WC: ACTION COMICS #324

There's something that I don't really like about this ACTION COMICS cover. I'm not sure what it is--it's a nice piece done by the usually-winning combination of Curt Swan and George Klein. Possibly it's the light green background that puts me off here, I don't know. But the fact remains, I don't find this cover … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #324

BHOC: SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #104

Now this comic book I know was given to me by my friend David Steckel. As I've mentioned before, David was a thorough Marvel Zombie (before that term came into widespread use) and he found all DC comics to be juvenile kiddy stuff--which, in al honesty, they largely were. So he had less than no … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #104

BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #193

I had skipped buying SUPERMAN FAMILY #192 the previous month, for reasons that I'm not quite certain of apart from just a general dissatisfaction with the title. That was the problem with DC's Dollar Comics anthologies, they were wildly inconsistent. While any given issue probably had something in it that you thought was pretty great, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #193

WC: ACTION COMICS #322

The title that I got the most issues of in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988 was definitely ACTION COMICS. There were close to twice as many issues of this book as anything else in that long box. Which is understandable--ACTION COMICS was selling in phenomenal numbers during the early Silver Age, and these books … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #322

WC: ACTION COMICS #319

I've always been just a little bit fascinated by this cover to ACTION COMICS #319. That's an awful lot of empty dead space to leave at the upper left side of the cover--an area that falls into the "Dynamic Live Area" that is most likely to be visible on racks whether the books are displayed … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #319

WC: ACTION COMICS #317

We're getting down to the end in my summations of my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, which means that we're going to start to see the same titles show up again and again, issue after issue. These were the books which were a part of that purchase in some bulk, the ones whose demand on … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #317

Editor Hated Superman

In the 1970s, longtime Superman editor Mort Weisinger took a cue from rival Stan Lee's playbook and began to tour the college circuit himself, lecturing on the Man of Steel and screening episodes of the 1950s television program THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. In this, he wasn't as successful as Lee, even with visual aids. But … Continue reading Editor Hated Superman

THE AMAZING WORLD OF SUPERMAN: HOW A COMIC MAGAZINE IS CREATED.

THE AMAZING WORLD OF SUPERMAN was a tabloid-sized special publication put together in 1973 by National Periodical Publications as a souvenir item intended for the second Superman day being held in Metropolis, Illinois, which had been declared the official "Home of Superman." The interiors were printed in black and white, with sturdy cardstock color covers. … Continue reading THE AMAZING WORLD OF SUPERMAN: HOW A COMIC MAGAZINE IS CREATED.

WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #77

SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN is a resolutely strange series, albeit one that was incredibly successful for two decades thanks to the lasting appeal of Superman and the performance of actor Jack Larson as the cub reporter on the syndicated ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television program. Every young reader of the period knew exactly who Jimmy Olsen … Continue reading WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #77

The Selling of Superman: Correspondence between Jack Liebowitz and Jerry Siegel

I've been doing a deep dive of late into the early days of Superman, researching everything that is known or can be established about the development, purchase and evolution of the Man of Steel across his first decade, when he became virtually immediately a Pop Culture Phenomenon that conquered all forms of mass media simultaneously. … Continue reading The Selling of Superman: Correspondence between Jack Liebowitz and Jerry Siegel