Superman: The Golden Age Newspaper Dailies: 1947-1949 (Superman Golden Age Dailies)

I own five Golden Age Superman Omnibus’s but I confess that I’ve never been a fan of the Superman stories from that era. They tend to be repetitive, forgettable and lacking in charm. What I didn’t expect was how much more I would enjoy the Superman Golden Age dailies. The dailies are a lot more whimsical and feel like they could have sprung from the Silver Age even though the stories are clearly from the 1940’s. There is a very different pacing from the comics with writer Alvin Schwartz having a lot more time to develop a story. I much prefer the leisurely pace of the dailies and you can tell that Schwartz actually plots out his stories ahead of time. I bring this up because a lot of writers from this era would just make it up as they went along and it showed.Having praised the stories of Schwartz I will now confess that most of the stories have really dumb plots and I don’t mean that in the fun, campy way of the Silver Age. “The Marriage Gamble” has an absolutely moronic plot device and I’m hoping that the Ogies second appearance is also their final appearance. It may seem weird that I’m praising Schwartz writing but slamming his plots but I’m comparing the stories to the GA Superman stories which are a very low bar to hurdle. It is possible to appreciate someone writing style and not like the plotting aspect and there are some stories where the plots are not bad.In these stories, Superman is almost never in any physical danger and this is an era when the Man of Tomorrow can pretty much do anything. In one story, a record leaves an indentation in cement and Superman is able to memorize the grooves and reproduce the record with his fingernail. He generally deals with small time crooks and romantic issues. This may sound dull but if done correctly these simple stories can be quite enjoyable. One of the stories that really contrasts with the comic books is, ‘The Paralyzing Ray of Enthor.” Enthor is clearly a stand in for Luthor except this evil scientist has hung up his hat because he simply cannot operate with Superman in the picture, so he becomes a modestly successful electrical engineer. He only returns to crime because he inadvertently creates a weapon that can immobilize The Man of Steel. This story shows an intelligence of writing that is lacking in the overly predictable GA Superman comics.The stories of Schwartz are aided greatly by my favorite Golden Age Superman artist, Wayne Boring. Boring drew the classic barrel chested Superman that became the most iconic image in his first few decades of existence. Starting with “Superman, Jailbird”, which is fairly late in the book, penciling duties switched to James Winslow Mortimer. I honestly didn’t even notice the switch so I give credit to Mortimer for aping Boring’s style. Unfortunately, the quality of the images aren’t always great. I’m going to assume that the images were taken directly from the newspapers and not from original artwork and were probably the best images available. It’s also clear that the images are reduced in size and there is generally no good answer as to whether or not it’s better to reduce the image in size or keep them the same. I’m not going to pretend I love the stories, but I’d say that, for my money, this is the best of the Golden Age Superman. Definitely a book aimed at true Superman fans.

I love these books. Honestly, several of these stories are pretty cringeworthy by today's standards; but, hey, that's comics!

Great book, good price and fast shipping. I would buy from this vendor again.

Classic Superman stories and artwork.