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Showcase Presents: Superman #2
Showcase Presents: Superman, Vol. 2
The second Showcase spotlighting the Silver Age exploits of Superman features ACTION COMICS #258-275 and SUPERMAN #134-145! The Man of Steel faces off against a wide array of threats, from the impish Mr. Mxyzptlk to the deadly alien Brainiac to the utterly incomprehensible Bizarro.
576 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 2006
5 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Siegel
619 books81 followersJerome "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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 20, 2024
More zany Superman stories from the silver age. For the first time, we learn that Superman's powers come for Earth's yellow sun. In stories before 1960, it was always explained as just a difference in Earth's gravity. Superman still had a somewhat limited rogue's gallery at this time, although we do see Luthor (not Lex yet, just Luthor, sort of like Prince or Madonna), Titano the Super Ape, Braniac, Bizarro, and Mxyzptlk. Mxy and Bizarro were especially popular in the silver age, which is very fitting in hindsight.
Also, Lois Lane must have had a superpower for nearly dying. She literally just randomly falls off of buildings for no apparent reason and has other similar accidents ALL the time. If not for Superman, she would have had a very short career as a reporter.
The stories are just too silly for some readers, but just keep your tongue in cheek and enjoy the sheer nuttiness of this volume.
Also, Lois Lane must have had a superpower for nearly dying. She literally just randomly falls off of buildings for no apparent reason and has other similar accidents ALL the time. If not for Superman, she would have had a very short career as a reporter.
The stories are just too silly for some readers, but just keep your tongue in cheek and enjoy the sheer nuttiness of this volume.
January 19, 2022
Nice collection of these classic Superman tales. Times were simpler and easier then and Superman always fought the good fight. Recommended
June 9, 2008
I finally finished this. It only took me nine months to read it, just because these Superman stories are so very, very bad. Toward the end it got better, as we entered the 60s, so maybe i'll actually like volume 3.
May 10, 2017
This is the second in DC's Silver Age Black and White Superman reprints. It collects Action Comics Issues 258-275 and Superman #134-144, a period stretching from November 1959-May 1961
There's no big over-arching plot. What you do have, for the most part, are some of the Silver Age's goofiest superhero adventures. One story is "The Super-Clown of Metropolis," in which Superman has to try to get a dying wealthy man to laugh for that man to leave his money to charity. In many ways, I think that could describe this era of Superman.
Superman is Superman. He knows what he's about. He knows evil has to be fought and disasters have to be averted but he's having the time of his life doing it. This is Superman who will take advantage of the fact that Clark Kent went to a party dressed as a devil to just mess with some criminals heads. This is Superman who gets tired of Mr. Mxzyptlk messing around with his life and so he flies to the fifth dimension to mess around with the inter dimensional imp. Both the Golden Age and modern Superman are above that sort of thing, but this is a job for Silver Age Superman!
The book also has several stories featuring Bizarro World and they are mostly fantastic and goofy in their own right.
This isn't to say that the book is all laughs and chuckles. Superman meets his underseas Mermaid girlfriend again and loses her in a way that makes you think he was lucky not to marry her. He also fakes his own disappearance in an elaborate attempt to make Lois happy so that she'll marry the nice guy who is trying to pursue him rather than continuing to fawn over Superman.
Though, for more serious moments, "Superman's Return to Krypton is a classic of Superman travelling back in time, landing on doomed Krypton, and trying in vain to save, and really falling in love in a doomed romance. It's tragic, sad, and beautiful that few things in the Silver Age are. This is followed by "The Old Man of Metropolis," which finds Superman awakening in a world where he's old and life has passed him by and his decisions have left him alone and Lois miserable. It's an obvious dream, but one that makes Superman think about all the decisions he made.
The book does have its weak points. There are way too many stories that end in, "It was all a dream..." The fact that Superman is not only Superman but has an army of Superpowered robots willing to his bidding and an entire city in a bottle full of advanced Kryptonians who can help leads to some lazy resolutions. And there are a few stories that cross the line from charmingly silly to just plain stupid.
Still, this is a nice book if you have a warm spot in your heart for Silver Age silliness because at the end of the day, there is no silver age silliness quite like Superman Silver Age silliness.
