Superman the Golden Age 1 Paperback – March 22, 2016

This is a beautiful tome of the first issues of Superman under Action Comics and the first Superman issue. Although providing the same texts of Chronicles, I find this series better because they have more issues per volume. In spite of its 390 pages, these volumes are light and easy to handle. Albeit the simplicity and innocence of these stories, Superman impresses me as a "dark knight" of the skies given his toughness with the bad guys. In these stories, he's got no compassion for criminals. He also defends the working class, stand for fair treatment of workers, and even takes an "isolationist" stance which was popular in the days before WWII. Another surprise for the first-time reader of this period is that Superman can't fly; he can only leap over tall buildings. There is no Krypton and no Daily Planet. The city of Metropolis is introduced for the first time in the second half of this tome. And Lois Lane is often relegated to unimportant journalistic tasks, while she has greater ambitions. It is a great experience to read these old stories in a beautifully designed tome. I hope they reproduce the others quickly.

I hope DC keeps on publishing these omnibus series up to the silver age and also the softcover option.I much prefer these new softcover editions over the older chronicles series for several reasons. These STGA softcovers are very big almost twice the stories compared to the chronicles and at a very affordable price. Actually a very good price. Also the paper is one hundred times better, I hated the chronicles' paper.Amazon is wonderful too, they now deliver my comics to my house in Costa Rica in less than a couple of weeks, they always arrive before the scheduled time. Excellent service.The only thing to complain is the reproduction. I consider that Marvel makes better efforts than DC to restore their GA stuff. The Cory Sedlemeier books like the Marvel Comics Golden Age omnibus look like they were drawn this morning. DC is usually quite cheaper and prefers not invest in that. So we get the same results as the old early 2000s Archives. I know today it is impossible to get original art pages of action comics 1-10 But I still think that compared to Marvel DC is very lazy and a skintflint when it comes to restoring their old books.

I am not reviewing these historical tales, merely their presentation.As a substitute for the first half of the recently released but out-of-print Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1, this baby seals the deal. [EDIT: Omnibus now back in print!] It is basically the same presentation as the more-recent Justice League of America: The Silver Age Vol. 1. Heavy matte paper, BOLD colors (unlike I have ever seen not printed on glossy paper) and every Supes story from the first 18 months of his career! If these titles signify the beginning of a line-wide reprint campaign to supplement the weighty wrist-breaking, hi-gloss eyestrain inducing, pricy poverty-maker OMNIBUS editions I would be ever pleased! Please DC, please!One strange thing I notice is that although the volume is clearly and appropriately credited to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, they give the cover artist equal billing! I'm not talking about the guys who drew the comics covers back in 1939, but the guy who drew the collection cover in 2016, Michael Cho. (I don't really care for it and wished they had used a classic Supes image, maybe Action #1 derp?) MISSING from this collection is any kind of foreward or introduction. If you have a pricier volume with this material that may be a reason to hang onto it, or to use a photocopier before you trade up for this excellent and inexpensive edition. Keep on the lookout for other material formerly available in Archives/Chronicles/Omnibus editions, such as Golden Age Batman and Silver Age Flash and Silver Age Green Lantern.

Breaking the law, wearing disguises, and explicit vigilante antics. Nothing of what he later became and everything true Superman fans adored about him to start.I mean this guy couldn’t even fly, jus leaping all over like the Hulk. Yet some thing so exquisite about these original portrayals words simply cannot alone clearly express. 5 Star fun for sure!

I've been a fan for as long as I've been able to tie a bath towel around my neck, so diving into these early comics has been a real joy! The character was quite different in the beginning so if you're not familiar with Golden Age Superman this might be quite the eye opener. Here in these early comics, Supes certainly isn't the Big Blue Boy Scout you knew and loved in the Silver Age and beyond; early on, he's more like the Well-Meaning Big Blue Bully/Borderline Sociopath. Sort of like early Golden Age Batman: bad guys die, Superman (or Batman) kind of shrugs and thinks, "Well, they got what they deserved..." His relationship with Lois is a bit more desperate-seeming in a few places as well. In fact, he's almost a bit stalker-ish in his pursuit/attitude toward Miss Lane. You can thank DC editor Whitney Ellsworth and a few others for softening the rough edges and turning The Man of Steel into the virtuous character we have today.

Before super villains came along, Superman fought corrupt businessmen and world leaders. In this volume, you get stories like Superman trapping a wealthy mine owner in his own mine so he can feel what it’s like for his exploited workers (as I type that, I thought of a great parallel that might get this review removed haha), forced warring leaders to settle their differences in person, and destroyed a ghetto to get the government to pay to give the poor people modern housing (today our government would just leave them homeless but I digress)At some point in this volume, you get the first supervillain and it gradually goes away from this great Superman at that point but this Superman is my Superman, rough scripting/art and all

This is where it all began. Good price for the number of issues ( it was rebated ). Supes was a was a force for social reform back then.

En tiempo y bien.

This is it, the start of superman (action comics aside) not everyone can get in with the early storytelling as it does differ hugely from the modern stuff but they are eras apart, key reading and highly recommended

Here we learn something about the history of Superman. There had been other costumed heroes before him but none with superpowers. I like the idea of cleaning up slums by demolishing them. Not something you will see in present day DC comics. Lois Lane always getting into trouble.

伝説のスーパーマン第一話から時系列順に載っている、1938～39年のスーパーマン誌の再録です【収録作】アクションコミックス1～19号スーパーマン1～３号ニューヨークワールズフェアコミックス1号スーパーマン第一話からの再録本は三種類あります。【クロニクルSuperman Chronicles, The: VOL 01】厚さ薄め・ソフトカバー・紙はライトベージュ・発色がもっともマシ。製本が適度に薄く、手に持って読みやすい。【ゴールデンエイジ（本書）】厚い・ソフトカバー・紙はオフホワイト・発色は普通。廉価版。【オムニバスSuperman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1】分厚くて一回り大きい・ハードカバー糸綴じ・紙は純白・インク乗せすぎで発色がどぎつい。高価版ですが本が重すぎて読みにくいなどの欠点しかなく、買う価値はないと思います。全部買って違いを見比べてみたのでここに記しておきます。画質はどれもまったく同じです。同じ原版をつかって造本を変えているだけです。問題なのはこの原版があまりに雑な塗り直しをされており、もともとのシャスターの美しいカラーインク絵よりも線が潰れたり掠れたりしていて、彩色もめちゃくちゃにされているということで……。原版というか、現存している経年劣化したアクションコミックスをスキャンして、二値化で主線を抽出してからデジタル彩色したデータでしょうね。現在DCは再録本にせよデジコミにせよこの画質劣化版しか販売していません。非常に非常に残念です。でもストーリーは文句なしに最高です！！！今読んでもワクワクして先進的でセンス・オブ・ワンダーにあふれていて、スーパーヒーロー作品群のあのネタもこのネタもスーパーマンが先にやっている――しかも完成された形で――なのだなと驚きます。当時のアメリカでスーパーマンが発表されるやいなや空前絶後の大ヒットになった理由もよくわかります。どうしてこんな不朽の名作が邦訳されないのでしょうか？シーゲルのスーパーマンの本物感はすごいです。原作者の書くスーパーマンはこんなに違うのかと圧倒されます。なにか本物や最高級のものを知ったときの『自分がいままで良いと思ってきたあれはなんだったんだろう』という衝撃を味わいました。