Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Bronze Age Superman

I debated starting a new thread for this but didn't know if the topic would be hot like a yellow sun or a downer like some green K--but this didn't seem to fit in the Action Comics, Superman & Supergirl thread which has mostly covered current runs and reactions to them. So here we go!

Anyhow, my interest in Bronze Age pre-Crisis Superman was recently ignited by my purchase of the Adventures of Superman: Gil Kane hardcover. I didn't even know it existed before my local CBS started doing these Saturday night Facebook shows where they offer various TPBs, HCs and other products at steep discounts to drum up sales while the store is missing its weekly new comics infusion that is their bread and butter (one of several very creative ideas they've had). I didn't even know the book existed and was very pleased to have snagged it. Among other cool pieces, this was the clear standout for me.

I haven't read it yet, but the Gil Kane art within is some of the most luscious and imaginative I've ever seen from an artist who had already been gaining steam with me in recent years as I discover and rediscover some of his work. (I can say the same for Gene Colan, as well, among others.)

Even cooler was that I realized several of the stories within were ones I'd read and enjoyed in my childhood. One of these was the Brainiac reinvention from Action Comics 544 in which he becomes a menacing, robotic version of himself. (The same issue contained Luthor's famous warsuit redesign but isn't included because Kane didn't draw it.)

The stories sent me on a mental journey to rediscover the era I remember of Superman stories. While I mostly bought DC Comics Presents faithfully for a while, I did pick up some Superman and Action Comics here and there and remember a lot of dramatic, exciting tales. I found the Lex Luthor: A Celebration of 75 Years for a really cheap price, mainly because it included the other half of Action 544. Besides showing the redesign, it is also the last tale of Lexor, the planet where Lex was hailed as their hero. Lexor is a part of the mythos I adore because it dared to show another side to Lex.

I then sought some other Superman collections from the era. I remembered the Phantom Zone mini and found a recent TPB collection of it. It was written by one of my faves Steve Englehart! SQUEE!!! I don't think I ever read all or any of it, but I love classic PZ stories. There's a TPB out there called Tales from the Phantom Zone, collecting a selection of SA and BA PZ stories, that I'm looking for just the right deal on. I've recently ordered the TPB Superman in the Seventies sight mostly unseen, figuring it will scratch that itch some. I also ordered the Darwyn Cooke/Tim Sale HC Superman: Kryptonite. It isn't really in this category at all, but it's one of those Cooke-related books I've been meaning to get; plus, I figure some of that sensibility I'm looking for will be in there.

There's an out-of-print Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez book similar to the Gil Kane book that I wish I had, but copies are too expensive on the after market. Among others, it features the Superman vs. Wonder Woman Treasury Edition that I never knew existed. Vol. 2 was recently released and is in-print but mostly features post-BA Supes stories that Jose has done. Probably worth it anyway but doesn't scratch the itch.

So what do I really want from this era?

1) As many stories with Lex in his cool purple and green jumpsuit! It's probably the Super Friends connection, but Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenburger, among others, really drew that look well!

2) The handful of stories with the Lex (Alex?) of Earth-3 before his demise in Crisis.

3) Stories of Clark working at GBS with Steve Lombard and Clark dating Lana!

4) DCCP!

5) Comprehensive Cary Bates-written story collections.

6) SuperMAN & the Legion team-ups and apocrypha!

And lots of stuff I'm too tired to think of right now!!!!!



So please share your memories, impressions, must-haves and whatever YOU want to add that relates to Bronze Age Superman!!!

I love so much about Bronze Age Superman, but really haven't read a whole lot of it myself!

I recently discovered the Superman 2020 back-ups which are a lot of fun!

Don't think I've heard of that one! Any teases you can share? Like, was there a coronavirus in it?

Action Comics #544

It was Cary Bates writing Superman's grandson, 40 years in the future! No coronavirus, but there was a cult of racists.

Lardy, I have a copy of the Garcia-Lopez Superman Volume 1 HC. Haven't read it in a while, and it might take some time to find it, but off the top of my head, it has the excellent opening 2-parter of DCCP, which looks spectacular on the better-quality paper stock. And the Supes/Wonder Woman team-up is beautiful to look at, although the awkward nods to 70s feminism (in a story set during World War II) are grating.

There's also Denny O'Neil's Kryptonite Nevermore storyline to consider. Last time I read it (out-of-print HC borrowed from the library) it didn't hold up that well, except for the "angels and demons" issue and a few other good bits here and there. The art, by Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson, is very nice. And, of course, there are those delicious Neal Adams covers.

