The Superman Chronicles 1

A Superman fan will certainly enjoy reading about his first adventures, regardless of their simplicity when contrasted to modern plots influenced by realism and a more mature audience. This is the Superman of pre-WWII era, a progressive superhero who fought on the side of the oppressed and the underdog. There are no supervillains in these stories that range from Action Comics 1-13 and Superman 1. The villains are the socio-political forces that victimize and fail to protect the underdog. There is a clear mistrust of government in these pages. Among many of his progressive actions, Superman clears an innocent woman from false accusations, protects a woman from an abusive husband, destroys a slum to force the government to build new homes, and wages war against reckless drivers. In these stories readers can see influences of social realism that pervaded the political world of the depression era. Superman does act as Nietzche's "supermensch" when he makes his own decisions and goes above the law to protect and change the lives of the citizens in his community. Superman is very aware of his powers and he is willing to use them even if he has to go against legal authroity. He is ruthless and destructive: just watch him destroy the slum and a car lot in the name of justice. Another interesting fact is that he doesn't send the bad guys to jail; very often he banishes them from the community. My greatest surprise is that he is an outlaw, something I would only expect from Batman. It is only in Action Comics 13 where readers can see Superman fighting a villain, Ultra-humanite, a possible predecessor to Lex Luthor, since he is an evil scientific genius. As I was reading these stories, I was discovering a phase in the life of Superman that I never suspected.Some elements of Superman lore begin in these issues albeit others are yet to appear. For one, Superman is an alien who comes from a distant planet that exploded because of its old age. In Superman 1, this planet is named Krypton. Readers are informed of his superpowers, which does not come from our sun, but from being of a superior race. In Superman 1, the Kents appear for the first time. He only leaps long distances and tall buildings, but he cannot fly. There is no Metropolis, no Perry White, and no Daily Planet. He works with the Daily Star. New York is mentioned once or twice as setting, and even in one occasion he works in Cleveland, Ohio, the Midwest. The oldest of myths, Superman/Clark Kent's relationship with Lois Lane begins in Action Comics 1 where Superman starts rescuing Lois Lane; by Action Comics 5, he's getting kissed by the famous reporter. Clark Kent constantly pursues Lois in the workplace, but Lois despises him for his displays of cowardice, necessary to avoid any suspicions of his true identity.In sum, although these stories or artwork may not be regarded high quality, a true Superman fan will get a kick out of knowing more about his or her favorite superhero's true origins. Thus, Chronicles delivers.

This is the original Superman, the one who made the character a hit. His powers have limits - a fire threatens his life! - and he uses them for the little guy, against social injustice. One of the best stories, from Action #5, has Supes fighting a breaking dam and flood, but mostly he's fighting human crookedness - crooked lobbyists, crooked football coaches, crooked mine owners, crooked taxi rackets. This Superman is a law unto himself, dependent on nothing but his strength and his personal sense of right. He's a lot more like Samson in that way than he's a Christ figure, and the result is stories in which he lightheartedly smashes slums so the government will have to build decent housing for the poor, smashes cars of reckless drivers, smashes an oil well to bankrupt the crooked promoters. Private property means nothing to him. Neither do legal rights. He's not here to fight for law and order, he's here to fight for justice as he sees it. The police? the government? They're feckless at best, and more often they're part of the problem. There's a strong Progressive sensibility here: if institutions don't benefit the people, the people need to take charge and change things. That's the Superman we see here, and it's the Superman I like best - the original Superman with brute vigor, a passion for justice with no subtlety, and no taking himself too seriously. It's not art, but it's what made comic books. And it still stands up.

This story tracks Superman's first fifteen stories beginning with Action Comic #1 through Action Comics #13 and also includes the New York World's Fair Comics #1 story and a few pages that Superman #1 added to its reprints of the stories in Action Comics #1-#4.These fourteen stories features Superman as defender of the weak against a variety of foes including munitions dealers who Jerry Siegel charged with starting wars to line their own pockets, heartless mine owners, gangsters, and slum lords.Superman's tactics were far rougher than they would become as Superman became a little more mild during the 1940s. Superman,like Batman struck fear in the hearts of criminals. Though Batman needed a cool name and a scary costume, all Superman needed to was to keep dropping and catching suspects until they talked.Superman's rough edge would begin to get out of line. In Action Comics #8, he decided to solve the problem of slums by tearing them down forcing the government to rebuild as they had during recent hurricanes. The police responded by putting a warrant out for him for understandable reasons.From here, Siegel made Superman even more forceful culminating in Action Comics #11 which sees the Man of Steel declare war on "Reckless Drivers." Declaring war involves forcibly seizing control of a radio station to broadcast a warning and then destroying all the automobiles in the police impound lot, among other very destructive acts. The stories serve as an almost cautionary tale of the danger of someone with unstoppable and no humility. It reflects the brashness of a 23-24 year old writer. Thankfully Superman would grow in the 1940s into a character that inspired by hope than by fear.However, despite the more menacing Superman in this book, there are some fun stories in here. My Absolute favorite is Action Comics #6 which features an agent pretending to represent Superman and selling merchandising rights for the Man of Steel, which turned out to be prophetic of the merchandising machine Superman would become. Action Comics #7 features another story of Superman helping out somebody whose just in trouble and needs help. Action Comics #13 introduces the Ultra-Humanite, the first real supervillain, though we only get to meet him briefly.Overall, this is great for adult Superman collectors who want to read all of his stories. For kids, I'd probably recommend Superman in the Forties for a more balanced look at the Man of Steel.

