Category: Superman

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Showcase Presents Superman volume 3


By Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Bill Finger, Jerry Coleman, Wayne Boring, Al Plastino, Curt Swan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1271-1

Superman has proven to be all things to all fans over his decades of existence, and with the character currently undergoing another radical overhaul, these timeless tales of charm and joy and wholesome wit are more necessary than ever: not just as a reminder of great tales of the past but as an all-ages primer of the wonders still to come…

At the time these tales were first published The Man of Tomorrow was enjoying a youthful swell of revived interest. Television cartoons, a rampant merchandising wave thanks to the Batman-led boom in “camp” Superheroes generally, highly efficient global licensing and even a Broadway musical: all worked to keep the Last Son of Krypton a vibrant icon of modern, Space-Age America.

Although we might think of Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s iconic invention as the epitome of comicbook creation the truth is that soon after his launch in Action Comics #1 Superman became a multimedia star and far more people have enjoyed the Man of Steel than have ever read him and yes, that does include the globally syndicated newspaper strip.

By the time his 20th anniversary rolled around he had been a regular on radio, starred in a series of astounding animated cartoons and two movies and just ended his first smash live-action television serial. In his future were three more (Superboy, Lois & Clark and Smallville), a stage musical, a franchise of stellar movies and an almost seamless succession of TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since. Even Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

It’s no wonder then that the tales from this Silver Age period should be so draped in the wholesome trappings of Tinseltown – even more so than most of celebrity-obsessed America. It didn’t hurt that editor Whitney Ellsworth was a part-time screenwriter, script editor and producer as well as National/DC’s Hollywood point man. His publishing assistant Mort Weisinger, a key factor in the vast expansion of the Kryptonian mythos, also had strong ties to the cinema and television industry, beginning in 1955 when he became story-editor for the blockbusting Adventures of Superman TV show.

This third magnificent monochrome chronicle collects the contents of Action Comics #276-292, Superman #146-156 and excerpts from Superman Annuals #3-5, spanning May 1961 to October 1962; taking its content from the early 1960’s canon (when the book’s target audience would have been little kids themselves) yet showcasing a rather more sophisticated set of tales than you might expect…

The wide-eyed wonderment commences with ‘The War Between Supergirl and the Superman Emergency Squad’ by Robert Bernstein, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye from Action #276, wherein Superman is conned into revealing his secret identity and has to resort to incredible measures to make the swindler disbelieve his eyes, after which #277 presented ‘The Conquest of Superman’ (Bill Finger, Curt Swan & John Forte); another brilliantly brooding duel against super-scientist Lex Luthor.

Superman #146 (July 1961) offered ‘The Story of Superman’s Life’ which related more secrets and recapitulated Clark Kent’s early days in a captivating résumé covering all the basics: death of Krypton, rocket-ride to Earth, early life as Superboy, death of the Kents and moving to Metropolis, all by Otto Binder & Al Plastino, by Al Plastino, whilst the closing ‘Superman’s Greatest Feats’ (Jerry Siegel & Plastino) saw the Man of Tomorrow travel into Earth’s past and seemingly succeed in preventing such tragedies as the sinking of Atlantis, slaughter of Christians in Imperial Rome, the deaths of Nathan Hale, Abraham Lincoln and Custer and even the death of Krypton’s population. Of course it was too good to be true…

Action #278 featured ‘The Super Powers of Perry White’ (Jerry Coleman, Swan & Kaye) with the senescent editor suddenly gaining super-powers and an inexplicable urge to conquer the world whilst in Superman #147 ‘The Great Mento!’, by Bernstein & Plastino, a mysterious mind-reader threatened to expose the hero’s secret identity. ‘Krypto Battles Titano’ (Siegel & Plastino) found the wandering Dog of Steel voyaging back to the Age of Dinosaurs to play and inadvertently save humanity from alien invasion alongside the Kryptonite mutated giant ape. The issue closed with ‘The Legion of Super Villains’ (by Siegel, Swan & Sheldon Moldoff) a landmark adventure and stand-out thriller featuring Lex Luthor and the adult Legion of Super-Heroes overcoming certain death with valour and ingenuity.

This was followed by Swan’s iconic cover for Superman Annual #3 (August 1961), the uncredited picture-feature Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude and the superb back-cover pin-up of the Metropolis Marvel.

The author of Action #279’s Imaginary Story ‘The Super Rivals’ is regrettably unknown but John Forte’s sleekly comfortable art happily illustrates the wild occurrence of historical heroes Samson and Hercules being brought to the 20th century by Superman to marry Lois Lane and Lana Lang, thereby keeping them out of his hair, whilst in #280 ‘Brainiac’s Super Revenge’ (Siegel, Swan & Kaye) returned that time-lost villain to our era and saw him attack the Man of Steel’s friends, only to be foiled by a guest-starring Congorilla (veteran Action hero Congo Bill who could trade consciousness with a giant Golden Gorilla)…

Imaginary Stories were conceived as a way of exploring non-continuity plots and scenarios devised at a time when editors believed that entertainment trumped consistency and knew that every comic read was somebody’s first

When Editor Mort Weisinger was expanding the Superman continuity and building the legend he knew that the each new tale was an event that added to a nigh-sacred canon: that what was written and drawn mattered to the readers. But as an ideas man he wasn’t going to let that aggregated “history” stifle a good plot situation, nor would he allow his eager yet sophisticated audience to endure clichéd deus ex machina cop-outs to mar the sheer enjoyment of a captivating concept.

The mantra known to every fan was “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not a Robot!” boldly emblazoned on covers depicting scenes that couldn’t possibly be true… even if it was only a comic book.

Superman #148 opened with ‘The 20th Century Achilles’ by Edmond Hamilton, Swan & Moldoff, wherein a cunning crook devised a way to make himself immune to harm, after which ‘Mr. Mxyzptlk’s Super Mischief’ (Siegel, Swan & Moldoff) once again found the 5th dimensional pest using his magic to cause irritation after legally changing his name to something even easier to pronounce whilst the delightfully devilish ‘Superman Owes a Billion Dollars!’ written by Bernstein, saw the Caped Kryptonian face his greatest foe – a Revenue agent who diligently discovered that the hero had never paid a penny of tax in his life…

Action Comics #281 featured ‘The Man Who Saved Kal-El’s Life!’ (Bernstein & Plastino), which related the story of a humble Earth scientist who had visited Krypton and cured baby Kal-El, all wrapped up in a gripping duel with a modern crook who was able to avoid Superman’s every effort to hold him, whilst in Superman #149 ‘Lex Luthor, Hero!’, ‘Luthor’s Super-Bodyguard’ and ‘The Death of Superman’ by Siegel, Swan & Moldoff formed a brilliant extended Imaginary saga which described the insidious inventor’s ultimate victory over the Man of Steel.

Back in “real” continuity Action #282 revealed ‘Superman’s Toughest Day’ (Bill Finger & Plastino) as Clark Kent’s vacation only revealed how his alter ego never really took it easy, whilst #283 and ‘The Red Kryptonite Menace’ (Bernstein, Swan & Kaye) saw a brace of Chameleon Men from the 30th century afflict the Action Ace with incredible new powers and disabilities after exposing him to a variety of crimson K chunks.

Superman #150 opened with ‘The One Minute of Doom’ by Siegel & Plastino, which disclosed how all the survivors of Krypton – even Super-dog – commemorated the planet’s destruction, after which Bernstein & Kurt Schaffenberger’s ‘The Duel over Superman’ finally saw Lois and Lana teach the patronising Man of Tomorrow a deserved lesson about his smug masculine complacency, before Siegel, Swan & Kaye baffled readers and Action Ace alike ‘When the World Forgot Superman’ in a clever and beguiling mystery yarn

From Superman Annual #4 (January 1962) comes the stunning cover and The Origin and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes by Swan & George Klein after which Action #284 featured ‘The Babe of Steel’ (Bernstein, Swan & Klein) wherein Superman endured humiliation and frustration after deliberately turning himself into a toddler – but there was a deadly and vital purpose to the temporary transformation…

Superman #151 opened with the salutary story of ‘The Three Tough Teen-Agers!’ (Siegel & Plastino) wherein the hero set a trio of delinquents back on the right path, after which Bernstein, Swan & Klein’s ‘The Man Who Trained Supermen’ saw Clark Kent expose a crooked sports trainer and ‘Superman’s Greatest Secret!’ was almost revealed after battling a fire-breathing dragon which survived Krypton’s doom in a stirring tale by Siegel, Swan & Klein: probably one of the best secret identity-saving stories of the period…

Since landing on Earth, Supergirl’s existence had been a closely guarded secret, allowing her time to master her formidable abilities, which were presented to the readership monthly as a back up feature in Action Comics. However with #285 ‘The World’s Greatest Heroine!‘ finally went public in the Superman lead spot after which the Girl of Steel defeated ‘The Infinite Monster’ in her own strip, as Supergirl became the darling of the universe: openly saving the planet and finally getting the credit for it in a stirring brace of tales by Siegel & Jim Mooney.

