{"id":34748,"date":"2026-01-16T17:24:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34748"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:24:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:24:06","slug":"dc-finest-superman-the-invisible-luthor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/01\/16\/dc-finest-superman-the-invisible-luthor\/","title":{"rendered":"DC Finest: Superman – The Invisible Luthor"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster<\/strong>, Jack Burnley<\/strong>, Paul Lauretta<\/strong>, Wayne Boring<\/strong>, Jack Burnley<\/strong>, Paul Cassidy<\/strong>, Ed Dobrotka<\/strong>, Leo Nowak<\/strong>, Fred Ray<\/strong>, John Sikela, Dennis Neville<\/strong>, Don Komisarow<\/strong>, lettered by Frank Shuster<\/strong>, Betty Burnley Bentley<\/strong>, the Superman Studio<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-77950-332-3 (TPB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times<\/em><\/p>\n

Nearly 90 years ago, Superman<\/strong> rebooted planetary mythology and kickstarted the entire genre of modern fantasy heroes. Outlandish, flamboyant, indomitable, infallible and unconquerable, he also saved a foundering industry by birthing an entirely new genre of storytelling: the Super Hero. Since April 18th<\/sup> 1938 (the generally agreed day copies of Action Comics<\/strong> #1 first went on sale) he has grown into a mighty presence in all aspects of art, culture and commerce, even as his natal comic book universe organically grew and expanded. Within three years of that debut, the intoxicating blend of eye-popping action and social wish-fulfilment that had hallmarked the early exploits of the Man of Tomorrow had grown: encompassing crime-busting, reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy and even whimsical comedy. However, once the war in Europe and the East captured America\u2019s communal consciousness, combat themes and patriotic imagery dominated most comic book covers, if not interiors.<\/p>\n

In comic book terms alone Superman was soon a true master of the world, utterly changing the shape of the fledgling industry as easily as he could a mighty river. There was a popular newspaper strip, a thrice-weekly radio serial, games, toys, foreign and overseas syndication and as the decade turned, the Fleischer studio\u2019s astounding animated cartoons.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the quality of the source material was increasing with every four-colour release as the energy and enthusiasm of originators Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster went on to inform and infect the burgeoning studio which grew around them to cope with the relentless demand.<\/p>\n

These tales have been reprinted many times, but this latest compilation might arguably be the best yet, offering the original stories in reading – if not strictly chronological publishing – order and spanning cover-dates July 1940 to September 1941. It features landmark sagas from Action Comics<\/strong> #26-40 and Superman<\/strong> #6-11, plus pivotal appearances in New York\u2019s World Fair<\/strong> No. 2<\/strong>, World\u2019s Best Comics <\/strong>#1 and World\u2019s Finest Comics <\/strong>#2 & 3 (all with eye-catching groundbreaking covers by Jack Burnley). Although most early tales were untitled, here, for everyone\u2019s convenience, they have been given descriptive appellations by the editors, and I should also advise that as far as we know it\u2019s written entirely by Seigel, with the majority of covers by Fred Ray (unless I say otherwise!).<\/p>\n

This incredible panorama of torrid tales opens with gangsters attempting to plunder jewels from exhibits at the biggest show on earth. Taken from premium package New York World\u2019s Fair<\/strong> #2, \u2018Superman at the 1940 World\u2019s Fair\u2019<\/em> is credited to Siegel & Schuster, but actually illustrated by Burnley who also provided the first ever pairing of the Man of Tomorrow with Dynamic Duo Batman and Robin<\/strong> on the cover to drag readers in…
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\nSiegel & Shuster had created a true phenomenon and were struggling to cope with it. As well as monthly and bimonthly comics a new quarterly publication, initially World\u2019s Best<\/strong> and ultimately World\u2019s Finest Comics<\/strong> – springing from the success of the publisher\u2019s New York World\u2019s Fair comic-book tie-ins – would soon debut with their indefatigable hero featuring prominently in it. Superman\u2019s daily newspaper strip began on 16th<\/sup> January 1939 (Yes! Today but back then!), with a separate Sunday strip following from November 5th<\/sup>: garnering millions of new devotees. The need for new material and creators was constant and oppressive, so expansion was the watchword at the Superman and Shuster studios.<\/p>\n

