Somewhere, Comic Relief I think, I got a bound collection of Superman Sunday comic strips, and I soaked that puppy up like it was nothing- a pure joy to read and experience! I'd never read much of the Golden Age Superman before, except for a few reprints, perhaps an early Archive and the modern bastardizations we get today (Those don't count because to me they ain't real- all MY superheroes died out somewhere in the 90's to be replaced by sad, cheap zombified immitations).
I'm talking about the "Faster that a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound" Superman, not the evolved, mutated, "only magic and kryptonite can stop me" guy. Give me the weaker, more vulnerable Superman, the guy who would stop a nuclear bomb from blowing up, not just to save others as much as to save his own ass. Today's Superman pales in comparison- he's way too powerful, almost godlike, compared to this Dude. This guy has a reason to be Clark Kent (so he can rest and not be mobbed in public), a reason to be a reporter (to catch news and save those he can hop to right away), and a chick he's actually got a chance with. Here, in these Sundays Lois is a fiery redhead and Supes is constantly joking with her. screwing with her head even, and constantly convincing her that Clark is a HORRIBLE milquetoast of a guy, and yet he almost always beats her to the deadline and has a GREAT nose for news.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster knew what they were doing when they created him. A powerful figure, and yet not TOO powerful. He can lift a car over his head stop crime, and yet still have time to investigate that lumberjack murder mystery. One of the Sunday's cliffhangers had a giant tree falling on him- was he dead? Of course not, but he did sink into the ground! Today's Superman would have backhanded the tree away from him, or burned it to a crisp with his heat ray, but not this guy- WHOMPH! Uh Oh! He's been crushed until next week, when he jumps out of the ground, tree lifted high over his head WITH BOTH HANDS. These stories, all credited, and mostly done by Siegel and Shuster really drove home for me the sheer talent (yes, here I say it again- "genius") this pair had. There was no need to make Superman all powerful- I'm willing to wager that they knew what would happen if they had done just that, especially with Siegel creating The Specter a few years later, and it's a sad trap that the current Superman suffers from today.
There was more tension, more humanity, and these stories were tighter and more fun than I ever imagined they would be, but then again, this was the Superman who spawned the cartoons and movie serials, not to mention the TV show that lasted many. many seasons of George Reeves springing off a trampoline, just barely out of camera range to "Whoosh" off as fast as he could.
There's a lot to be said for limited, and yet powerful power. It keeps the character much more likable, much more vulnerable, and frankly Supes had a great sense of humor and FUN in these days- not too somber- no angst in sight- just loving life on this little mud ball called Earth and helping out his adopted home world as best as he could.
Truly classic stuff, and a character and attitude I sorely miss in today's comics. He even takes the corniness out of the cliche's somehow- the "This looks like a job for Superman" and the "Up, UP and AWAY!!" seem much more believable and sincere and why not? He was a super-MAN after all.
Look them up when you get a chance. The Sundays collection was printed by Kitchen Sink and will probably be out of print soon, if it's not already- and there seems to have been only one volume that I could find of them as well, which is a tragedy considering how much fun they were to read. There was another volume of dailies that I'll probably buy as soon as I can afford it. If it's half as entertaining as this volume it will be well worth it.
I'm trying to keep some of these blog posts a bit light on purpose. There's PLENTY for me to bitch about in today's comics, but I think sometimes you never really know what you might have missed if you don't take the time to experience it yourself. There's a reason these characters are timeless and such a deep part of our culture. The Golden Age Superman was not only a bookmark icon to comics (really starting the whole super-hero genre), but he was an icon of our American culture and way of life- a true example of the golden age "American Way" that is SO missing from comics, our culture, and our way of life today.
In future posts I plan on featuring more comic characters that I miss. If you have some favorites please let me know.
WAKE UP!
Superman copyright c)1943 DC Comics / Spank The Monkey copyright c) 2008 Randy Zimmerman
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