The Silver Age Dailies

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN
The Silver Age Dailies
VOLUME TWO 1961-1963
IDW PUBLISHING

San Diego

OTHER BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICS

SUPERMAN: THE SILVER AGE DAILIES VOLUME TWO : 1961 1963

SCRIPTS BY JERRY BY

SIEGEL BASED ON THE ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK STORIES ROBERT BERNSTEIN, OTTO BINDER, LEO DORFMAN, BILL FINGER, EDMOND HAMILTON, AND JERRY SIEGEL ARTWORK BY WAYNE BORING LETTERING BY IRA SCHNAPP
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

THE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICS

EDITED AND DESIGNED BY ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Dean Mullaney ART DIRECTOR Lorraine Turner

Bruce Canwell INTRODUCTION Sidney Friedfertig COVERS Pete Poplaski MARKETING DIRECTOR Beau Smith
STRIP RESTORATION BY

Dale Crain and Dean Mullaney

IDW Publishing, a Division of Idea and Design Works, LLC 5080 Santa Fe Street, San Diego, CA 92109 www.idwpublishing.com LibraryofAmericanComics.com
Ted Adams, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer/President Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Alan Payne, VP of Sales Dirk Wood, VP of Marketing Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services

ISBN: 978-1-61377-923-1 First Printing, March, 2014

Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors

1-410-560-7100

Special thanks to Sid Friedfertig, who eagerly loaned his collection of clipped strips that is the primary source for this volume. He would like to dedicate this book This book is lovingly dedicated to my son David, who was favored with a wise head, a generous heart, and a kind nature; he is my strength, my conscience, my future. We are also indebted to the following for their help, advice, and research: Giampiero Giovani for providing access to his months of syndicate proofs, Mark Waid, Mike Tiefenbacher, John Wells, Jared Bond, Martin OHearn, Jeffrey Lindenblatt, Eddy Zeno, Harry Matetsky, Hannah Friedfertig, Ricardo Nandin, Zygy Susser, Sara Schulman, Al Plastino, Heritage Auctions, Greg Goldstein, Scott Dunbier, Justin Eisinger, and Alonzo Simon.

LibraryofAmericanComics.com
2014 DC Comics. All rights reserved. SUPERMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics. The Library of American Comics is a trademark of The Library of American Comics LLC. All rights reserved. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the comic strips in this publication may be reprinted without the permission of DC Comics, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from DC Comics, Inc. Printed in Korea.

Introduction
by SIDNEY FRIEDFERTIG
When Superman comic book editor Mort Weisinger brought Jerry Siegel back to DC in 1959 to script the Superman daily newspaper strip, its doubtful that even a man with Weisingers imagination could have envisioned the explosion of creativity over which he was about to preside. Reflecting on his career, the editor rightfully boasted that my greatest contribution to Superman was to give him a mythology. As the 1950s turned into the 1960s, the Superman mythoswith contributions by Weisinger, Siegel, Edmond Hamilton, Otto Binder, Bill Finger, and othersexpanded to include new concepts, such as Supergirl, Red Kryptonite, the Bottle City of Kandor, The Legion of Superheroes, Bizarro, Brainiac, the Phantom Zone, and Metallo, to name but a few. Despite Weisingers often cantankerous relationship with Siegel, he nonetheless recognized that Supermans co-creator could supply what heand DCneeded. [Jerry] Siegel was the best emotional writer of them all, Weisinger recalled shortly after his retirement. The classic Supermans Return to Krypton (reprinted in Volume One of this series) remains one of the most touching stories of the era. The re-publication of these strips spans a chasm in Siegels canon and is a welcome addition to a complete library of his work. Siegel takes existing comic book stories that often use amnesia, impersonations, mistaken identities, and lookalikes to maintain coherence in sometimes convoluted plot twistsand makes them work more expansively in the format of a daily newspaper strip. He displays a deft sense of storytelling. Every strip episode is longer by panel count than its corresponding comic book version and Siegel steadily uses the additional length to add characterization and a deeper sense of story. In The Man with the Zero Eyes, for example, down-on-his-luck storekeeper Tom Dugan is a more sympathetic, thereby deserving, figure than in the 1957 comic book tale. In some stories, such as Siegels own The Invisible Lois Lane, he presents a straightforward adaptation in which the percentage of invisible-Lois panels is nearly identical between comic and strip. In other episodes, its fascinating to see how he makes changes. Scripter Leo Dorfmans The Man Who Hunted Superboy becomes The Man Who Hunted Superman in the strip. Guest appearances by other costumed characters in the comic book stories are written out of the strip. In the comic book version of Superman Goes To War by Edmond Hamilton, Clark Kent receives a battlefield transfusion from Supergirl; in the strip Superman finds his own solution.

ABOVE: Cover to Superman #161 drawn by Curt Swan and George Klein featuring the comic book version of Superman Goes to War.

