billionaire’s Daughter’ wherein the mighty Man of Tomorrow needed all his wits to set straight a spoiled debutante, and this volume ends with ‘The Case of the Death Express’ a tense thriller about train-wreckers illustrated by Nowak from the Fall issue of World’s Finest Comics (#3).
Stories of corruption and social injustice gradually gave way to more spectacular fare, and with war in the news and clearly on the horizon, the tone and content of Superman’s adventures changed too: the scale and scope of the stunts became more important than the motive. The raw passion and sly wit still shone through in Siegel’s stories but as the world grew more dangerous the Man of Tomorrow simply had to become stronger and more flamboyant to deal with it all, and Shuster and his team stretched and expanded the iconography that all others would follow.
These Golden Age tales are priceless enjoyment at an absurdly affordable price. How can you possibly resist them?
© 1941, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.