Sunday, March 8, 2015

Essential Showcase: Superman volume 4

Back again with another volume. This time out we look at Showcase Presents: Superman volume 4. Reprinting Action Comics I#293-310 and Superman I#157-167, which spanned 1962 through 1964. How does it hold up? Rather well all things consider.

By this point, Superman was fully in his trickster phase, mostly scheming to stop Lois Lane and Lana Lang from trying to marry him. There are some exceptional stories in this those. The first one (that's not imaginary) is the introducing of the planet Lexor (Superman#164), in which Lex Luthor challenges Superman to a fist fight on a world where they're both equal.

There are also plenty of imaginary stories, most notably when Superman is split into Superman-Blue and Superman-Red. Red Kryptonite is also used (one might even say overused) and Superman is turned into a variety of things. 

The covers from this era tend to be talked about a lot, with the story promising Superman trying into a man sized ant or lion, but they also tend to end the same. Mostly Superman playing a trick on someone usually to flush out a gang. 

Still, lot of good stories and art. 




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