Popular Post SuperBird Posted March 25, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 25, 2020 (edited) It's a bird. It's a plane! It's Superman: From the 30s to the 70s. The book that started an obsession, and ended up becoming my mission. I'm sure my father bought it for me, but I have no idea why I obsessed over the thing. The art was mostly crude. The stories were universally terrible. (If he had given me the Batman: From the 30s to the 70s book I probably would have gotten into Batman.) But something about the history of the thing, those early covers with their bold colors and dynamic layouts pulled me in. I never read the stories, but would go back to that dusty hardcover again and again and flip through it, stopping at each double page spread of covers, from the early issues up through the 1970s Neal Adams ones. My kid brother at some point got a hold of the thing and destroyed the cover, then went to work on the pages with a magic marker. I kept it anyway. When @Point Five pushed me to buy an old, crappy copy of Action Comics 59 at a New York comic con 15 years ago, I should have known better. The cover was detached. It had color touch. I later found out that the cover was married. It didn't matter. In what was to become a decade-plus journey to complete a run of golden age Action Comics, all CGC'd. At first there was no plan. It just kind of happened one day, a few years into collecting them, when I realized I had a dozen. Then 2 dozen. Then 3.... My journey ended about a month ago, when I finally received the last book I needed to complete Action Comics 15-63, Action 23, courtesy of @Cosmic Boy. Getting that book back from CGC was a saga unto itself. But it will have to wait. I spent nearly 5,500 days building this collection. I'm gonna take 49 days to post them here. One book a day; each book a story. Edited March 25, 2020 by SuperBird Professor K, 1950's war comics, Zolnerowich and 38 others 41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SuperBird Posted March 25, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 25, 2020 (edited) Action 63, the end of the line of the "serious" Superman covers in Action. From here on out they started getting a bit silly—a big turn from this one, which is one of the last WW2 covers in the series. 66 and 76 qualify, but the issues in between are a big leap away from the "action" orientated covers of 1-63, especially this one; it seemed a logical place to stop my run. One of the 2 GA issues I can think of where Superman is angry, here ready to smash a Japanese pilot, in one of the most vibrant covers. All the WW2 covers are more in demand than the surrounding issues, and 63 is no exception. For a while I had a G- with a detached cover, but this copy came available here on the boards, raw, and I pounced. Edited March 25, 2020 by SuperBird Chief1332, Brandon Shepherd, ender and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Love the backstory. Thanks for sharing it. SuperBird 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorick Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Looks like you can change your signature line now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Readcomix Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Love your plan; I'm in for the show...I can't think of too many angry Superman war covers; can't wait until you show the other from e run. Would the two from Action and Superman 23 constitute the angry Superman WWII covers? 1950's war comics and SuperBird 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 That's a really nice 3.0. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest. And I really wish @Point Five had prodded me into buying an Action 59 last decade! That's a war bonds cover I still don't have, and possibly never will. SuperBird and 1950's war comics 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SuperBird Posted March 26, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 26, 2020 18 minutes ago, Readcomix said: Love your plan; I'm in for the show...I can't think of too many angry Superman war covers; can't wait until you show the other from e run. Would the two from Action and Superman 23 constitute the angry Superman WWII covers? Those are the only 2 I am aware of, so yeah! 1950's war comics, FoggyNelson, RetiredOldMan and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Bat Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 wow THAT is one of the coolest war/nazi covers I've seen. Love the focused view through the periscope. Such a clean bold design- could have been a propaganda poster! SuperBird and 1950's war comics 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
podboy66 Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Big Congrats! As completist myself, I have first hand experience on how long and difficult it is to complete a long GA run. Well done! SuperBird, 1950's war comics and FoggyNelson 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950's war comics Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 this is one of my favorite things about the boards is when a members post their completed run with comments !! FoggyNelson and SuperBird 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCOComics Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Congratulations on finishing! It must be bitter sweet! I'm going to enjoy reading these posts for the next 49 days Black Bat, SuperBird, 1950's war comics and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 2 hours ago, AJD said: And I really wish @Point Five had prodded me into buying an Action 59 last decade! That's a war bonds cover I still don't have, and possibly never will. That's right! Back then you were talking about picking up an Action war cover, and I convinced you a CGC 9.8 Spawn #1 would be a wiser investment. I stand by my advice. SuperBird and AJD 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OtherEric Posted March 26, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 26, 2020 10 hours ago, SuperBird said: It's a bird. It's a plane! It's Superman: From the 30s to the 70s. The book that started an obsession, and ended up becoming my mission. I'm sure my father bought it for me, but I have no idea why I obsessed over the thing. The art was mostly crude. The stories were