The Superman Chronicles serves to provide fans of the Man of Steel, and of popular culture in general, with a cost-friendly alternative to its counterpart 'Archives' and 'Omnibus' series; attempting to distribute every Superman story in chronological order from the character's debut appearance in Action Comics #1 onwards. It is intended to print stories onto more inexpensive newsprint-style paper within soft-cover binding for the trade paperback market, as opposed to the glossy and shiny interiors that the Archives series presents.Volume One was published on 4th January 2006 for the American market, with its Kindle counterpart given a much later release date of 13th June 2013. It collects previously released golden-age Superman stories stretched across from June 1938 to July 1939 in magazine form from Action Comics #1-13, New York World's Fair Comics #1 and Superman #1 (with the first Superman magazine publication collecting stories previously published in Action Comics #1, which are not reprinted here again for reader convenience sake).The Übermensch Superman concept was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, with Schuster providing illustration to Siegel's storytelling. In this and subsequent golden age stories, there features a Superman having just reached maturity and having a side-job as a newspaper reporter at the Daily Star, using his leads at the newspaper office to fight crime at street level; being seen as somewhat of a vigilante by the police force and criminal underworld alike. Basically, Superman is envisioned as a herald of justice to beat the outstanding cruelties that the American populace were exposed to during such a prolific war-torn era.The Superman of this era couldn't fly just yet, nor did he have heat vision or freeze breath, although the stories presented within this volume do portray him demonstrating telescopic vision on occasion. The more widely known powers that Superman later developed were yet to be seen in comic form for a few years at best, mostly leaping from building to building, and what is presented here is a Superman who delivered his own brand of justice by utilising his naturally inherited abilities from the people of his home planet. He demonstrated near invulnerability with an impenetrable skin; although he could be incapacitated by the odd bout of clumsiness and electrified floors.The late 30s being what they were, women were shown as meeker than the superheroines we see in media nowadays, so it was mainly the man, i.e. Superman, who saved the day, with another iconic character of comic book culture, Lois Lane, following the Man of Steel around like a lovesick puppy, and being almost repugnantly rude to Clark in the news office where they both worked. Early incarnations of Perry White, the aforementioned Lois Lane and a freckled newsboy not unlike Jimmy Olsen are shown here for the first time, as are early cameos of Ma and Pa Kent, and the planet Krypton, which was populated by people of evolved superior intellect and physical attributes, as opposed to the revised Silver Age origin of Clark gaining his powers from Earth's yellow sun.Superman's suit, colouring and iconic 'S' logo were not as yet developed fully and differed from tale to tale, with his bootstraps sometimes being yellow, and at other times his 'S' symbol being completely removed from his chest. It was later, in subsequent issues of Superman and Action Comics, that a more recognisable and staple costume was set upon for the character. Advertisements are additionally kept in tact on each panel page, as are the front covers for each magazine in which the Superman adventure was originally published in, with an additional text story that was included within Superman #1.Overall, this first volume of the Superman Chronicles showcases a Superman who was just that - a Super-Man, i.e. a fighter for justice who was shunned by the local police and feared by criminals as an urban myth. The stories are very short and simple, as was the staple for the period, with Superman punishing those who he believed needed to be brought to justice. He did this with less of the 'boy-scout' image that is seen today; dangling racketeers off rooftops in an attempt to threaten their lives and get them to confess to their crimes, plus showing a wife beater the consequences of his actions.It would be nice if there were an introduction included at the forefront of the collection; stating the early influences of the character and overall thoughts from appropriate artists and writers connected to the Superman mythos in general. Plus, with limited continuity and quite predictable storytelling, it can become difficult to remain engrossed when attempting to read all stories through one sitting. That being said, the stories collected in this volume are pure history in the making; showing the exploits of the first costumed superhero and marking a medium for generations of comic book fans to come.

i bought this item recently from Amazon and thought all round it was good but here are some pro's and con's:Good:1. first Superman tales brilliant for new readers at an affordable price2. if your a massive fan of Superman you will like this3. interesting plot ideas and scenarios4. once you start reading a story you want to finish it5. inside front cover it details the publication dates of comics books contained in this Superman trade papaerpack so helps reader know history easilyBad:1. no links between the stories2. very little backstory on Superman as a person and where he came from3. no physical challenges for Superman4. pretty predictablei am new to comic books so unfortunately i am unable to make comparisons. i have read it all.

There's something very refreshing about this book. Each decade has spawned a different take on Superman. As the years roll by he's been depicted with ever-slicker artwork and more involved storylines, but this volume is where the Superman story began.Yes, the artwork is crude, and yes the plots are basic, but there's a raw unfettered energy to the stories. Inspired by the movie heroes of the day, this early Superman is a no-nonsense tough guy, not the "boy scout" he'd later become. He fights racketeers and corrupt businessmen and throws them around with an almost sadistic enjoyment. Then in his alter-ego of Clark Kent he acts the part of an often spineless nerd. Lois Lane falls for Superman but she absolutely detests weak Clark Kent. She doesn't realize they're the same person because she never sees past the surface. This dichotomy has long been lost from the Superman comics, which is a shame as it was essential to the entire premise of the strip, and in execution was a far more sophisticated metaphor on relationships than often given credit for.Treat yourselves to an affordable journey into the 1930s to see Superman from the very start.

The book was all I hoped for. As a avid fan of the DC hero's of the 1940's called The Justice Society it was a must to get these wonderful stories of Earth Two's Superman for my collection.

Very pleased will look forward to reading these early stories. I prefer the simpler drawings to the modern comics. Great!