Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Wasn't sure where to go with this so I figured I'd post it here:

The comic "Superman Ends The War" (http://superman.nu/tales2/endsthewar/ (http://superman.nu/tales2/endsthewar/)) is dated as a 1943 release.

But another site here:

http://www.goantiques.com/detail,superman-war-1940,887263.html

Dates it as a Feb 27, 1940 which would match it up with the Das schwarze Korps, 25 April 1940 article deriding Jerry Siegel (http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/superman.htm (http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/superman.htm)).

Just so you all know.

I'm working on a paper on comics in World War Two and found this info so I thought I'd share.

Thanks for a great site.

Thanks for pointing that out, Jason.

I don't remember where I got the 1943 date.  That may have been what was given in my reprint source, which I believe was DC's original version of "The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told."  I don't know if the story is in the new version of the book.

I'll do a bit of research and then make the appropriate correction.

For people interested in this subject, the article Jason points out has been discussed here (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2037).

:s:

Indeed it is listed as Look Magazine 1943.

In fact this is the actual magazine cover:

http://dialbforblog.com/archives/105/look_feb1943.gif

It's cover date is February 1943

http://dialbforblog.com/archives/105/

Hmmm.  If you look at the comments (http://www.haloscan.com/comments/robbyreed/issue105/) on that page, you see the date in dispute there too.  I can't read any date on that cover, so it's hard to say what the date is.  Look was published weekly at that point, so it wouldn't be just "February", but a specific date in February.

The linked article (http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/superman.htm) says that the German response to these pages is from Das schwarze Korps, 25 April 1940, p. 8.  That would make the February 1940 more supported.  It specifically refers to these pages, describing the panel where Superman confronts the German plane.

The Internet is a mess on this.  Some site refer to the 1943 date, some to the 1940 date, although I've seen both February 17th and 27th listed.  Until someone digs up an actual cover with a readable date, there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer.  I tend to lean towards the 1940 date myself, though.

What does Superman the Sunday Classics say?  I believe it is reprinted in there.

It looks like DC isn't even consistent on this.  The "Superman in the 1940s" TPB (which also reprints the story) gives the date as February 1940.

I bought the original two pages that were for sale at Jason's link (http://www.goantiques.com/search/images.jsp?id=887263).  Hopefully the date will be on one of them, although it doesn't look it.  Maybe on one of the flip-sides.

I'm wondering if there are any clues in the story itself.  According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Wall), the term "Westwall" was widely known in 1939, so that's no use.  It also states that there were no battles there until 1944, so that fight scene in the story seems like it's a bit misplaced, regardless of whether it takes place in 1940 or 1943.

Stalin could be a clue - Germany and Russia were allies until 1941, when Germany turned on Russia and invaded.  At that point, Stalin took direct control of his country's armed forces.  Germany and Russia could still be allies in this story, but that also looks like a military uniform on Stalin.

At this point, I suspect that the story is actually from 1940 and that the 1943 date originated from a mistake in DC's first reprint credits.

:s:

I checked the copies of it that I have.

The copy in The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told says "LOOK MAGAZINE, 1943."

However, in Superman: The Sunday Classics, which I'd think is more accurate since they meticulously collected newspaper materials from that time, the specified date is February 27, 1940.

Doing research on Superman's anti-war exploits?  Besides the original stories, a good place to start is Ian Gordon's book "Comic Strips and Consumer Culture".  Gordon discusses the discrepancy between Superman's image as a propaganda strip and the actuality: despite a few stories and several covers, there was not much anti-Germany/Japan war-related stuff in the comics.  Superman was more successful in stimulating the economy on the homefront, according to Gordon.

The 1940 date seems most likely, since in the story, Superman scoops up Stalin as well as Hitler. At that time, the Molotov-Ribbentrop, or Nazi-Soviet, alliance was still in force. So it seems consistent that Stalin, as an ally of Hitler's, would have been identified as the enemy.

By 1943, however, Stalin was one of the Big Three and pretty widley thought of as one of the good guys, so I can't really see how any magazine of the day could have depicted him as an enemy; for all I know, you could have been arrested for such overt criticism of an ally in those days.

At this point I don't think anyone will be surprised by this, but here is the answer:  I received the magazine pages today and sure enough, they are from the February 27, 1940 issue of "Look."

The pages are giant - as if they were from a 1970's Treasury edition.  The story is only 3 colors (black white and red) but the line work at that size is gorgeous.  I'll probably scan it and replace DC's "archive" quality (ie, looks like it was traced from a fax) colorized "restoration" that's on the site now.

Here's what is surprising:  There's also a one page article about Superman with a couple of photos of Siegel and Shuster that I've never seen before.  I might add that as well.

:s:

DC editors are always on top of things huh?



Ditch the version that is on here on, since it has been reprinted twice, fans should have it by now, but very few people on Earth, including DC has your prized pages, please scan those in then frame them :)

Yet another exclusive for this site :D



Might? I sure hope you do too, since I bet very few people have read that one, what a find!

Well, it looks like the 1943 date was only given in the original "Greatest Superman Stories" TPB.  It was corrected to 1940 in the 2nd version of that volume; and in the "Sunday Classics" collection.

As requested, the story and the article from Look are now online.

See the site update announcement (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=16701#16701) for details.

:s:

Just the goes to show you the internet is not the ultimate source of all truths. It has far more lies and disinformation on it than truth, so take it with a grain of salt . Always get 3 or 4 times verification of iffy subjects.

re the date: does anybody have an issue of the original material? I know it would be very expensive, but perhaps they could tell us the date on it. Maybe take an digital picture or scan it? Please. Anybody who can help will have my gratitude.

