Pre Crisis Superman What is worth reading?

[Kuwagaton]

Vs. Muhammad Ali and the JLGL hardcover really seem to compliment each other. Neither are what I'd call must reads, but rather significant points in Superman's history with a solid amount of content between them.

After reading Superman #400 with Steranko's part, I was inspired to pre-order his variant.

[devil leonx]

If you're okay with reading novels, I recommend Miracle Monday written by Bronze Age writer Elliot S! Maggin, who was the main writer on the Superman line during that period, it's been recently reissued. He also written a novel before that called Last Son of Krypton, which hasn't been reissued yet (although he told me in a reply to an email i sent to him that he's working on working a deal with DC in order to reissue that book as well) but you read it on both his website and Superman Through the Ages site (who posted the whole book with his permission from what I understand)

Both books are considered at least in Maggin's eyes canon to his run on the comics that both his comic run and the books reference each other.

I remember reading Miracle monday, honestly it was one of the best done versions of Superman ever.

[dancj]

Superman #410-413: there's a slight break for a very special issue, but this is mostly an arc following that Luthor story where their rivalry is turned up.

Superman #410 was the comic that made me start reading Superman (and American comics in general). The cover just blew me away and I had to know what was going on. For a couple of years, there was no writer or artist I loved more than Carey Bates and Curt Swan.

Superman #400 - go buy it! I found it in the dollar bin 3 days ago and resisted the temptation to get another, lol. I'm pretty sure the whole thing was Maggin but either way it is the most amazing line up of guest artists. Bendis recently mentioned it as his favorite ever, so I dug it out last night to read.

Another good call. Moebius, Frank Miller, Brian Bolland - all sorts of great work there.

[Thor2014]

I've always liked the WGBS era when Lana was a regular in the cast as Clark's co-anchor. The pre-crisis issues with Vartox courting Lana are a fun read, not sure of the issue numbers.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Okay, I gotta know the backstory on THAT!

Actually, the story only ran 3 issues: Superman 307-309 in 1977.

It was a break from the regular writer/artist team as these 3 issues were written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

Supergirl basically gaslights Superman by trying to convince him that Krypton never existed and that even the bottle city of Kandor is just a model with no real people inside. She smashes Kandor to the ground to prove it to him. I won't spoil it any further.

In a sense, the story is like something that would have appeared during the Mort Weisinger run (even though this was when Julie Schwartz was editing the book) when Superman's friends were being dickish to him or he to them and it wasn't until the last page that it was revealed that it was all done for a very good reason.

What made this 3-parter stand out is that Gerry wrote Superman Marvel-style. That is, he begins the story by angrily destroying something -- a nuclear power plant, I think. When Supergirl starts to play with his mind, he gets really freaked out and becomes really unhinged. Garcia-Lopez's art really sells it. Superman looks like he could snap at any moment and go on a rampage. I didn't like it too much when I first read it as a kid because Superman is acting so out of character and not like his usual kid-friendly self, but as I got older, I did appreciate it more. It's kind of a fun story and definitely a dramatic change of pace. Conway really married the Marvel melodrama style with DC's gimmick-plot oriented stories here.

Another suggestion is a 4-part story that soon followed the Conway one. I believe it was written by Martin Pasko and it was a take on the "Legionnaires' Disease" that was a real-life story at the time. It featured Amalak as the main villain. It appeared in issues 311-314.

[Jon Clark]

Actually, the story only ran 3 issues: Superman 307-309 in 1977.

It was a break from the regular writer/artist team as these 3 issues were written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

Supergirl basically gaslights Superman by trying to convince him that Krypton never existed and that even the bottle city of Kandor is just a model with no real people inside. She smashes Kandor to the ground to prove it to him. I won't spoil it any further.

In a sense, the story is like something that would have appeared during the Mort Weisinger run (even though this was when Julie Schwartz was editing the book) when Superman's friends were being dickish to him or he to them and it wasn't until the last page that it was revealed that it was all done for a very good reason.

What made this 3-parter stand out is that Gerry wrote Superman Marvel-style. That is, he begins the story by angrily destroying something -- a nuclear power plant, I think. When Supergirl starts to play with his mind, he gets really freaked out and becomes really unhinged. Garcia-Lopez's art really sells it. Superman looks like he could snap at any moment and go on a rampage. I didn't like it too much when I first read it as a kid because Superman is acting so out of character and not like his usual kid-friendly self, but as I got older, I did appreciate it more. It's kind of a fun story and definitely a dramatic change of pace. Conway really married the Marvel melodrama style with DC's gimmick-plot oriented stories here.

Another suggestion is a 4-part story that soon followed the Conway one. I believe it was written by Martin Pasko and it was a take on the "Legionnaires' Disease" that was a real-life story at the time. It featured Amalak as the main villain. It appeared in issues 311-314.

It also came out at a point between those Silver-Age hoaxy stories and the later deluge "Everything you know is wrong" stuff where for a minute or so you could believe that just maybe Krypton just might be a delusion Superman had bought into. And as it wasn't I assume letting you know that Superman eventually sees through Supergirl's story. The way he does so is a good example of Superman using his brains, too.

[Jim Kelly]

It also came out at a point between those Silver-Age hoaxy stories and the later deluge "Everything you know is wrong" stuff where for a minute or so you could believe that just maybe Krypton just might be a delusion Superman had bought into. And as it wasn't I assume letting you know that Superman eventually sees through Supergirl's story. The way he does so is a good example of Superman using his brains, too.