Action #286 offered the Superman saga ‘The Jury of Super-Enemies’ (Bernstein, Swan Klein) as the Superman Revenge Squad  inflicts Red K hallucinations on the Man of Steel which torment him with visions of Luthor, Brainiac, the Legion of Super-Villains and other evil adversaries. The epic continued in Action #287, but before that Superman #152 appeared, offering a surprising battle against ‘The Robot Master’ (Siegel, Swan & Klein), the charmingly outrageous ‘Superbaby Captures the Pumpkin Gang!’ by Leo Dorfman, George Papp and ‘The TV Trap for Superman!’ a devious crime caper by Finger & Plastino which saw the hero unwittingly wired for sound and vision by a sneaky conman…

The Revenge Squad thriller then concluded in #287’s ‘Perry White’s Manhunt for Superman!’ (Bernstein, Swan & Klein) as an increasingly deluded Man of Steel battled his worst nightmares and struggled to save Earth from a genuine alien invasion.

‘The Day Superman Broke the Law!’, by Finger & Plastino, opened Superman #153 as a wily embezzler entangled the Metropolis Marvel in small-town red tape after which ‘The Secret of the Superman Stamp’ (Edmond Hamilton, Swan & Klein) saw a proposed honour for good works turned into a serious threat to the hero’s secret identity, whilst ‘The Town of Supermen’ by Siegel & Forte found the Man of Tomorrow in a western ghost town facing a deadly showdown against ten Kryptonian criminals freshly escaped from the Phantom Zone…

The growing power of the silver screen informed ‘The Man Who Exposed Superman’ (Action #288 by an unknown writer and artists Swan & Klein) when a vengeful convict originally imprisoned by Superboy attempted to expose the hero’s identity by blackmailing him on live television whilst ‘The Super-Practical Joker!’ (in #289 by Dorfman & Plastino) saw Perry White forced to hire obnoxious trust-fund brat Dexter Willis, a spoiled kid whose obsessive stunts almost exposed Superman’s day job.

‘The Underwater Pranks of Mr. Mxyzptlk’ by Hamilton, Swan & Klein led in Superman #154 as the insane sprite returned, determined to cause grief and stay for good by only working his jest whilst submerged, after which ‘Krypton’s First Superman’ (Siegel, Swan & Klein) revealed a hidden tale of baby Kal-El on the doomed world which had unsuspected psychological effects on the full-grown hero. This is followed by an example of the many public service announcements which ran in all DC’s 1960’s titles. ‘Superman Says be a Good Citizen’ was probably written by Jack Schiff and illustrated by Sheldon Moldoff.

Exposure to a Red Kryptonite comet in Action #290 led to the hero becoming ‘Half a Superman!’ in another sadly uncredited story illustrated by Swan & Klein after which

Superman Annual #5 (July 1962) offers another stunning cover and displays the planetary Flag of Krypton, whilst Superman #155 featured the two-chapter ‘Superman Under the Green Sun’ and ‘The Blind Superman’ by Finger, Wayne Boring & Kaye, as the Man of Steel was trapped on a totalitarian world where his powers were negated and he was blinded as part of the dictator’s policy to keep the populace helpless. However, even sightless, nothing could stop the hero from leading the people to victory. As if that wasn’t enough Siegel, Swan & Klein then offered the showbiz thriller ‘The Downfall of Superman!’ with a famous wrestler seemingly able to defeat the Action Ace – with a little help from some astounding guest-stars…

‘The New Superman!’ by Bernstein & Plastino (Action #291) wherein the Metropolis Marvel lost his deadly susceptibility to Kryptonite, only to have it replaced by aversions to far more commonplace minerals, whilst #292 revealed ‘When Superman Defended his Arch Enemy!’ – an anonymous thriller illustrated by Plastino – which saw the hero save Luthor from his just deserts after “murdering” alien robots

This grand excursion into comics nostalgia ends with one of the greatest Superman stories of the decade. Issue #156, October 1962, featured the novel-length saga ‘The Last Days of Superman’ by Hamilton, Swan & Klein which began with ‘Superman’s Death Sentence’ as the hero contracted the deadly Kryptonian Virus X and fell into a swift and painful decline. Confined to an isolation booth, he was visited by ‘The Super-Comrades of All Times!’ who attempted to cure and swore to carry on his noble works until a last-minute solution was discovered on ‘Superman’s Last Day of Life!’ This tense and terrifying thriller employed the entire vast and extended supporting cast that had evolved around the most popular comicbook character in the world and still enthrals and excites in a way few stories ever have…

As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling, mind-boggling and yes, occasionally deeply moving all-ages stories also perfectly depict the changing mores and tastes which reshaped comics between the safely anodyne 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more”.

I know I certainly do…
© 1961, 1962, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 3


By Jim Shooter, E. Nelson Bridwell, Otto Binder, Curt Swan, George Klein, Pete Costanza, Jim Mooney & George Papp (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2185-0

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten over and over again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This sturdy, action packed third monochrome compendium gathers a chronological parade of futuristic delights from October 1966 to May 1968, originally seen in Adventure Comics #349-368, and includes a Legion-featuring story from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #106 (October 1967).

During this period the Club of Champions finally shed the last vestiges of wholesome, imaginative, humorous and generally safe science fiction strips to become a full-on dramatic action feature starring a grittily realistic combat force in constant, galaxy-threatening peril: a compelling force of valiant warriors ready and willing to pay the ultimate price for their courage and dedication…

The main architect of the transformation was teenaged sensation Jim Shooter, whose scripts and layouts (usually finished and inked by veterans Curt Swan & George Klein) made the series accessible to a generation of fans growing up in the Future…

The tense suspense begins with Adventure Comics #349’s ‘The Rogue Legionnaire!’ (Shooter, Swan & Klein) wherein Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet, Chameleon Boy and Brainiac 5 hunted hypnotic villain Universo through five periods of Earth’s history, aided by boy-genius Rond Vidar, a brilliant scientist with a tragic secret…

This is followed by a stellar two-parter from #350-351 scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell which restored a number of invalided and expelled members to the team. In ‘The Outcast Super-Heroes’, a cloud of Green Kryptonite particles enveloped Earth and forced Superboy and Supergirl to retire from the Legion just as demonic alien Evillo unleashed his squad of deadly metahuman minions on the universe.

The Kryptonian Cousins were mind-wiped and replaced by armoured and masked paladins Sir Prize and Miss Terious in ‘The Forgotten Legion!’ but quickly returned when a solution to the K Cloud was found.

On Evillo’s eventual defeat, the team discovered that the wicked overlord had healed the one-armed Lightning Lad and restored Bouncing Boy‘s power for his own nefarious purposes, and together with the reformed White Witch and rehabilitated Star Boy and Dream Girl the Legion’s ranks and might swelled to bursting.

That was a very good thing as the next issue saw Shooter, Swan & Klein produce one of their most stunning epics. When a colossal cosmic entity known as the Sun Eater menaced the United Planets, the Legion were hopelessly outmatched and forced to recruit the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals to help save civilisation.

However The Persuader, Emerald Empress, Mano, Tharok and Validus were untrustworthy allies at best and formed an alliance as ‘The Fatal Five!’ intending to save the galaxy only so that they could rule it…

Adventure #353 revealed how the Five seemingly sealed their own fate through arrogance and treachery and the cost of heroism was paid when ‘The Doomed Legionnaire!’ sacrificed his life to destroy the solar parasite…

Issue #354 introduced ‘The Adult Legion!’ when Superman travelled into the future to visit his grown-up comrades – discovering tantalising hints of events that would torment and beguile LSH fans for decades – before the yarn concluded with #355’s ‘The War of the Legions!’ as Brainiac 5, Cosmic Man, Element Man, Polar Man, Saturn Woman and Timber Wolf, accompanied by the most unexpected allies of all, battled the Legion of Super-Villains.

This issue also included an extra tale in ‘The Six-Legged Legionnaire!’ (by Otto Binder, Swan & Klein) wherein Superboy brought his High School sweetie Lana Lang to the 30th century, where she joined in a mission against a science-tyrant as the shape-shifting Insect Queen. Disaster soon struck though when the alien ring which facilitated her changes was lost, trapping her in a hideous bug-body…

In issue #356 Dream Girl, Mon-El, Element Lad, Brainiac 5 and Superboy were transformed into babies and became ‘The Five Legion Orphans!’: a cheeky and cunning Bridwell scripted mystery.

The repercussions and guilt of the Sun-Eater episode were explored when the survivors of that mission were apparently haunted by ‘The Ghost of Ferro Lad!’ (#357 by Shooter, Swan & Klein) whilst ‘The Hunter!’ (Shooter & George Papp) saw the heroes stalked by an insane and murderous sportsman with a unique honour code.

Adventure #359 found the once-beloved champions disbanded and on the run as ‘The Outlawed Legionnaires!’ (Shooter, Swan & Klein) thanks to the manipulations of a devious old foe, only to rousingly regroup and counter-attack in #360’s ‘The Legion Chain Gang!’

