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Superman

Just a heads up, I just posted another Superman book review over at the Trek Literature “What Have You Been Reading?” thread. I don’t know how to create a direct link.

It starts with, “Finished reading Superman: The Dailies, 1940-1941, the second of three softcover/paperback volumes reprinting the earliest "Superman" daily newspaper strips released by Kitchen Sink Press between July and September 2000.”

— David Young
 
^ Here's your direct link (you can create it by clicking on the little number at the very bottom of your post and copy-pasting the provided UBB code):

So What Are you Reading?: Generations

And happy anniversary, everybody! 85 years ago today, Action Comics #1 was released, introducing the world to both Superman AND Lois Lane.

EV4WEWEX0AEmoUT


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Thinking about Lois's attitude toward Clark in my post above ("I suppose I'll give you a break ... for a change"), as well as one of the early newspaper strips youngtrek describes (where she's openly contemptuous of a sad-sack milquetoast who writes in to her lovelorn column), I was reminded of this excellent analysis I once read of the Golden Age Lois:
If Clark is a symbol of the limits of what can and should be fairly expected of the woman or man in the street, then Lois represents those brave and determined souls who press on when success is almost impossible to achieve. As such, her strength is also her tragic weakness, for she constantly perseveres in the face of almost certain defeat. Rather than the snotty, intolerant bully that she could often appear to be, Lois can actually stand for all of those who won't give into the common sense of self-preservation. When she passes judgement on Clark's supposed timidity, she's expressing her loathing for a culture that's willing to co-exist and even collaborate with oppression. When she mocks Clark for refusing to fight with a mobster, it's in the light of the fact that she's already landed a mighty blow on the gangster's cheek. (It's a heedless act of defiance that will swiftly find her being kidnapped and facing a profoundly unpleasant fate.) Rather than worshipping some ludicrous ideal of male power, as the early Lois has often been accused of, surely she's merely longing to find a partner and lover who'll fight with as much boldness and conviction as she herself habitually displays.
Click to expand...
More here:

http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.com/2015/07/superman-radical-rebel-some-thoughts-on.html

Certainly a thoughtful and sympathetic interpretation of what might sometimes come across as mean-spirited behavior in those early stories (though I love her regardless).
 
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