IN THIS VOLUME:

More than 700 daily strips featuring artwork by the

predominant Superman artist of the 1950s and 1960s—

Wayne Boring.

The twenty-two stories were scripted by Superman

co-creator Jerry Siegel, adapting then-current—and now

classic—comic book tales by Robert Bernstein, Otto

Binder, Leo Dorfman, Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton,

and himself.

The covers are specially created by Pete Poplaski

to evoke the look and artistic style of the times. Volume

Two is an homage to Wayne Boring, and to Ira Schnapp,

whose distinctive lettering defined DC’s style of the era.

EDITED AND DESIGNED BY

EISNER AWARD-WINNER DEAN MULLANEY

INTRODUCTION BY SIDNEY FRIEDFERTIG

• • • • •

Superman was created in 1938 by two ambitious

Cleveland youngsters, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel.

Their defender of the oppressed became an enduring

smash sensation in comics, radio, animation, television,

and motion pictures. He remains the little guy's White

Knight, battling terrestrial and extra-terrestrial menaces

while standing for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

LibraryofAmericanComics.com • $49.99

“When Superman comic book editor Mort Weisinger brought Jerry Siegel back to DCit meant coming full circle for Superman’s co-creator—from assembling his original stripsinto a comic book story to transforming Superman comics into newspaper strips. The workhe produced upon his return was among the finest of his career.

“The re-publication of these strips spans a chasm in Siegel’s canon and is a welcomeaddition to a complete library of his work.”

—from the Introduction by Sidney Friedfertig

$49.99(Different in Canada)

The Man of Steel’s newspaper adventures ran for

more than twenty-five years, from 1939 until 1966,

yet only the first three years have ever been reprinted.

The vast majority of the strips remain among the

rarest of all Superman collectibles.

In a partnership between The Library of

American Comics and DC Comics, this second

volume of “The Silver Age” strips helps remedy

that gap in the Superman mythos as part of a

comprehensive archival program to bring back into

print every one of the Superman newspaper strips.

The complete comics are being published in three

sub-sets, starting with The Silver Age (1960s), then

The Atomic Age (1950s), and finally, The Golden Age

(1940s). The black-and-white dailies and color

Sundays contained distinct storylines and will be

released in separate, concurrent, series.

THESILVERAGE

DAILIES

S UPER

MA

N

®

SUPERMANThe Silver Age DailiesSuperman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

IDW PUBLISHINGSan Diego

SUPERMANThe Silver Age DailiesVOLUME TWO – 1961-1963

®

SUPERMAN: THE SILVER AGE DAILIESVOLUME TWO: 1961 –1963

SCRIPTS BY JERRY SIEGEL BASED ON THE ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK STORIES

BY ROBERT BERNSTEIN, OTTO BINDER, LEO DORFMAN,

BILL FINGER, EDMOND HAMILTON, AND JERRY SIEGEL

ARTWORK BY WAYNE BORING • LETTERING BY IRA SCHNAPP

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

THE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICSEDITED AND DESIGNED BY Dean Mullaney • ART DIRECTOR Lorraine Turner

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Bruce Canwell • INTRODUCTION Sidney FriedfertigCOVERS Pete Poplaski • MARKETING DIRECTOR Beau Smith

STRIP RESTORATION BY Dale Crain and Dean Mullaney

IDW Publishing, a Division of Idea and Design Works, LLC5080 Santa Fe Street, San Diego, CA 92109

www.idwpublishing.com • LibraryofAmericanComics.com

Ted Adams, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher • Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer/PresidentRobbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist • Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief

Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer • Alan Payne, VP of SalesDirk Wood, VP of Marketing • Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services

ISBN: 978-1-61377-923-1 • First Printing, March, 2014

Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors 1-410-560-7100

Special thanks to Sid Friedfertig, who eagerly loaned his collection of clipped strips that is the primary source for this volume.He would like to dedicate this book…

“This book is lovingly dedicated to my son David, who was favored with a wise head, a generous heart, and a kind nature; he is my strength, my conscience, my future.”

We are also indebted to the following for their help, advice, and research:Giampiero Giovani for providing access to his months of syndicate proofs, Mark Waid, Mike Tiefenbacher,

John Wells, Jared Bond, Martin O’Hearn, Jeffrey Lindenblatt, Eddy Zeno, Harry Matetsky, Hannah Friedfertig, Ricardo Nandin,Zygy Susser, Sara Schulman, Al Plastino, Heritage Auctions, Greg Goldstein, Scott Dunbier, Justin Eisinger, and Alonzo Simon.