universally terrible. (If he had given me the Batman: From the 30s to the 70s book I probably would have gotten into Batman.) But something about the history of the thing, those early covers with their bold colors and dynamic layouts pulled me in. I never read the stories, but would go back to that dusty hardcover again and again and flip through it, stopping at each double page spread of covers, from the early issues up through the 1970s Neal Adams ones. My kid brother at some point got a hold of the thing and destroyed the cover, then went to work on the pages with a magic marker. I kept it anyway. I don't want to derail your thread too much, but I love that book as well. My uncle had a copy, and for years and years when my family went over to visit (which we did all the time, they lived nearby) I would wind up reading it. I remember being particularly blown away by the "Superman, You're Dead... Dead... Dead" near the end. But I loved the whole thing, and only years later figured out it was my first exposure to the golden and silver ages. My uncle passed away over a decade ago; and my aunt died a few years later. But a couple years before she died, she gave me the book (and a copy of Wishing Horse of Oz that was the first old Oz book I ever saw) for Christmas because she knew how much I had loved them. They remain some of the most prized books in my very, very large collection, and I think of my aunt and uncle every time I pull them out. I think I'm going to go dig it out again, it will give me something to read as I stay isolated this weekend. Sorry for the hijack, but I wanted to show I understand just how much impact that book had on you. You're not alone! frozentundraguy, Keys_Collector, Mr bla bla and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBird Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 6 hours ago, OtherEric said: I don't want to derail your thread too much, but I love that book as well. My uncle had a copy, and for years and years when my family went over to visit (which we did all the time, they lived nearby) I would wind up reading it. I remember being particularly blown away by the "Superman, You're Dead... Dead... Dead" near the end. But I loved the whole thing, and only years later figured out it was my first exposure to the golden and silver ages. My uncle passed away over a decade ago; and my aunt died a few years later. But a couple years before she died, she gave me the book (and a copy of Wishing Horse of Oz that was the first old Oz book I ever saw) for Christmas because she knew how much I had loved them. They remain some of the most prized books in my very, very large collection, and I think of my aunt and uncle every time I pull them out. I think I'm going to go dig it out again, it will give me something to read as I stay isolated this weekend. Sorry for the hijack, but I wanted to show I understand just how much impact that book had on you. You're not alone! No hijack at all! The "Superman, You're Dead... Dead... Dead" is actually the story in the book I liked best. It also came with an awesome Neal Adams cover. OtherEric 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SuperBird Posted March 26, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) Action 62 (and 60) both show Superman not fighting in the war directly, but instead bringing aid to our soldiers. There are apparently 2 versions of the cover, with different amounts of blood soaking through the bandages. DC definitely shied away from overt bloodshed and violence, a huge contrast with what Timely/Marvel was doing during the same time period, and I suspect the change was made due to that. You can watch @nearmint's discussion on the differences here: I picked up this nicely-presenting copy from Comiclink, the source of perhaps 1/4 of my collection. Edited March 26, 2020 by SuperBird frozentundraguy, Keys_Collector, pmpknface and 12 others 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950's war comics Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 10 minutes ago, SuperBird said: Action 62 Wow , my whole life i have never seen that cover before (Action 62) and i am a war comics guy ! this is one of the best war comic covers ever ! (the cover must be alluding to the little known Aleutian Island campaign, that would be the only place in the Pacific war that there would be snow capped mountains) great CGC 4.5 copy you have there too !! SuperBird, FoggyNelson, Brandon Shepherd and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 10 hours ago, 1950's war comics said: (the cover must be alluding to the little known Aleutian Island campaign, that would be the only place in the Pacific war that there would be snow capped mountains) That's a cool bit of trivia! It's a great cover. Such a lush sense of place, unusual for a superhero comic. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manofsteel Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Congrats again on completing your run! I'm in for the ride, popcorn in hand. FoggyNelson and SuperBird 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SuperBird Posted March 27, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 27, 2020 Action Comics 61: wow! What a cover. Definitely one of the most dynamic of the run, and one of my favorites. It used to be the "atomic radiation cover", but I guess the Overstreet designation changed at some point? This copy is one of many I bought raw from Metropolis Comics ten or more years ago when they had their downtown office, with the gallery of classic movie posters hung on the wall, including a one-of-a-kind gigantic Frankenstein 6-sheet. I probably went there a couple dozen times; it was just 1 subway stop from me. Our office later moved uptown, but Metropolis followed us! Their new office was even closer, just a block away. (The classic movie posters went into storage, replaced with a monster of an OA collection.) Bought as a VGF, CGC gave this great looking copy a 4, probably due to the tape, which in hindsight I should have had removed. FoggyNelson, ender, OtherEric and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950's war comics Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 #61 - nice looking 4.0 SuperBird and FoggyNelson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...