{"id":1772,"date":"2011-03-13T05:29:26","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T05:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2018\/11\/29\/2-revision-v1\/"},"modified":"2019-09-27T00:02:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T00:02:22","slug":"golden-age-superman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/03\/13\/golden-age-superman\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Age Superman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorial notes<\/strong>:
\nShai was always fascinated with cartoon characters and, at least as his written coverage is concerned, mostly with Superman. Between March 2011 and December 2014, Shai writes\u00a0nine articles<\/a> dedicated to this superhero and in November 2014 he starts a blog dedicated to reviewing Superman novels<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Superman\u00a0came first, anyone else came later.<\/p>\n

It all started with two\u00a0North\u00a0American\u00a0kids –\u00a0Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster\u00a0– trying out something new. Before 1938 there weren’t any superheroes, only their predecessors: trashy\u00a0science fiction mags<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0adventure-st<\/a>ory comics<\/a>. Superman’s success created a new genre, and by 1941 everyone from\u00a0Aquaman\u00a0to\u00a0Wonder Woman\u00a0was out of the\u00a0bag<\/a>\u00a0and on the\u00a0newsstands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The beginnings of superhero comics were also the beginnings of its golden age<\/a>, which lasted until the mid-’50s. Superman’s success in those early days was not only due to his novelty but also due to the desperate nature of those years. Two major historical events are echoed, and in some cases emboldened, in the pages of golden age Superman: the\u00a0Great Depression\u00a0(which threatened to reignite in 1937), and more significantly,\u00a0World War II.<\/p>\n

Reading old comic books is like reading history out of the corner of your eye.<\/p>\n

Golden age Superman mythology<\/h3>\n

Superman is the fixed point around which the world changes, and seventy years on his core character remains unchanged. In 1938\u00a0Action Comics<\/em>\u00a0introduced its strange invention as a survivor from a distant planet whose inhabitants are more advanced than Earth’s, display superhuman strength and can jump an\u00a0eighth of a mile.<\/p>\n

The actual\u00a0origin story\u00a0of Superman was retold a number of times in those early years, across various comic book\u00a0tit<\/a>les\u00a0and\u00a0media: Superman was born on the planet Krypton, whose advanced inhabitants neglected to heed to the warnings of Superman’s\u00a0par<\/a>ents<\/a>\u00a0who decide to build an\u00a0emergency rocket<\/a>\u00a0from which to send their son off to Earth. Consistency and continuity of mythology were less important in those heady days, and as a consequence different narratives ran in parallel, especially between the comic stories and the\u00a0radio show<\/a>\u00a0launched in 1940: Superman was either found by a couple who put him into an orphanage(!), only later adopting him, or else he arrived at Earth already fully grown, looking for a career that would allow him to learn about Earth’s culture…<\/p>\n

Yes, Superman’s journalistic career, as well as his alter-ego\u00a0Clark Kent, and secret love\u00a0Lois Lane\u00a0are present from the very beginning.<\/p>\n

The most notable discrepancy between Superman’s first appearance and now is his ability to fly, which develops as a fascinatingly\u00a0gradual<\/em>\u00a0change. At first, he can jump high, later he can fly, and in between, he displays impressive acrobatics, gliding, and mid-air maneuvers. Some original superpowers are well known – X-ray vision and superhearing; other’s less so – the ability to administer a\u00a0sleep pinch,\u00a0mesmerize, and contort his face to\u00a0disguise himself.<\/p>\n

The enemies of golden age Superman<\/h3>\n

Early Superman is protecting America’s fragile wealth from crooks and mobsters who install slot machines that cheat\u00a0kids<\/a>\u00a0and force store owners to\u00a0pay for security<\/a>. Superman also faces super-villains, villains that reappear no matter how many times or how thoroughly they’ve been defeated; none of which of which maintained their notoriety into the present day like\u00a0Luthor.<\/p>\n

Between the late ’30s and the early 40’s American attitude to the war in Europe changed dramatically.\u00a0Isolationist\u00a0attitudes in the very early comics manifest themselves as Superman fights greedy arms manufacturers who trick (fictional) nations to join wars.\u00a0The fall of France in 1940\u00a0worried many Americans, and\u00a0Roosevelt\u00a0stepped up military productions. Superman begins to fight fictional saboteurs and fifth columnists in pseudo-Nazi dress; by 1942, however, Superman is explicitly an enemy of\u00a0Hitler\u00a0and\u00a0Hirohito, reminders to buy war bonds and stamps appear, and many stories reaffirm the Allies’ superiority and justification in the war.<\/p>\n