There's no big over-arching plot. What you do have, for the most part, are some of the Silver Age's goofiest superhero adventures. One story is "The Super-Clown of Metropolis," in which Superman has to try to get a dying wealthy man to laugh for that man to leave his money to charity. In many ways, I think that could describe this era of Superman.
Superman is Superman. He knows what he's about. He knows evil has to be fought and disasters have to be averted but he's having the time of his life doing it. This is Superman who will take advantage of the fact that Clark Kent went to a party dressed as a devil to just mess with some criminals heads. This is Superman who gets tired of Mr. Mxzyptlk messing around with his life and so he flies to the fifth dimension to mess around with the inter dimensional imp. Both the Golden Age and modern Superman are above that sort of thing, but this is a job for Silver Age Superman!
The book also has several stories featuring Bizarro World and they are mostly fantastic and goofy in their own right.
This isn't to say that the book is all laughs and chuckles. Superman meets his underseas Mermaid girlfriend again and loses her in a way that makes you think he was lucky not to marry her. He also fakes his own disappearance in an elaborate attempt to make Lois happy so that she'll marry the nice guy who is trying to pursue him rather than continuing to fawn over Superman.
Though, for more serious moments, "Superman's Return to Krypton is a classic of Superman travelling back in time, landing on doomed Krypton, and trying in vain to save, and really falling in love in a doomed romance. It's tragic, sad, and beautiful that few things in the Silver Age are. This is followed by "The Old Man of Metropolis," which finds Superman awakening in a world where he's old and life has passed him by and his decisions have left him alone and Lois miserable. It's an obvious dream, but one that makes Superman think about all the decisions he made.
The book does have its weak points. There are way too many stories that end in, "It was all a dream..." The fact that Superman is not only Superman but has an army of Superpowered robots willing to his bidding and an entire city in a bottle full of advanced Kryptonians who can help leads to some lazy resolutions. And there are a few stories that cross the line from charmingly silly to just plain stupid.
Still, this is a nice book if you have a warm spot in your heart for Silver Age silliness because at the end of the day, there is no silver age silliness quite like Superman Silver Age silliness.
March 23, 2018
Crazy stuff. Jerry Siegel did some of my favorite stories, when he wasn't treating Lois Lane like some 8-year-old boy's cooty-ized concept of a woman. Superma's Return to Krypton was a highlight, as were some of the Lois/Superman stories that wouldn't piss off anybody with a respect for the fairer sex.
Other stories are just ludicrous, sometimes amusingly so, sometimes not. Otto Binder does love Bizarro though.
Other stories are just ludicrous, sometimes amusingly so, sometimes not. Otto Binder does love Bizarro though.
December 6, 2007
More zany Superman.
One odd thing is well over half these stories are about marriage (or engagement). I guess that was as far down the romance path allowed in comics in 1960 (i.e. no sex allowed).
Some of my favorite stories from this collection:
1. A billionaire summons Superman and reports he is dying. He has never laughed in his entire life. If Superman (or anyone) can make him laugh before he dies, he will donate his billion dollar fortune to the Metropolis Orphanage. If no one succeeds in making him laugh his entire fortune will be destroyed (his factories will explode and all his money will be gone for ever!
2. The love of Superman's life (Lori Lemaris) is a mermaid. He proposes to her and pledges to leave the surface world forever. She accepts but promptly becomes paralyzed. Superman scours the world then the galaxy to find a cure. On a distant planet he finds a doctor that claims he can help. The doctor is a merman. Lori is cured but falls in love with the doctor and Superman is back to tormenting Lois.
3. It is revealed that Superbaby was duplicated as he flew to Earth from Krypton. The duplicate baby was found and raised by crooks. They teach it to hate authority and name him Superbrat. (He looks just like Superbaby but wears a mask around his eyes.) Superbrat grows into Superbully (instead of Superboy). His parents keep him secret and teach him to hate Superboy. Later when he grows into Supermenace his parents use him to take over the mob. When he learns his parents don't really love him and that he is a duplicate he somehow negates his existence and obliterates his parents.
One odd thing is well over half these stories are about marriage (or engagement). I guess that was as far down the romance path allowed in comics in 1960 (i.e. no sex allowed).