LibraryofAmericanComics.com

© 2014 DC Comics. All rights reserved.SUPERMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics.

The Library of American Comics is a trademark of The Library of American C omics LLC. All rights reserved. With the exception of artworkused for review purposes, none of the comic strips in this publication may be reprinted without the permission of DC Comics, Inc. No part ofthis book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information

and retrieval system, without permission in writing from DC Comics, Inc. Printed in Korea.

OTHER BOOKS INTHE LIBRARY OFAMERICAN COMICS

When Superman comic book editor Mort Weisinger brought Jerry Siegel back to DC in 1959 to script the Superman daily newspaper strip, it’s doubtful that even a man with Weisinger’s imagination could have envisioned the explosion of creativity over which he was about to preside. Reflecting on hiscareer, the editor rightfully boasted that “my greatest contribution to Superman was to give him a ‘mythology.’”As the 1950s turned into the 1960s, the Superman mythos—with contributions by Weisinger, Siegel,Edmond Hamilton, Otto Binder, Bill Finger, and others—expanded to include new concepts, such asSupergirl, Red Kryptonite, the Bottle City of Kandor, The Legion of Superheroes, Bizarro, Brainiac, thePhantom Zone, and Metallo, to name but a few.

Despite Weisinger’s often cantankerous relationship with Siegel, he nonetheless recognized thatSuperman’s co-creator could supply what he—and DC—needed. “[Jerry] Siegel was the best emotionalwriter of them all,” Weisinger recalled shortly after his retirement. The classic “Superman’s Return toKrypton” (reprinted in Volume One of this series) remains one of the most touching stories of the era.

The re-publication of these strips spans a chasm in Siegel’s canon and is a welcome addition to acomplete library of his work. Siegel takes existing comic book stories that often use amnesia, impersonations,mistaken identities, and lookalikes to maintain coherence in sometimes convoluted plot twists—and makesthem work more expansively in the format of a daily newspaper strip.

He displays a deft sense of storytelling. Every strip episode is longer by panel count than its correspondingcomic book version and Siegel steadily uses the additional length to add characterization and a deeper senseof story. In “The Man with the Zero Eyes,” for example, down-on-his-luck storekeeper Tom Dugan is amore sympathetic, thereby deserving, figure than in the 1957 comic book tale.

In some stories, such as Siegel’s own “The Invisible Lois Lane,” he presents a straightforward adaptationin which the percentage of invisible-Lois panels is nearly identical between comic and strip.

In other episodes, it’s fascinating to see how he makes changes.Scripter Leo Dorfman’s “The Man Who Hunted Superboy” becomes “The Man Who Hunted

Superman” in the strip. Guest appearances by other costumed characters in the comic book stories arewritten out of the strip. In the comic book version of “Superman Goes To War” by Edmond Hamilton,Clark Kent receives a battlefield transfusion from Supergirl; in the strip Superman finds his own solution.

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Introductionby SIDNEY FRIEDFERTIG

ABOVE: Cover to Superman #161drawn by Curt Swan and George Kleinfeaturing the comic book version of“Superman Goes to War.”

The comic book edition of Hamilton’s “The Feud Between Superman andClark Kent” features Supergirl, Krypto, and the Bottle City of Kandor, all ofwhich disappear in Siegel’s newspaper remodeling. Adapting his own story,“The Sweetheart Superman Forgot,” Siegel disposes of Aquaman’s timely rescue seen in the comic book; in the strip Kent saves himself from drowning.

“The Sweetheart Superman Forgot” is one of several Red Kryptonite storiesin this volume and it features the first appearance of star-crossed heroine SallySelwyn, who falls in love with an amnesiac, powerless Kent. The story was sopopular with fans that Siegel wrote a sequel, “The Man Who Stole Superman’sSecret Life,” which appeared in both Superman #169 and as Episode #146 ofthe newspaper strip (to be reprinted in the next volume of this series).

Siegel was a lifelong reader of adventure comic strips (he had, after all,initially pitched “Superman” to newspaper syndicates), and knew how to workthe format’s mechanics. His recap panels seamlessly bridged the gap betweendailies and were so succinct that you could easily follow the story withoutreading further. His end-of-episode preview panels expertly teased the nextday’s thrills. He knew what his job was—to get the reader to buy tomorrow’snewspaper.

