Superman (comic strip)

Last updated
Superman
Ad announcing the beginning of the Superman strip.
Author(s) Jerry Siegel
Illustrator(s) Joe Shuster
Current status/scheduleConcluded Daily & Sunday
Launch dateJanuary 16, 1939
End dateMay 1966
Syndicate(s) McClure Syndicate
Publisher(s) National Comics Publications
Genre(s) Superhero

Superman was a daily newspaper comic strip which began on January 16, 1939, and a separate Sunday strip was added on November 5, 1939. These strips ran continuously until May 1966. In 1941, the McClure Syndicate had placed the strip in hundreds of newspapers. At its peak, the strip, featuring Superman, was in over 300 daily newspapers and 90 Sunday papers, with a readership of over 20 million. A spin-off, Lois Lane, Girl Reporter, ran irregularly between 1943 and 1944.

Contents

During the National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications court case, the District Court ruled that McClure Syndicate failed to place the copyright notice on some of the strips and thus those strips are in the public domain. [1]

Original storylines

First Superman Sunday strip (November 5, 1939). Supermannov539.jpg
First Superman Sunday strip (November 5, 1939).

The daily strip was host to many storylines, unique from the regular Superman comic series. The early years consisted of Siegel-era Superman stories, many of which have yet to be republished. The strips contained the first appearance of a bald Lex Luthor, the first appearance of Mr. Mxyzptlk and of Superman's parents Jor-El and Lara. It also included the first instance in comics of Superman changing costume in a telephone booth. Other stories of note include Superman saving Santa Claus from the Nazis, World War II-era stories of Superman protecting the American home front, and Clark Kent marrying Lois Lane. The artwork includes runs by famed Superman artists Wayne Boring and Curt Swan.

Mr. Mxyzptlk was first created to appear in the Superman #30 (September 1944) story, "The Mysterious Mr. Mxyztplk". Due to the publishing lag time, the daily strip team of writer Whitney Ellsworth and artist Wayne Boring saw what had been created for issue #30, and were able to use him first in the daily strip story "The Mischievous Mr. Mxyzptlk" published from February 21 to July 19, 1944. Mr. Mxyzptlk was not created for, but first published in the Superman daily strip. While published second, Mr. Mxyztplk was first created for Superman issue #30 and first written by Jerry Siegel and drawn and inked by Ira Yarborough.

Superman appeared in the newspapers again in 1978, with the newspaper strip The World's Greatest Superheroes , which was retitled in his name in 1982 and lasted until 1985. Between these two comic strip series, Superman appeared in almost 12,000 unique newspaper strips.

Writers and artists

Advertisement for Superman comic strip.

Over the years, there have been a number of different writers and artists on the Superman newspaper strips. Originally, the strip was drawn by Joe Shuster. As Superman became more and more popular and the workload kept increasing, Shuster turned over many duties to his studio assistants. Paul Cassidy was the first in a line of ghost artists on the strip and took over the inking and detail work in 1939. In September 1940, Leo Nowak replaced Cassidy on the strip. Other assistants during this time included Dennis Neville, John Sikela (beginning in 1940), Ed Dobrotka (beginning in 1941), Paul J. Lauretta, and Jack Burnley (beginning in 1941). Sikela and Dobrotka often traded penciling and inking duties between each other. Lauretta primarily inked and did backgrounds on the strips. Burnley eventually left to work on his own comic book, Starman, but did return to pencil the Superman Sundays in 1943. The Superman strips during this early period of shop work was a team effort with multiple artists working on different parts of the same strip.

This early period ended with the start of World War II. Jerry Siegel, the main writer, was drafted in 1943. Early that same year, Leo Nowak and John Sikela were drafted as well. In 1943, Stan Kaye took over the inking. Wayne Boring, who had been another early assistant to Joe Shuster, left the Shuster studio in 1942 to directly draw the daily strip for DC. Boring and Kaye dominated the daily strip's artwork throughout most of the 1940s. The two also provided art for the Sunday strip between 1940 and 1966.