Some of my favorite stories from this collection:
1. A billionaire summons Superman and reports he is dying. He has never laughed in his entire life. If Superman (or anyone) can make him laugh before he dies, he will donate his billion dollar fortune to the Metropolis Orphanage. If no one succeeds in making him laugh his entire fortune will be destroyed (his factories will explode and all his money will be gone for ever!
2. The love of Superman's life (Lori Lemaris) is a mermaid. He proposes to her and pledges to leave the surface world forever. She accepts but promptly becomes paralyzed. Superman scours the world then the galaxy to find a cure. On a distant planet he finds a doctor that claims he can help. The doctor is a merman. Lori is cured but falls in love with the doctor and Superman is back to tormenting Lois.
3. It is revealed that Superbaby was duplicated as he flew to Earth from Krypton. The duplicate baby was found and raised by crooks. They teach it to hate authority and name him Superbrat. (He looks just like Superbaby but wears a mask around his eyes.) Superbrat grows into Superbully (instead of Superboy). His parents keep him secret and teach him to hate Superboy. Later when he grows into Supermenace his parents use him to take over the mob. When he learns his parents don't really love him and that he is a duplicate he somehow negates his existence and obliterates his parents.
June 2, 2013
Superman is an odd duck. Even in the mediocre DC Comics era that is the 1960s, his books are a new low, in a manner of speaking. As bad as the Justice League of America got off to, there is something even cheesier about Superman.
He's the cultural phenomenon, as you are beaten over the head with over and over again. He has complete dominion over the lives of Lois Lane (there is a lot of crazy scheming involving teaching her a lesson). Since criminals can't beat the invulnerable guy, it's often more about the "craziness" of the bad guys.
Like "Lex Luthor dragged Hercules from Ancient Rome! Oh no! Oh, he's actually lesser than Superman."
There are some legit stories in here, here and there. "Friday March 31st" is really funny, there are some less poorly scripted action in there somewhere.
If I were to edit this book to make it work better, I would suggest less smugness and more heartfelt action/drama.
He's the cultural phenomenon, as you are beaten over the head with over and over again. He has complete dominion over the lives of Lois Lane (there is a lot of crazy scheming involving teaching her a lesson). Since criminals can't beat the invulnerable guy, it's often more about the "craziness" of the bad guys.
Like "Lex Luthor dragged Hercules from Ancient Rome! Oh no! Oh, he's actually lesser than Superman."
There are some legit stories in here, here and there. "Friday March 31st" is really funny, there are some less poorly scripted action in there somewhere.
If I were to edit this book to make it work better, I would suggest less smugness and more heartfelt action/drama.
October 20, 2008
More magic here as the emphasis is all on larger than life fun.
Superman travels across the universe, through time, has a sneezing fit that takes out a planet, meets Al Capone, deals with mad scientists, super villains, kryptonite and Lois Lane.
Yes, the stories are goofy, unrealistic, a bit sexist and man, are they fun!
So many comic writers nowadays have forgotten how to write a fun story. They are all too busy being 'realistic and clever'.
I must say, rereading these stories that there is a real bittersweet tone to the Lois/Superman relationship mixed in with all the goofiness that keeps it from getting too annoying. Especially noticable in the 'What if' story about the elderly, powerless Superman of the future.
The Bizarro stories are also fun. Really like the surreal, cock eyed logic of Bizarro World.
Superman travels across the universe, through time, has a sneezing fit that takes out a planet, meets Al Capone, deals with mad scientists, super villains, kryptonite and Lois Lane.
Yes, the stories are goofy, unrealistic, a bit sexist and man, are they fun!
So many comic writers nowadays have forgotten how to write a fun story. They are all too busy being 'realistic and clever'.
I must say, rereading these stories that there is a real bittersweet tone to the Lois/Superman relationship mixed in with all the goofiness that keeps it from getting too annoying. Especially noticable in the 'What if' story about the elderly, powerless Superman of the future.
The Bizarro stories are also fun. Really like the surreal, cock eyed logic of Bizarro World.
July 29, 2012
Hilarious, sexist and sometimes downright illucid 60s adventures in which Superman's main concern seems to be spinning out endless Lucy-and-Desi plotlines with Lois Lane against a background of supervillains and a hodge-podge of science fiction and fantasy.
August 29, 2011
Goofy, silly, and plain wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews