I've read some Superman histories over the years, but thanks to that late, free comic book Web site that existed earlier this spring, I was able to read or scan most Superman comics from the late 1930s to the early 1960s -- effectively "completing" my Superman history course.
It was amazing to see that some "Adventures of Superman" show stories, that I always thought to be original, weren't — they came from the comics! Yet, there were a few comics plots that spun off the TV show's story too.
From seeing Superman evolve, to his involvement in World War II, were priceless vantage points I found, while reading early comics on the Web.
There were also so many early 1940s comic covers where Superman stopped a U-boat or a Japanese Zero plane, where the story inside had nothing to do with the war.
I know I read some sci-fi type stories in those old Superman comics that were ahead of their time and I wish I'd made notes about them.
But, overall the comic stories of the 1940s and 1950s weren't all that good. Neither was most of the artwork. It was only from the 1960s on that the Man of Steel really took off.
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I agree. The fifties were pretty saccharin as far as Superman goes. I did read a Superman story from the forties though that was pretty good. Superman had to play the detective and it was a good mystery tale for the era.
ReplyDeleteSome of the things I didn't like about the John Byrne Superman reboot was the cape always getting ripped to shreds, and the \S/ shield being a Kryptonian symbol and family crest.
To me it's completely silly, illogical, bordering on the absurd.
What are the chances, among the countless languages and dialects on Earth...(With all the differing characters and letters used for the symbols in the alphabets of all these various languages),..What are the odds that the symbol in a family crest from an alien race would resemble an Earth English "S", and in so doing, be the perfect symbol for the the name and description of a being called "Superman"??????????
I'll tell you...ZILCH..No chance.
It makes FAR MORE sense that Ma Kent came up with the \S/ shield design.