Once again a key component of United Planets Security in ‘The Unkillables!’, the superhero squad were then assigned to protect alien ambassadors the Dominators from political agitators, assassins and a hidden traitor in a tense thriller illustrated by Jim Mooney, after which ‘The Lone Wolf Legion Reporter!’ (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #106, October 1967, by Shooter & Pete Costanza) found the young newsman seconded to the 30th century to help with the club newspaper. Sadly he was far better at making news than publishing it…

Adventure Comics #362 found the team scattered across three worlds as mad scientist Mantis Morlo refused to let environmental safety interfere with his experiments in ‘The Chemoids are Coming!’, resulting in a lethally ‘Black Day for the Legion!’…

Shooter & Costanza then topped their gripping two-parter by uncovering ‘The Revolt of the Super-Pets!’ in #364, when the crafty rulers of planet Thanl attempted to seduce the animal adventurers from their rightful – subordinate – positions with sweet words and palatial new homes…

When the isolated world of Talok 8 went dark and became a militaristic threat to the UP, their planetary champion Shadow Lass led Superboy, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy and Karate Kid on a reconnaissance mission which resulted in the disastrous ‘Escape of the Fatal Five!’ (illustrated by Swan & Klein).

The quintet then almost conquered the UP itself and were only frustrated by the defiant, last ditch efforts of the battered heroes in the blistering conclusion ‘The Fight for the Championship of the Universe!’

In grateful thanks the Legion were gifted with a vast new HQ but before the paint was even dry a vast paramilitary force attempted to invade the slowly reconstructing planet Earth in #367’s ‘No Escape from the Circle of Death!’ (Shooter, Swan, Klein & Sheldon Moldoff), after which this volume ends on a note of political and social tension when a glamorous alien envoy attempted to suborn the downtrodden female Legionnaires in #368’s ‘The Mutiny of the Super-Heroines!’

The Legion is unquestionably one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in comicbook history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became American Comics Fandom.

Moreover, these scintillating and seductively addictive stories – as much as Julie Schwartz’s Justice League – fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and underpinned the industry we all know today.

If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents World’s Finest volume 3


By Edmond Hamilton, Cary Bates, Jim Shooter, Leo Dorfman, Bill Finger, Curt Swan, George Klein, Sheldon Moldoff, & Al Plastino (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-585-2

For decades Superman and Batman were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest” team. They were friends as well as colleagues, and the pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

This third magnificent monochrome compendium gathers their cataclysmic collaborations from the glory days of the mid 1960’s (World’s Finest Comics #146-173, with the exception of reprint 80-Page Giant issues #161 and 170, covering December 1964 to February 1968): a period when the entire Free World went superhero gaga in response to the Batman live action and Superman animated TV shows…

A new era had already begun in World’s Finest Comics #141 when author Edmond Hamilton and artists Curt Swan & George Klein (who illustrated the bulk of the tales in this tome) ushered in a more dramatic, realistic and far less whimsical tone, and that titanic creative trio continued their rationalist run in this volume with #146’s ‘Batman, Son of Krypton!’ wherein uncovered evidence from the Bottle City of Kandor and bizarre recovered memories seemed to indicate that the Caped Crusader was in fact a de-powered, amnesiac Kryptonian. Moreover, as the heroes dug deeper Superman thought he had found the Earthman responsible for his homeworld’s destruction and became crazed with a hunger for vengeance…

Issue #147’s saw the sidekicks step up in a stirring blend of science fiction thriller and crime caper, all masquerading as an engaging drama of youth-in-revolt when ‘The New Terrific Team!’ (February 1965 Hamilton, Swan & Klein) saw Jimmy Olsen and Robin quit their underappreciated assistant roles to strike out on their disgruntled own. Naturally there was a perfectly rational, if incredible, reason…

In #148 ‘Superman and Batman – Outlaws!’ (with Sheldon Moldoff temporarily replacing Klein) saw the Cape and Cowl Crimebusters transported to another dimension where arch-villains Lex Luthor and Clayface were heroes and Dark Knight and Action Ace the ruthless hunted criminals, after which World’s Finest Comics #149 (May 1965 and also inked by Moldoff) ‘The Game of Secret Identities!’ found Superman locked into an increasingly obsessive battle of wits with Batman that seemed likely to break up the partnership and even lead to violent disaster…

‘The Super-Gamble with Doom!’ in #150 introduced manipulative alien’s Rokk and Sorban whose addictive and staggeringly spectacular wagering almost got Batman killed and Earth destroyed, whilst ‘The Infinite Evolutions of Batman and Superman!’ in #151 introduced young writer Cary Bates, who paired with Hamilton to produce a beguiling science fiction thriller with the Gotham Guardian transformed into a callous future-man and the Metropolis Marvel reduced to a savage Neanderthal….

Hamilton solo-scripted #152’s ‘The Colossal Kids!’ wherein a brace of impossibly powered brats outmatched outdid but never outwitted Batman or Superman – and of course there were old antagonists behind the challenging campaign of humiliation – after which Bates rejoined his writing mentor for a taut and dramatic “Imaginary Story” in #153.

When Editor Mort Weisinger was expanding the Superman continuity and building the legend he knew that the each new tale was an event that added to a nigh-sacred canon: that what was written and drawn mattered to the readers. But as an ideas man he wasn’t going to let that aggregated “history” stifle a good idea, nor would he allow his eager yet sophisticated audience to endure clichéd deus ex machina cop-outs to mar the sheer enjoyment of a captivating concept.

The mantra known to every baby-boomer fan was “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not a Robot!” boldly emblazoned on covers depicting scenes that couldn’t possibly be true… even if it was only a comic book.

Imaginary Stories were conceived as a way of exploring non-continuity plots and scenarios devised at a time when editors believed that entertainment trumped consistency and knew that every comic read was somebody’s first – or potentially last – and ‘The Clash of Cape and Cowl!’, illustrated by as ever by Swan & Klein, posited a situation where brilliant young Bruce Wayne grew up believing Superboy had murdered his father, thereafter dedicating his life to crushing all criminals as a Bat Man and waiting for the day when he could expose Superman as a killer and sanctimonious fraud…

WF #154 ‘The Sons of Superman and Batman’ (by Hamilton) opened the doors to a far less tragic Imaginary world: one where the crime fighters finally found time to marry Lois Lane and Kathy Kane and have kids. Unfortunately the lads proved to be both a trial and initially a huge disappointment…

‘Exit Batman – Enter Nightman!’ saw the World’s Finest Team on the cusp of their 1,000th successful shared case when a new costumed crusader threatened to break up the partnership and replace the burned out Batman in a canny psychological thriller, whilst ‘The Federation of Bizarro Idiots!’ in #156 saw the well-meaning but imbecilic imperfect duplicates of Superman and Batman set up shop on Earth and end up as pawns of the duplicitous Joker, after which #157’s ‘The Abominable Brats’ – drawn with inevitable brilliance by Swan and inked by both Klein & Moldoff – featured an Imaginary Story sequel as the wayward sons of heroes returned to cause even more mischief, although once more there were other insidious influences in play…

In ‘The Invulnerable Super-Enemy!’ (#158 by Hamilton, Swan & Klein), the Olsen-Robin Team stumbled upon three Bottled Cities and inadvertently drew their mentors into a terrifying odyssey of evil which at first seemed to be the work of Brainiac but was in fact far from it, whilst ‘The Cape and Cowl Crooks!’ (WFC #159) dealt with foes possessing far mightier powers than our heroes – a major concern for young readers of the times.

To this day whenever fans gather the cry eventually echoes out, “Who’s the strongest/fastest/better dressed…?” but this canny conundrum took the theme to superbly suspenseful heights as Anti-Superman and Anti-Batman continually outwitted and outmanoeuvred the heroes, seemingly possessed of impossible knowledge of their antagonists..

Leo Dorfman debuted as scripter in#160 as the heroes struggled to discredit ‘The Fatal Forecasts of Dr. Zodiac’, a scurrilous Swami who appeared to control fate itself.

World’s Finest Comics #161 was an 80-Page Giant reprinting past tales and is not included in this collection, and jumping in with #162’s ‘Pawns of the Jousting Master!’ is another fresh scripting face in Jim Shooter, who produced an engaging time travel romp wherein Superman and Batman were defeated in combat and compelled to travel back to Camelot in a beguiling tale of King Arthur, super-powered knights and invading aliens…

‘The Duel of the Super-Duo!’ in #163 (Shooter, Swan & Klein) pitted Superman against a brainwashed Batman on a world where his mighty powers were negated and the heroes of the galaxy were imprisoned by a master manipulator, after which Dorfman produced an engaging thriller where a girl who was more powerful than Superman and smarter than Batman proved to be ‘Brainiac’s Super Brain-Child!’

