He is best known for his role as superman in the 19521958 television program adventures of superman. Superman 1938 series comics published by dc comics. Back cover features the first pinup of superman with is also the 1st ever pinup page to appear in a comic book. The strip proved so popular that national launched superman into his own selftitled comic book, the first for any superhero, premiering with the cover date summer 1939. Superman delivers a witness to the governor to stop an execution, then stops a wifebeater. Kaan claimed at the time to have been the first movie superman. Now take a nostalgic, colorful, and entertaining look back at the first 60 years of this cultural iconfrom his scrappy beginnings as a depressionera. Its the first appearance of superman and widely considered to be the holy grail of comic books. Supertrivia quiz speeding bulletin video reports wgbs tv live.
Oct 3, 20 vintage 1938 39 superman character watch, new haven working. What happened in 1938 including pop culture, significant. Plymouth rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of william bradford and the mayflower pilgrims who founded plymouth colony in december 1620. She tells him how argo city survived the destruction of krypton and how her father sent her to earth when the inhabitants of argo city were threatened by kryptonite poisoning. History of superman marvel comics superman the comic. Apr 15, 20 departure of the pilgrims from delft haven by charles lucy 18141873, painted in england, c1847. January 5, 1914 june 16, 1959 was an american actor. At first, the superman comics were just a comic created by amateurs.
Superman is widely recognized as the first superhero in the history of comics. Superman sets her up in midvale orphanage so she can adjust to life on earth. Rare copy of supermans 1938 comicbook sells for nearly. Supermans original comic debut, the reign of superman, was printed in 1933, and actually. This marks the first appearance of jerry siegel and joe shusters superman.
After superman saves a group of miners from a cavein, clark kent senses a story that may mean that the mines owner, thorton blakely, is actually running unsafe mine operations and blaming accidents on the miners themselves. Making his way the long way around, superman finally debuted in the newspaper as a daily on january 16, 1939. It is referred to as the holy grail of comics and this is the finest graded copy to exist with perfect white pages. After a month of spotlighting the strange if endearingly strange history of comic books and especially the silver age, i think it is worthwhile to show the comic books of the silver age that are simply great stories period, without any enjoyably goofy aspect to them. Superman faces a ruthless gang of men known as the black band, who specialize in brutal robberies of night club patrons in metropolis, including clark kent and lois lane, who disguise themselves as wealthy patrons themselves to smoke out members of the gang. Lets talk about the very first superman comic issue in 1938. Vintage 193839 superman character watch, new haven working. The character regularly appears in comic books published by dc comics, and has been adapted to a number of radio serials, movies, and television shows. The rest of the story of superman is wellknown, at least in its general outlines. In his inception in 1938, superman was described as a champion of the. But as the comic moved on and picked up the idea of flying which first showed up on the radio program this superman was soon forgotten.
Later superman, as clark kent, goes out with lois, but she earns the wrath of butch matson and superman must save her. Initially, he was a bald villain and only after a time does he become a fighter figure for the good cause. Although originally conceived as a comic strip by creators jerry siegel and joe shuster in the early 1930s, superman nonetheless managed to make his first published appearance in the june 1938 issue of dc comics action comics no. The central figure is their minister, john robinson, leading them in prayer. The character regularly appears in comic books published by dc comics, and has been adapted to a number of radio serials, movies, and television shows superman was born on the planet krypton and was given. In this beautifully composed volume, les daniels collects rare and neverbeforeseen. Departure of the pilgrims from delft haven by charles lucy. Reeves was born january 5, 1914 as george keefer brewer in woolstock, iowa, the son of donald carl brewer and helen lescher. Get the best deals on superman cgc golden age comics 1938 1955 when you.
The blakely mine disaster, script by jerry siegel, art by joe shuster. The pilgrims did not refer to plymouth rock in any of their writings. Finally, clark is assigned a story on the south american republic of san monte. Joe shuster was born on july 10th, 1914 in toronto, ontario, canada. Get the best deals on superman golden age comics 1938 1955. There is then a bittersweet ending with supergirl and krypto carrying on in superman s name. Even before world war ii broke out, racist attitudes and antiasian prejudices were pronounced in the comic book world from superman to captain america and the spirit. Superman 1938 comics superman comics s comics comic. This is just to enlighten those two who said he didnt have his costume or cape until later. Scientific explanation of superman s amazing strength.
