Books : Superman Archives, Volume 1

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- The first four issues of the "Superman" comic book from 1939
I was going to point out that the chief value of reading the first four issues of "Superman" collected in Volume 1 of the "Superman Archives" was nostalgia, but then I realized that the term really applies to the past that you remember, and I was not reading "Superman" comic books back in 1939. Actually, reading any of the Superman titles was something I only did when we went to visit my cousins because their sun porch had a treasure trove of comic books. The comic books I remember buying on a semi-regular basis were war comics, specifically "Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos" and "Sgt. Rock" ("Our Army at War" back then). Since my father was in the military this was hardly surprising. When the "Batman" television series came out I was caught up in that and bought a subscription to the "Batman" comic book for a year, by first superhero comic book, very much aware that it was quite different from the show. But it was not until we were stationed in Japan that I got into Marvel Comics in a big way ("Amazing Spider-Man" #62 was my first purchase), and while I was busy Making Mine Marvel I developed a corresponding disdain for Superman and the entire DC line that lasted for a while. After all, I remember a Superman story where he swallows his costume to protect his identity, assuring the readers everything would come out okay in the end. Anyhow, it was not until DC rebooted the Man of Steel, giving him over to John Byrne for a significant makeover, that I started reading Superman comics on a regular basis. So actually reading the first four issues of was a revelation.

Keep in mind that Superman first appeared in the first issue of "Action" comics in 1938, so even though we get an origin story in "Superman" #1 these are not the very first Superman stories. I have a reprinted version of "Superman" #1 that is part of the "Superman Masterpiece Edition," along with an 8-inch state of the 1938 Superman and an illustrated book chronicling the Man of Steel's Golden Age, so I had read that premier issue before. The origin is actually just the first two pages of the first story in which the main plot has Superman saving an innocent woman from the electric chair (and getting Clark Kent a job at the "Daily Star"). This leads to the second story where Superman teaches a munitions maker about the horrors of war. Then we find an invitation to become a charter member of "Supermen of America" and a "Scientific Explanation of Superman's Amazing Strength" (Krypton's inhabitants evolved to physical perfection). The other two stories in the issue are reprinted from earlier issues of "Action," with Superman teaching a lesson to the heartless own of a coal mine and then taking the place of Tommy Burke, the greatest football player of all time. Following an introduction to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman's creators, there is two-page prose story regarding the Man of Steel (amazing that kids would want to read a prose story in a comic book).

In "Superman" #2 the Man of Tomorrow saves Larry Trent the ex-heavyweight champ from committing suicide and getting him a chance to re-win his title in the first story and "Champions Universal Peace!" in the second by ending the Boravian Civil War (at one point a soldier thinks he must be shooting blanks at Superman and shoots himself in a foot to prove, well disprove, his hypothesis). Then we have "Superman and the Skyscrapers," where Clark Kent investigates five deaths in as many days at the erection of the Atlas Building, followed by another prose story (but this time accompanied by two drawings). "Superman" #3 offers stories in which Superman and Clark help a runaway orphan, Clark battles Lois to get a big story (and Lois kisses Superman for what appears to be the first time), Superman has to deal with advertisers using his name as well as a spate of crimes, and Superman captures a smuggling ring. Clark has a lot more to do in these stories (and he is now working at the "Daily Planet"), which are a bit shorter as Siegel and Shuster's work is compliment by a couple of prose stories that have nothing to do with Superman and a one-page strip about a dog named "Shorty." In "Superman" #4 our hero takes on the evil Professor Martinson, fights a torpedo-like projectile and a pterodactyl courtesy of the mad scientist known as Luthor (no first name, but he has hair), stops a saboteur, and saves a truck drivers union from racketeers.

As I was reading these stories I was rather surprised that Siegel and Shuster were coming up with four Superman stories for each of these 72-page issues, but when you get to the back of this volume the Afterword by Jim Steranko explains that some of these stories are reprinted from "Action" and a couple were converted from stories drawn for newspaper syndication. Steranko, who also does the Foreword where he puts the creation of Superman in historical perspective, candidly observes that these two young pioneers typically stumble and fall in these early efforts, "yet, in retrospect, their failures are often as interesting as their successes." That is really what is captivating about these early stories, because neither the quality of the stories nor of the artwork is all that compelling. Here we discover that Superman is clearly a creature of the Great Depression whose commitment to justice is tempered by socialist inclinations as he protects the workers against the rich. It is also interesting to see that Superman dislikes Lois Lane as much as she disdains Clark Kent. Most obvious is that Superman does not have his full superpowers at this point where he can "hurdle skyscrapers, leap an eighth of a mile, raise tremendous weighs, run faster than a streamline train, and nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!" Still, you can find the bare bones of the Superman mythos here and come to a better understanding how the first comic book superhero ended up becoming the greatest one of them all.

Rating:

- A Gem
Nothing like the original stuff which came out before I was old enough to read. A 'must have' for anyone serious about the classic comics.

Rating:

- Very Good
The book was recived with in a week of sale and was shipped very well.

Rating:

- Great stuff, but buy used
This is actually some great stuff. I think the early Superman stories are good examples of exciting storytelling with interesting social commentary.

For example, the first Superman story contains a none-too subtle anticaptial punishment message, as our man saves a lady from an execution and a man form a lynching (remember, this is 1938). The second shows Supe stopping a war that is concocted by munitions manufactureres (an early anti-WW2 message).

Along with that, reading these early adventures gives you the feeling that you're a little kid in pre-television 1938-39, sitting with awe and wonder with these exciting tales either being read to you by a skilled adult storyteller, or by yourself with a flashlight at night. Once you get in that mood of an inner child, you can really get into this stuff and it's lots of fun.

However, I would agree that the cost is a bit much for a new edition. Buy a good used copy. Gather the kids (over age 10, that is) around, turn the lights down low, read it with vigor, and have a ball!

Rating:

- Too much money
The reprints are gorgeous and in a wonderful hardcover that shouldn't fall apart too quickly. The text prefacing the book is boring and unneccessary, mostly, this book just costs waaayyyy too much. I would've preferred to get it in comic book format for about 10 dollars, but they no longer reprint this stuff. The stories aren't very good, but it's interesting to read in it's amateurishness and see how things originally were intended.

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