Superman Sunday Classics: Strips 1-183, 1939-1943

I used to enjoy Superman and Phantom in my childhood days. This was a flop. Possibly these stories are the earliest, and the ones I enjoyed were the products of greater maturity and experience.

It is great to see these old stories from the Newspapers. 60 years ago, I used to clip out favorite Daily and Sunday strips from THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, which had one of the best collections of 'Funny Pages' around...Dick Tracy, Peanuts, Alley Oop, the Phantom, Terry and the Pirates, B.C., Rick O'Shay, among others, and, with blank paper, tape and scissors, make up my own 'Comic Books'. From the ANN ARBOR NEWS, 'Boarding House' and 'Out our Way', which had been around since the 1920s. So the format of these Superman reprints brings back some different memories for me than most folks, tho I was not around in the 1940s. To see the original style of artwork is 'keen'. And the funny pages and comic books developed a love or reading for many kids, PLUS they helped us in learning to spell correctly, through repitiion of reading. It is just sad that comic books today have gotten so FAR AWAY from the 'Audience' they were created for ( kids, plus adults who couldnt read well) rather, now, depressingly, aiming at teens and adults who would be better served reading Twain, Saroyan, Conan Doyle, Yates-Brown, Smollett and Fielding, among others, in High School and moving on to Dickens, Thackeray, Dostoyevsky and Hugo, etc. as I and many of my classmates did.

1939～1943の日曜版の新聞に掲載されていたスーパーマンのコミック（comic strips)をまとめたものです。エピソード数としては１９、＋短編ふたつ、日曜版に掲載されていたものなので、フルカラーです。ストーリーは新聞版オリジナルだと思います。フライシャー版のスーパーマンアニメの後期のように、戦争の影響がうかがえます。コミックの文字は手書きでところどころ読みにくい場合もありますが、印刷は鮮明で、英語自体はグーグル翻訳頼りで読める程度です。既にゴールデンエイジのアクションコミックスを何冊か読んだことがあって、どこか牧歌的な、それでも都会的な、のびのびとしたゴールデンエイジのスーパーマンやロイス・レーンが好きな方にはお勧めです。ハードカバーの装丁は迫力もあり綺麗ですし、なかの紙質もしっかりしています。一般的なTPBの紙はすべすべでペラペラだという印象がありますが、邦訳アメコミに使われる紙の感じに近いです。サイズはTPBの1.5倍程度。持っていると嬉しくなるような本ですよ。

This Man of Steel book is a steal!For around ten dollars, what you get is, a large format, hardbound, rock solid edition, in full color, on great quality paper, of the first years of this awesome comic strip.Each page contains one Sunday strip, for back to back entertainment, that seems to go on and on.Wonderful.I do have a thought on the glossy papers, though its not a dampener. I would think those acid-free non-reflecting crisp sheets of paper would bring out the vivid black pen-brush work as well as those colors better.

I would go so far as to say that the art for the Superman Sundays is head-and-heels above the actual comic books art. There's a lot more refinement in the figures and landscapes, a much clearer grasp on the perspectives being used in each panel, and the coloring pops without looking gaudy or cheap.

This was a great read, good value and the quality was great.