Bill Finger & Al Plastino stepped in to craft WF #165’s ‘The Crown of Crime’ (March 1967) which depicted the last days of dying mega-gangster King Wolff whose plan to go out with a bang set the underworld ablaze and almost stymied both Superman and Batman, after which Shooter, Swan & Klein produced ‘The Danger of the Deadly Duo!’ in which the twentieth generation of Batman and Superman united to battle the Joker of 2967 and his uncanny ally Muto: a superb flight of fantasy that was the sequel to a brief series of stories starring Superman’s heroic descendent in a fantastic far future world

WF #167 saw Cary Bates fly solo by scripting ‘The New Superman and Batman Team!’: an Imaginary Story wherein boy scientist Lex Luthor gave himself super-powers and a Kal-El who had landed on Earth without Kryptonian abilities trained himself to become an avenging Batman after his foster-father Jonathan Kent was murdered. The Smallville Stalwarts briefly united in a crime-fighting partnership but destiny had other plans for the fore-doomed friends…

In World’s Finest Comics #142 a lowly and embittered janitor suddenly gained all the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes and attacked the heroes out of frustration and jealousy. He was revived by Bates in #168’s ‘The Return of the Composite Superman!’ as the pawn of a truly evil villain but gloriously triumphed over his own venal nature, after which #169 featured ‘The Supergirl-Batgirl Plot’ a whimsical fantasy feast from Bates, Swan & Klein wherein the uppity lasses seemingly worked tirelessly to supplant and replace Batman and Superman before it was revealed that the Dynamic Damsels were mere pawns of an extremely duplicitous team of female felons – although a brace of old WF antagonists were actually behind the Byzantine scheme…

Issue #170 was another mammoth reprint edition, after which #171 revealed ‘The Executioner’s List!’ (script by Dorfman); an intriguing and tense murder-mystery wherein a mysterious sniper seemingly targeted the friends of Superman and Batman, whilst the stirring and hard-hitting Imaginary Story ‘Superman and Batman… Brothers!’ (WF #172 December 1967) posited a grim scenario wherein orphaned Bruce Wayne was adopted by the Kents, but could not escape a destiny of tragedy and darkness.

Written by Shooter and brilliantly interpreted by Swan & Klein, this moody thriller in many ways signalled the end of the angst-free days and the beginning of the darker, crueller and more dramatically cohesive DC universe for a less casual readership, and thereby surrendered the mythology to the increasingly devout fan-based audience.

This stunning compendium closes with World’s Finest Comics #173 and ‘The Jekyll-Hyde Heroes!’ again by Shooter, Swan & Klein, as a criminal scientist devises a way to literally transform the Cape and Cowl Crusaders into their own worst enemies…

These are gloriously clever yet uncomplicated tales whose dazzling, timeless style has returned to inform if not dictate the form for much of DC’s modern television animation – especially the fabulous Batman: the Brave and the Bold series – and the contents of this tome are a veritable feast of witty, gritty thrillers packing as much punch and wonder now as they always have.

Unmissable adventure for fans of all ages!
© 1964-1968, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Secret Origins


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 0-930289-50-1

The best and worst thing about comicbooks is the perpetual revamping of classic characters whenever changing tastes and the unceasing passage of years demand the reworking of origin tales for increasingly more sophisticated audiences.

Once upon a time, DC’s vast pantheon of characters was scattered and wholly distinct: separated and situated on a variety of alternate Earths which comprised Golden Age hold-overs, current Silver Age and later-created heroes. Further Earths were subsequently introduced for every superhero stable the company scooped up in a voracious campaign of acquisition over the decades.

Charlton, Fawcett, Quality Comics and others characters resided upon their own globes, occasionally meeting in trans-dimensional alliances and apparently deterring new readers from getting on with DC.

Thus, when DC retconned their entire ponderous continuity following Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985-1986, ejecting the entire concept of a multiverse and re-knitting time so that there had only been one world literally festooned with heroes and villains, many of their greatest characters got a unique restart, with the conceit being that the characters had been around for years and the readership were simply tuning in on just another working day.

Fans old and new therefore had no idea what pre-Crisis stories were still “true” or valid and to counter confusion the publishers launched the double-sized Secret Origins comicbook series to peek behind the curtain and provide all-new stories which related the current official histories of their vast and now exceedingly crowded pantheon…

Of course now the multiverse concept is back and not confusing at all (who’d have thunk it?) but whatever the original reasons the dramatic 1980s refit did provide for some utterly astounding and cleverly cohesive storytelling…

This sterling softcover collection from 1989 gathered some of the most impressive headline-grabbing reworkings and even offered an all-new reinterpretation of the Batman’s beginnings to fit the new world’s reconstructed history and opened the action after ‘Legends’, a fascinating Introduction by series editor Mark Waid.

‘The Man Who Falls’ by Dennis O’Neil & Dick Giordano incorporated the revisions of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One and Batman: Shaman into a compelling examination of vengeance, obsession and duty describing how the only survivor of the Wayne Homicides dedicated his life to becoming a living weapon in the war on crime…

When DC Comics decided to rationalise and reconstruct their continuity the biggest shake-up was Superman and it’s hard to argue that change was unnecessary. All the Action Ace’s titles were suspended for three months – and boy, did that make the media sit-up and take notice – for the first time since the Christopher Reeve movie. But there was method in the madness…

In 1986 Man of Steel, a six-issue miniseries written and drawn by John Byrne with inks by Dick Giordano, stripped away vast amounts of accumulated baggage and returned the Strange Visitor from Another World to the far from omnipotent, edgy but good-hearted reformer Siegel and Shuster had first envisioned. It was a huge and instant success, becoming the decade’s premiere ‘break-out’ hit and from that overwhelming start Superman returned to his suspended comic-book homes with the addition of a third monthly title premiering in the same month.

The miniseries presented six complete stories highlighting key points in Superman’s career, reconstructed in the wake of the aforementioned Crisis and ‘The Haunting’ comes from the last issue; relating how the hero returned to his Kansas home and at last discovered his alien roots and heritage when a hologram of his father Jor-El attempted to possess and reprogram Clark Kent with the accumulated wisdom and ways of dead Krypton…

‘The Secret Origin of Green Lantern’ by James Owsley, M.D. Bright & José Marzan Jr. hails from Secret Origins #36 (January 1989) and told how Hal Jordan was selected to become an intergalactic peacekeeper by a dying alien, all viewed from the fresh perspective of a young aerospace engineer whose brief encounter with the Emerald Gladiator a decade earlier had changed his life forever. The expansive yarn re-visits all the classic highlights and even finds room to take the plucky guy on an adventure against resource raider on Oa, home of the Guardians of the Universe…

Mark Verheiden & Ken Steacy then drastically upgrade the legend of J’onn J’onzz in ‘Martian Manhunter’ (Secret Origins #35, Holiday edition 1988) in a moody innovative piece of 1950’s B-Movie paranoia, nicely balanced by an enthralling, tragic and triumphant reinterpretation and genuinely new take on the story of Silver Age icon Barry Allen . The freshly-deceased Flash  reveals the astonishing truth behind the ‘Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt’ in a lost classic by Robert Loren Fleming, Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson, first published in Secret Origins Annual #2 1988.

The creation of the Justice League of America was the event which truly signalled the return of superheroes to comicbooks in 1960, inspiring the launch of the Fantastic Four, the birth of Marvel Comics and a frantic decade of costumed craziness.

Their rallying adventure wasn’t published until #9 of their own title and was in fact the twelfth tale in their canon, because, quite frankly, origins, crucible moments and inner motivation were just not considered that important back then.

When Keith Giffen, Peter David & Eric Shanower crafted ‘All Together Now’ for Secret Origins #32 (November 1989) such things had come to be regarded as pivotal moments in mystery-man mythology but it didn’t stop the creative team having lots of snide and engaging fun as they retooled the classic tale of rugged individuals separately battling an alien invasion only to unite in the final moments and form the World’s Greatest Heroic team. The refit wasn’t made any easier by the new continuity’s demands that Batman be excised from the legendary grouping of Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash and Superman whilst the under-reconstruction Wonder Woman had to be replaced by a teenaged Black Canary…

Nevertheless the substitution worked magnificently and the daring adventure is the perfect place to end this fabulous compendium of a DC’s second Lost Age as yet another continuity-upgrade revitalises some of the most recognisable names in popular fiction.

And No, I’m not playing “how long until the next one”…
© 1986, 1988, 1989 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 1


By Otto Binder, Curt Swan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0787-8

When the blockbusting Man of Tomorrow debuted in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) he was instantly the centre of attention but even then the need for a solid supporting cast was apparent and quickly tailored for. Glamorous daredevil girl reporter Lois Lane premiered with Clark Kent and was a constant companion and foil from the outset.

Although unnamed, a plucky red-headed, be-freckled kid worked alongside Clark and Lois from Action Comics #6 (November 1938) and was called by his first name from Superman #13 (November-December 1941) onwards. That lad was Jimmy Olsen and he was a major player in The Adventures of Superman radio show from its debut on April 15th 1940; somebody the same age as the target audience for the hero to explain stuff to (all for the listener’s benefit) and the closest thing to a sidekick the Man of Tomorrow ever needed…

When the similarly titled television show launched in the autumn of 1952 it became a monolithic hit and National Periodicals began cautiously expanding their increasingly valuable franchise with new characters and titles. First up were the gloriously charming, light-hearted escapades of that rash, capable but naïve photographer and “cub reporter” from the Daily Planet: the first spin-off star of the Caped Kryptonian’s rapidly expanding entourage began with Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #1, which launched in 1954 with a September-October cover date.

