Superman: The World's Finest Comics Archives, Vol. 2

Superman: The World's Finest Comics Archives #2

by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster (Illustrator), Ira Yarbrough (Illustrator)

The second Archive collecting adventures from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS is here, with stories from issues #17-32 (1945-1948)! Don't miss The Man of Tomorrow's unforgettable battles with The Toyman, Lex Luthor and others!

Genres: Comics

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 2009

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

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

By this point, creator Jerry Siegel wasn't involved in the writing, and the loss is noticeable and problematic. The assertive, tough-guy social crusader of Siegel's early stories is gone, replaced by a puzzle-solving smirker who simply isn't as compelling.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually only read "The Crown of Crime" (which I don't think would even be in this particular volume, since issue 165 was published in 1967 I believe), but I wanted to express my enjoyment of the identity-swapping antics and general silliness. And the fact that, on page 13, Robin says (to Batman, who's disguised as a criminal...who disguises himself as Batman) "Your grammar gives you away, you crook! You're a fake!" Also, it's pretty amusing how it's completely unremarked-upon that Superman says he wants to have Robin killed prior to Batman interceding and saying he should just be the court jester...which is kinda violent of Superman even considering the fact that he's pretending to be a criminal wearing a Superman disguise and the fact that he also happens to know that the "criminal in a Batman disguise" next to him is actually the real Batman . (Also, I read a Batman/Scarecrow: Fear (issue 296, I think?), which was slightly less clever/funny but still amusing. And issue 447 (from May 1990), which was about Cold War stuff, which was kind of interesting, I guess. And Shadow of the Bat: The Last Arkham (part four of four)...which was missing some context without having read the first three, but pretty easy to follow nonetheless.)

[James Hold · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an immense disappointment. Joe Shuster is no longer doing any of the art work. Jerry Siegel is in the army so he isn't writing. The stories are all silly and clownish. It is like the 50s TV show where the first season was serious and the following seasons turned into a 'kiddies' show with no threats or menaces. 'What we have here is failure...' to entertain. Superman is just a sideline character, a fairy godmother who intervenes when necessary. It marks the start of a downhill slide.