In the middle of 1949, Win Mortimer took over the daily strip from Wayne Boring. Stan Kaye continued inking Mortimer's work until Kaye temporarily left, and Mortimer inked his own work until he left DC in 1956 to publish his David Crane strip. Curt Swan took over the daily strip on June 18, 1956, along with Stan Kaye. Swan continued on the strip until November 12, 1960.

As for the stories in the Superman strips, Jerry Siegel originally wrote them until he was drafted in 1943. Whitney Ellsworth, who had begun on the strip in 1941, continued until 1945. Jack Schiff began his writing on the strip in 1942 and worked on the strip off and on until 1962.

Alvin Schwartz first started writing for the Superman strip in October 1944. Between 1947 and 1951, Schwartz was the only writer on the Superman strip, and he continued on the strip until 1958. Bill Woolfolk wrote one story for the dailies in 1953.

In 1959, Bill Finger started scripting stories, and he worked through the series' end in 1966. During this final period, Jerry Siegel resumed his duties writing some stories.[ citation needed ]

Spin-off

McClure Syndicate, concerned and fearing newspapers would cancel the popular Superman strip if it could not appear regularly and on time, appealed to DC to instead create a spin-off strip, Lois Lane, Girl Reporter, for McClure to use as a filler material for newspaper syndication. Lois Lane accompanied the Superman Sunday strip in the Cleveland Plain Dealer , running irregularly between October 24, 1943, and February 27, 1944; a total of twelve Lois Lane topper strips were produced. [2] [3]

Reprints

In 2013, The Library of American Comics started to collect all the Superman comic strips, daily and Sundays, originally published between 1943 and 1966, so far producing thirteen volumes of hardcover collections; Kitchen Sink Press and later Sterling Publishing had already already published the 1939-1942 years in two hardcover books, one each for the Sundays and the dailies.

As of 2024, no imprint has yet to publish the Superman daily strips from 1949-1959 as no complete set of viable proofs, or private collections, of those years can be found. If and when found, this run would likely require another three or four additional volumes to be produced.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lois Lane</span> Fictional character in the Superman series

Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1. Lois is an award-winning journalist for the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet and the primary love interest of the superhero Superman and his alter ego, Clark Kent. In DC continuity, she is also his wife and the mother of their son, Jon Kent, the newest Superboy in the DC Universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superman</span> DC Comics superhero

Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book Action Comics #1. Superman has been adapted to a number of other media, which includes radio serials, novels, films, television shows, theater, and video games.

<i>Action Comics</i> American comic book

Action Comics is an American comic book/magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics Inc., which later merged into National Comics Publications, before taking on its current name of DC Comics. Its original incarnation ran from 1938 to 2011 and stands as one of the longest-running comic books with consecutively numbered issues. The second volume of Action Comics beginning with issue #1 ran from 2011 to 2016. Action Comics returned to its original numbering beginning with issue #957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Shuster</span> Comic book artist, co-creator of Superman (1914–1992)

Joseph Shuster, was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in Action Comics #1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Olsen</span> DC comic book universe character

Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has a good working relationship with his boss Perry White. Olsen looks up to his coworkers as role models and parent figures. From 1954 to 1982, Olsen appeared in 222 issues of the comic series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman Family, in addition to the main Superman titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Siegel</span> American comic book writer (1914–1996)

Jerome Siegel was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster, published by DC Comics. They also created Doctor Occult, who was later featured in The Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. With Bernard Baily, Siegel also co-created the long-running DC character The Spectre. Siegel created ten of the earliest members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, one of DC's most popular team books, which is set in the 30th Century. Siegel also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter and Jerry Ess.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?</span> 1986 comic book story

"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" is a 1986 American comic book story published by DC Comics, featuring the superhero Superman. Written by British author Alan Moore with help from long-time Superman editor Julius Schwartz, the story was published in two parts, beginning in Superman #423 and ending in Action Comics #583, both published in September 1986. The story was drawn by long-time artist Curt Swan in one of his final major contributions to the Superman titles and was inked by George Pérez in the issue of Superman and Kurt Schaffenberger in the issue of Action Comics. The story was an imaginary story which told the final tale of the Silver Age Superman and his long history, which was being rebooted following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, before his modern introduction in the John Byrne series, The Man of Steel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Boring</span> American comic book artist

Wayne Boring was an American comic book artist best known for his work on Superman from the late 1940s to 1950s. He occasionally used the pseudonym Jack Harmon.