As the decade progressed the oh-so-cautious Editors at National Comics tentatively extended the franchise in 1957 just as the Silver Age of Comics was getting underway and it seemed there might be a fresh and sustainable appetite for costumed heroes and their unique brand of spectacular shenanigans. Try-out title Showcase, which had already launched The Flash (#4 & 8 ) and Challengers of the Unknown (#6-7) followed up with a brace of issues entitled Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane in #9 and 10 before swiftly awarding her a series of her own – in actuality her second, since for a brief while in the mid-1940s she had her own solo-spot in Superman.

This gloriously nostalgic and scintillatingly addictive monochrome tome chronologically covers those experimental franchise expansions, re-presenting Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #1-22, (September/October 1954 to August 1957 and Showcase #9 July/August 1957, plus the very first Lois Lane solo strip from Superman #28 – May/June 1944 as a welcome bonus.

The fabulous vintage all-ages entertainment (courtesy of dedicated creative team Otto Binder, Curt Swan & Ray Burnley) begins with ‘The Boy of 1000 Faces’ in which the ebullient junior journalist displays his phenomenal facility for make-up and disguise to tap a jewel thief before heading to timber country and solving the ‘Case of the Lumberjack Jinx’ before masquerading as ‘The Man of Steel’s Substitute’ and tackling public requests too trivial for his Kryptonian chum.

‘The Flying Jimmy Olsen’ opened the second issue with a daring tale of idiocy as the lad swallowed an alien power-potion with staggering disregard for the potential repercussions (a recurring theme of those simpler times) whilst ‘The Hide and Seek Mystery’ displayed his crime-solving pluck as he hunted down more jewel thieves after which the boy became ‘Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Ex-Pal’ to expose a cunning conman.

He became ‘The Boy Millionaire’ in #3 when a wealthy dowager repaid a kind deed with a vast cash reward. Sadly all money brought Jimmy was scammers, conmen and murderous trouble. After that he headed to Tumbleweed, USA to cover a rodeo and somehow became ‘The Fastest Gun in the West’ before meeting the highly suspect eccentric who was ‘The Man Who Collected Excitement’.

‘The Disappearance of Superman’ perplexed Metropolis in #4 until his valiant pal solved the mystery and saved the Caped Kryptonian’s life whilst as ‘The Hunted Messenger’ Jimmy risked certain death to outwit gangsters before replacing a regal look-alike and playing ‘King for a Day’ in a far off land threatened by a ruthless usurper.

In issue #5 ‘The Boy Olympics’ displayed Jimmy’s sentimental side as he risked his job to help young news vendors from a rival paper and almost got replaced by a computer in ‘The Brain of Steel’ before beguiling and capturing a wanted felon with ‘The Story of Superman’s Souvenirs’…

The cutthroat world of stage conjuring found him competing to become ‘The King of Magic’ in JO #6’s first tale after which the diminutive lad endured a punishing diet regime – hilariously enforced by Superman – before covering the sports story of the year in ‘Jockey Olsen Rides Star Flash’. The last tale found Jimmy bravely recovering ‘100 Pieces of Kryptonite’ that fell on the city rendering Superman helpless and dying…

Jimmy Olsen #7 found the boy teaching three rich wastrels a life-changing lesson in ‘The Amazing Mirages’ after which a magic carpet whisked him away to write ‘The Scoop of 1869’ and the lad’s boyhood skills enabled him to become ‘The King of Marbles’, catching a crook and more headlines…

In #8 pride in his investigative abilities and a slick conman compelled him to uncover his pal’s secret identity in ‘The Betrayal of Superman’ after which he was ‘Superboy for a Day’ (sort of) and wowed the chicks when a sore throat enabled him to become ‘Jimmy Olsen, Crooner’, whilst in #9 he disastrously switched jobs to ‘Jimmy Olsen, Cub Inventor’, became a TV quiz mastermind in ‘The Million-Dollar Question’ and piloted a prototype Superman robot in ‘The Missile of Steel’.

In #10 the canny lad turned the tables on a greedy hoaxer in ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Martian Pal’ and suffered amnesia in ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Forgotten Adventure’ before going back to nature as ‘Jungle Jimmy Olsen’, whilst the next issue found him acting, after a stellar accident, as ‘Superman’s Seeing-Eye Dog’, dumping the neglectful and busy Man of Steel for a more appreciative comrade in ‘Jimmy Olsen, Clark Kent’s Pal’ and accidentally exposing a corrupt boxing scam as ‘T.N.T. Olsen, the Champ’.

He helped out a circus chum by becoming ‘Jimmy Olsen, Prince of Clowns’ in #12, thereafter uncovering ‘The Secret of Dinosaur Island’ and falling victim to a goofy – if not plain mad – scientist’s bizarre experiment and reluctantly became ‘The Invisible Jimmy Olsen’, whilst in #13 and tracking a swindler he met a half dozen namesakes in ‘The Six Jimmy Olsens’. Criminals then targeted the cub reporter’s secret weapon in ‘The Stolen Superman Signal’ and the lad found himself the subject of a cruel but necessary deception when the Metropolis Marvel perpetrated ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Super Illusions’…

Issue #14 opened with a time-travel western tale as the lad instigated ‘The Feats of Chief Super-Duper’ after which a scientific accident seemingly imbued the bold boy with Clark Kent’s personality and created ‘The Meek Jimmy Olsen’ before the cub was lost in American wilderness and was outrageously mistaken for ‘The Boy Superman’.

JO #15 found him demoted and at a dog-show where his infallible nose for news quickly uncovered ‘The Mystery of the Canine Champ’ after which an injudiciously swallowed serum gave him super-speed and he became ‘Jimmy Olsen, Speed Demon’ and a strange ailment forced him to dispose of his most treasured possessions in ‘Unwanted Superman Souvenirs’…

A scurrilous scammer in #16 offered to regress the boy’s consciousness and help him re-live ‘The Three Lives of Jimmy Olsen’ after which a series of crazy coincidences compelled identity-obsessed Clark to convince Lois Lane that Jimmy was ‘The Boy of Steel’ before another chemical concoction turned the lad into a compulsive fibber and ‘The Super Liar of Metropolis’.

The next thrill-packed issue featured ‘Jimmy Olsen in the 50th Century’ wherein the lad was transported to an era where history had conflated his and Superman’s lives, whilst in ‘The Case of the Cartoon Scoops’ he rediscovered a gift for drawing and the curse of clairvoyance before an horrific accident turned him into ‘The Radioactive Boy’, whereas in #18, humour was king as ‘The Super Safari’ found him using a “magic” flute to capture animals for a circus, ‘The Riddle Reporter’ saw him lose scoops to a masked mystery journalist and he then had to nursemaid his best friend when a criminal’s time weapon turned the Man of Steel into ‘Superbaby, Jimmy Olsen’s Pal’…

In #19 ‘The Two Jimmy Olsens’ introduced a robot replica of the cub reporter whilst in ‘The Human Geiger Counter’ the kid became allergic to the Action Ace before a brain injury convinced him he was ‘Superman’s Kid Brother’. The next issue opened with ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Super-Pet’ as a souvenir hatched into a living breathing dinosaur. His misguided efforts to save a small-town newspaper culminated in ‘The Trial of Jimmy Olsen’ after which Superman secretly turned his pal into ‘The Merman of Metropolis’ in a convoluted scheme to preserve his own alter ego.

Issue #21 revealed an unsuspected family skeleton and a curse which seemingly transformed reporter into pirate in ‘The Legend of Greenbeard Olsen’, whilst ingenuity and a few gimmicks briefly turned him into junior hero ‘Wonder Lad’ but arrogance and snooping were responsible for the humiliation that resulted from ‘The Wedding of Jimmy Olsen’ to Lois Lane…

A month later the lady finally starred in her own comicbook as, galvanised by a growing interest in superhero stories, the company’s premiere try-out title pitched a brace of issues focused on the burgeoning Superman family of features.

Showcase #9 (cover-dated July/August 1957) featured Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane in three tales by Jerry Coleman, Ruben Moreira & Al Plastino and opened with the seminal yarn ‘The Girl in Superman’s Past’ wherein Lois first met red-headed hussy Lana Lang, childhood sweetheart of Superboy and a pushy conniving go-getter out to win Lois’ intended at all costs. Naturally Miss Lane invited Miss Lang to stay at her apartment and the grand rivalry was off and running…

‘The New Lois Lane’ aggravatingly saw Lois turn over a new leaf and stop attempting to uncover his secret identity just when Superman actually needed her to do so and the premier concludes with the concussion-induced day-dream ‘Mrs. Superman’ as Lois imagines a life of domestic super-bliss…

When Lois Lane finally received her own shot at solo stardom it was very much on the terms of the times. I must shamefacedly admit to a deep, nostalgic affection for her bright and breezy, fantastically fun adventures, but as a free-thinking, liberal (nominally) adult of the 21st century I’m simultaneously shocked nowadays at the patronising, nigh-misogynistic attitudes underpinning many of the stories.

