Brad Ricca on the pre-history of Lois Lane

Over at DC Women Kicking Ass, Brad Ricca, author of the soon-to-be-released “Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — The Creators of Superman” has made a guest-post detailing the evolution of Lois Lane through Siegel and Shuster’s early pre-Superman stories.

What I want to talk about here is how Jerry and Joe got to Lois in the comics – she didn’t just spring out, fully-formed, after all – she evolved, changed, and transformed through a series of characters that Jerry and Joe did in their early, pre-Superman comics. Lois took her time. And because these early comics have never really been reprinted since the thirties, no one has seen them for a long time.

As anyone who has read the earliest Superman stories by Siegel and Shuster, Lois was far from just a damsel in distress cliché. Here antecedents give an even broader look at Siegel’s and Shuster’s progressive — at least for 1930s fiction — toward depiction of women.

Pre-history of Lois Lane

Ricca takes you from the fictional Lois Amster of “Doctor Occult” through the fiery Sally Norris of “Slam Bradley” and several points in between. Click on over to the site to read the whole thing.

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Superman Fan Podcast, episode 268

It’s been a few episodes, but Billy Hogan is back with some Jerry Siegel goodness for you with episode 268, of the Superman Fan Podcast — and it’s a doozy!

Superman Fan Podcast, episode 268

First up is SUPERMAN #151 with two Siegel-penned tales. The first, the nine-page “The Three Tough Teen-Agers!” finds the Man of Steel pairing up with Lois Lane to shake some sense into a trio of delinquents.

And, in the second, an eight-page tale which was also featured on the issue’s cover, a Kryptonian flame dragon is loose! Can the Last Son of Krypton stop it? And can you uncover “Superman’s Greatest Secret!”?

Billy then turns his attention to ACTION COMICS #285, featuring a book-length Superman and Supergirl story. Siegel brought a lot of changes to the Maid of Might: super-villains, adoption, a new identity and more. But this story features the biggest event in the life of the Maid of Might since her arrival on Earth when the Man of Steel finally reveals her existence to the world! It’s a universe-spanning celebration followed by Supergirl embarking on her first solo — and non-secret — adventure in “The World’s Greatest Heroine!” and “The Infinite Monster!” All of this and more, courtesy of Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney.

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Random Panel #30

Random Panel #30

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first appearance of John F. Kennedy in a DC Comics-published comic. It was published a mere two months after his inauguration. While this story is an imaginary story, Siegel also wrote what I believe the second DC Comics appearance of Kennedy — and the first in continuity — which was published just as Kennedy was closing in on the end of his first year in office.

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Superman: The Silver Age Dailies, Vol. 1 cover process

As mentioned back in March, IDW’s Library of American Comics soon will begin reprinting the Superman newspaper strips — beginning with strips published in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

While the first volume isn’t due until July, the Library has released a look at the roughs-to-final process for the cover — which highlights two of the Jerry Siegel-written tales within (“The Duel For Earth” and “Captive of the Amazons”) — as well as a sneak-peak of the back cover for the volume, which highlights another Siegel-penned tale — and perhaps the greatest in the volume — “Superman’s Return to Krypton.”

Superman: The Silver Age Dailies, Vol. 1 cover rough

Click on over to the Library of American Comics’ blog for more images from various stages.

They’ve also announced the book’s contents have changed slightly. The book will now reprint strips from April 6, 1959, to August 12, 1961. Sadly, that means we lose the introduction of Metallo. But, fortunately, all the previously announced Siegel stories remain in the volume.

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Incoming: Regular Show #1 variant

Out this week is REGULAR SHOW #1, with a special variant cover by artist Chuck BB paying homage to Joe Shuster’s classic cover to ACTION COMICS #1

Regular Show #1 (art only)

See the original solicitation post for more information on this great variant.

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