I haven't been looking forward to this collection quite as much as the upcoming Superboy one, but still I'll likely get around to reading it sooner rather than later, hence the stub. (If anyone else wants to delve into it ahead of me, please feel free to do so.) This one includes Action Comics #266 & #277-278, Adventure Comics #287, Superman #142-143 & #147, Superboy #87, #90 & #92, Lois Lane #19-28 and Jimmy Olsen #47-56. I don't know why these issue in particular, but at least their choice demonstrates that someone has put some thought into it.
I used to like those b&w DC Showcase and Marvel Essential collections... at least I liked the idea of them. Although I would have preferred color, I bought the ones I didn't have and didn't expect to see reprinted in color any time soon, including the DC Showcase edition of Superman Family. I am pleased to report there there is very little duplication between the DCF volume and the four Showcase editions:
- Vol. 1 - Jimmy Olsen #1-22 and Showcase #9
- Vol. 2 - Jimmy Olsen #23-34, Showcase #10 and Lois Lane #1-7
- Vol. 3 - Jimmy Olsen #35- 44 and Lois Lane #8-16
- Vol. 4 - Jimmy Olsen #45-53 and Lois Lane #17-26
That's only 15 issues of duplication, and only with Showcase volume four.
(All covers illustrated by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye unless otherwise noted.)
Replies
SUPERMAN'S GIRLFRIEND, LOIS LANE #28:
"The Lois Lane of the Future!" by Jerry Siegel and John Forte
This infuriates Lois, who already blames him for failing to stop the bills from blowing out the window in the first place.
Why is it Clark’s fault? It was the window washer who opened the window, so it’s his fault. And Clark couldn’t possibly catch all that money. And even if he could catch some of it, so could Lois, who doesn’t do a darn thing. But I bet every kid reading that story knew what Clark felt like, being blamed for something he didn’t do and couldn’t do.
I don't know what gives Lois the authority to choose the groom's best man, but she does and he accepts.
That’s some brass that girl's got.
I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure that won't work.
Must be the Silver Age version of Star Trek’s technobabble. “Throw enough words at the kids that they don’t know and they’ll be too dazzled to know it’s nonsense! Be sure and use ‘tungsten,’ because nobody knows what that is!”
She also has super-powers, as does everyone on Earth in the 30th century. (Funny, but I don't remember that from any LSH stories...?)
Alternate future? Post-Crisis, it wouldn’t need an explanation!
“So people still remember me! Guess I was pretty terrific!”
And pretty egotistical. Also, he knows he inspired the Legion in … some other 30th century. Has a museum and everything. But even forgetting all that, this comment is wildly out of character for Superman in most stories. But not this one!
"As far as historians have been able to discover," Lois 4XR explains, "strange chemical gasses emanating from the rings of the planetoid gave everyone on Earth super-powers!"
Well, of course, primitive 21st century scientists would say a large planetary body coming close enough to “graze” Earth would be pulled in by our planet’s gravity and hit us directly, and that before it even hit, the planetoid’s own gravity would cause destruction on such a massive, unthinkable scale that virtually all life would be destroyed. But in the 30th century, they know that large planetary objects coming into a gravity well simply confers the Kryptonian suite of super-powers. Then you don’t even need to worry about gravity any more.
He takes this a proof that he and Lois will be married in the near future, even though in the very next panel he mentions the wedding of the Planet reporters.
Unfortunately, Superman is tapped to carry the idiot ball in this story.
He then flies back to his own time via the time barrier (which raises the question of what Lex Luthor was trying to accomplish in the first place by sending Superman to the future).
He did say he hoped it would be permanent. Maybe he didn’t use enough tungsten.
Last week I tried to get in touch with my "feminine side," crticized a scene from the DC's FCBD comic as being "anti-woke" (or whatever) and was told I was off-base, so I'm reluctant to do so again.
I’m no expert, but I think this story is jaw-droppingly sexist, probably even for 1961.It’s certainly jaw-droppingly sexist by today’s standards.
"If only he could tell me how to stop myself”
How on earth does Lois of the future NOT know how to brake her flying? She does it every day! This is a manufactured crisis so Superman can save the day, and it’s not a subtle one. In many ways, this doesn’t read like a Jerry Siegel story at all. I wonder if it’s mis-credited, or if there were many editorial hands involved.
"Lois Lane's Super-Lesson!" by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger
With a title like that, you just know this story is going to be more enlightened than the first... not!
It is a grim warning, indeed.
"Not that I love that slobbering idiot, but maybe it'll make Superman jealous, and he'll propose to me!" Yeah, Lois, I'm sure it'll work out just that way.
The idiot ball has changed hands.
But, in a way, this is the childlike view of relationships and marriage that is the subtext of all these stories. I don’t blame the writers — I blame the Comics Code. Lois and Superrman didn’t act like “Peanuts” characters before the Code, but they sure did afterward.
Not that I mind entirely. If Lois and Jimmy (and sometimes Superman) didn’t act like children, these stories would lose a lot of their charm.
“I’m sorry I spoke so unkindly of Clark.”
Not such a bad egg after all.
“Perhaps he got these amazing little creatures from some strange valley that time forgot!”