I'm fairly sure it was Bates who wrote the Superman comics in the '70s issues the Legion were in. One story had Supes travel far, far into the future and then further still. It showed the personal cost to Supes, looks at possible futures and then has fun with science to close the arc. It was jaw droppingly impressive. I've also little doubt that it inspired the scope you'd see in Alan Moore's DC work.

It really sucks that it's out-of-print! It was released back in 2013. May if Vol 2 sells well, they'll reprint Vol 1. Jose draws one of the very best renditions of Wonder Woman ever, IMO, so I just know that tabloid would be a visual treat, awkward feminism and all!




This one looks to either still be in-print or its value is uninflated. Thanks, Fick!

Sounds like a real treat! Makes me yearn for some Cary Bates collections even more.

Y'know, I get the comparative popularity of Batman and all, but Superman collections of that era are criminally unrepresented compared to what Batman has and is getting.

LOL Yes indeed.

And speaking of Bronze Age tabloids with Superman, the Crossover Classics Volume 1 trade is worth tracking down (hopefully it's not overpriced) for the two Superman/Spider-Man team-ups. Because although the second one (produced mainly at Marvel) is rather dull and disappointing overall (especially considering it was penciled by my beloved John Buscema,) the first one (produced mainly at DC) is pure unadulterated visual grandeur. Funny story -- I could never figure out why Ross Andru's people were so much prettier there than in his other work -- THEN I found out that almost the faces were redrawn by Neal Adams and John Romita.



You're very welcome, my friend. I look forward to finding out what you think of it, especially the aforementioned chapter with angels and demons.

Oh, I've got THAT one and read that a year or two ago! The DC version was definitely superior and highly entertaining!




I'll let you know when I read it. I'm sure I'll get to some of these soonish because of that itch I need to scratch!

Anyone else dig this classic Luthor costume? I guess it's kinda dated, but I think it's so cool!

I have a few stories from that era as black-and-white Australian reprints. I used to quite enjoy "The Private Life of Clark Kent" that was usually quite different to the standard Superman/villain fight. I remember one where he is sitting in his apartment really bored when he hears a neighbour leave and decides to discover his why his neighbour often leaves so late and what his occupation is but without using any of his super-powers, just detective work. He actually gets it wrong but its a fun read. I also remember the Superman 2020 backup although I only had the first couple of issues so never knew how it went.

Yes, I surely do! That's also the same costume he wore in the Super Friends cartoons.

Yeah, I have a fondness for that outfit, as well as the Lexorian armor and "new look" Brainaic posted above!

Before Brainiac went all robotic, he and Luthor were kinda-sorta color-coordinated--and both bald!

That's admittedly a huge part of its appeal for me! Also beats the shit out of his prison grays

I have been meaning to write a Gil Kane post for my "favorite artists" thread in this forum. Thanks to your post quoted above, my enthusiasm has been renewed and I'm hoping I'll have it ready to post by this weekend.

So I dug out the Jose Luis Garcia Lopez Superman HC. I had forgotten how great DCCP #3 and #4 are. The former is an Adam Strange team-up with absolutely breathtaking compositions and page designs, while the latter is a delightful light-hearted romp co-starring the Metal Men!

I think the Adam Strange team-up might have been reprinted recently, in the comic that has a new 8-page Legion story by Dan Jurgens.

EDIT: Link

https://legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=985683#Post985683

I wanna know more about....Vartox!

One of my earliest Supes stories had him in it. Possibly drawn by Curt Swan, which I would have thought of as a bit stiff looking. Years later I'd see a bit of Zardoz and the penny would drop.

LOL Ah, yes, Zardoz, the misguided John Boorman science-fiction movie starring Sean Connery. The Boorman movie in between Deliverance and Exorcist II: The Heretic.

That's really all I remember about it. And I'm a Boorman fan. I do like Exorcist II, I've defended it more than once in the Anywhere Machine forum.

Not really on-topic, but the Post-Crisis Vartox appeared toward the end of the Dan Jurgens-scripted Superman run, nicely drawn by Steve Epting. Some C-List villains have all the luck!

Vartox is either broad-chested...or has kind of a gut on him! That's how he appears--a balding guy with a gut! Sean Connery or not--that's kinda cool!

But more interesting is that he appeared to have had quite a story arc that played out over a few years in his heyday. Also, cool that he had a bit of a bromance with Supes, something he'd only had with Batman previously.