Nykor
Supermen of America
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Posts: 46
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« Reply #21 on: September 03, 2012, 07:31:10 PM » |
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An unnamed professional wrestling fan shouted, "Why don'cha look into a mirror--and then kill yourself?" to a wrestler we meet known as the "The Ugly Superman" (who sported Kal's full superhero-regalia) in the nationally-run "Superman" daily newspaper strip, and he shouted it on the ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY of GEORGE REEVES' DEATH--July 16th, 1959.
Of course this prompts some questions, such as, "How much lead time was there between the day the strip was completed and distributed, and the day it was scheduled to appear?" and "Did any of the papers that ran 'Superman' decide to pull the strip that day, in the interests of good taste?"
Well, I can't tell you if Mort Weisinger, et al., knowingly referenced Reeves' death, or if any papers removed the strip that day, but I do know that one newspaper, the "Brooklyn Eagle", ran it, because a Superman fan named Sid Friedfertig posted his cut-out copies of the strip online in May of last year, running almost-complete from December, 1958 to April, 1966, and you can access them at "brooklyneagles.com" (don't type in the quotes).
The comic-strip "Superman" makes for a real fascinating read, largely because just about all of the stories (I know of no exceptions) appeared in Weisinger-edited comic-books within a few months of their newspaper postings, but in modified form (for one thing, almost all of the newspaper stories feature different artists than the comic-book versions, so you get lots of beautiful Swan art in the fifties when he was largely absent from the books).
"The Ugly Superman" originally appeared in "Lois Lane" #8 (the April, 1959 issue, of course when Reeves still breathed) with Robert Bernstein and Kurt Schaffenberger credited on story and art, and, though the comic-book version features the crowd hurling invective at the wrestler when we first meet him, perhaps tellingly, no one counsels him to ring down his own final curtain... [cue Dean Cain] BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
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