Supermans debut comic book sold for just 10 cents in 1938. Debut of bernard graddons newspaper comic just jake in the daily mirror. But the main problem is action comics 1 from 1938, for superman did not get his own title until 1939, has been reprinted many times in different formats, hence those seriously vary by size as well. This scene shows the separatist band praying together just before their departure from holland.
Aug 17, 2014 this is the comic book that started it all. What year did superman first appear in comic books. But today, a rare original is worth many times more. This is in some part a reinvention, but morrisonss goal was to return superman to the roots of his comic books. Classic tales featuring supermans friends and foes. Jerry siegel, joe shuster and superman the history of comic. Success for superman himself finally occurred when m. And remarkably chilling for a comic book at the time. Scientific explanation of supermans amazing strength. Mar 23, 2016 lets talk about the very first superman comic issue in 1938. With allstar superman, he was taking a broad look at the character. This superman had an effect on the early versions of the cartoon superman. In the early 70s a series of filler blurbs started appearing in various publications, occasionally with a photo, about a man named mayo kaan. In a statement, dallasbased heritage auctions said the copy of action comics no 1, bearing a cover price of.
Superman cgc golden age comics 19381955 for sale ebay. Mar 19, 2009 comic books in 1938 were definitely of a different size than they are today. Robinson had to remain in holland and died before he could join his congregation in plymouth. What was it like in comic world before superheroes like. Supermans debut comic published in 1938 sells for almost. Racism in american superhero comics, 19381945 superman. I can only imagine how a kid in 1961 would have handled this comic book. The first issue of action comics hit stands in 1938 and the legend of superman was born.
Reprints first appearance of superman back in june, 1938. Get the best deals on superman cgc golden age comics 19381955 when you shop the largest online selection at. Reeves was born five months into their marriage and the couple separated soon after reevess birth. But clark kent, lois lane, and the big s smack in the middle of his blue chest were intact when superman made his page debut in action comics no.
Here is an archive of all the silver age comics features so far we begin with the first death of superman, from 1961s. Recent sales of this historic comic have shocked the world with incredible record prices, and the news media has. At this time, reeves and his mother moved from iowa to her home of galesburg, illinois later, reevess mother, who was of german descent, moved to california. The most valuable superman comic book ever is for sale on ebay. An escape from strykers island means that the powerless superman needs the help of guardian, gangbuster and the project to round up the escaped villains. Yet, as superman, the complete history shows, the man of steel has also made a lasting impact in comic strips, film, toys, tv, radio, and even on broadway. The newspaper adventure strip was cut up and reassembled into comic book pages. In this issue, the 1st reference to krytonite is made.
Ad for more fun comics, new adventure comics and detective comics. Jerry siegel, joe shuster and superman because the lives of these two creators are so entwined, i have decided to do both their biographies in one swoop. In order to meet the first issues deadline, shuster cut, pasted, and redrew supermans daily strips into comic book sized pages. Well, one of the first comic book superheroes was superman, created in 1933 and sold to dc in 1938 which kickstarted the golden age of comics. Right off the bat, we get several familiar aspects of the character. Gcd issue the great superman comic book collection.
Since his humble comic book beginnings in 1938, superman has conquered every dimension of media entertainment, launching radio and television shows, major motion pictures, books, toys, and more. With supermans popularity known, dc threw together an all superman comic book that reprinted stories from the earliest issues of action this quickly became a regular series with allnew stories. Oct 3, 20 vintage 193839 superman character watch, new haven working. Superman complete set of 3 mnh us postage stamps scotts 3185f, 4084a and 4084k. Comic books in 1938 were definitely of a different size than they are today. Superman 18 cgc pg owwhite lois lane bondage cover from 1944. It depends on which superheroes youre talking about. The character was created by writer jerry siegel and artist joe shuster in 1933 when they were teenagers and it was one of the first major superhero characters. Sixty years of the worlds favorite comic book heroes by les daniels 1995 the great superman comic book collection includes comments by e. This comic features not only the first appearance of superman, clark kent and lois lane, but this comic began the entire superhero genre that has followed during the 76 years since.
Article with photos and biographies of jerry siegel and joe shuster. Vintage 193839 superman character watch, new haven. Following up on the last podcast captain americas racist sidekick i created this short documentary film. In these features, a man named jorl and the classic redandblue tights first appeared. Get the best deals on superman golden age comics 1938 1955 when you shop the largest online selection at. In order to meet the first issues deadline, shuster cut, pasted, and redrew superman s daily strips into comic book sized pages. This is a significant issue of superman where the origin of superman is retold.
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