On the primary pages though, Action<\/strong> Comics<\/strong>#26 (July 1940) introduced \u2018Professor Cobalt\u2019s Clinic\u2019<\/em> (limned by Pauls Lauretta & Cassidy with Siegel inking and Frank Shuster lettering) wherein Clark Kent & Lois Lane<\/em> expose a murderous sham Health Facility with a little Kryptonian help, whilst the following month dealt a similar blow to corrupt orphanage the \u2018Brentwood Home for Wayward Youth\u2019<\/em>. September\u2019s issue found Superman at the circus, solving the mystery of \u2018The Strongarm Assaults\u2019<\/em>, a fast-paced thriller beautifully illustrated by the astonishingly talented and versatile Burnley. Whilst thrilling to all that, kids of the time could also have picked up the sixth issue of Superman<\/strong> (cover-dated September\/October 1940). Produced by Siegel and the Superman Studio, with Shuster increasingly overseeing and only drawing key figures and faces, this contained four more lengthy adventures. Behind its Shuster & Cassidy cover, \u2018Lois Lane, Murderer\u2019<\/em>, and \u2018Racketeer Terror in Gateston\u2019<\/em> by Cassidy had the Man of Action saving his plucky co-worker from a dastardly frame up and rescuing a small town from a mob invasion. An infomercial for the Supermen of America <\/em>club and the secrets of attaining \u2018Super Strength\u2019<\/em> as shared by Burnley, Shuster & Cassidy follows. These lead to more adventure and action from Lauretta & Cassidy as \u2018Terror Stalks San Caluma\u2019<\/em> and \u2018The Construction Scam\u2019<\/em> sees the Man of Tomorrow foil a blackmailer who\u2019s discovered his secret identity before spectacularly fixing a corrupt company\u2019s shoddy, death-trap buildings.<\/p>\n

Action<\/strong> Comics<\/strong> #29 (October 1940) again features Burnley art in a gripping tale of murder for profit. Human drama in \u2018The Life Insurance Con\u2019<\/em> was followed by deadly super-science as the mastermind Zolar<\/em> created \u2018The Midsummer Snowstorm\u2019<\/em>, allowing Burnley a rare opportunity to display his fantastic imagination as well as his representational acumen and dexterity. Then Superman <\/strong>#7 (November\/December1940) marked a creative sea-change as occasional cover artist Wayne Boring became Schuster\u2019s regular inker, whilst seeing the Man of Steel embroiled in local politics when he confronts \u2018Metropolis\u2019 Most Savage Racketeers\u2019<\/em>; quells manmade disasters in \u2018The Exploding Citizens\u2019<\/em>; stamps out City Hall corruption in \u2018Superman\u2019s Clean-Up Campaign\u2019<\/em> (illustrated fully by Boring) and puts villainous high society bandits \u2018The Black Gang\u2019<\/em> where they belong… behind iron bars.
\n\"\"
\nFor Action <\/strong># 31 Burnley draws another high-tech crime caper as crooks put an entire city to sleep and only Clark Kent isn\u2019t<\/strong> \u2018In the Grip of Morpheus\u2019<\/em> after which \u2018The Gambling Rackets of Metropolis\u2019<\/em> (AC <\/strong>#32) finds Lois almost institutionalised until the Big Guy steps up to crush an illicit High Society operation that has wormed its nefarious way into the loftiest echelons of Government, a typical Siegel social drama magnificently illustrated.<\/p>\n

Cover-dated January\/February 1941, Superman<\/strong> #8 was another spectacular and wildly varied compendium containing four big adventures ranging from fantastic fantasy in \u2018The Giants of Professor Zee\u2019<\/em> (Cassidy & Boring); topical suspense in spotlighting \u2018The Fifth Column\u2019<\/em> (Boring & Komisarow) and common criminality in \u2018The Carnival Crooks\u2019<\/em> (Cassidy) before concluding with cover-featured \u2018Parrone and the Drug Gang\u2019 <\/em>(Boring), wherein the Metropolis Marvel duels doped-up thugs and corrupt lawyers controlling them.<\/p>\n

Action Comics <\/strong>#33 & 34 are both Burnley extravaganzas wherein Superman goes north to discover\u00a0\u2018Something Amiss at the Lumber Camp\u2019<\/em>, before heading to coal country to save\u00a0\u2018The Beautiful Young Heiress\u2019<\/em>; both superbly enticing character-plays with plenty of scope for super-stunts to thrill the gasping fans.<\/p>\n

Superman<\/strong> #9 (March\/April 1941) was another four-star thriller with all art credited to Cassidy. \u2018The Phony Pacifists\u2019<\/em> is an espionage thriller capitalising on increasing US tensions over \u201cthe European War\u201d whilst \u2018Joe Gatson, Racketeer\u2019<\/em> recounts the sorry end of a hot-shot blackmailer and kidnapper. \u2018Mystery in Swasey Swamp\u2019<\/em> combines eerie rural events with ruthless spies whilst the self-explanatory \u2018Jackson\u2019s Murder Ring\u2019<\/em> pits the Caped Kryptonian against an ingenious gang of commercial assassins. The issue also improves health and well-being with another Shuster & Cassidy \u2018Supermen of America\u2019<\/em> update and exercise feature \u2018Super-Strength\u2019<\/em> by Shuster.<\/p>\n