• • • • •

The other significant decision made by Weisinger was to reunite Siegelwith artist Wayne Boring. Boring was a member of the original staff assembledby Siegel and Joe Shuster in the late 1930s. Shuster’s eyesight was already“pretty bad,” according to Paul Cassidy, who was Shuster’s first assistant.Cassidy and Boring assumed more and more responsibility, leaving the faces for Shuster to ink himself. In 1942 DC assigned Boring the sole responsibilityto pencil the dailies, inked by Stan Kaye. The pair continued until mid-1949,when Win Mortimer began as penciler, at first inked by Kaye and latercompleting the art himself.

Boring’s work on Superman broadened at this time. He became theprimary penciler on Superman’s comic book adventures in the 1950s, andcontinued drawing the Sunday page (and was given byline credit) throughoutthe 1950s and 1960s. Curt Swan penciled the dailies from 1956 until

November 1960, whereupon Boring returned and remained the strip’s pencileruntil its demise in 1966.

Boring’s depiction of Superman in the ’50s became the model for allartists who drew Superman afterward. Al Plastino remembered being told toadapt his style to Boring’s. The Boring Superman has been called noble; it’s no coincidence that as a youngster the artist studied with J. Allen St. John,artist of the early “noble savage” Tarzan stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The strips in this volume, reprinting the years 1961-1963, are Boring’s re-imaginings of stories penciled in the comics by Al Plastino, Curt Swan,George Papp, and Kurt Schaffenberger. As noted in Volume One of this series,the comic book and newspaper strip versions were often drawn simultaneously,neither artist being aware of how the other approached the script. Threeepisodes are stories Boring drew in both the newspapers and the comics.

A side-by-side comparison of newspaper strip and comic bookinterpretations, both drawn by Boring, best showcases his mastery of the stripformat. After two decades as the main Superman newspaper strip artist he hadbecome adept at exploiting every inch of each panel. He drew in a detailed,high-resolution style that paralleled VistaVision in then-contemporary movies.He established a three-dimensional world—window shades rested at staggeredheights, girders had support beams, garbage cans overflowed, beaches featuredfoaming, churning surf. Boring was a master of the set-up. Early in a story hewould establish trees, ladders, hats, and other props that helped set the mood.His stage sets seemed real—courtrooms, classrooms, and alleys all appeared tohave depth and volume.

People generously populate his panels. Whereas Curt Swan oftencomposed a single face dominating an entire panel, in Boring’s stories crowds—even wordless bystanders—are common, with each character displaying aunique expression, direction, or height. In Jerry Siegel’s “Superman, PleaseMarry Me” Boring framed nine faces in one panel, each possessing a distinctcountenance. He packed fifty people into the courtroom to witness Superman’ssentencing in “The Man No Prison Could Hold” by Bill Finger. Compare his more defined depiction of the vegetable people in “The Three ToughTeenagers” to the version in the comic book. Faces became thought balloons;one can almost read their thoughts from their expressions. When a close-up

6

was called for, a single arched eyebrow on Superman’s face spoke to thereader as clearly as any line of Siegel’s dialogue.

In an era when the word “outer” usually preceded the word “space,”his scenes of the final frontier contained not only nearby recognizableplanets but the nebulae of distant galaxies. Weisinger also consideredBoring unequalled in stories taking place on Krypton.

Boring was a fan of the medium throughout his career. He wouldnever read a script through to the end, preferring to read and draw eachpanel one at a time, following as would any reader. “To read the script,knowing the answer,” he said, “would make it seem too much likework.” His fun continued into retirement. In his final years he wouldsuperimpose a new Superman drawing over the original artwork for thenewspaper dailies.

When Superman comic book editor Mort Weisinger brought JerrySiegel back to DC it meant coming full circle for Superman’s co-creator—from assembling his original strips into a comic book story totransforming Superman comics into newspaper strips. The work heproduced upon his return was among the finest of his career. Alvin Schwartz,who wrote the strip for most of the 1950s, said, “Jerry Siegel…improvedconsiderably and remarkably as he matured.” Siegel and Boring combinedtalent, experience, and feeling to create one of the finest examples of theepisodic comic strip.

• • • • •

Reaction to Superman Silver Age Dailies Volume One can best bedescribed as gleeful astonishment. Many lifelong Superman fans—includingsilver-maned grandfathers who were instantly transformed into grinningfanboys—thought they knew every story written about the Man of Steel and were not aware that many years ago newspapers published alternateversions of stories they knew from Action, Adventure, Superman, Lois Lane,and Superboy comics.

