In World’s Finest #47 (June 1950), the Superman story “The Girl Who Hated Reporters”, we get more inconsistency in how Lois met Superman/Clark Kent. In this story, Lois is working at a diner as a waitress and ostensibly hates reporters because that’s all she sees. She has seen and served Clark Kent, but her first […]
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As previously mentioned, 1946 is a year in which Superman’s appearance gradually evolved into its post-Shuster shape, thanks to Wayne Boring’s work on covers. In Action Comics #102 (September 1946), we see not only his pupils, but the proportion of his head to his body has now changed and his facial expression is varying and […]
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Superman earliest comic book appearances always portrayed him as a dashing, heroic figure. Joe Shuster drew the character as always in command and never surprised. As a result, he eyes were always shadowed or squinting. Did Superman even have white eyeballs? Around the time of Superman #40 (March 1946) I started noticing more illustrations of […]
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In Adventure Comics #42 (August 1939), Wayne Boring gets credit alongside Jerome Siegel for “Federal Men”. It sounds like Boring had been “ghosting” already for Joe Shuster, so I’m not sure why he was suddenly openly credited here.
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Centaur Publications included a new strip in Funny Pages #21 (vol. 2 #10) July 1938 called The Arrow (no, not the TV show and nothing to do with DC’s Green Arrow, still three years away). The Arrow was a superhero that relied on archery as a gimmick and had a costume and a secret identity. […]
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The Golden Age of Comic Books begins in May 1938 with the single most important comic book ever published: Action Comics #1 and the debut of the first full-fledged superhero: Superman. Crime fighter for justice. Crazy costume. Super powers. Secret identity. A supporting cast of two Daily Star employees: his un-named editor and his romantic […]
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Sally Norris is mostly definitely not a damsel-in-distress and is continuing to prove her worth as Bart Regan’s partner / sidekick in “Spy”, by Detective Comics #9 (October 1937). She bails out her boyfriend with tear gas from her purse (!) and rescues everyone.
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Superheroes die all the time these days and are resurrected in various forms months or years later, so it’s kind of meaningless. However, back in May 1937 it wasn’t so common, so I’m sure this cliffhanger where Doctor Occult is declared dead was upsetting to fans of Leger and Reuths’ “More Fun” strip.
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By 1937, Siegel & Shuster had five comic strips going in National Allied Publications / DC Comics. “Spy” debuted in Detective Comics #1, but the dynamic between Bart Regan (newly minted spy for Uncle Sam) and his ex-fiance Sally Norris started taking shape in the second issue, March 1937. Sally became Bart’s reluctant sidekick / […]
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In February 1937, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, the owner of National Allied Publications, put out its third comic book title, Detective Comics. The book was published by “Detective Comics Inc” due to a partnership Wheeler-Nicholson entered into to get out of some debt. Detective Comics was notable for having much longer stories than was normal for the […]
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