This would be a laughable conclusion in our world … but given what Lois has experienced in these stories, it’s not a bad guess.
“Superman tricked me!”
He sure did, Lois. Didn’t you read the title of the story?
Seriously, what struck me here is that the Rajah weighed 60 pounds on the Moon … meaning he weighs a whopping 360 on Earth. Go ahead and marry him, Lois — he’ll probably have a heart attack in a day or two!
There is a "twist" (if you can call it that), but only that the Rajah displays more sense than Superman ever did: "I've changed my mind! I don't want to marry a demanding female like you, Lois! You're headstrong! Unpredictable! You'd probably organize the 50 wives in my harem so they'd go on strike!"
First, let’s address the harem business — writers of this era were forever confusing various cultures, in this case Arabic and Hindu. But I doubt there were any Arab leaders of the time with harems, or Hindu “rajahs” left in post-British India. Yes, he was from “Kyberaghdad, India” combining Khyber Pass and Baghdad. Kyberaghdad is probably a stand-in for, at best, contested Kashmir, as it doesn’t really reflect the 1960s reality of Iraq, India or any other country in the Mideast or subcontinent. But then, this is a storybook version of those cultures, hearkening back to earlier eras and fairy tales, so I’ll allow it in a story for kids. Anyway, we must expect condescension to anything non-Western.
Secondly, what’s really notable is what you point out, that we’ve all been saying since forever: Lois is such childish conniver in these stories that Superman really ought to dump her and go date an adult. Even as a kid I knew Superman could do better.
The Rajah is just about the only adult in the story!
"Lois Lane, Gun Moll!" by Bill Finger and Kurt Schaffenberger
I think a better title would have been "Lois Lane, Super-Villain!" or better yet, simply "Lois Lane, Leopard Lady!"
Agreed.
“Listen, you — quit giving me the third degree! I don’t like it — see?”
Ooh! I love it when Lois does impressions! Is it George Raft? Jimmy Cagney? Humphrey Bogart? Shove a grapefruit in Lucy’s face, Lois! I'd pay money to see that!
Just to prove she's turned evil, she immediately begins smoking cigarettes (well-known shorthand for "bad guy").
And yet, cigars are benign symbols of authority, and pipes are erudite.
“My search on Mars was a failure!”
Space mission!
"No head doctor for me! A leopard doesn't change her spots! I'm staying just as I am!"
I think the point of this panel is to shock the readers with Lois’ new attitude. She’s meant to resemble the snarling leopard head above her. But good guess on the “clue panel.”
“No wonder I failed to find you on Mars!”
I like how these stories usually tie up every loose end. Good writing, or maybe good editing. There are generally no throwaway remarks. I probably learned story economy from these stories as a kid, that informs how I watch movies and TV shows as an adult.
“I’ve always wanted to Superman to love me — but not because he’s unhappy! (Sob!) I’ve never wanted it to be like this!”
She’s a good egg, too.
Lois Lane was actually a robot all along.
As Richard Willis pointed out in a previous story, Superman can’t tell the difference between Lois and an unliving duplicate, which explains why he never married her.
I have to note I didn’t see this ending coming. And even though it didn’t change the status quo or have any lasting consequence … it does leave the reader with an idea just how much Luthor hates Superman, that he’d go to these lengths just to make the Man of Steel unhappy. That is next-level hatred.
Incidentally, Superman returns from a "space mission" in this story, but since he was in the whole thing, I can't really count it.
Awww!
Speaking or Richard:
I guess Mort and Jerry Seigel were men of their time.
I guess. But most of these stories weren’t so nakedly sexist. Maybe one of them had just gone through a divorce or something.
"The Son of Jimmy Olsen!" by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger
Does it seem odd to you that, on the cover, Jimmy refers to Lola Kent as "the daughter of my friends, Clark and Lois," when Lois is his wife's sister?
Eric’s response sums it up best:
Not half as odd as the fact that Jimmy Jr. is making out with Lola .... his FIRST COUSIN! Who goes to a family reunion to look for a date?
Bwah-ha-ha!
Lois says: “If Supermaid ever marries someone non-super, like me, then she, too, will constantly dread that her foes will try to injure her by harming her marriage partner!”
Wow, that really narrows the dating pool.
But why can’t Jimmy Jr. marry Supermaid’s civilian ID, like Lois did with Superman’s civilian ID? Double standard much, Superman?
“It’s a note! It’s signed … Luthor! He’s my arch-enemy!”
OK, I know they have to tell the kids who Luthor is. But it’s still funny to see middle-age Superman tell middle-age Lois and Jimmy who he is.
But, you know, Superman, you didn’t HAVE to tell the world you were married to Lois, and that Jimmy Jr. was married to Supermaid. If the ending is anybody’s fault, it’s yours.
"The Jinx of Metropolis!" by Jerry Siegel and John Forte
These stories have conditioned me to expect him to slip it in his mouth.
Bwah-ha-ha! He would have if it was in a “pop bottle.”
There's virtually no mystery to this story at all.
