Look Magazine, February, 1940: "How Superman Would End the War"

In 1940, more than a year before the United States officially entered World War II, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created a two-page Superman story for Look Magazine, titled "How Superman Would End the War". I had seen reproductions of the story a few times before, and it always fascinated me with how bold it was for the time it was published. I never thought I'd get a chance to even see the original magazine, let alone own a copy, but a few weeks ago, I somehow managed to purchase the issue in question from February 27, 1940.

The issue is oversized by today's standards, probably one and a half times larger than modern magazines. The copy I got is in pretty good shape, minus some stress to the spine. The colors on the cover are still bright and stark, in line with the photo coloring done in that time. The cover features Hollywood star Rita Hayworth shaking...maracas? Well, okay. In the top left, under the logo, Superman gets a blurb.

The "What it Means to be Neutral" article featured so prominently on the cover is a bunch of claptrap about why the US should leave Europe to its own devices and how the First World War didn't accomplish anything good, and I guess is a product of its time. The inclusion of a Superman comic that takes much the opposite stance makes it stand out all the more in a magazine that is mostly filled with puff pieces and large photo spreads.

Incredibly, the page before the comic has a short feature on both Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, something I'm sure National Comics (later DC Comics) would be disinclined to do. The features names Superman as a "new" character, which makes my head swim to think that it was ever the case. This was published fewer than two years after Superman showed up in Action Comics #1, so he was absolutely a new at this point. To put it in perspective, Batman was first published 11 months earlier in Detective Comics #27, Captain Marvel first showed up the very same month as this edition of Look Magazine, and Wonder Woman was still more than a year and a half away from existing.

The comic itself is only two pages long, but Siegel and Shuster, both Jews who were undoubtedly keenly aware of the atrocities happening across the Atlantic, pack it full of action, and it resonates emotionally, despite the odd juxtaposition of a fictional character with real-life despots.

Most of the magazine's interiors are black and white, but adding just one other shade to this story (an extra publishing expense) loans some depth to the story. Its placement almost makes the story seems as if it's published in full color.

Take a second to think about how incredible this page is - and how something similar would probably never be published today. Superman crashes into Hitler's secret headquarters, and then swoops into Moscow to grab Stalin as well, lugging them both to the League (League?) of Nations in Switzerland.

While much of America was still debating on whether or not to involve themselves in the war, Jews often were the most vocal about the need to intervene. The Three Stooges, for example, lampooned Hitler months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

I often wish that today's comics - specifically Marvel and DC - would take a more pronounced stand on social issues like they had in the past. That's not to say that there aren't still brave creators working for those large companies, but their corporate ownership has, naturally, watered down these voices in an attempt to remain as marketable as possible to broad audiences. But comics have a great history of standing up for those in trouble, and they can have a stronger impact than some may think. The above panel is just incredible!

I took a few other pictures of the magazine's interiors, but I don't want to take away from the comic itself in this post. Well, okay, I'll post an ad from (I think) the inside back cover. Is this the first ad for a Nestle's Crunch Bar?? And it's only a nickel!! Lookit that.

Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore

Steve Geppi is the owner of the Diamond Comic Distributors, which is the only major distribution network in all of comics. There's been a lot said about Geppi in recent months, and a number of people in the industry have some strong opinions about the man. All I'll say about the matter is that the industry as a whole would be healthier with more than just a single major distribution system for comics in North America.

I had the opportunity to share a table at the 2015 Baltimore Comic-Con last fall. After the opening night of the show on Friday, Geppi hosted an event for exhibitors and professionals at his very own entertainment museum. I didn't get to Baltimore until Friday evening, but since my hotel was right next to the museum, I grabbed my badge and went over to the museum, which is located right next to Camden Yards, the baseball stadium for the Baltimore Orioles.

Much of what the museum holds is Geppi's personal collection of pop culture memorabilia, and I was stunned at much of what I saw. I had heard of the museum before, but I never knew what kind of things it had on display. I took a bunch of pictures and thought I'd share a few here.

The layout and display of the museum is thoughtful and impressive, and there's a lot of different items to see, but I was of course most excited by the comics. As you can see at the top, Geppi has some of the most valuable comics in existence for all to see, including Action Comics #1 and Detective Comics #27, the first appearances of Superman and Batman. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out if these were even real copies or just facsimiles, and I overheard others asking the same questions. The staff let me know that yes, these are indeed the real things. The books were situated on a display that looked appropriate for the Constitution.

