Superman: The Daily Planet

by Elliot S. Maggin, Louise Simonson, Curt Swan (Illustrator)

This 192-page Superman collection revolves around the Daily Planet newspaper and its staff. Featuring classic stories with reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane, photographer Jimmy Olsen, Editor-in-chief Perry White, and many more – showing how far they will go to get a great story! This volume reprints select stories from ACTION COMICS #211, 429, 436, and 461, SUPERMAN (first series) #280, SUPERMAN'S GIRLFRIEND, LOIS LANE #17, 24, 45, and 56, SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #42, 63, 75, and 124.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Superman

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 8, 2006

About the author

Elliot S. Maggin, also spelled Elliot S! Maggin, is an American writer of comic books, film, television and novels. He was a main writer for DC Comics during the Bronze and early Modern ages of comics in the 1970s and 1980s. He is particularly associated with the character of Superman.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice compilation, focusing more on Clark Kent and his relationships with friends than on Superman's exploits. It's always interesting and entertaining to see how comics have changed in the last 50 or so years. The medium has certainly come a long way: from cheesy stories, relatively flat characters, and laughable female representation to well-layered plots, multi-dimensional characters, and women who rock. This collection also allows the spotlight to shine on some of the side characters a bit--Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, and Lois Lane--which is a nice change of pace. If you're looking for a history lesson in the comic style as well as a broader look at the world of Superman, this is a perfect read.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection runs a huge gamut of Golden - Silver - Bronze and modern age stories. Very well selected and eve though many of the stories are separated by decades and some of them don't age well and some take on a whole new meaning in the 21st Century they do tell an overall story. Recommended for a pastiche of Superman stories.

[spanning skylines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow old comics were sexist

[Ratty]

A collection of 16 stories, mostly from the 60s and 70s, 8 coming from the pages of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" & "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane".

Most of these stories are goofy silver/bronze age fun, though the book opens with one early 1950s story and throws two late 90s tales in at the end as well. (Along with a single filler page consisting of 5 paragraphs skimming over what I assume was the then-current state of a few of the Daily Planet staff circa 2006.) Most stories focus on and are presented primarily from the point of view of either Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane or Perry White. Only about 5 being primarily focused on Superman himself or the Planet staff more generally.

Superman is a character I like and have a great deal of respect for, but that I've never really been able to "get into" beyond surface level common knowledge. With that in mind I picked up this volume in hopes it would serve as a good primer on the Superman "family". Supporting characters central to Superman but usually ignored or shoved far in the background in his more epic and well known adventures. This isn't that primer I was looking for, but it wasn't meant to be. This is for people who already have a fond attachment to Superman and his extended cast. The book didn't make me love these characters, but I imagine people who already do would get a kick out of some of these tales!

[Emmett Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little collection of stories that involve the Daily Planet in one way or another, ranging from the sublimely ridiculous ("The Super-Cigars of Perry White!") to the more heartfelt ("We're Back!"). This is one of DC's better collections, in my opinion, as the stories have an adorable lightness to them, with the final two issues being really about the people in the Daily Planet, and everything it's seen over the years. It's a very clever bookend to the collection, and above DC's usual collections of this sort, which bundle together stories that are on a theme somewhat haphazardly. Certainly geared toward Superman fans first, this is a fun little collection filled with easy reading.

[Mycavern · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book puts me to sleep every time I open it to read. It takes me forever to move to the next story, and I have to force myself to continue reading.

If you like nostalgic stuff, you may like it though coz it's a throwback to a simple era where it seems that all Superman ever does is to make sure Lois Lane comes to no harm. He is also quite literally Jimmy's bitch (am I allowed to type the b-word here?) and Jimmy has the watch to prove it.

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always love when the series shifts to the Clark Kent side of things, but this collection wasn't very cohesive. Plenty of good stuff in here though.

I chatted with author Elliot S! Maggin on his Superman run and more in this episode of the All the Books Show Podcast. https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...