<i>Superman</i> (comic book) Comic book series featuring Superman

Superman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero Superman as its protagonist. Superman began as one of several anthology features in the National Periodical Publications comic book Action Comics #1 in June 1938. The strip proved so popular that National launched Superman into his own self-titled comic book, the first for any superhero, premiering with the cover date summer 1939. Between 1986 and 2006 it was retitled, The Adventures of Superman, while a new series used the title Superman. In May 2006, it was returned to its original title and numbering. The title was canceled with issue #714 in 2011, and was relaunched with issue #1 the following month which ended its run in 2016. A fourth series was released in June 2016 and ended in April 2018, while the fifth series was launched in July 2018 and ended in June 2021. The series was replaced by Superman: Son of Kal-El in July 2021, featuring adventures of Superman's son, Jon Kent. A sixth Superman series was released in February 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Oksner</span> American comics artist (1916–2007)

Bob Oksner was an American comics artist known for both adventure comic strips and for superhero and humor comic books, primarily at DC Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Publication history of Superman</span>

Superman is an American fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and featured pervasively in DC Comic books. The character debuted in Action Comics issue #1 in June 1938 and has since become a paradigm for superhero characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titano</span> Comics character

Titano the Super-Ape is a supervillain who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a foe of Superman. The character is a small chimpanzee named Toto who was sent into space for test flight, until an exposure of combined rays have made him grow to gigantic size and gave him Kryptonite-like powers. As a "Super-Ape", Titano rampaged through Metropolis several times in Superman and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen during the Silver Age, and also appeared in some "Tales of the Bizarro World" stories in Adventure Comics. After a poorly-received 1978 appearance, Titano was not used again in the comic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superman and Lois Lane</span> Fictional couple in DC Comics

Superman and Lois Lane are a fictional couple and the first superhero comic book romance. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, both characters including Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent, first appeared in DC Comics' Action Comics #1. They have remained in a complicated relationship ever since. A supercouple, they are among the best known fictional couples and have appeared in multiple media adaptations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Win Mortimer</span> Artist

James Winslow "Win" Mortimer was a Canadian comic book and comic strip artist best known as one of the major illustrators of the DC Comics superhero Superman. He additionally drew for Marvel Comics, Gold Key Comics, and other publishers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The K-Metal from Krypton</span>

"The K-Metal from Krypton" is an unpublished Superman story written by Jerry Siegel in 1940 and originally illustrated by the Joe Shuster Studio. The reason why National Comics never published the story; it was rejected because in it Superman reveals his identity to Lois Lane. This storyline features the precursor to Kryptonite called "K-Metal" and Lois learning that Clark Kent is Superman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superboy (Kal-El)</span> Superman in his preteen and teen years

Superboy is a superhero that appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Don Cameron and is based on the character of Superman that Siegel co-created with Joe Shuster. Superboy first appeared in the comic book More Fun Comics #101 in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Origin of Superman</span> Fiction depicting the early life of Superman

The origin of Superman and his superhuman powers have been a central narrative for Superman since his inception, with the story of the destruction of his home planet, his arrival on Earth and emergence as a superhero evolving from Jerry Siegel's original story into a broad narrative archetype over the course of Superman's literary history and as the character's scope continues to expand across comics, radio, television and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McClure Newspaper Syndicate</span>

McClure Newspaper Syndicate, the first American newspaper syndicate, introduced many American and British writers to the masses. Launched in 1884 by publisher Samuel S. McClure, it was the first successful company of its kind. It turned the marketing of comic strips, columns, book serials and other editorial matter into a large industry, and a century later, 300 syndicates were distributing 10,000 features with combined sales of $100 million a year.

Donald Clough Cameron was an American writer of detective novels and comic books. He is credited with creating several supporting characters and villains in DC Comics' line of Batman comic books.

References

  1. Ingersoll, Bob. "Installment # 66". The Law is a Ass. Comics Buyer's Guide. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  2. "Obscurity of the Day: Lois Lane, Girl Reporter". January 11, 2007.
  3. "On History: Lois Lane, Girl Reporter". January 14, 2014.