Superman in simpler times<\/h3>\n

Early superhero stories are simple\u00a0even<\/em>\u00a0by today’s superhero stories’ standards. \u00a0Early stories are often quite prosaic, such as Superman helping failing sports players (although it does turn out that their failures are linked to blackmailing gangsters). Inevitably, as both writers and readers became acquainted with the new genre, stories become more and more incredible, as\u00a0super-scientists<\/a>\u00a0built\u00a0earthquake machines<\/a>\u00a0and grew giant animals.<\/p>\n

Another trend that was introduced, to spice up the fun Superman could have, was imaginary stories, involving dreams, or my favourite, involving Clark Kent imagining what it would be like if he were in a\u00a0burlesque play<\/a>[1]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Certain Superman motifs could only appear early comics – and I’m thinking here of Superman’s early encounter with people who either have no idea who he is or think he’s just a myth made up by the newspapers. But other stories weren’t ready to be told, due to the simplicity of the Superman mythology. Hence there was never any talk of Superman’s youth, nothing to do with Krypton, even Kryptonite itself only appeared in 1949; there was no\u00a0Supergirl or\u00a0Superdog; most importantly, there was no conception of stories that spanned multiple issues.<\/p>\n

Superman at the end of the golden age<\/h3>\n

Superman wasn’t created for WWII, but in truth, it was his role in providing war propaganda and catharsis that justified his existence best. War did many things to Superman – it vitalized his ability to\u00a0represent<\/a>\u00a0his nation and their needs for action. On a more practical level, it introduced chaos into a market that was still trying to settle: editors were forced to balance Superman as an epitome of wholesome goodness (telling kids to eat their breakfast and get enough sleep) with Superman as defeater of evil (telling Americans to be strong and support their troops). The war also drafted many writers and artists out of circulation, so that new faces inevitably took over on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

These two factors – changing image and changing creators – contributed to a new sense of variation that could be manifested through Superman. The reach of this variation, however, was not stretched to its limits until after the war, when Superman’s mission statement once again became unclear. 1948-58 were Superman’s most malleable years, and complications not possible during the golden age proper were introduced: there was a strong focus on Krypton, what happened there, and on other (criminal) survivors. Also,\u00a0Superboy<\/a>\u00a0was introduced; Superman’s life when he was a boy. Adventures in this interim period became both more fantastic (kryptonite and Kryptonians galore), and more absurd (inane plot devices) as writers tried to make coherent stories involving a man who had become all but godlike.<\/p>\n