I’m fully aware that the series was intended for young readers at a time when “dizzy dames” like Lucille Ball or Doris Day played to the popular American gestalt stereotype of Woman as jealous minx, silly goose, diffident wife and brood-hungry nester, but to ask kids to seriously accept that intelligent, courageous, ambitious, ethical and highly capable females would drop everything they’d worked hard for to lie, cheat, inveigle, manipulate and entrap a man just so that they could cook pot-roast and change super-diapers is just plain crazy and tantamount to child abuse.

Oddly enough the 1940s interpretation of the plucky news-hen was far less derogatory: Lois might have been ambitious and life-threateningly precipitate but at least it was to advance her own career and put bad guys away as seen in the four-page vignette which closes this volume.

‘Lois Lane, Girl Reporter’ debuted in Superman #28 (May/June 1944) a breathless fast-paced screwball comedy-thriller by Don Cameron & Ed Dobrotka wherein the canny lass fails to talk a crazed jumper down from a ledge and saves him in another far more flamboyant manner, reaping the reward of a front page headline.

Before that Golden Age threat however there’s one last issue of the junior member of the Superman Family. JO #22 begins with ‘The Mystery of the Millionaire Hoboes’ as the lad tracked down the reason wealthy men are masquerading as down-and-outs before exposing the evil secrets behind ‘The Super-Hallucinations’ afflicting the Man of Tomorrow and ending with ‘The Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen’ wherein resident affable crackpot genius Professor Phineas Potter evolved the boy into a man from 1,000,000AD. That cold but surely benevolent being had a hidden agenda however and was able to bend Superman to his hyper-intelligent will…

These spin-off, support series were highly popular top-sellers for over twenty years; blending action, adventure, broad, wacky comedy, fantasy and science fiction in the gently addictive manner scripter Otto Binder had first perfected a decade previously at Fawcett Comics on the magnificent Captain Marvel and his own myriad mini-universe of associated titles.

As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling and yes, occasionally deeply moving all-ages stories also perfectly depict the changing mores and tastes which reshaped comics from the safe 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more”.

I know I certainly do…
© 1944, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come parts 1, 2 & 3


By Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin & various (DC)
ISBNs: 978-1-4012-1741-9,   978-1-4012-1946-8,   978-1-4012-2167-6

After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read the launch of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre’s (and indeed industry’s) progress was the combination of individual stars into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven – a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces and fan-bases. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick.

The Justice Society of America was created for the third issue (Winter 1940/1941) of All-Star Comics, an anthology title featuring established characters from various All-American Comics publications. The magic was instigated by the simple expedient of having the assorted heroes gather around a table and tell each other their latest adventure. From this low key collaboration it wasn’t long before the guys – and they were all white guys (except Red Tornado who merely pretended to be one) – regularly joined forces to defeat the greatest villains and social ills of their generation. Within months the concept had spread far and wide…

And so the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comicbooks. When Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, the game-changing moment came with the inevitable teaming of the reconfigured mystery men into a Justice League of America.

From there it wasn’t long until the original and genuine article returned. Since then there have been many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both the highly successful rebooting of the JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter and the seminal but critically favoured new Starman series by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a new mission and fan-base big enough to support them. As the century ended the original super-team returned and have been with us in one form or another ever since.

This iteration, called to order after Infinite Crisis and Identity Crisis, found the surviving heroes from World War II acting as mentors and teachers for the latest generation of young champions and metahuman “legacy-heroes” (family successors or inheritors of departed champions’ powers or code-names): a large, cumbersome but nevertheless captivating assembly of raw talent, uneasy exuberance and weary hard-earned experience (for details see Justice Society of America: the Next Age and Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga).

This triptych of tomes collects issues #7-22 of the Justice Society of America series, the first Annual and Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Specials: Superman, Magog and The Kingdom; expanding, clarifying and building on those new heroes introduced in the landmark 1996 Mark Waid & Alex Ross miniseries, by rationalising many of the characters and concepts with the then-current DC continuity.

Kingdom Come and its belated sequel The Kingdom managed to connect that initially ring-fenced continuity to the mainstream DC universe and introduced “Hyper-Time”, a bridging concept which opened the way for all the storylines and history eradicated in Crisis on Infinite Earths to once more be “real and true”. Gradually a number of those variant elements began to coalesce in the relaunched Justice League and Justice Society series culminating in the expansive extended epic collected in these three volumes – although the entire saga could happily have fitted into one large tome…

This ambitious and almost daunting epic commences when Nathan Heywood awakes after an attack by modern Nazi meta-humans to realise most of his family have died in the assault. Of little comfort is the fact that his own crippling injuries have been repaired by the activation of his latent powers. The paraplegic youth has become a creature of living steel; unfeeling and ‘Indestructible’. For the sake of his surviving kin Heywood assumes the persona of new legacy hero Citizen Steel.

Soon after, ‘Bells and Whistles’ concentrates on the history of Jesse Chambers, wife of the second Hourman and daughter of WWII heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Bell. Jesse inherited the powers of both parents but her level-headedness is all her own and vitally necessary when fellow member Damage, fuelled by berserker rage, breaks a State Exclusion Order whilst chasing super villain Zoom – the hyper-fast maniac who shredded the hero’s face and turned him into a hideous monster doomed to hide forever behind a mask.

‘Prologue: Thy Kingdom Come’ switches focus to Power Girl who has only recently discovered her true origins as a survivor from an alternate universe where her cousin Superman was the World’s Greatest Hero and leader of an another Justice Society, now all long-gone and forever lost in a universe-shredding Infinite Crisis…

During a gala party for three generations of heroes, the team are called to a flaming mystical conflagration and when 31st century refugee and barely-in control schizophrenic Starman uses his powers to extinguish the blaze he inadvertently plucks a survivor out of the void between dimensions.

This newcomer looks and sounds just like Power Girl’s own dearly-departed Earth-2 Superman…

‘What a Wonderful World’ sees the Man of Steel from the Kingdom Come continuity describe how the heroes and their successors of his world almost destroyed the planet (with flashback sequences painted by Alex Ross) before Starman explains his own connection to all the realms of the multiverse. Initially suspicious, the JLA come to accept the elder Man of Steel.

Elsewhere, a deadly predator begins to eradicate demi-gods and pretenders to divinity throughout the globe…

‘The Second Coming’ reveals how the Strange Visitor from Another Earth believes his world dead, just as a new crop of legacy heroes (Judomaster, Mr. America, Amazing Man, Lightning and David Reid) join the team, whilst in ‘New Recruits’ the death-toll of murdered godlings mounts rapidly…

This first volume concludes with an expansive sketch section from Alex Ross.

The second book of Thy Kingdom Come (collecting Justice Society of America #13-18 and Annual #1) opens with ‘Supermen’ wherein the latest incarnation of Mr. America (an FBI agent turned freelance super-villain profiler) alerts the JSA to the serial god-killer and points the way to a mysterious personage known only as Gog.

When his files reveal their suspect to be an old foe of this world’s Superman, his elder alternate volunteers to discuss the case with the Man of Steel whilst deep below the fertile earth of the Congo an alien presence communes with its apocalyptic herald…

‘Thy Kingdom Come: Gog’ at last begins the epic in earnest as the assembled team is attacked by the mysterious Gog, resulting in a staggering battle in ‘The Good Fight’ and culminating in a dramatic climax in Africa and the release and apotheosis of the One True Gog…

This immense being is an ancient deity from the race which spawned the New Gods and has been gestating in our Earth since his own world died uncounted millennia ago…

The colossal gleaming god immediately proclaims a new era for Mankind in ‘He Came, and Salvation With Him’: striding across Africa, ending want, cleansing the scorched earth, feeding the starving and curing the afflicted with broad waves of his gigantic hands.

The battle-hardened heroes are highly suspicious but since among those cured are Damage, Star Man, Doctor Midnite and Sand the miracles cause a split in the JSA ranks in ‘Wish Fulfillment’.

Something is not right though: beyond the haughty bombast there are inconsistencies. Atheist Mr. Terrific is apparently invisible to the wandering god and despite his hopes and prayers Citizen Steel is ignored whilst all others have their wishes granted even without asking.

For example Power Girl but not Superman are summarily dispatched “Home”…

With confrontation seemingly inevitable the beneficent Gog suddenly diverts from his path and declaims that he will eradicate all war…

‘Earth-2 chapter one: Golden Age’ and ‘Earth-2 chapter two: ‘The Hunted’ (from Justice Society of America Annual #1) starts with Power Girl materialised on the alternate Earth she believed long destroyed and reunited with all the friends she believed long dead. But then, why is she so unhappy and desperate to escape?