The success of the annual World\u2019s Fair premium comic books had convinced editors that an over-sized anthology of their characters, with Superman and Batman prominently featured, would be a worthwhile proposition even at the exorbitant price of 15\u00a2 (most 64-page titles retailed for 10\u00a2 and would do so until the 1960s). At 96 pages, World\u2019s Best Comics<\/strong> #1 debuted with a Spring 1941 cover-date and Fred Ray frontage, before transforming into the soon-to-be-venerable World\u2019s Finest Comics <\/strong>from issue #2 onwards. From that landmark one-&-only edition comes gripping disaster thriller \u2018Superman vs. the Rainmaker\u2019<\/em>, illustrated by Boring & Komisarow, after which Action Comics <\/strong>#35 headlines a human-interest tale with startling repercussions in Boring & Leo Nowak\u2019s \u2018The Guybart Gold Mine\u2019<\/em>, before even Superman is mightily stretched to cope with the awesome threat of \u2018The Enemy Invasion\u2019<\/em> rendered by Boring & Shuster: a canny, foreboding taste of things to come if – or rather, when – America entered World War II.<\/p>\n

Superman<\/strong> #10 (May\/June 1941) opens with eponymous mystery \u2018The Invisible Luthor\u2019<\/em> (Nowak), follows with \u2018The Talent Agency Fraud\u2019<\/em> (Cassidy, Nowak, Siegel & the Studio), steps on the gas in \u2018The Spy Ring of Righab Bey\u2019<\/em> and closes with \u2018The Dukalia Spy Ring\u2019<\/em> (both by Boring, Siegel & the Studio): topical and exotic themes of suspense as America was still at this time still officially neutral in the \u201cEuropean War\u201d. Conversely, Action Comics<\/strong> #37 (June 1941) returned to tales of graft, crime and social injustice in \u2018Commissioner Kent\u2019<\/em> (Cassidy) as the Man of Steel\u2019s timid alter-ego is forced to run for the job of Metropolis\u2019 top cop, before World\u2019s Finest Comics <\/strong>#2 (Summer 1941) unleashes Cassidy & Nowak\u2019s \u2018The Unknown X\u2019<\/em> – a fast-paced mystery of sinister murder-masterminds, before AC <\/strong>#38 (and Nowak & Ed Dobrotka) provide a spectacular battle bout against a sinister hypnotist committing crimes through \u2018Radio Control\u2019<\/em>…
\n\"\"
\nOther than a Cassidy pinup, Superman<\/strong> #11 (July\/August 1941) was an all Nowak affair, beginning with \u2018Zimba\u2019s Gold Badge Terrorists\u2019<\/em> wherein thinly disguised Nazis \u201cBlitzkrieg\u201d America, after which \u201cgiant animals\u201d go on a rampage in \u2018The Corinthville Caper\u2019<\/em>. Seeking a cure for \u2018The Yellow Plague\u2019<\/em> then takes Superman to the ends of the Earth whilst \u2018The Plot of Count Bergac\u2019 <\/em>brings him back home to crush High Society gangsters. All by Nowak but accompanied by a Cassidy pinup.<\/p>\n

Horrific mad science creates \u2018The Radioactive Man\u2019<\/em> in Action<\/strong> #39 (Nowak & Shuster Studios), whilst #40 featured \u2018The Billionaire\u2019s Daughter\u2019<\/em> (by John Sikela) wherein the mighty Man of Tomorrow needs all his wits to set straight a spoiled debutante before we closing with \u2018The Case of the Death Express\u2019<\/em>: a tense thriller about train-wreckers illustrated by Nowak from the Fall issue of World\u2019s Finest <\/strong>(#3).
\n\"\"
\nStories of corruption and social injustice were gradually moving aside for more spectacular fare, and with war in the news and clearly on the horizon, the tone and content of Superman\u2019s 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\u2019s 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, with Shuster and his team consequently stretching and expanding the iconography for all imitators and successors to follow.<\/p>\n

These Golden Age tales are priceless enjoyment at an absurdly affordable price. My admiration for the stripped-down purity and power of these stories is boundless. Nothing has ever come near them for joyous, child-like perfection. You really should make them part of your life. In fact, how can you possibly resist them?
\n\u00a9 1940, 1941, 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1939 Jean Van Hamme<\/strong> (XIII<\/strong>, Thorgal<\/strong>, Largo Winch<\/strong>) was born, which you now know was the same moment – allowing for time zone differentials – that the Superman newspaper strip<\/strong> launched. It ended in 1966 but Van Hamme\u2019s still going…<\/p>\n

In 1960 UK comic Judy<\/strong> debuted, and ten years later so did Garth Ennis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Jack Burnley, Paul Lauretta, Wayne Boring, Jack Burnley, Paul Cassidy, Ed Dobrotka, Leo Nowak, Fred Ray, John Sikela, Dennis Neville, Don Komisarow, lettered by Frank Shuster, Betty Burnley Bentley, the Superman Studio & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-77950-332-3 (TPB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “DC Finest: Superman – The Invisible Luthor”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[335,191,75,76,125,345,396,225,127,148,107,169,9,93,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-adventure","category-crime-comics","category-dc-superhero","category-humour","category-lois-lane","category-monsters","category-mystery","category-nostalgia","category-romance","category-science-fiction","category-spy-stories","category-superman","category-war-stories","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-92s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34748"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34755,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34748\/revisions\/34755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}