The comic book edition of Hamiltons The Feud Between Superman and Clark Kent features Supergirl, Krypto, and the Bottle City of Kandor, all of which disappear in Siegels newspaper remodeling. Adapting his own story, The Sweetheart Superman Forgot, Siegel disposes of Aquamans timely rescue seen in the comic book; in the strip Kent saves himself from drowning. The Sweetheart Superman Forgot is one of several Red Kryptonite stories in this volume and it features the first appearance of star-crossed heroine Sally Selwyn, who falls in love with an amnesiac, powerless Kent. The story was so popular with fans that Siegel wrote a sequel, The Man Who Stole Supermans Secret Life, which appeared in both Superman #169 and as Episode #146 of the newspaper strip (to be reprinted in the next volume of this series). Siegel was a lifelong reader of adventure comic strips (he had, after all, initially pitched Superman to newspaper syndicates), and knew how to work the formats mechanics. His recap panels seamlessly bridged the gap between dailies and were so succinct that you could easily follow the story without reading further. His end-of-episode preview panels expertly teased the next days thrills. He knew what his job wasto get the reader to buy tomorrows newspaper. The other significant decision made by Weisinger was to reunite Siegel with artist Wayne Boring. Boring was a member of the original staff assembled by Siegel and Joe Shuster in the late 1930s. Shusters eyesight was already pretty bad, according to Paul Cassidy, who was Shusters first assistant. Cassidy and Boring assumed more and more responsibility, leaving the faces for Shuster to ink himself. In 1942 DC assigned Boring the sole responsibility to pencil the dailies, inked by Stan Kaye. The pair continued until mid-1949, when Win Mortimer began as penciler, at first inked by Kaye and later completing the art himself. Borings work on Superman broadened at this time. He became the primary penciler on Supermans comic book adventures in the 1950s, and continued drawing the Sunday page (and was given byline credit) throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Curt Swan penciled the dailies from 1956 until

November 1960, whereupon Boring returned and remained the strips penciler until its demise in 1966. Borings depiction of Superman in the 50s became the model for all artists who drew Superman afterward. Al Plastino remembered being told to adapt his style to Borings. The Boring Superman has been called noble; its no coincidence that as a youngster the artist studied with J. Allen St. John, artist of the early noble savage Tarzan stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The strips in this volume, reprinting the years 1961-1963, are Borings re-imaginings of stories penciled in the comics by Al Plastino, Curt Swan, George Papp, and Kurt Schaffenberger. As noted in Volume One of this series, the comic book and newspaper strip versions were often drawn simultaneously, neither artist being aware of how the other approached the script. Three episodes are stories Boring drew in both the newspapers and the comics. A side-by-side comparison of newspaper strip and comic book interpretations, both drawn by Boring, best showcases his mastery of the strip format. After two decades as the main Superman newspaper strip artist he had become adept at exploiting every inch of each panel. He drew in a detailed, high-resolution style that paralleled VistaVision in then-contemporary movies. He established a three-dimensional worldwindow shades rested at staggered heights, girders had support beams, garbage cans overflowed, beaches featured foaming, churning surf. Boring was a master of the set-up. Early in a story he would establish trees, ladders, hats, and other props that helped set the mood. His stage sets seemed realcourtrooms, classrooms, and alleys all appeared to have depth and volume. People generously populate his panels. Whereas Curt Swan often composed a single face dominating an entire panel, in Borings stories crowds even wordless bystandersare common, with each character displaying a unique expression, direction, or height. In Jerry Siegels Superman, Please Marry Me Boring framed nine faces in one panel, each possessing a distinct countenance. He packed fifty people into the courtroom to witness Supermans sentencing in The Man No Prison Could Hold by Bill Finger. Compare his more defined depiction of the vegetable people in The Three Tough Teenagers to the version in the comic book. Faces became thought balloons; one can almost read their thoughts from their expressions. When a close-up

RIGHT: Covers to Superman #117 drawn by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye and Lois Lane #45 drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger featuring comic book versions of stories in this volume.

was called for, a single arched eyebrow on Supermans face spoke to the reader as clearly as any line of Siegels dialogue. In an era when the word outer usually preceded the word space, his scenes of the final frontier contained not only nearby recognizable planets but the nebulae of distant galaxies. Weisinger also considered Boring unequalled in stories taking place on Krypton. Boring was a fan of the medium throughout his career. He would never read a script through to the end, preferring to read and draw each panel one at a time, following as would any reader. To read the script, knowing the answer, he said, would make it seem too much like work. His fun continued into retirement. In his final years he would superimpose a new Superman drawing over the original artwork for the newspaper dailies. When Superman comic book editor Mort Weisinger brought Jerry Siegel back to DC it meant coming full circle for Supermans co-creator from assembling his original strips into a comic book story to transforming Superman comics into newspaper strips. The work he produced upon his return was among the finest of his career. Alvin Schwartz, who wrote the strip for most of the 1950s, said, Jerry Siegelimproved considerably and remarkably as he matured. Siegel and Boring combined talent, experience, and feeling to create one of the finest examples of the episodic comic strip. Reaction to Superman Silver Age Dailies Volume One can best be described as gleeful astonishment. Many lifelong Superman fansincluding silver-maned grandfathers who were instantly transformed into grinning fanboysthought they knew every story written about the Man of Steel and were not aware that many years ago newspapers published alternate versions of stories they knew from Action, Adventure , Superman, Lois Lane , and Superboy comics. That these reprints are available to enjoy is due to the efforts of many