Gigo, Psybertrack.  Imagine the earth that story takes place on.  After Superman's visits, nazi germany & the soviet union probably surrendered pretty quick.

the photos have been altered or the original magazine has been.
the original cover said : LOOK     "What it means to be neutral" by Gloria Thomson .

this has been blacked out on the link you gave.

part of the bottom of  the cover has been blacked out too. Its supposed to say Rita hayworth best dressed girl  of hollywood {sic} or something like that . compare these 2 versions of the cover. I can't verify either one but probably both can't be right. Of course i am still researching this mystery and will get back to you on completion.

{I know, to be politically correct Rita Hawyworth was not a girl but an empowered woman.}

http://www.goantiques.com/search/images.jsp?id=896925

http://dialbforblog.com/archives/105/look_feb1943.gif

http://superman.nu/tales2/endsthewar/

one of these things is not the same as the other...

the last one is the clearest of all. but the price seems to have been moved digitally from next to the date to below the date, or has it?

The position of the price is not correct.  The third one above is a complete reconstruction (as I briefly mentioned here (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=16701#16701)) that I created from scratch using the first two images as reference.  Nothing on it is original except the picture of Rita (which came from the cover photo at goantiques.com, and which I re-touched a bit) and the content of the text.

I also verified the content of the title text here
http://www.goantiques.com/detail,look-magazine-cover,896925.html
and at
http://journaux-collection.com/cgi-bin/recherche.cgi?+LOOK++L
(this second one also confirms the 1940 date)

The positioning of the text, the sizes, and the fonts are not correct.  The fonts were just the closest that I happened to have installed on my PC.  I would have bought the cover and scanned it (it was once for sale at the first link), but someone else had already purchased it.  At least I got the article and the story, though!

Of the three pictures, that first one at goantiques is the only one that hasn't been altered - but it's  a very poor photo that missed the edges of the magazine.  The second one trimmed off even more edge material, and then somone blacked out the title of Dorothy's article - probably because a good portion of it was missing. (The magazine is too large to completely fit on most scanners)

It seems pretty clear in that first photo that the date was February 27, 1940.  Plus that's what the antique dealer who sold me the story told me the date was, and it also is the same as the date given in both DC's and Kitchen Sink's recent reprints.  The only place I've ever seen the 1943 date was in DC's first reprint (which is where the blogger scanned the story from), but DC then changed it in later reprints.  So I'm 99.99 percent certain about the 1940 date.

:s:

First spoiler warning:
I have nothing against any nation or race of people on earth and believe in truth, Justice, and freedom for everybody.
I have respect for Japan or Nihon if you will. It is a country worthy of admiration and though exotic , it has a tradition of Honor and Nobility remniscent of the Arthurian Knights of the Round Table. The Samurai are noted in history for Loyalty and bravery.  The Japanese people I know today are both honest and caring.  I don't blame the descendants for their ancestors actions, but neither do I believe in changing Historic facts to fit the politics of the time. So I don't apologize for the following. I hate war and wish that it never had to be fought but sometimes a man or a Superman is pushed into a fight.  I also believe we'll always have Wars on earth until certain events transpire of a spiritual belief nature. {He's coming back)

I think its right: February 27, 1940 too.  And only one reference, the DC reprint gave me 1943.

I thought that was an awefully clear pic for a scan. Very well done. Good reproduction and the fonts are very , very close anyway.

You're right the original Look magazines were huge and would need a big scanner or have to be scanned in pieces if you have a little scanner like mine.

I confirmed the Feb 27 1940 cover date (though I have no Idea if that means it actually was first on the newstand in 1939 or 1940) by looking up the other articles on many websites which referred to the neutrality article, the rita hayworth article , or the band leader article.  they all agreed it was 1940.  Also 1943 is two years after 1941.  Remember an incident called the Battle at Pearl harbor? {Sunday ,early morning, December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy and airplanes dropped bombs and committed suicide crashes of their planes and mostly decimated many ships and planes of the American Navy in Pearl Harbor , in Hawaii without first officially and protocol-correctly declaring war and thus outraged the United States of America's citizen at what they perceived to be an unfair method of warfare.  I am aware and recognize that Japan at the time felt the USA was a threat and had illegally taken some of the Pacific areas which they claimed for their own , thus making the USA the invaders from their point of view.  Still, they pretended to be our friends, and secretly conspired to get the first strike. The means must have justified the ends, yet many Japanese officers must have inwardly felt it was not the act of a honorable warrior appropriate to the Civilization which gave us the Samurai and the Code of Bushido. But good men did nothing and the nation of Japan proceeded with the Agenda to move on Hawaii, a kind of possession of the USA at the time.
The result was a USA declaration of War on Japan and her allies.}
For me it's hard to believe that any post-1941-American magazine would have an article on Neutrality in anything but a negative light, or they would have been accused of Treason or lack of patriotism, which back then was a lot worse than it is today. People would have burned newstands down if they thought Look supported anything but victory over the enemy Nazis & the Japan and their allies.  

I think the 1943 date could also have come from the fact that some people think WW2 didn't begin until Dec.7, 1941.  when in fact on Friday, September 1, 1939 the Nazi's invaded Poland and WW2 began. The British declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, but the US was neutral until 1941.

I hope this didn't offend anybody. Japan is our friend today. We are business buddies with them in the economy of the world and we need each other.  I didn't mean this to be a racial slur, but just meant to refer to the historical facts. Please excuse me if it came out wrong, but not everything the currently revised history books show is true.

And again thanks for the reproduced cover it was a very slick job.

PS: Addendum-

      If you zoom in and magnify the Supemen of America certificate you can see the cerificate's date is 1939, which would fit in an article prepared for the February 27, 1940 issue