Superman: The Silver Age Newspaper Dailies Volume 1: 1959-1961 (Superman Silver Age Dailies)

When I was a child in the early 1960's, I read Superman comic books, and I watched the TV series with George Reeves, but I wasn't aware that some Superman fans got a daily visit from the Man of Steel in their local newspaper. The Superman newspaper comic strip ran from 1939 until 1966, but it was the most ephemeral of Superman's appearances. Kids saved and collected the comic books, and the TV show was endlessly rerun, but each daily and Sunday installment of the strip disappeared as the paper was thrown out. According to the introduction to this book by Sidney Friedfertig, even DC Comics didn't maintain an archive of the original art for the comic strips. (Oddly, he doesn't go on to explain how the strips were acquired for this reprint project. Did they discover an archive of original strip art after all, or are the strips reproduced and retouched from newspaper files? Either way, the reproduction is done well.)A previous book project in the 1990's brought back into print the earliest Superman newspaper strips by Jerry siegel and Joe Shuster and their stuido artists. Some of the later strips appeared in fan publications, the "Menomonee Falls Gazette" and "Comic Reader," in the 1970's, but this is the first easily accessible reprint of the so-called "Silver Age" strips. All of the daily strips in this volume are scripted by Jerry Siegel, Superman's co-creator (though at the time Siegel received no writer credit). Just over hald the strips in the book are drawn by Curt Swan, the quintessential Superman artist of the 1960's and 70's, with inks by Stan Kaye. The remainder are drawn by Wayne Boring, whose association with the Man of Steel goes back . .to the 1940's and 50's. Both artists, especially Swan, provide fine worik here.On the other hand, longtime Superman fans who have collected the 1950's/69,s Superman comics or read the stories in reprint formats such as DC's inexpensive "Showcase" volumes, will find most of the storylines in this volume of strips to be familiar. It seems that, under the editorship of Mort Weisinger, nearly all of the storylines for the newspaper strip were recycled from scripts for the comic books (though occasionally, due to scheduling quirks, the newspaper strip verson would appear first). I was slightly disappointed on the one hand that there were not more wholly original stories (there is just one here) and on the other hand that a couple of strip stories I was hoping to see-- the first appearance of Bizarro and the story in which a space villain named Romado (renamed Brainiac for the comic books) shrinks and steals the bottled Kryptonian city of Kandor, are not here. (According to an online listing of the Superman strip stories, these stories appeared at the end of 1958 and so this volume starting with 1959 misses them. The introduction mentions that these stories will appear in "later volumes" of the book series, but if so, the volumes will need to move backwards in time.Fans should also be aware that if you're looking for high drama or epic battles between Superman and supervillains, these are short in this volume, though not totally absent. There is the strip version of the classic story "Superman returns to Krypton," in which Superman travels back through time to his home planet, meets his parents, falls in love and tries to prevent the doom of Krypton. A number of the other stories are more or less humorous in theme, though, particularly severral adapted from "Lois Lane" comic books in which Lois gets here comeuppance for reckless and snoopy behavior (these old comics had a distinct misogynistic streak).All in all, though, I enjoyed reading this material and I thank IDW publishing and DC Comics for teaming up to get the strips back into print.

I’m a big fan of Superman and consider the Silver Age to be the funnest, most iconic period in the history of the Man of Steel. Between Superman, Action Comics, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, DC was cranking out gold several times a month. These stories aren’t for everyone but I love them and own most of the ones reprinted in the DC Showcase compendiums. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect with this collection of dailies but what I got was a surprise. Every single story in this collection is taken from a story that appeared in a comic book. Some stories came after the comic publication date, some during and some before. According to the books introduction all the stories were written for the comic books first regardless of what order the comics were released.Of course I was disappointed that I had already read all the stories in this collection, right? Actually, no. As the introduction describes, these stories feel as if they arrived from a parallel Bizarro universe. Sometimes the comic books and the dailies are the same writer and sometimes they are rewritten but they rarely have the same artist. Even in the cases where they have the same artist they are always completely redrawn. One version might be done by Al Plastino and the other Curt Swan but both are legendary artists. The biggest difference is that the newspaper versions have more time to develop the story and as such they tend to be better.When I opened this collection the first thing I noticed was how dirty the images were. I struggle with whether or not I should ding IDW for the image quality since apparently these really were lost stories and no one preserved the originals. I take it they had to cull through old newspapers to produce this collection which is one reason this is the first time these stories have ever been reproduced. When I compare the images from this collection and those in the DC Showcase they look far cleaner in Showcase. It’s like there is an artistic spark missing in the dailies that exists in the comic books and I’m not sure if it’s because the artists just didn’t feel as if the newspaper dailies required the same effort or maybe it’s just because the newspaper images are so muddy. It can’t be the quality of the artists because the same artists were doing both even though in most cases there is a switch on who draws the dailies and who draws the comic books.Despite the fact that the image quality is dirty and the stories are retellings of existing stories I really did enjoy this collection. I’m a huge James Bond fan and this would almost be like finding a lost copy of Goldfinger except shot differently with a different director. I will definitely continue to get the series because it appeals to me as a big fan of the Silver Age Superman but I can understand that this collection may not be for everyone with the weak image quality and redone stories.

For anyone who grew up during this period and read comic books (like me), this impressively-produced collection will provide many hours of memories and nostalgic enjoyment. Just like the Superman comic books of that time, the storylines and artwork here are fanciful, intriguing, and yes goofy in places. They sometimes remind me of nothing so much as those cheesy but great science-fiction movies of the late 50's/early 60's.Before comics got all serious and weird on us (and one can debate endlessly whether that was an improvement or not), we still had Superman saving the world and battling aliens as well as quite a few Superman wannabes (which seemed to be a favorite theme). Lois Lane figured prominently into the mix as well, and her on-again/off-again romance with him made me think of 'Grease' at times, so high-schoolish and innocent is their relationship.Where I grew up, we didn't get the Superman comic strips in our local paper, so this volume is especially revelatory to me. Many thanks to all those involved, and for the shout-out. Good job!

OK it's black and white, but leaving that aside it's a marvellous selection of the Superman newspaper strips of that period. The stories actually work better than I would have thought possible in the constricted daily format. This period is the one when I started to read DC comics, and it's a reminder of how different the comic world was then. You don't need an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Superman to enjoy this book. It's beautifully drawn by Swan (and Wayne Boring) , and the stories are light and whimsical in the way that the comics of that era were made. Yes, the storylines may appear silly to modern readers, but to me that's a big part of their charm. Above all this book is entertaining, undemanding and enjoyable to read, which can't be said about a lot of current comics.

The book is a collection of newspaper strips based on original superman stories collected a few years back in the showcase presents line. However, they are better for being expanded on with great Curt Swan art. A good recap introduction at the start though cuts off abruptly. Sewn spine with a handy tape bookmark. Crisp printing with nice paper makes this feel an extra special part of the collection.

This is a brilliant piece of work. I'm a massive fan of Jerry Siegel's writing and Curt Swan's art. There are some really cracking Superman stories in this volume especially the newspaper strip adaption of the 'Superman's return to Krypton' story. Can't wait for the next volume and I hope its as fantastic as this one! I reccomend this highly!

Just received latest volume and not disappointed, this will add to my increasing collection of the one and only Super hero of my time, as I remember the TV cartoon series way back in the early sixties, in glorious black and white - and now in beautiful outstanding colour.

A fascinating 'alternative' way to read the Superman adventures, from the syndicated newspaper comic-strips. Of course only in B&W, but you soon don't notice the lack of colour.