nameless fans who faithfully clipped, organized, and saved these strips decades ago. Most of the brittle, yellowed, precious clippings I collected were from local New York area newspapers; missing strips were often from holidays, days off, which suggests that the fans who saved these strips were working people who bought the newspaper each morning before descending into the subway, fans who then devotedly carried the newspaper home that night, to be clipped and saved for posterity. In some ways we can think of this series of books that will reprint every Superman newspaper strip as a gift bequeathed from fans of one era to fans of another. These stories were written at a time and for a generation that was perhaps more able to embrace a willing suspension of disbelief. A new generation of fans may find the stories goofy, yet they remain an accurate reflection of a simpler, more innocent timea time when men carried newspapers and newspapers carried the funnies and the funnies carried us to far away places; and Jerry Siegel, father of an icon, creator of a universe, rocketed us farther than anyone had before.

CONTENTS
EPISODE 123 EPISODE 127 EPISODE 131

The Super Luck of Badge 77

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

The Man No Prison Could Hold

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Lois Lanes Revenge on Superman

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Otto Binder, drawn by Al Plastino in Superman #133 (November 1959). EPISODE 124

Adapted from a story by Bill Finger, drawn by Boring and Kaye in Action Comics #248 (January 1959). EPISODE 128

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Swan and George Klein in Lois Lane #32 (April 1962). EPISODE 132

Supermans Hunt for Clark Kent

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

The Three Tough Teenagers

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

When Superman Defended His Arch-Enemy

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Binder, drawn by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye in Superman #126 (January 1959). EPISODE 125

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Plastino in Superman #151 (February 1962). EPISODE 129

Adapted from an unattributed story, drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #292 (September 1962). EPISODE 133

The Reporter of Steel

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

The Day Superman Broke the Law

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Lois Lane's Other Life

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Binder, drawn by Boring and Kaye in Action Comics #257 (October 1959). EPISODE 126

Adapted from a story by Finger, drawn by Plastino in Superman #153 (May 1962). EPISODE 130

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Swan and Klein in Lois Lane #35 (August 1962). EPISODE 134

The 20th Century Achilles

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

The Man with the Zero Eyes

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Edmond Hamilton, drawn by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye in Superman #148 (October 1961).

Adapted from an unattributed story, drawn by Plastino in Superman #117 (November 1957).

The Feud Between Superman and Clark Kent

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Hamilton drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #293 (October 1962).

EPISODE 135

EPISODE 140

The Invisible Lois Lane

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

The Man Who Betrayed Superman's Identity

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Swan and Klein in Lois Lane #38 (January 1963). EPISODE 136

Adapted from a story by Dorfman, drawn by Swan and Klein in Action Comics #297 (February 1963). EPISODE 141

The Man Who Hunted Superman

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

The Sweetheart that Superman Forgot

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story The Man Who Hunted Superboy by Leo Dorfman, drawn by George Papp in Adventure Comics #303 (December 1962). EPISODE 137

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Plastino in Superman #165 (November 1963). EPISODE 142

Superman Goes to War

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Superman, Please Marry Me

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Hamilton, drawn by Swan and Klein in Superman #161 (May 1963). EPISODE 138

Adapted from a story The Superman-Lois Hit Record by Siegel, drawn by Swan and Klein in Lois Lane #45 (November 1963). EPISODE 143

The Mortal Superman

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Dear Dr. Cupid

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Dorfman, drawn by Plastino in Superman #160 (April 1963). EPISODE 139

Adapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Schaffenberger in Lois Lane #45 (November 1963). EPISODE 144

The Trial of Superman

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

The Great Superman Impersonation

Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring

Adapted from a story by Hamilton, drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #301 (June 1963).

Adapted from a story by Robert Bernstein, drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #306 (November 1963).
9

THIS PAGE: Covers penciled by Curt Swan featuring comic book versions of stories in this volume. Action Comics #248 and 257 inked by Stan Kaye, Action Comics #292, 301, and Adventure Comics #303 inked by George Klein, and Lois Lane #32 inked by John Forte.

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Episode #123

The Super Luck Of Badge 77

Strips #7071-7100 13

August 14-16, 1961

August 17-19, 1961

14

August 21-23, 1961

15

August 24-26, 1961

16

August 28-30, 1961

17

August 31 September 2, 1961

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