Category: golden age comics

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Superman Golden Age Volume Four

This is a review of Superman Golden Age Volume 4. Read my reviews of the first three volumes here, here, and here. One of the things that becomes clearer as I plow through these volumes is that Golden Age Superman is an odd duck. Exhibit A: Clark Kent and Lois Lane interview a fisherman who claims to have seen a mermaid. Since the fisherman is the type who thinks that aliens from Dimension X have reversed his brain, Lois doesn’t believe him. But Superman does. Why would he? Because Superman is the same type of weirdo as the fisherman. It all makes sense now!

Later in the same story, Superman crushes an undersea invasion of the surface world, which leads to massive casualties. At the time, there was a war going on in Europe. Reading this raises the question of what’s to stop Superman from flying into Germany and ending the war before lunch? Stories like this one are a case of hewing too close to reality. Speaking of which: a tale in this volume features an unscrupulous businessman stealing the rights from an inventor so that he gets rich and the creator doesn’t get a dime. Hey, did you know another multimillion dollar Superman movie came out?

Superman foe Lex Luthor is in four of these stories – five, if you count the Lightning Master tale. The Lightning Master sure looks like Luthor, but since the story ends with Superman executing him – Golden Age Superman does whatever he wants and faces no consequences – I assume the creators decided not to kill him. Good choice, since Luthor is the only villain who can make Superman break a sweat. Other standout villains in this volume include a hypnotist violinist and a big game hunter with a walk-in freezer who sure resembles a serial killer.

The creators have fun, which is great to see. They are writing the same three or four stories under insane deadlines, so why not? Many of the panels are funny or contain in-jokes. In one panel, Superman reads an issue of Action Comics. In another, Lois Lane – who switches from red to a canary yellow dress – is tied to a chair. Lois tips the chair over reaching a phone, where she screams at Clark Kent, who thinks she’s putting him on.

Superman’s cast continues to expand. This volume introduces Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter! Zach Snyder notwithstanding, Jimmy is still around today. Unlike Lois Lane, Jimmy has impulse control and doesn’t blindly barge into situations. On the other hand, he doesn’t have a godlike alien watching his every move. Lois steps on his back to enter a window, which says a lot about his place in the pecking order.

Credit goes to the creators for producing a wish-fulfillment comic for kids that still manages to be entertaining. I have enjoyed every one of these volumes. Recommended if you like Superman and Golden Age comics.

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Batman The Golden Age Volume Four

This is a review of Batman: The Golden Age Volume Four, written by Bill Finger with art by Bob Kane and published in the 1940’s. Read my reviews of the first three volumes here, here, and here. In this volume, we have Two Face’s origin story, along with appearances by Catwoman, The Scarecrow, and The Penguin. The Joker appears so often he should be given billing on the strip: Batman, Robin & The Joker has a nice ring to it!

There are also the usual thugs, fifth columnists, and gangsters, which is where we see the interesting stories. Batman’s Rogue Gallery always gets top billing, but with tales not featuring weirdo villains the creators need to come up with an angle. Thus, we have stories about the two feuding brothers whose father is killed by a bad guy, a tearjerker about the kindly neighborhood druggist, and the boy who wants to be Robin, but is hampered by the fact that he’s way too stupid to be Robin.

My personal favorite issue features Batman and Robin splitting up. Batman tells his young ward their partnership is dissolved and throws his Robin picture in the trash. A devastated Dick Grayson leaves to become a hobo – I don’t recall if he has a bindle over his shoulder, but I sure hope he does. Turns out that evildoers threatened Robin, which is why Batman decides to go it alone!

After Batman is captured and sealed in a room, a ‘la Edgar Allen Poe, Robin returns – and is captured. The thugs have a brainwave and unseal the room, which allows Batman to beat the crap out of them, and the Dynamic Duo are reunited, with Robin having no hard feelings at all. Nothing dysfunctional about that relationship!

I must say a few words about the deathtraps. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, movie serials were very popular. Serials appeared in chapters, with every chapter ending in a cliffhanger, usually involving the female lead being tied up. The same thing happens in Batman stories of that time period. The Dynamic Duo are captured, usually by being whacked over the head. Instead of killing them, the thugs put them in deathtraps. If you think about it – which you shouldn’t – there is no reason for this. Why tie someone up and shove them in a car loaded with dynamite, when you can shoot them in the head and drop them into Gotham harbor?