This set the stage for\u00a0silver age Superman: the new Superman was still a superhero, but with weaknesses like any other; his greatest threats were not cunning racketeers and sly traitors, but supervillains who threatened him with all manner of tools that could take away his powers. Perhaps it had something to do with the age: the hard ’30s were also simpler, people could believe and want an invincible hero; the wealth of the golden 50’s destroyed the naivety which had made Superman possible\u00a0in the first place<\/a>, and made way for our\u00a0moder<\/a>n era<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OK, now I want to read golden age Superman. How?<\/strong>\u00a0Insofar as\u00a0comic books<\/em>\u00a0are concerned, there were two titles running in parallel during this period. One titled “Superman”, the other “Action Comics”, which featured (but was not exclusively) Superman. D.C. have a number of anthologies that cover this period. The briefest is\u00a0Superman in the Fourties<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0in the Fifties<\/em>. Another option is D.C.’s new, and still ongoing, republishing of the old comics into book format in a series called\u00a0D.C. Archives<\/em>, following two Superman series:\u00a0Superman<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Superman in Action Comics<\/em>. I read the former, but the latter would probably let you cover more time in fewer comics. I thoroughly recommend the\u00a0Archives<\/em>\u00a0series; for at least the first couple of volumes of the\u00a0Superman<\/em>\u00a0series, in addition to the comics are included samples of advertising[2]<\/sup><\/a>, filler (prose) stories,\u00a0and my favourite, Superman’s messages to his readers, which range from promoting exercise to poignant reminders of why American soldiers are dying overseas. You’d also do well to listen to at least a few of the Superman radio show episodes, I found them over at\u00a0Old Time Radio Superman<\/a>, and maybe also the first two seasons of the TV show starring\u00a0George Reeves. Also,\u00a0this site<\/a>\u00a0is incredibly informative as to the changes Superman’s undergone over the ages.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Clark and Lois walk out of the theatre, laughing at the burlesque play they’ve just seen,\u00a0saying\u00a0“Oh, how corny was that!”, amazed by how simple the characters and humour was back in the “gay nineties”. Although obvious, this is not something I had ever thought of: today we look back at, say, the\u00a0westerns\u00a0of the ’60s as a recognizable entity which on one hand is a historical artifact but on the other, we can see referenced in our contemporary media. Additionally, we have a tendency to look back on older periods, especially in cinema, as simpler. People in the 1940’s felt the same way, but their 1960’s were the 1890’s!<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Some of the advertising contains detailed instructions on how the child\/reader might\u00a0convince\u00a0their parents to buy the product, while many others depend on the child writing in to receive some free item which they are to sell door-to-door in order to buy the product.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial notes: Shai was always fascinated with cartoon characters and, at least as his written coverage is concerned, mostly with Superman. Between March 2011 and December 2014, Shai writes\u00a0nine articles dedicated to this superhero and in November 2014 he starts a blog dedicated to reviewing Superman novels. Superman\u00a0came first, anyone else came later. It all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,267,204,93,97],"tags":[],"metadata":[158],"class_list":["post-1772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-comics","category-everything2","category-sci-fi","category-superman","metadata-shai_footnotes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":557,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/20\/legends\/","url_meta":{"origin":1772,"position":0},"title":"Legends","author":"pastfarpoint","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: In November 2014, Shai opens his sixth\u00a0blog\u00a0dedicated to Superman. While only two posts ever got written in this blog, and only one published, Shai writes extensively about this and other superheroes, altogether dedicating\u00a015 essays\u00a0and articles to these comic book characters. This post was found in 'Draft' mode in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/21\/heart-of-stone\/","url_meta":{"origin":1772,"position":1},"title":"Heart of Stone","author":"pastfarpoint","date":"November 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As I write this, I am also experimenting with possibilities: what will I write, what will it mean, what is its purpose? If the tone of these questions sounds excessively ponderous, then that is only a side-effect of what I wonder, here and more generally. I am noticing that although\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2926,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/20\/superman-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1772,"position":2},"title":"Superman #2","author":"Pala","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This will\u00a0start from Action Comics Annual #1, then overlap with the Millennium event. Superman Annual\u00a0#1\u00a0Tears for Titano. (Dr Moyers [cf. S#7], also Mrs Wallers and Mr Steel). An experiment that escapes, and keeps growing until Moyers kills it. Action Comics Annual\u00a0#1.\u00a0Superman helps Batman out in a small town with an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2390,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/05\/03\/whatever-happened-to-the-man-of-tomorrow-br-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1772,"position":3},"title":"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (BR)","author":"Pala","date":"May 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: This Book Review was found as a 'draft' entry in Everything2. It was last updated on 03\/05\/2011. Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky... but no: it's only a bird, only a plane. Superman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2919,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/15\/superman-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":1772,"position":4},"title":"Superman #1","author":"Pala","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Having dedicated two earlier entries in 2011 to Superman, in November 2015 Shai\u00a0returns to writing\u00a0about superheroes. In a month of flurried activity between mid-November and mid-December 2014, Shai writes 13 posts, dedicated to reviewing Superman, Hawkman, Aquaman and Flash. The post below is one of a number of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2934,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/18\/comics-reading-index\/","url_meta":{"origin":1772,"position":5},"title":"Comics Reading Index","author":"Pala","date":"November 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Superman: Superman The Man of Steel volumes #1-2, incl. LEGENDS.;\u00a0Superman The Man of Steel volume #3-5. Equiv. Superman The Man of Steel volume #6, overlap. MILLENIUM; incl.\u00a0World of Metropolis;\u00a0Supergirl Saga; overlap.\u00a0INVASION!. Exile, Eradication! Krisis, Time and Time, Panic; incl. Luthor Unauthorized; incl. ARMAGEDDON2001. Death and Return of Superman Justice League:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-sA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1772"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=1772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}