6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All 3 Volumes of "Showcase Presents The Superman Family" Are Highly Recommended, March 20, 2009
This review is from: Showcase Presents: Superman Family Vol. 3 (Paperback)
There was a time back in the late 1950's when "Superman" was the top selling comic book character rivaled only by, I believe, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
The popularity of "Superman" comics also increased in 1955 with the premiere of "Teh Adventures of Superman."
Like spin-offs done by Fawcett with Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family and MLJ with Archie and teh gang, DC Comics had also decided to do spin-offs on Superman supporting characters.
They had alredy done a spin-off series on Superman featuring teh adventures of Superman when he was a boy in the "Superboy" series that appared in its own title comic book and also as the lead feature in "Adventure Comics." "Superboy" was later to be joined by the Legion of Superheros in "Adventure Comics."
Superman was also joined by his young teenage cousin from Krypton "Supergirl," whcih ran as a bvack-up feature in "Action Comics."
However, inthe later 1950's as MLJ had spun off "Betty and Veronica," "Jughead," and "reggie" into there own series from "Archie" Comics, now DC Comics was to follow suit with Superman.
In an early isse of the original "Showcase" comic book series, "Lois Lane" was tried out in her own title series to see how it would sell. It sold. Soon the first issue of "Superman's Girlffriend Lois Lane" had hit the stands. Wit this success, DC Comics moved to another spin-off from the Superman comics, "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen." Both of these spin-off series in their own title comic book continued to sell well through the late 1950's and into the 1960's. However, as the popularity of Superman comics decreased in the late 1960's, more so did the spin-off series.
Eventually "Superboy" was cancelled along with the "Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes" series in "Adventure Comics" to be replaced for a short time by "Supergirl" who also was canceled.
"Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane" also met with cancellation. The last remaining spin-off left was "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" which was converted into a large size comic book called "The Superman Family" in which within each issue, the cancelled spin-off series would alternate to feature in a new story at the beginning of the book with the rest of the book containing reprints of stories from the early days of these series. Soon even "The Superman Family" met with cancellation.
Now you can read the classic stories of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" and "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane" from the hey day of the two series and back when Superman was still the number one comic book superhero.
These stories are tongue-in-cheeck and fun to read. Again, the key word here is "fun." These are not stories striving to be of a high intellectual caliber. These stories back then were originally written with kids in mind; and back then kids read comic books for fun. Again "fun" is the key word here.
Are you looking for some light and fun reading, then these volumes of "Showcase Presents The Superman Family" is something you should check out.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Showcase Presents: Superman Family Vol. 3, March 8, 2009
This review is from: Showcase Presents: Superman Family Vol. 3 (Paperback)
Great collection of Silver Age Silliness collected from early issues of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen & Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane. Great classic artwork from underrated Silver Age artist Curt Swan & Kurt Schaffenberger. Yet more stories currently being "re-imagined" by modern DC writers who no doubt grew up reading the original editions of these comics.
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