This is a fun read recommended for fans of golden age comics and Batman completionists.

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Superman Golden Age Volume Three

This is a review of Golden Age Superman Volume 3. Read my reviews of the first two graphic novels, here and here. I purchased five of these volumes when they were on sale; just be aware that reading one volume is enough, because they’re all the same. Here we have more of Superman as Big Brother, solving the world’s problems. Supes fights thugs using thug tactics, so arguably he’s the biggest thug of all, but at least he has a personality. Modern day Superman is pretty vanilla, and it’s difficult to explain why a fellow with godlike powers isn’t running things.

The Superman of yesteryear was even more powerful than the modern version, in that he has no qualms about playing God. Luckily, he doesn’t want to be bothered ruling the world. He also has superpowers that have either gone by the wayside, or he no longer uses. Yes, Superman is a master of hypnosis! The makers of the movie Superman Two also read this volume, apparently.

There are three standout stories here. In the first, a mad scientist uses science to make men giants. Superman is buried under an avalanche, which slows him down. The best part of this story is when the mad scientist threatens to make Lois a giantess! The Macrophiliacs in my audience will be disappointed to know he doesn’t succeed.

The second story involves giants, also. Enormous animals are overrunning the suburbs, and Lois and Clark go to investigate! I figured this one out halfway, but it has a clever twist. The third tale involves Superman trying to reform a spoiled heiress. He’s hired by the heiress’ father, the man who spoiled his daughter, but why quibble details? The unbelievable climax requires a deus ex machina in the form of a bursting dam.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Lois Lane. Superman follows Lois around like a lost puppy, or perhaps a stalker, but I’ve lost count of how many times he’s saved her life. Is Lois really that stupid? Well, yes and no. Lois is a plot device, representing Superman’s vulnerability. Since Supes himself is invulnerable, we have Lois held hostage/tied up/transformed into a giantess/thrown off a cliff-building-airplane-etc. in almost every issue.

Recommended for comic history buffs and Superman fanatics!  

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Golden Age Superman Volume One

This is a review of Superman The Golden Age Volume One. I have a confession to make – I thought these comics would be awful. They aren’t. I enjoyed this graphic novel, warts and all, and liked seeing how Superman has changed over the years.

Superman is Clark Kent, milksop reporter. In reality, he’s a space alien rocketed to earth after his home planet explodes. Superman’s power set has evolved from his origins, where he jumps – just like The Incredible Hulk, minus the torn purple pants – instead of flying. He’s also super strong and invulnerable, although not quite as invulnerable as today.

What about Superman’s cast? At the moment, it’s just Lois Lane. Lois wears red a lot, which I’m guessing is a conscious choice on the part of the creators. She’s not very nice to Clark Kent (Superman’s alter ego). In Lois’ defense, Clark hits on her – well, all the time. My theory is that Lois stopped being cordial after rebuffing the first hundred attempts. No human resources departments back then, looks like.

The creators tend to use Lois as a hostage/rescue object, although nobody alive can beat Wonder Woman in that department. In one episode, Lois is thrown out a window and rescued by Superman. Apparently she’s in love with the big fella, because who wouldn’t love a space alien that can leap like an enormous grasshopper?

The basic template of a Superman story goes like this. Superman sees a bully kicking sand in someone’s face; Superman kicks the crap out of the bully. Sometimes the stories can get overly complex or weird, as when Superman kidnaps a college football player by jabbing him with a hypodermic needle and then poses as said youth, in order to teach the coach of the opposing team a lesson.

These stories are glorified power fantasies, which is fine, but they blend. They also overlook basic realities of human nature. In one issue, Superman kidnaps the generals of two opposing forces and tells them to fight. When they realize they’re not mad at each other, the generals end the war. Yeeeeeah.

There’s not a whole lot of suspense in these comics. The writers hadn’t invented kryptonite yet, so in the first year of stories Superman is invincible. It takes the introduction of the Ultra Humanite, whose claim to fame is managing to briefly knock Superman out a few times, to add an element of danger to the series.

I will leave you with this. There’s a fine line between fighting a bully and being a bully yourself. Superman might be the strongest man in the planet, but that doesn’t make him tough. He didn’t have to work for it.