Even though I’m very far away from my comic books and can’t retrieve them as I’d like, I’m cursed with a very good memory of the comics I read in the 1970s and I can recall that Gerry Conway multi issue story as if the comics were right in front of me.

The first two issues of the three (307 & 308) boasted Neal Adams covers. Neal having been persuaded by new publisher Jenette Kahn to do some DC covers (briefly). And the interior was indeed by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, but with Frank Springer inking.

Springer was doing the art for THE VIRTUE OF VERA VALIANT, Stan Lee’s soap opera comic strip which appeared in our local newspaper. But while Springer had an interesting style for that strip, his inks were not what I wanted for JLGL—Dan Adkins was more what I wanted if Jose couldn’t do it himself. Springer didn’t have that clean inking style.

I never thought of the story as being a Mort Weisinger plot. That is one way to look at it. Morty’s hoaxes were never sustained for that long, usually being in short stories—Virus X is the rare exception.

It did feel very Marvel to me. And with Conway (who was given carte blanche to Marvelize parts of the DC world at the time), I was taken in. I believed Julie Schwartz was going to let him deconstruct the entire Superman mythos!

Rationally, there’s no way this change made any sense. So I probably should have seen through it as a mere hoax from the start. But maybe, for meta reasons, I couldn’t be sure.

My opinion was not favourable at the time—and I was not happy with Conway as a Superman writer—but ultimately this was a mere blip in the SUPERMAN run. Marty Pasko’s extended term as writer immediately followed and that is one of my most beloved runs by any writer, so it all came out clean in the wash.

[friendly-fire-press]

The Golden Age Dailies and Silver Age Dailies are pretty cool

[Kuwagaton]

My opinion was not favourable at the time—and I was not happy with Conway as a Superman writer—but ultimately this was a mere blip in the SUPERMAN run. Marty Pasko’s extended term as writer immediately followed and that is one of my most beloved runs by any writer, so it all came out clean in the wash.

Having read them so many years later, the Conway, Wolfman, and Pasko issues I own sort of blend together into a "STAR" era. Fun if overall my least preferred Bronze Age segment. I like Pasko's ideas and Wolfman's execution, but Conway had some great slugfests. All three show up big time in the Kane/Garcia-Lopez collections, which make for great samples.

Superman #410 was the comic that made me start reading Superman (and American comics in general). The cover just blew me away and I had to know what was going on. For a couple of years, there was no writer or artist I loved more than Carey Bates and Curt Swan.


Another good call. Moebius, Frank Miller, Brian Bolland - all sorts of great work there.

I was actually first attracted to pre-crisis comics by covers like that one, too. And then at that point Swan had Williamson so it was in some ways like different art. I think the era ended really well.

[titansupes]

Bought me some vintage comics, just arrived today (all in great condition considering their age)-- Superman #200, #300 and #400. Never read any of these issues and very excited, particularly for #400 after all the conversation around it the last couple of months.

[comicstar100]

I haven't read much Superman Pre Crisis, I need some recommendations. What do you consider the best Pre Crisis Superman stories?

[Last Son of Krypton]

Superman #141 (Return to Krypton), the original death of Superman (SM #149), Action Comics #300 (Superman Under the Red Sun), Superman #247 (Must There Be a Superman?), Superman #400, Superman Annual #11 (For the Man who has Everything).

[Jon Clark]

Action Comics #500- The Story of Superman

Superman #296-299: Suoerman finds that he loses his powers if he is dressed as Clark Kent and attributes this to his mind creating a situation where he needs to decide if he should be ONLY Superman or ONLY Clark 24/7.

DC Comics Presents #50: Similar to the above story- Superman's idle thought about being both his heroic self and his Clark Kent self results in him being split into a Superman who doesn't remember ever being Clark and a Clark who has no memory of being Suoperman.

Action #534-542: Another split Superman story (I have a type, I guess ) this time the deal being that two villains trying to magically grab Superman create separate versions- each with only some of the powers. One has the full strength but not the invulnerability to use it, the other has the invulnerability but lacks powers like super-strength and speed.

Superman #307-309: Supergirl confronts Superman about his delusion that he is an alien from Krypton.

Supperman #338: Enlargement of Kandor

Superman #381-383 plus New Adventures of Superboy #38- Superman and Superboy have their minds switched accidentally. Worth it just for the Superboy issue where Superman confronts a young Luthor. Far as Lex knows he's facing a teen who he's had a few years of run-ins with. But for reasons explained in the story the adult Superman's mind is a bit stressed and he tears into Luthor for all the tings he will do between then and Superman's time

DC Presents Annual #1- nice story starring Superman and Luthor from three variant Earhs. A favorite just for the interaction between the "Golden Age Superman" and the classic version at the stories end.

Action #484: Superman takes a Wife. Tells how the "Golden Age" Superman and his Lois married. Followed up by some back-up stories in later issues and continued into Superman Family.

Superman Family #200: A set of stories that some people think are the future of the Pre-Crisis Superman if Crisis hadn't happened. Think of it as the brighter alternative to Moore's "Whatever Happened to the man of Tomorrow"

[Kuwagaton]

Since people already did a good job when you asked the same question before, comicstar, I thought we'd take a look at some suggestions.

[Jim Kelly]

Pre-Crisis Superman is nearly 50 years of the character's existence (and if he was created in 1934, it's actually more). That's a pretty big period of time to reduce to a short list of stories.