Set Description:
Synopsis: This is a collection of 78 books starting with Issue #107 and ending with Issue #239. Sixty-five of our books are highest graded examples, including 14 single highest graded books.
Background: Superman is a superhero appearing in DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and published April 18, 1938). Superman has been adapted to a number of other media, which includes radio serials, novels, films, television shows, theater, and video games.
Superman was born on the fictional planet Krypton with the birth name of Kal-El. As a baby, his parents Jor-El and Lara sent him to Earth in a small spaceship shortly before Krypton was destroyed in a natural cataclysm. His ship landed in the American countryside near the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas. He was found and adopted by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, who named him Clark Kent.
Clark began developing superhuman abilities, such as incredible strength and impervious skin. His adoptive parents advised him to use his powers to benefit of humanity, and he decided to fight crime as a vigilante. To protect his personal life, he changes into a colorful costume and uses the alias "Superman" when fighting crime. Clark resides in the fictional American city of Metropolis, where he works as a journalist for the Daily Planet. Superman's supporting characters include his love interest and fellow journalist Lois Lane, Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen, and editor-in-chief Perry White, and his enemies include Brainiac, General Zod, and archenemy Lex Luthor.
Superman is the archetype of the superhero: he wears an outlandish costume, uses a codename, and fights evil with the aid of extraordinary abilities. Although there are earlier characters who arguably fit this definition, Superman popularized the superhero genre and established its conventions. He was the best-selling superhero in American comic books up until the 1980s
Superman was the first magazine devoted to a single character, whichnatbthentime was unprecedented. Superman #1 appeared on the shelves in the summer of 1939. Superman had the distinction of being the first ever hero-character featured in more than one comic magazine. By issue #7, Superman was being hailed on the covers as the "World's Greatest Adventure Strip Character". Perry White, a supporting character who had originated on the Superman radio program was introduced into the comic book in issue #7 (October 1940). Editor Mort Weisinger began his long association with the title with issue #11 (July–August 1941)l while Jimmy Olsen first appeared as a named character in the story "Superman versus The Archer" in Superman #13 (Nov.–Dec. 1941).
In the early 1940s, Superman was selling over a million copies per month. By 1942, artist Wayne Boring, who had previously been one of Shuster's assistants, had become a major artist on Superman.Superman #23 (July–August 1943) featured the first Superman comic book story written by someone other than Jerry Siegel. The story "America's Secret Weapon!" was written by Don Cameron despite bearing Siegel's signature. Siegel introduced Mister Mxyzptlk in issue #30 (September 1944). A more detailed origin story for Superman was presented in issue #53 (July 1948) to mark the character's tenth anniversary. Another part of the Superman mythos which had originated on the radio program made its way into the comic books when kryptonite was featured in a story by Bill Finger and Al Plastino.
Superman was the first DC title with a letters column as a regular feature beginning with issue #124 (September 1958). In the view of comics historian Les Daniels, artist Curt Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a "new look" to the character that replaced Wayne Boring's version. Writer Jim Shooter and Swan crafted the story "Superman's Race With the Flash!" in Superman #199 (Aug. 1967) which featured the first race between the Flash and Superman.
Julius Schwartz became the title's editor with issue #233 (January 1971) and together with writer Denny O'Neil and artist Curt Swan streamlined the Superman mythos, starting with the elimination of Kryptonite. Elliot S. Maggin began his long association with the title with the story "Must There Be a Superman?" in issue #247 (Jan. 1972).[18][19] Writer Cary Bates, in collaboration with Swan, introduced such characters as the supervillain Terra-Man in issue #249 (March 1972)and the superhero Vartox in issue #281 (Nov. 1974). Issues #272 (Feb. 1974), #278 (Aug. 1974), and #284 (Feb. 1975) of the series were the first in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format. Superman #300 (June 1976) featured an out-of-continuity story by Bates and Maggin which imagined the infant Superman landing on Earth in 1976 and becoming a superhero in 2001. The tale was an inspiration for Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son limited series published in 2003.
DC's parent company Warner Communications reinstated the byline for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster which had been dropped decades earlier and the first issue with the restored credit was Superman #301 (August 1976). Martin Pasko and Swan created the Master Jailer character in issue #331 (January 1979). The bottle city of Kandor, which had been introduced in 1958, was restored to normal size in a story by Len Wein and Swan in Superman #338 (August 1979).
Our Collection: I was not a Superman fan growing up, as to me he always seemed too powerful to have a worthy adversary-and the TV shows that were still in reruns at the time were really cheesy. I much preferred FF and Spidey to either Superman or Batman. Consequently, it was not one of the titles I started buying when I retuned to comic collecting around 2000. It was only after finishing our Flash, GL and JLA runs that we started picking up a few of these books. Initially, we were only buying highest graded copies, but have more recently started trying to put together a collection that spans the Silver Age. Additionally, we have also been buying 80-page Giants and Annuals in this title for our collections of those two sets.
We have no goal of ever completing this set, as we are not going to collect either Golden Age or Bronze Age Supes. Currently, our earliest book is Issue #107, which was published in August 1956, but it’s the only book we currently own before Issue #110 from January 1957. We will probably either try to fill-in Issues #101-110 or sell our #107. At the current time, we are leaning toward the latter alternative. (We are also still considering starting this collection at Issue #134 (Jan 1960) and making this set just about the 60s, as we currently only own four books from the 1950s, but our copies of Issues #110 and #111 are both single highest graded killers.)
With the exception of the 80-page Giants, we will probably end our collection at Issue #222, which itself is an 80-page Giant with a publication date of December 1969. That would be a 113-issue run if we start at Issue #110. We are also targeting the eight Silver Age Superman Annuals and were fortunate enough to acquire seven of Mark’s books for our DC Silver Annuals set. There are also three 80-page Giants from the early 1970s that we already own. Thus, we are aiming to assemble a 124-book collection, which unfortunately does not fit nicely into any current CGC set. Needless to say, with just 78 books currently, we have a very very far ways to go on this one as the first 3/4 of any collection is always the easiest. But at least in the case of Superman, there appear to be far fewer high-priced keys than with Silver-Age Batmans or Detectives, so maybe someday we will get there. Stay tuned…..
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