Before she can answer her own question another Power Girl turns up and all rationality and hope of a peaceful solution rapidly fades…

This volume ends with JSA #18’s ‘War Lords’ as, whilst preaching, peace, love and restoration, Gog inflicts outrageously cruel punishments on civil war soldiers in the Congo and to all sinners before transforming David Reid into his new almighty herald Magog…

The third and final Book (covering issues #19-22 of Justice Society of America and Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Specials: Superman, Magog and The Kingdom) begins with Power Girl trapped on Earth-2 and consulting that world’s Michael Holt (who never became Mr. Terrific like his other-dimensional counterpart) in ‘Out of Place’ whilst a universe away, Black Adam follows phenomena which indicate his dead beloved Isis is returning, and the JSA declares war on itself as one half of the team prepares to defend Gog from the other…

 

‘Earth Bound’ kicks everything into high gear as Power Girl escapes from there to here, followed by the amassed and enraged heroes of Earth-2: a shattering confrontation which re-establishes a whole new DC multiverse.

Then Justice League of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman pits “our” Man of Tomorrow against his other-dimensional doppelganger whilst revealing the secret tragedy which made the Kingdom Come Kryptonian quit in the first place, whilst Justice League of America Kingdom Come Special: Magog describes ‘The Real Me’ as Gog’s new herald re-examines his own sordid past and proves himself his own brutal, uncompromising man…

That issue also provided ‘The Secret Origin of Starman’ which discloses how a teenager from the 31st century became the key and roadmap to the myriad pathways of the multiverse.

Justice League of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom opens the final conflict with Gog as the lost god reveals the staggering price he demands for his miraculous bounty and Sand uncovers its true cost whilst JSA #21 ‘Saints and Sinners’ opens the full-scale war when the heroes attack.

When Magog’s eyes are opened he deserts his malign god presaging the beginning of the end but humanity is saved in its most desperate hour in the concluding chapter ‘Thy Will Be Done’ after which, with the threat ended the lost heroes of the myriad Earths win their final rewards…

Conceived by Geoff Johns & Alex Ross to irrevocably button down the company’s new continuity, this extended tale is beguiling and impressive if you’re well-versed in the lore of the DC Universe but probably impenetrable if you’re not.

Executed by Johns with inserted segments illustrated and painted by Ross and the major proportion of the art provided by Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin, Ruy Jose, Rodney Ramos & Drew Geraci, Jerry Ordway, Prentis Rollins, Bob Wiacek, Richard Friend, Rebecca Buchman, John Stanisci, Mick Gray, Kris Justice, Norm Rapmund, Scott Kolins, Jack Purcell & Nathan Massengill, the final volume concludes with another expansive sketch section from Alex Ross and a stunning double-page portrait of the Earth-2 JSA by Jerry Ordway.

As I’ve already stated, I fear this blockbusting yarn will be all but unreadable to anyone not deeply immersed in the complex continuity of DC’s last three decades, which is a real shame as the writing is superb, the artwork incredible and the sheer scope and ambition breathtaking. However, if you love Fights ‘n’ Tights cosmic melodrama and are prepared to do a little reading around (Kingdom Come and The Kingdom are mandatory here) then you might find yourself with a whole new universe to play in…
© 2007, 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Adventures of Superman


By George Lowther, illustrated by Joe Shuster (Applewood Books)
ISBN: 978-1-55709-228-1

Without doubt the creation of Superman and his unprecedented reception by a desperate and joy-starved generation quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form. Within months of his launch in Action Comics #1 the Man of Tomorrow had his own supplementary solo comicbook, a newspaper strip, overseas licensing deals, a radio show and animated movie series, plus loads ands loads of merchandising deals.

In 1942 he even made the dynamic leap into “proper” prose fiction resulting in still more historic “firsts”…

George F. Lowther (1913-1975) was a Renaissance man of radio when sound not vision dominated home entertainment. He scripted episodes of such airwave strip adaptations as Dick Tracy and Terry and the Pirates as well as the Mutual Radio Network’s legendary Adventures of Superman show.

He also wrote episodes for Roy Rogers, Tom Mix and a host of other series and serials. In 1945 he moved into television with equal success as writer, producer, director and even performer, adding a string of novels for kids to his CV along the way.

With the success of the Superman radio broadcasts a spin-off book was a sure-fire seller and in 1942 Random House released a stunning, rocket-paced history of the Man of Steel, which fleshed out the character’s background (almost a decade before such detail became part of the comics canon), described the hero’s rise to fame and even found room for a thrilling pulp-fuelled contemporary adventure in a handsome hardback lavishly illustrated by co-creator Joe Shuster. The novel was the first Superman tale not scripted by Jerry Siegel and the world’s first novelisation of a comicbook character.

That book will set you back upwards of a thousand dollars today but in 1995, Applewood Press (a firm specialising in high-quality reproductions of important and historic American books) recreated that early magic in its stunning entirety in a terrific hardback tome which included a copious and informative introduction from contemporary Superman writer Roger Stern as well as the original Foreword by DC’s Staff Advisor for Children’s literacy, Josette Frank.

The art is by Joe Shuster at the peak of his creative powers and includes the dust-jacket and 4 full-colour painted plates (all reproduced from the original artwork), a half-dozen full-page black and white illustrations and 34 vibrant and vital pen-and-ink spot sketches of the Caped Kryptonian in spectacular non-stop action, gracing a fast and furious yarn that begins with the destruction of Krypton and decision of scientist Jor-El in ‘Warning of Doom’ and ‘The Space Shi’.

The saga continues with the discovery of an incredible baby in a rocket-ship by farmer Eben Kent and his wife Sarah in ‘Young Clark Kent’ and the unique boy’s early days and first meeting with Perry White in ‘The Contest’.

Following ‘The Death of Eben’ the young alien refugee moved to the big city and became ‘Clark Kent, Reporter’ after which we switch to then present-day for the main event as investigative reporter and blockbusting champion of justice combine to crush a sinister plot involving spies, saboteurs, submarines and supernatural shenanigans in the classy conundrum of ‘The Skeleton Ship’ and ‘The Vanishing Captain’ which was resolved in the epic ‘Fire at Sea’, ‘Mystery of the Old Man’, ‘Attempted Murder’, ‘Enter Lois Lane’ and ‘Return of the Skelton Ship’, resulting in ‘The Unmasking’, the revelation of a ‘Special Investigator’ and an amazing ‘Underwater Battle’ before at last the wonderment ends with ‘The Mystery Solved’.

This magical book perfectly recaptures all the frantic fervour and mind-boggling excitement of the early days of action adventure storytelling and is a pulp fiction treasure as well as a pivotal moment in the creation of the world’s premier superhero. No serious fan of the medium or art-form should miss it and hopefully with another landmark Superman anniversary on the horizon another facsimile edition is on the cards. If not, at least this volume is still readily available…
© 1942 DC Comics. Introduction © 1995 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Legion of Super-Heroes: Archive Edition Volume 4


By Jerry Siegel, Edmond Hamilton, Otto Binder, Jim Mooney, John Forte, George Papp & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-123-9

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten over and again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This sturdy, charm-soaked, action packed fourth full-colour deluxe hardback collection continues to re-present those early tales from the disparate Superman Family titles in chronological order: the sagas from their own feature spanning Adventure Comics #329-339, plus Legion-starring tales from Superboy #124 and 125, covering February to December 1965 cover-dates.

This period began the Tomorrow Team’s slow transformation from wholesome, imaginative, humorous and generally safe science fiction strip to a more dramatic and even grittily realistic combat force in constant peril and, after an informative Foreword from sometime Legion Editor KC Carlson, one of the last truly whimsical cases opens this collection.

The madcap merriment occurred when the heroes had to confront and outwit the topsy-turvy threat of their own imperfect doppelgangers in Adventure Comics #329’s ‘The Bizarro Legion!’ (by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney) after which a nefarious juvenile criminal infiltrated the LSH intending to destroy them all from within in ‘Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire!’ by the same creative team.

The dastardly plans proceeded without a hitch until the victorious Dynamo-Boy recruited the malevolent adult meta-criminals Lightning Lord, Cosmic King and Saturn Queen, consequently falling victim to ‘The Triumph of the Legion of Super-Villains!’ in #331.

Rescued and restored, the valiant young heroes were back in Adventure #332 to face ‘The Super-Moby Dick of Space!’ (Edmond Hamilton & John Forte) wherein the recently resurrected Lightning Lad suffered crippling injuries and an imminent nervous breakdown…

‘The War Between Krypton and Earth!’ in #333, (Hamilton, Forte & George Klein), had the time-travelling team flung far back into the our world’s antediluvian past and split into internecine factions on opposite sides of a conflict forgotten by history, after which ‘The Unknown Legionnaire!’ (Hamilton, Forte & Sheldon Moldoff) posed a perilous puzzle with an inadvertently oppressed and overlooked race’s entire future at stake…

The same creative team then introduced deadly super-villain ‘Starfinger!’ in #335 who framed a luckless Legionnaire for his incredible crimes before ‘The True Identity of Starfinger!’ (inked by Klein) was revealed, allowing the entire squad to focus on the real menace.

