Superman: The Golden Age Vol. 3 (Action Comics

Superman: The Golden Age #3

by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster (Illustrator)

In the early 1940s, Superman was a much-needed hero for a nation on the brink of war. The Man of Steel (and the comic book medium) were in their Golden Age, and with each new story, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were continuing to expand and enrich the world of their still-relatively-new creation. In these early adventures, Superman must protect the citizens of Metropolis from a variety of threats ranging from insurance scams and gangsters to spies and saboteurs. Plus, Lex Luthor returns to cement his place as Superman’s archnemesis, with more schemes and gadgets than any other villain facing the Man of Steel!

 SUPERMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE VOLUME THREE collects adventures from ACTION COMICS #32-40, SUPERMAN #8-11, WORLD’S BEST COMICS #1 and WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #2.

Genres: Comics, Superman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 2017

About the author

Jerome "Jerry" Siegel, who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Shuster), the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Golden age of comics was just a different type of story for comics. Things were so much simpler and clearer. The bad guys were evil and Superman punched them and saved the day. Sometimes its nice to go back and read these stories and enjoy that simpler time and place. Recommended

[David Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume of Superman stories covers most of 1941. Throughout the collection, I can see Jerry Seigel (and the various ghost writers I believe were helping him out) doing a pretty elaborate dance to mix things up without straying from the basic formula. In some issues, there are giant humans and animals rampaging. In others, there are corrupt carnival workers. In some, there are radioactive super villains. In others, there are scheming talent agents.

At some point, it becomes hard to take many of the stories seriously when some of them are thinly veiled attempts at discussing the real and devastating World War II, which was ongoing as these comics were being released, and others play out like episodes of Scooby Doo with cartoonish villains who go to great lengths to scare people away from the local mine. I could begin to see some of the problems Alan Moore had with these older comics (probably in no small part because I'm currently rereading Watchmen). There is too big of a discrepancy between what could be the catastrophic consequences of war and the petty crimes of small time grifters.

I can also see why these comics eventually steered more toward the super villain rather than sticking with realistic and relatable crimes. Sooner or later, the petty criminals become interchangeable. They often have the same motivations and many of them even wear similar suits and have similar pencil-thin mustaches. Even if the science behind their tactics doesn't make sense, Lex Luthor and the mysterious hooded ghost burglar have personalities that distinguish them from the rest. They bring a little more fun and energy to stories that are otherwise already getting a bit stale.

[Cadence Boudreaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh my goodness lois finally looks like lois!!! i liked these ones though ofc they’re just action comics and get repetitive

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are very similar to the stories in Volumes 1 and 2, so while it doesn't really offer anything new, it is an enjoyable read.

[Sheldon Wiebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Superman stories from Action Comics, Superman, World's Best comics and World's finest Comics from January to September of 1941, The Golden Age Superman Volume Three is filled with simple direct stories that bridge the gap from Superman taking on run-of-the-mill crime lords and thugs to actual supervillains.

Jerry Siegel's stories are drawn by a range of artists (Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring and more) and are, generally speaking, pure fun.

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've said it before and here I am saying it again, that the early days of Superman showed him to be a threat to humanity. Directly and indirectly he's responsible for numerous deaths, gads about destroying public property, tortures people into confessions (surely that's not admissible in court), gets in some animal cruelty on the side, and quite rudely eavesdrops and spies on everyone. But here I began to notice how Superman's alter-ego, Clark Kent, isn't much better. Numerous times both Clark and Lois Lane go around threatening people to, "Give us the scoop or we'll give you bad press." Doesn't sound very ethical to me.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I applaud how we got here, gee whizz the journey was long and repetitive. I appreciate that it was a different time, but the stories were very formulaic and at no time was the hero in peril as the puny gangster humans were all putty in Kal-El’s hands. I also was shocked that Superman was so cavalier about letting crooks fall or crash to their doom.

All that being said, the art was clean and crisp, the stories rarely complicated and it was fun to look back, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it anytime soon

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. The familiar (to someone who's read Vol. 1 and 2 at least) mix of crimebusting, social issues and the occasional SF/Luthor story. On the plus side, Lois is considerably more capable than she was in my childhood years later; on the down, how is it that after two years as the most amazing man on Earth, Superman still runs into people who've never heard of him?
Mostly fun, but no match for the Golden Age Batman.

[Paul Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure enjoy reading through these early books. Clearly, several decades will get you more complex stories, better art, better coloring, and so on. But, as a comics history lesson, it's all fascinating to me on one level.

It's frequently bananas - lack of continuity, changing powers - can only leap, but can also hover and dive faster than something else falls.

And, I imagine that if I were reading these new for the first time in 1941, I would have bailed with Action #40.

[Al McCarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories and art.