Monday, January 18, 2010

Exit Stage Left: Superman Family #222

This one really represents the end of an era, as it serves as the swansong of both the Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen titles. In addition, this was one of the last anthology series published by DC. It many ways, it is amazing that Superman Family hung on as long as it did - as it seems to be steeped in Silver Age traditions. On the other hand, it was always a very entertaining titles with artwork by some industry stalwarts, such as Bob Oksner and Win Mortimer, that were not getting much work elsewhere. It is too bad that DC didn't take the opportunity to commission a special cover commemorating this final issue, featuring of of the title's stars. I do like this cover, though, as Frank Giacoia is a decent inker for Gil Kane. Inside, we've got the typical short but sturdy stories. Mr. and Mrs. Superman was always my favourite strip, and I'd be interested in hearing whether it every appeared in any way, shape or form. Supergirl fans would not have to mourn for very long, however, as the Daring Adventures of Supergirl were just around the corner.

4 comments:

Edo Bosnar said...

Is it just me, or has the subject of DC's dollar comics come up quite frequently on a lot of the Bronze Age comic blogs in recent week/months? Always a favorite topic of mine since I just loved them - although Superman Family was probably my least favorite. I know I didn't have this issue, and it's kind of sad that the dollar comics went out with a whimper rather than a bang. With 4 or 5 stories in each issue, and usually different creative teams working on each, you really got a lot of bang for that buck. As a kid, I also liked the fact that most of the stories were "done-in-one." I'm tempted to say this format should be re-introduced for today's comics, but then how much would it cost? $7.00/8.00?

Graeme said...

I absolutely adored Superman Family and if the issues weren't so darn expensive in back issue form I'd try to get a whole set, just for the Bob Oskner Lois Lane series-- the sexiest woman in comics, make no mistake, in the early 1980s was Lois as drawn by Oskner.

Brian Busby said...

I remember The Superman Family from the "100 SUPER SPECTACULAR PAGES" days. What I liked most were the reprints - nice introductions to a different time. Here I'm being nostalgic for comics I happily sold in 1981. What a fool I was.

Jamie said...

Edo,

Marvel (and perhaps DC?) have done a few similar books in the last couple of years, usually including some reprints of older material at the back. I looked at one, Giant-Size Avengers, over at Dollar Bin Blues a couple of weeks ago.

Word Verification: jamintis - n - disease symptomized by excessive jammin'