Superman Chronicles, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Jerry Siegel (Author), Joe Shuster (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2006

Presenting an exciting new way to experience the rich history of the Man of Steel -- affordable trade paperback collection that will ultimately collect every Superman adventure, in color, in chronological order!THE SUPERMAN CHRONICLES VOL. 1 reprints the earliest stories from ACTION COMICS and SUPERMAN, featuring the first several adventures of the Man of Steel by Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (January 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401207642
• ISBN-13: 978-1401207649
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.4 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A MORE AFFORDABLE RE-PRINT FORMAT, March 6, 2006

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Superman Chronicles, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

DC Comics re-printing of the earliest Superman adventures isn't a new idea. We've seen them numerous times over the years both in regular comic reprints, Famous First Editions Treasuries, as well as the Action Comics Archives. But in Superman Chronicles, DC gives readers a slight variation. Rather than just providing reprints of a particular title, the Chronicles will be re-printing Superman stories in chronological order as they first appeared beginning with Action Comics #1 back in 1938. Thus this volume goes in order of Action Comics numbers 1 through 12, then New York World's Fair #1, Action Comics #13, and finally concluding with Superman #1. Obviously the often re-printed Action Comics stories are at the front of the line in this first volume but that will change in the future editions.

If you haven't read these stories before this is a Superman who is very different in both powers and appearance than the one we know today. Early on Superman did not fly, but could merely leap up to an 1/8th of a mile. No real origin is presented other than a brief preface that Superman was found by some motorists and placed into an orphanage. No mention of ma & pa kent whatsoever... And it wasn't the Daily Planet where Clark Kent got his start as a reporter but the Daily Star. While Lois Lane was around from the beginning, to say her and Clark didn't quite get along at first is putting it mildly. Lois is downright nasty to Clark leading to a surprised exclamation by Clark when Lois actually says hello to him one day.

The villains early on are not exactly on the par of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, or Doomsday. Mostly Clark battles two-bit villains who are pretty indistinguishable from those that Batman may have fought. One may almost consider these early adventures mundane. In one, Clark goes up against a ruthless mine owner who refuses to improve the safety of his mines even after an accident traps several of his employees. Another story finds Clark impersonating a football player in order to bring down some gangsters who've hired thugs to purposely injure a rival teams best players.

One of the most humorous and most prophetic stories in the book is the one where a man shows up at the Daily Star claiming to be Superman's manager and saying he has the rights to license Superman's name for use in films or on products like bathing suits. One wonders if writer Jerry Siegel knew just how big Superman would become back in the late 30's, and how he would have to fight legal battles with DC over the character. Joe Shuster's art was a bit primitive even for the Golden Age and not on a par with others of the period like Kirby, Schomburg, Molduff, and Kubert. The real star, art-wise of these early issues of Action was cover artist Leo O' Mealia who contributes some dazzling covers. O' Mealia was an old pro who was perhaps best known for illustrating the Fu Manchu newspaper strip in the early 1930's. Kudos to DC for including all of these great covers.

One can question whether or not there's a need for these to be re-printed in chronological order. Continuity wasn't all that important back then and stories were rarely continued across different titles, but for those who have not read them it further preserves important comic book history. And on top of that, the soft cover format makes these far more affordable than the Archive editions.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Superman, August 15, 2007

By 

Bernard Clemmons III "Soldier369" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Superman Chronicles, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

This is a collection of the earliest Superman comics, they are in color and affordable. I would consider these a must own for any Superman fan. Overall production value, although not flashy, is excellent and the stories are classics. This is where it all started.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loses a star due to the lag between volumes, February 18, 2007

By 

Babytoxie (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superman Chronicles, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

Almost a year after the release of Volume 1, DC finally gives us SUPERMAN CHRONICLES VOLUME 2, continuing the admirable but somewhat laughable effort (at this rate, at least) of reprinting every Superman appearance in chronological order. This book features classic tales from Action Comics #14-20 and Superman #2 & 3, from 1939-1940. All stories are written and illustrated by Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Keep in mind that these are some of the earliest adventures of Superman from comics' Golden Age, so the style is very direct, almost to a fault. Looking back on them, there's no real narrative complexity or character development - more like Siegel and Shuster were simply producing stories to fill a demand. It actually seems that the boys from Cleveland weren't quite sure what to do with their fantastic creation now that he was finally in comics. Superman didn't have much of a rogues gallery at this point; instead, he deals with white-collar criminals and thugs, with everyone behaving similarly to what was seen in the Superman TV series of the `50s. The only remarkable villain is the Ultra-Humanite, whose appearance in the final story of this volume is something no fan of James Robinson's THE GOLDEN AGE will want to miss. In any case, you're experiencing comics history in the making, getting a look at stories that your parents or grandparents enjoyed as kids, and gaining an understanding of why comics caught on as they did in a world that had a need for fantastic heroes. Even though these stories may be somewhat bland, they have an appeal that can't be ingnored.

I just wish DC would speed up their reprinting of these stories so that readers don't grow old before the Golden Age stories wrap up. There are certainly plenty of stories and other characters to choose from to keep these books coming. Get it in gear, DC!