Superman Part I

The twelfth Superman reprint collection, 80 Page Giant G18 (Superman 183), published in January 1966 was special.

There were 86 stories in the first eleven Superman reprint collections. All but eleven were originally published from 1957 to 1961. The oldest story dated from 1952. Then in 80 Page Giant G18 three stories from 1942 and 1944 were reprinted. I can remember being astonished by how different they were from the stories I was used to - an unrecognizable Superman, Lois Lane and Metropolis. The stories also turned out to be among the best of the early ones.

At the time I didn't know that one of the stories was significantly altered. Originally published in Superman 19 (Nov-Dec 1942) as "Superman, Matinee Idol!" the title was changed to "Superman, Cartoon Hero!" when reprinted. The introduction was changed and "Our First Imaginary Story" added. The second page has a telling change. The co-creators names have been removed from the cartoon's credits. In 1966 they were non-persons as far as DC Comics was concerned. It wasn't until the 1970s that the company was compelled to add their names to all Superman stories. Finally a nine panel sequence near the end of the story was removed and the last panel before the cut sequence has been changed. The original pages below are from the reprint in Superman Archives Volume Five (New York: DC Comics, 2000).

Secret Origins Part I

The first DC reprint comic was Superman Annual 1 in summer 1960. There were 21 other annuals published through summer 1964. The annuals were separately numbered by character. The ninth Superman annual was advertised as such but was published as 80 Page Giant 1. This series ended with number 89 in fall 1971 giving a total of 111 in this group. Twenty-three were Superman and 22 Batman. There were 12 other sub-groups, ranging from 10 Lois Lane to one Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

One of the smaller sub-groups was Secret Origins. There were two, the first in 1961 and the second, called More Secret Origins, published in March 1965 as 80 Page Giant 8. Thirteen origin stories were reprinted, although one with the Challengers of the Unknown was only partial.

The dates for the original publication of the stories ranged from 1955 to 1962 with eight from 1959 to 1962. None are older than six years when reprinted. This is the common pattern with the annuals and giants. Very few reprints date from the 1940s.

Secret Origins Annual 1

Secret Origins Annual 1 back

More Secret Origins Giant 8

More Secret Origins Giant 8 back

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Part I

Lois Lane died a few days ago. The model for Lois, Joanne Siegel was 93 and the widow of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman. Seen in hundreds of early Superman stories, Lois eventually got her own magazine in 1958.

Lois had two of the earliest DC Giant reprint comics and a total of 10 in the series, second only to Superman and Batman. Here are the last two from 1970 (Giant G-75) and 1971 (G-87). The 12 Lois stories are classic examples of the absurd and charming mid-century Superman world.

For example. The first story in the 1970 Giant, "The Super-Prisoner of Amazon Island" (Action Comics 235, December 1957), has Lois as the founder of the Super-Sorority, a club of girls who have been saved by Superman. The girls finds themselves shipwrecked on an uncharted island which is inhabited by Amazons. When Superman comes to their rescue he is enslaved by the Amazons with chains made of kryptonite. A contest is held to see who can give Superman an impossible task. The winner will marry Superman.

Superman outfoxes the Amazons and the girls and the Amazons are left to their man-free island.

Lois Lane 104, September-October 1970


Lois Lane 113 - September-October 1971

Most Reprinted DC Comics Story Part I

What DC Comics story has been reprinted the most times? I don't know but here I'll start to look at some candidates.

The introduction of the Flash in Showcase 4 (September-October 1956) is in the running. Titled "Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt!", the story tells of the accidental creation of the Flash when police scientist Barry Allen is struck in his lab by a lightning bolt.

The first DC reprint is five years later in the Secret Origins Annual (1961), which itself was reprinted in 1998. But the earliest reprint is just three months after the original by the Australian publisher K.G. Murray in their The Hundred Comic Monthly. There are eight other reprints.

Hundred Comic Monthly, The #3 (K. G. Murray, 1956)
Secret Origins #1 (DC,Summer 1961)
Secret Origins #1 (DC, February-March 1973)
Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1976)
DC Silver Age Classics Showcase 4 (DC, 1992)
Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told, The (DC, 1991)
Essential Showcase 1956-1959, The (DC, 1992)
Flash Archives, Volume 1 (DC, 1996)
Secret Origins Replica Edition #1 (DC, 1998)
Millennium Edition: Showcase 4 (DC, 2000)
Showcase Presents: The Flash #1 (DC, 2007)

I haven't seen the original comic but in comparing seven of the DC reprints the only difference is the colouring. Five have identical colouring, including the Archives volume. The original Secret Origins Annual and The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told have different colouring.

Secret Origins 1 - 1961

Secret Origins 1 back

Silver Age Classics Showcase #4 - 1992

Millennium Edition Showcase #4 - 2000 

80 Page Giants Part I

For seven years, from August 1964 to October 1971, DC Comics published 89 "Giant" reprint comics. The first 15 are a separately numbered series while numbers 16 through 89 are part of various comic series. The first 56 are 80 pages, the last 33 64 pages.

The first 64 page Giant (G57) is Action Comics 373 published Mar-Apr 1969 with five Supergirl stories, all originally printed in Action Comics from 1959 to 1962.

Stories were often reprinted with alterations. There are three types:

• editorial addition,
• title and/or story modification,
• deletion of panels.

There is a good example of a story with all three changes in this Giant - Supergirl's Farewell to Earth first published in Action Comics 258 (November 1959). The title page introduction is changed to connect it with other stories in the reprint. The last page has two panels removed, the remaining four panels altered and dialogue changed in one panel. The latter changes were made to allow for an ad.

Below is the Giant reprint and the original story as later reprinted in Supergirl Archives, Volume 1 (DC Comics, 2001).

Action Comics 373 cover

Action Comics 373 page 27

Action Comics 373 page 34

Supergirl Archives Volume 1 page 88

Supergirl Archives Volume 1 page 95

Post the First

In 2010 DC Comics celebrated its 75th anniversary. For the first 25 of those years DC published two reprint comics. Then in 1960 the first of many reprint comics was published, Superman Annual #1, and for the next thirty years DC reprinted hundreds of stories in comics. In the late 1980s the hardcover Archives series started and in the 2000s the softcover Showcase series began. Except for rare exceptions, DC no longer published reprints except in these and other book formats.

This blog is about the reprints from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The posts will not be checklists as there a number of them on the web, my favourite being the Grand Comics Database. Rather the blog will be about my interest in these reprints.

The editors of the Annuals often modified the originals when reprinting. Here are examples from Lois Lane Annual 1 (Summer 1962) and Annual 2 (Summer 1963). The back covers of both comics reproduce the covers of eight comics with stories in the Annuals. Anyone familiar with the originals will notice something odd - seven of them have no price and one has a 12 cent price. Of course the original covers all had 10 cents. The price was clearly removed because it was supposed that the young readers of the day would be confused at a time when the price of comics had just changed to 12 cents. Why has one of the eight covers has been given this bogus price? 

Lois Lane Annual 1

Lois Lane Annual 1 back

Lois Lane Annual 2

Lois Lane Annual 2 back