The room held hundreds of comics and pulps from various eras, all the way up to ones that were fairly modern.

There was original art from Frank Cho in one section as well. Other than time periods, there didn't seem to be a theme to many of these sections.

In addition to the obvious aesthetic qualities of this space, the movie posters that lined this hallway were simply incredible. There were posters from 80 years ago that looked brand new. How in the world were these kept for so long in such good condition? Maybe there was a sale at a movie studio lot. There was a wide variety of posters and prints to see.

It seemed like there was always another room to see, each with at least one mind-boggling piece on display.

One thing that stuck with me was just the preponderance of different items from all different eras. The different collections just seemed to go on and on.

Oh, look, Larry. He even has some Dukes of Hazzard items on display.

I saw a lot of movie memorabilia, the result of years of collecting and certainly millions of dollars spent.

The museum also had items on loan, including an entire room dedicated to Will Eisner.

There were dozens of pages on display that spanned Eisner's entire, decades-long career.

And there was even some Frankenberry artwork!

This whole exhibit was just a sight to behold. I showed up to the event toward the end, so I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked. I saw Geppi as I was leaving and expressed my disbelief at everything I had seen. It's hard to imagine that something like this museum even exists. If you're in the Baltimore area, you should take a few hours and take in everything that's here on display. It's impressive, to say the least.

Oh, and it happened that the Cincinnati Bengals were staying at the same hotel that I had booked for the weekend. It was odd, seeing coaches, staff and players walks the halls. My wife wouldn't allow me to run through the halls shouting "THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS HAVE SIX SUPER BOWL TROPHIES", but I did announce my presence at least once. After all of the turmoil between the two teams during the 2015 season, I kind of wish I was a little bit louder, but I'd say there would have been a 20% chance one of the players (you know which ones) would have beaten me up by the vending machines. Can't wait until the 2016 championship season is here, Steelers.

My Hero Initiative Fantastic Four #600 cover

The Hero Initiative does a lot of great things for comic book creators who have fallen on hard times.  In recent years, the organization has produced limited edition, blank-covered printings of popular comics, mostly of Marvel books.  Hero sends these books to various artists who draw on the covers, and Hero then sells the books to benefit their cause.  It's a big fundraiser for the organization and it's always fun to see the different artwork that is produced for the event.

This past year, Fantastic Four #600 got the Hero Initiative treatment, passing out copies to 100 artists, and recently, the books started to go up for auction.  If ever I was going to get one of these special edition books, it'd have to be for the Fantastic Four.  These books command a hefty price, but I fleeced my wallet and ended up a winner on one of the copies, and just a few days ago I got the package in the mail.

My copy has artwork by Ramon Bachs, who did some work for Detective Comics and Civil War: Frontline, but might be best known for the original Marvel Apes series.  I'm obviously pretty happy that I got a copy with the Thing plastered on the front; I wasn't going to be too particular as long as I won a copy, but luckily I got this one and it didn't cost as much as, say, the Joe Sinnott cover (which sold for over $1400!)

There are some really nice looking covers that were made for this event: you can view all of them here: http://www.heroinitiative.org/newsdetail.asp?n=312, and there's a collection of all the covers for sale, too, here: http://www.grahamcrackers.com/products/fantasic_four100_project_hc.htm.  If you're so inclined, there are still some covers up for auction in the Hero Initiative's eBay store, and new covers are being added every Tuesday until they all sell.

Included in the auction was the option to have the book sent to be graded and sealed in a case by the CGC.  Since I didn't have to pay any more for it, I went ahead and had had it done.

This is the first book I've had graded, and to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the CGC in most cases.  Unless you've got a copy of Action Comics #1 lying around, it seems a bit like overkill with all of the other preservation materials available at many comic shops.  People are grading and selling sealed copies of Amazing Spider-Man #700 on eBay as we speak, and for what?  In two years, this is a book that you'll find on sale for two bucks at every comic convention in the world.  But I suppose that it's a part of the comic book industry and there are different lengths that collectors are inevitably willing to go to.  And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about sending a copy of the Tick Free Comic Book Day issue to CGC when it comes out, and that's a new book with a price tag of zero, a hem.

