Download PDF Superman The Golden Age Newspaper Dailies 19441947 Superman Golden Age Dailies Alvin Schwartz Wayne Boring Sidney Friedfertig 9781684051977 Books

Product details Series Superman Golden Age Dailies (Book 2) Hardcover 272 pages Publisher Library of American Comics (June 5, 2018) Language English ISBN-10 1684051975

Superman The Golden Age Newspaper Dailies 19441947 Superman Golden Age Dailies Alvin Schwartz Wayne Boring Sidney Friedfertig 9781684051977 Books Reviews

• I’ve been buying the Golden Age Superman Omnibus books for a few years now and the current one overlaps the years in the Golden Age Dailies which makes it easy to compare apples to apples. Coming from someone who is well versed in Golden Age Superman comic book stories I have to confess that I find the newspaper dailies to be vastly superior. Having JUST finished volume 5 of the Golden Age Omnibus I struggle to remember the plot of more than a couple of stories. The dailies have an entirely different vibe to them and better pacing. They feel of their time and I mean that in a good way. To me, these stories have more of a Golden Age feel than the far more well-known GA comic book stories themselves.
  
  The comics here span October 1944 to April 1947. The table of contents doesn’t list the author or artist for these comics but based on the introduction the stories were all written by Alvin Schwartz. Schwartz seemed to be working exclusively on comic strips, at this time, which is probably why his name didn’t sound familiar to me as a Superman writer. I believe the artists were Wayne Boring, doing the penciling, and Stan Kaye doing the inking. I get the impression that artists had more time to produce art for the comics strips than the comic books because this is some of Boring’s best work. I don’t know what the size was for the original strips but I’m sure the size is reduced here and the images were taken from newspapers and not from original artwork. As such, the art can look a little muddy. It’s far from the worst I’ve ever seen but likewise far from the best. It’s such a difficult question to decide whether it’s better to reprint the strips in their original size and have a huge book or reduce the size and have a more manageable book. I’m not sure there is a good answer but I don’t love the reproduction quality here.
  
  The newspaper comics have more of the lightness and fun of the Silver Age, which also happens to be my favorite Superman era. Not all the stories are gems and I found “Phoney Prophecies” to be ridiculous, and not in a good way. Schwartz writing, in general, is more intelligent than the comic book stories. In one story, Mr. Mxyztplk wants to be a cook and Superman purposely causes him to lose his job so the obnoxious imp declares war on the Man of Steel. Superman decides it’s better to get Mxyztplk another job to isolate the problem. That’s actually a really smart thing to do. In another story, Lois Lane refers to Superman as “Supie” and Clark Kent says, in reference to the nickname, “It gets on my nerves. It sounds idiotic.” It’s close to Superman’s nickname of Supes which I’ve always hated. When Clark gave his response I was like, “preach it, brother”
  
  The Golden Age dailies are basically what I wish the Golden Age Superman comics were. They are also a hell of a lot cheaper than the DC Omnibus editions although those have much clearer images. I highly recommend these Golden Age comics and I’d say they are some of the best action/adventure comics from their era. Thanks again IDW.