My Superman Grail Acquired First Full Origin 1939 RARE Complete Set Triumph

[Larryw7]

That is a real treasure. Congratulations!

[Ze-man]

Congratulations on obtaining such an incredible item.

 

Those origin pages are are fantastic!

 

Now save up your pennies and buy your poor puppy a real doggie bed!

 

j/k

 

Thanks for posting so many of the pages.

 

 

[eccomic]

Talk to my girlfriend.... it's her puppy

[Hibou]

John McCail, UK illustrator, did the cover art and top of splash pages.

 

Thank you!

[gaz973]

Wanted to share this rarity with my fellow forumites:

 

1st SUPERMAN in Europe

1st Comic Book Origin of Superman

TRIUMPH Publishers Bound Volume

23 issues with 24 pages each

(DC - Triumph Publications - July - Dec, 1939)

 

This amazing publication contains the FULL origin of SUPERMAN by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and is The Very 1st comic book in the world ever to print this, USA included.

In the USA, McClure syndicate began the SUPERMAN daily comic strips in early 1939 but no publisher ever published these (now rare) early strips in comic book form. Triumph was the very first publication in the world to do this. Now you can now see the TRUE 1st ORIGIN of Superman that was never printed in the USA issued comic books.

Almost all of the panels are the work of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster but Triumph had its artists create a few panels in order to allow the stories to sequence more smoothly. Also a few of the top splashes were created by them, as well as four fantastic front covers.

The 1st eight issues in this volume sold at the very same time that SUPERMAN #1 was on the newsstands in the USA, but has a far more detailed origin as well as a fully original cover. The later issues in this volume sold prior to or at the same time as SUPERMAN #2 in the USA. So this is a very historic publication for serious Superman collectors.

 

This bound volume was originally from the estate of William B. Home-Gall, former editor of Amalgomated Press, so the provenance is fascinating indeed.

 

 

 

Just to let people know that this book is a genuine article from the home of the editor of the book. I've just finished writing out a letter of provenence to certify some of the history of it.

 

The short version is that it was passed down to the son of the editor (who I knew in the later years of his life) and then went to a very close friend of his and then to me. I sold it about three years ago and recognise it from the inscription and the distinctive staining.

 

The amazing thing is how it (and a few other bound editions from that era) survived so well in a cold, damp and overcrowded house, they were stuffed under a bed for years. The son of the editor kept them like that for many years as he was someone who spent his life shooting game as opposed to working a conventional occupation and lived quite a "rough" existence.

[BB-Gun]

Really cool collection but the end of August issue of Triumph was probably published at almost the same time as Superman 2 (fall 1939).

[eccomic]

Thank you everyone for your kind words... I am glad I can share this with everyone. (thumbs u

 

[comicdonna]

Very nice!

[gaz973]

VERY nice display, mate.

[mrmyst]

Out....Standing.

[Moondog]

Stephen keeps amazing us with his incredible collection. Superb!

[Boba]

Simply mind-bending

 

Wow . . . amazing the things I don't know that you learn about here.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

 

John McCail, UK illustrator, did the cover art and top of splash pages.

And they are awesome indeed (thumbs u

[archiefan]

The early issues also reprint the Zatara story from Action #3 I believe. Making it not only the first time Superman appeared outside of the US but also the first reprint of Zatara. I had a near complete set not too long ago. But nothing beats the historical significance of this bound volume. Congrats Stephen.

[Boba]

I believe this bound volume was on CLINK several months ago... I saw it, drooled over it, then the price went well over my budget!

 

Great Pick up!

 

I'm sure these are very valuable.

How compared to Action #1

[eccomic]

Although I paid thousands of dollars for this item, there is really no comparison to Action Comics # 1 in terms of value, as Action Comics # 1 is the first appearance of the Superman from June of 1938!

[TSwift25]

[Boba]

Thanks - I just reread your OP and realized I mistook this for predating the origin in Action #1 - what I get for trying to read and respond to posts while doing my, ahem, work. I get it now, 1st full origin anywhere, the operative word being "full". Very, very cool. It's amazing how rich a history there is in the golden age comics.

[gadzukes]

So did the Brits like Superman as much as Americans did?

 

How about Spiderman? As Spidey was skyrocketing in popularity here, how was he faring in the UK?

[BB-Gun]

Thanks - I just reread your OP and realized I mistook this for predating the origin in Action #1 - what I get for trying to read and respond to posts while doing my, ahem, work. I get it now, 1st full origin anywhere, the operative word being "full". Very, very cool. It's amazing how rich a history there is in the golden age comics.

 

I think this is the first time the full origin was placed in a comic book format (as eccomic said at the start of the thread0. The daily comics were cut up to make the full pages or just the opposite but the origin was from the published newspaper comics.

 

The other stories match up with Superman stories from issues 2 and 3. Were these stories published as dailies too?

My copy of Superman dailies seems to be tucked away in one of these boxes and I can't find it.

It is a cool format and was probably the way Shuster wanted it to appear as a Sunday page.

 

Here are a couple more pages to compare. Color page from Sup 3.

I was interested in seeing how the pages compared and thought someone else might want to see.

[BB-Gun]

Wanted to share this rarity with my fellow forumites:

 

1st SUPERMAN in Europe

1st Comic Book Origin of Superman

TRIUMPH Publishers Bound Volume

23 issues with 24 pages each

(DC - Triumph Publications - July - Dec, 1939)

 

This amazing publication contains the FULL origin of SUPERMAN by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and is The Very 1st comic book in the world ever to print this, USA included.

In the USA, McClure syndicate began the SUPERMAN daily comic strips in early 1939 but no publisher ever published these (now rare) early strips in comic book form.

The origin story looks the same as the daily strips but more changes appeared in some of the Superman 2 and 3 stories.