This book got a 9.8 rating on a 10-point scale, which is about the equivalent of saying that the book is pretty much how God made it.  I've never seen a book with a rating of higher than 9.8, and it's supposedly the "gold medal" of ratings as far as they're concerned.  Peeking at the book through the clear plastic case, I can see that the top of the spine is a tiny bit frayed and one of the corners has a crease in it, which, since the book traveled from the printer to the Hero Initiative, to the artist, back to the Hero Initiative, to CGC and then to me is nothing unexpected, but it does make me think that just perhaps CGC saw that it was for a good cause, gave it a wink and a nod and then sent it on its way.

In any case, I'm happy to have the book, which is certainly one of the rarest Fantastic Four issues ever printer - if not the rarest, period.  The Hero Initiative does great work and, as far as I'm concerned, this was a win for everyone involved.

Random thoughts on the DCU reboot

Like many comic fans, I was surprised at the recent news that the entire DC Universe will be starting over, with 52 (FIFTY TWO!!!) new #1 issues to be released in September.  And, also like many fans, my first reaction was something akin to this: "I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!!"

But now that there's a little more information circling about and, more importantly, we've all had some time to process this announcement, my opinions have mellowed somewhat and I now have a more stoic approach.

When it comes down to it, DC Comics is a money-making enterprise (though it could be argued that their greatest monetary value comes as an R&D tool for various other entertainment purposes, not the least of which can be witnessed from the slew of DC-related movies in development), and the company certainly has the right to retool its line of books and its characters as it sees fit.  And when you look at the state of the industry, it's no surprise that one of the biggest companies would want to try something different.

I recently found out that Doom Patrol had been cancelled, and for good cause - issues were selling in the 9,000 copy range.  When one of the two biggest comic companies in the world is selling a book that has only 9,000 readers, change is bound to happen.  (I will say that Doom Patrol, month in and out, was my favorite book that I could barely understand what was going on while reading it.)

Overall, though, I'm not going to worry about, say, Superman's lack of red underwear, because I'm fairly certain that, after a while, the things I like will eventually be reinstated.

 

Sure, there are things that irk me about this new direction for DC.  I hate, for example, every single costume in the above Teen Titans image.  Sure, Robin's going for the retro-cool look (that's similar to Firehawk's costume, isn't it?  Something like that), but the others...holy moley.  Superboy's taped a piece of paper to the back of his shirt?  And he has a big Superman tattoo?  R...really?

I also hate, with a passion, the renumbering of long-running titles like Action Comics and Detective Comics.  It took 73 years for Action Comics to reach issue #900 only to have it dialed back to a new issue #1?  Bah.

But here's the thing: there is no way on Earth that Action Comics won't be renumbered by the time it would reach issue #1000.  Heck, there's even a chance that Detective Comics will roll over to #900 in the less than two years that it'll take.

Superman will eventually have his classic "S" shield back.  Flash will probably lose that weird chinstrap thing he's got going on.  The good stuff will stay, the unnecessary changes will change back.  It's that simple.

And there are some cool things being solicited for this "new" universe, in fact.  For example: A NEW SWAMP THING SERIES  BY SCOTT SNYDER!

I am so excited for this book, after reading Alan Moore's fantastic work on the character and Snyder's impressive current Detective Comics run.

Also, DC is taking real steps to reach out to digital readers: it had to happen sooner or later, and releasing digital copies of books on the same day physical copies come out is historic for the medium.

I'll admit, though, that most of what I'm hearing is rather ho-hum.  No real big name creators and such seemingly random choices as to which characters get books of their own.  It seems like DC is trying to create a lineup of varied books (featuring culturally diverse characters) that, in a perfect world, would appeal to a wide range of readers, new and old.  But there's a reason that the Demon, Hawk & Dove, Sgt. Rock, OMAC and Mr. Terrific don't currently have books on the shelves.

The litmus test for this new direction, of course, will come in the months following September.  I'm sure that the new Justice League title will sell like gangbusters and that many others will start out strong (the media push has to count for something, after all), but I'm also sure that some of these other new titles will fail - it would be foolish to think otherwise.

The only thing we fans can do is wait and see what happens.  I'm willing to let events unfold as they may - I'll buy the titles I enjoy and I won't buy the titles that don't interest me or aren't well done, as I always do with few exceptions.

But really...Superboy's new costume is horrendous.