Superboy #124 (October 1965, by Otto Binder & George Papp) featured Lana Lang as ‘The Insect Queen of Smallville!’ who was rewarded with a shape-changing ring after rescuing a trapped alien. Naturally she used her new abilities to ferret out Clark Kent’s secrets…

Adventure #337 highlighted ‘The Weddings that Wrecked the Legion!’ by Hamilton, Forte & Moldoff as two couples resigned to marry. However, there was serious method in the seeming marital madness…

Long absent Bête Noir the Time Trapper at last returned in #338 when Siegel & Forte revealed ‘The Menace of the Sinister Super-Babies!’ with sultry Glorith of Baaldur using the Chronal Conqueror’s devices to turn everybody but Superboy and Brainiac 5 into mewling infants. When they turned the tables on the villains a new era dawned for the valiant Tomorrow Teens…

Superboy #125 (November 1965) signalled darker days ahead by introducing a legion reservist with a tragic secret in ‘The Sacrifice of Kid Psycho!’ (Binder & Papp), after which Hamilton, Forte & Moldoff told the bittersweet tale of disaffected and tormented Lallorian hero Beast Boy who turned against humanity in Adventure Comics #339’s ‘Hunters of the Super-Beasts!’ to bring this sterling collection to a solidly entertaining end.

The slow death of whimsy and move from light-hearted escapades to daily life and death struggles would culminate in tragedy and triumph in the next edition…

The Legion is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in comicbook history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became American Comics Fandom.

Moreover, these sparkling, simplistic and devastatingly addictive stories – with full creator biographies and a glorious gallery of covers from the sublime art-team of Curt Swan & George Klein – as much as Julie Schwartz’s Justice League fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and underpinned the industry we all know today.

These naive, silly, joyous, stirring and utterly compelling yarns are precious and fun beyond any ability to explain. If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1964, 1965, 1992, 1993, 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Comics: the 75th Anniversary Poster Book


By various, compiled and with commentary by Robert Schnakenberg & Paul Levitz (Quirk Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59474-462-4

Here’s another poster-sized (a colossal 282 by 356mm) full-colour art-book, this time with material far more familiar to comics fans. Beautiful, captivating and still readily available, this tremendous tome was released in 2010 to celebrate America’s premier funnybook publisher in their 75th year of continuous existence.

This 208 page compendium, devised with 100 whole-page images – suitable and intended for framing – with background information and a couple of equally vibrant and chronologically pertinent cover contenders on each reverse side, charts all the breakthroughs, major debuts and key events of the companies (initially National Periodical Publications and All-American imprints) which merged to become DC, and includes the fruits of other publishers like Fawcett, Quality and Charlton Comics whose creative successes were later acquired and assimilated by the unstoppable corporate colossus which forms today’s universally recognised multi-media phenomenon.

The obvious candidates are all there and of course the vast majority of these stunning illustrations are superhero themed, but there are also fine examples of the bizarre fads, eccentric mores and mind-boggling concepts that were simply part-and-parcel of comics from the last eight decades.

The four-colour graphic parade begins with New Fun Comics #1 (February 1935 and with issues #2 and 3 decorating the potted history of the company on the back) and follows with the obvious landmarks  such as Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, Superman #1 and 14, Flash Comics #1, Batman #1 and Sensation Comics #1 but also finds space for equally evocative but less well-used covers as Detective #11, Adventure #40, Action #19, Green Lantern #1 and Sensation #38.

From the almost superhero-free 1950s come such eccentric treats as Mr. District Attorney #12, Our Army at War #20, Mystery in Space #22, Strange Adventures #79 and 100, Showcase #12, Leave it to Binky #60, Adventure Comics #247, Detective #275 (“The Zebra Batman!”) and many more, whilst the tumultuous 1960s offers such treasures as Flash #123, Showcase #34, Brave and the Bold #42 & 58 and Justice League of America #21 as well as practically unseen treasures like Falling in Love #62, Heart Throbs #93, Girls’ Love #127 among others…

The 1970s through to today are represented by such examples as Wonder Woman #205, Shazam! #3, Prez #3, Detective #475, Weird Western Tales, #53, Weird War #89, New Teen Titans #1, Ronin #1, Swamp Thing #34, Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, the first issues of  The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Hellblazer, Sandman, The Killing Joke, V for Vendetta and Preacher, Wonder Woman #0, Superman #75, Cat Woman #2, New Frontiers #6, Arkham Asylum Anniversary Edition, Batman: Year 100 #1, All-Star Superman #10 Batman #679 and others. All these covers can of course be viewed online through numerous database sites – but those aren’t crisply printed on high-grade card and ready to frame…

The artists include Lyman Anderson, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Creig Flessel, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino, John Romita Sr., Ramona Fradon, Neal Adams, Joe Orlando, Berni Wrightson, Steve Ditko, Mike Sekowsky, Bob Oksner, Curt Swan, Nick Cardy, Jack Kirby, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, Dave McKean, Michael Golden, Darwyn Cooke, Dave Johnson, Adam Hughes, Jim Lee, James Jean, Tim Sale, Paul Pope, Frank Quitely, Alex Ross and a myriad of others…

For my rarefied tastes there are too few of the company’s superb young kids and funny animal titles and not enough of their genre successes, as exemplified by the War, Western, Romance, Science Fiction, Jungle Action, Sword & Sorcery and mystery/horror titles which kept the company afloat when mystery men periodically palled on the public’s palate, but this book is nevertheless a splendid catalogue of DC’s contribution to global culture and an overwhelming celebration of the unique glory of comics.

Even better; there are still thousands of covers left to shove into follow-up volumes…

Art and compilation © 2010 DC Comics. All rights Reserved.

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Superman Archives volume 4


By Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Fred Ray John Sikela & Leo Nowak (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-107-7

By the middle of 1942 fresh and vibrant young superstar Superman had been thoroughly embraced by the panting public, rapidly evolving into a patriotic tonic for the troops and the ones they had left behind. This fourth classic hardcover compendium (collecting Superman #13-16 November-December 1941 to May/June 1942) shows the Man of Steel in all his morale-boosting glory as America shifted onto a war-footing and crooks and master-criminals were slowly superseded by sinister spies and vicious invaders… at least on all the rousing, iconic covers by master artist Fred Ray.

Following a Foreword by film critic Leonard Maltin the action begins with a stunning Nazi-busting example up front on #13 after which artist Leo Nowak illustrated three captivating yarns beginning with ‘The Light’ wherein an implacable old foe tried in a new super-scientific guise and gimmick, whilst ‘The Archer’ pitted the Metropolis Marvel against his first true costumed villain, a psychopathic killer with a self-evident murderous modus operandi…

Scripter Jerry Siegel was on top form throughout this period and ‘Baby on the Doorstep’ offered him  a rare opportunity for foolish fun and the feel-good factor as Clark Kent became a temporary and unwilling parent in a tale involving stolen military battle plans before ‘The City Beneath the Earth’ (illustrated by John Sikela) returned to the serious business of blockbuster adventure and sheer spectacle as the Action Ace discovered a subterranean kingdom hidden since the hoary height of the Ice Age.

Superman #14 (January/February 1942) was again primarily a Nowak art affair beginning with ‘Concerts of Doom’ wherein a master pianist discovered just how mesmerising his recitals were and joined forces with unpatriotic thieves and dastardly  saboteurs, after which the tireless Man of Tomorrow was hard-pressed to cope with the reign of destruction caused by ‘The Invention Thief’.

John Sikela inked Nowak’s pencils in the frantic high fantasy romp when the Man of Steel discovered a friendly mermaid and malevolent fishmen living in ‘The Undersea City’ before more high tension and catastrophic graphic destruction signalled Superman’s epic clash with sinister electrical savant ‘The Lightning Master’.

Issue #15 ‘The Cop who was Ruined’ (illustrated by Nowak) found the Metropolis Marvel clearing the name of framed detective Bob Branigan – a man who believed himself guilty – whilst scurvy Orientals menaced the nation’s Pacific fleet in ‘Saboteurs from Napkan’ with Sikela again lending his pens and brushes to Nowak’s pencil art. Thinly veiled fascist oppression and expansion was spectacularly nipped in the bud in ‘Superman in Oxnalia’ – an all-Sikela art job, but Nowak was back on pencils for a concluding science fiction thriller ‘The Evolution King’ with a malignant mastermind artificially aging his wealthy, prominent victims until the invulnerable Action Ace stepped in…

Sikela flew solo on all of Superman #16, beginning with ‘The World’s Meanest Man’ as a mobster attempted to fleece a scheme to give deprived slum-kids a holiday in the countryside, then moved on to depict the Man of Tomorrow’s battle with an astrologer happy to murder his clients to prove his predictions in ‘Terror from the Stars’, after which ‘The Case of the Runaway Skyscrapers’ pitted the Caped Kryptonian against Mister Sinister, a trans-dimensional tyrant who could make buildings vanish.

The power-packed perilous periodical then concluded with a deeply satisfying and classic war on organised crime as Superman crushed the ‘Racket on Delivery’.

Endlessly re-readable, these epic hardback DC Archive Editions fabulously frame some of the greatest and most influential comics stories ever created, and taken in unison form a perfect permanent record of breathtaking wonder and groundbreaking excitement, which no dedicated fan could afford to do without
© 1942, 2000 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.