I guess if you were eight years old and had never read a comic book before? Probably not even then. The weird thing in Jimmy’s pocket is a way-too-obvious MacGuffin, and it doesn’t take a literature professor to spot that it only affects metal, and from there the leap to iron is pretty obvious, since it's not all metal.
The only "mystery" is why Jor-El put it in baby Kal-El's rocket in the first place.
If you take all these stories as a whole, Jor-El not only did some strange things before launching Kal-El, he did LOTS OF THEM. He was really busy setting up future stories!
Since baby Kal's rocket left (just barely) ahead of the explosion, it wasn't transmuted. … I think that makes sense, in a Silver Age sort of way?
Makes sense to me.
"Jimmy Olsen's Sweethearts!" by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino
I think this is the first Jimmy Olsen issue in this book without a single Curt Swan contribution.
Perry White has sent Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane to Hollywood to cover the world premiere of a new movie.
Um … why? Why would Perry White send two reporters on an out-of-town assignment to cover some random movie premiere? Oh, right, writer’s fiat.
I'm sure Perry would be thrilled to know that the Daily Planet sprung for a plane ticket and Jimmy just blew off the one thing he was sent there to cover.
I’m sure Mr. Fiat will cover all expenses.
“I don’t know why you keep chasing Lucy when she’s always gives you such a hard time.”
At last, the SWEET VOICE OF REASON! It’s only for this story, though, to help with the set-up. By the next story, everyone will be back to acting like it’s perfectly unremarkable for Lucy to treat Jimmy like a doormat.
“You French poodle!”
“You Italian spaghetti!”
Bwah-ha-ha!
There is little more to this story than an excuse for Al Plastino to draw likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, Tuesday Weld, Gina Lollabrigida, Brigitte Bardot and Jayne Mansfield, plus Rock Hudson.
Agreed. Akso, I forgot to mention earlier that the Aqua-Jimmy story featured “Mari Lynn, the movie star,” obviously Marilyn Monroe.
“Lois … please help me trail him tomorrow! Maybe I can catch him alone and win back his love!”
Well, that’s a stupid plan. It’ll never work. But Lucy is asking just the right person! If there’s an expert on stupid plans that never work, Lois Lane is your girl!
There is little more to this story than an excuse for Al Plastino to draw likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, Tuesday Weld, Gina Lollabrigida, Brigitte Bardot and Jayne Mansfield, plus Rock Hudson.
“They’re just ordinary people who happen to resemble film stars!”
Lucy’s disdain for “ordinary people” is what I noticed here.
Jimmy must be independently wealthy. He risks getting fired so he can hire celebrity lookalikes just to make his (sorta) girlfriend jealous.
They explained that. “Now will you give us the publicity you promised in the Planet — for our Look-Alike Club?”
SUPERBOY #92 - "Krypto's Arch-Enemy" by Jerry Coleman and George Papp
Because the story cuts to Superboy performing the mission several times, I'm not going to include this on in the official tally.
Aww!
"I am one of the three people who can contact Superboy on the secret radio beam!"
Wait, did he say who the other two were? The president, I guess, and ... I dunno who else. If they didn't say (I could've missed it), then it's unusual for them to raise a question without answering it.
I thought that there were FOUR people who could contact Superboy by radio: the president, the mayor of Smallvile, Chief Parker and Professor Lang.
Lois and Superman didn’t act like “Peanuts” characters before the Code, but they sure did afterward.
Actually, I think the "Peanuts" characters are much more sophisicated.
Ooh! I love it when Lois does impressions! Is it George Raft? Jimmy Cagney? Humphrey Bogart?
Edward G. Robinson.
Space mission!
There ended up being fewer "space missions" in this volume than I anticipated. Still, eight is a "non-zero number."
Aww!
Aww!
Even counting those two it brings the officialy tally up to only ten... still fewer than I expected.
I thought that there were FOUR people who could contact Superboy by radio: the president, the mayor of Smallvile, Chief Parker and Professor Lang.
Nay, Philip, it's always been three people, and the standard list was the President, Chief Parker, and Professor Lang. I did a spot check of Superboy stories, and found these three examples:
Now, I can't swear that the mayor of Smallville didn't, at some occasion, get entered as one of the Big Three who could contact Superboy that way. I know an aberration infrequently slipped through. In "The Legion of Super-Traitors", from Adventure Comics # 293 (Feb., 1962), Clark Kent sees the flashing light in the Kent home and reflects (boldface mine) "That's a signal which means either the President, the Pentagon, or Police Chief Parker of Smallville want to contact Superboy!" That had to have given Mort Weisinger fits---because, by then, he had clearly established Superboy's time as the 1930's, yet the Pentagon wasn't conceived until 1941 and not completed until 1943.
But any other personage to get named was obviously a mistake, because the three mentioned, most constantly to a fault, were the President, Parker, and Lang.
Hope this helps.
Thanks, Commander! Maybe I got confused with the Superboy Emergency Flag that some people in Smallville raised to get Superboy's attention.
The Pentagon is in fact, a fellow superhero who normally resides in Flatland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland
Superboy met him once when he tried to go to The Fifth Dimension to settle with Mister Mxyzptlk, went the wrong way, and ended up flat-out in The Second Dimension. It's an Untold Story.
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