That these reprints are available to enjoy is due to the efforts of many

nameless fans who faithfully clipped, organized, and saved these strips decadesago. Most of the brittle, yellowed, precious clippings I collected were fromlocal New York area newspapers; missing strips were often from holidays, daysoff, which suggests that the fans who saved these strips were working peoplewho bought the newspaper each morning before descending into the subway,fans who then devotedly carried the newspaper home that night, to be clippedand saved for posterity. In some ways we can think of this series of books thatwill reprint every Superman newspaper strip as a gift bequeathed from fans ofone era to fans of another.

These stories were written at a time and for a generation that was perhapsmore able to embrace a willing suspension of disbelief. A new generation offans may find the stories goofy, yet they remain an accurate reflection of asimpler, more innocent time—a time when men carried newspapers andnewspapers carried the funnies and the funnies carried us to far away places;and Jerry Siegel, father of an icon, creator of a universe, rocketed us fartherthan anyone had before.

7

RIGHT: Covers to Superman #117 drawn by Curt Swan andStan Kaye and Lois Lane #45 drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger

featuring comic book versions of stories in this volume.

EPISODE 123

The Super Luck of Badge 77Jerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Otto Binder, drawn by Al Plastino in Superman #133 (November 1959).

EPISODE 124

Superman’s Hunt for Clark KentJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Binder, drawn by WayneBoring and Stan Kaye in Superman #126 (January1959).

EPISODE 125

The Reporter of SteelJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Binder, drawn by Boring and Kaye in Action Comics #257 (October 1959).

EPISODE 126

The 20th Century AchillesJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Edmond Hamilton, drawn by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye in Superman #148(October 1961).

EPISODE 127The Man No Prison Could HoldJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Bill Finger, drawn by Boring and Kaye in Action Comics #248 (January 1959).

EPISODE 128

The Three Tough TeenagersJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Plastino in Superman #151 (February 1962).

EPISODE 129

The Day Superman Broke the LawJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Finger, drawn by Plastino in Superman #153 (May 1962).

EPISODE 130

The Man with the Zero EyesJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from an unattributed story, drawn by Plastino in Superman #117 (November 1957).

EPISODE 131

Lois Lane’s Revenge on SupermanJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Swan andGeorge Klein in Lois Lane #32 (April 1962).

EPISODE 132

When Superman Defended His Arch-EnemyJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from an unattributed story, drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #292 (September 1962).

EPISODE 133

Lois Lane's Other LifeJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Swan andKlein in Lois Lane #35 (August 1962).

EPISODE 134

The Feud Between Superman and Clark KentJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Hamilton drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #293 (October 1962).

CONTENTS

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9

EPISODE 135

The Invisible Lois LaneJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Swan and Klein in Lois Lane #38 (January 1963).

EPISODE 136

The Man Who Hunted SupermanJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story “The Man Who Hunted Superboy” by Leo Dorfman, drawn by George Papp in Adventure Comics#303 (December 1962).

EPISODE 137

Superman Goes to WarJerry Siegel and Wayne Boring Adapted from a story by Hamilton, drawn by Swan and Kleinin Superman #161 (May 1963).

EPISODE 138

The Mortal SupermanJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Dorfman, drawn by Plastino inSuperman #160 (April 1963).

EPISODE 139

The Trial of SupermanJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Hamilton, drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #301 (June 1963).

EPISODE 140

The Man Who Betrayed Superman's IdentityJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Dorfman, drawn by Swan and Klein in Action Comics #297 (February 1963).

EPISODE 141

The Sweetheart that Superman ForgotJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Plastino in Superman#165 (November 1963).

EPISODE 142

Superman, Please Marry MeJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story “The ‘Superman-Lois’ Hit Record” by Siegel, drawn by Swan and Klein in Lois Lane #45 (November 1963).

EPISODE 143

Dear Dr. CupidJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Siegel, drawn by Schaffenberger in Lois Lane #45 (November 1963).

EPISODE 144

The Great Superman ImpersonationJerry Siegel and Wayne BoringAdapted from a story by Robert Bernstein, drawn by Plastino in Action Comics #306 (November 1963).

THIS PAGE: Covers penciled byCurt Swan featuring comicbook versions of stories in thisvolume. Action Comics #248and 257 inked by Stan Kaye,Action Comics #292, 301, andAdventure Comics #303 inkedby George Klein, and Lois Lane#32 inked by John Forte.

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Episode #123

The SuperLuck OfBadge 77Strips #7071-7100

August 14-16, 1961 13

August 17-19, 1961

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August 21-23, 1961

15

August 24-26, 1961

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August 28-30, 1961

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August 31 -September 2, 1961

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