 |
| 80 Page Giant 1, August 1964! |
Download Episode 372 Part I!
80 PAGE GIANT 1, August 1964, was published on June 4, 1964. It carried the cover price of a quarter. Mort Weisinger was the editor, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by George Klein. During 1964 - 1965 DC Comics decided to consolidate their Annuals into one series. During this time, Superman had three issues in this series, not including one with Batman from their team-ups in WORLD'S FINEST COMICS. Superboy had one issue, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane both had two, Flash had one, and another was titled SECRET ORIGINS, featuring the origin stories of some of DC Comics' other heroes. This first self-titled 80 Page Giant was originally advertised as SUPERMAN ANNUAL 9, according to Mike's Amazing World Of DC Comics. The Grand Comic Book Database adds that the yellow burst above the Superman logo was relettered from "Giant" to "80 Pg. Giant". At the bottom of the yellow burst you can see the shape of the bottom of the word "Giant".
- (7:05) THE REVENGE OF LUTHOR (13 pgs.), originally published in ACTION COMICS 259, December 1959. This story was originally covered in Episode 202, for the week of October 26, 2011. It was written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Al Plastino. At the time of original publication, this was his third silver age Superman story, and his fifth overall for the era. This story was also reprinted in SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN vol. II.
- (25:28) THE OLD MAN OF METROPOLIS (10 pgs.), originally published in ACTION COMICS 270, November 1960. It was written by Otto Binder, pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by John Forte. This story was also reprinted in SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN vol. II and SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERGIRL vol. I. We first covered this story in Episode 228, for the week of May 30, 2012.
- (38:54) CLAIRE KENT, ALIAS SUPER-SISTER (9 pgs.), was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Joe Sikela. He was a member of artist and Superman co-creator Joe Shuster's Cleveland studio in the early 1940's, and worked for DC Comics from 1941 - 1960. This story was originally published in SUPERBOY 78, January 1960, published on November 19, 1959.
- (56:03) THE SUPERMAN BOOK THAT COULDN'T BE FINISHED (8 pgs.), was originally published in SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 29, June 1958. This story was originally covered back in Episode 243, for the week of October 17 2012. It was written by Otto Binder, pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Ray Burnley. It was also reprinted in SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN FAMILY vol. II.
- (1:06:42) MA AND PA KENT ADOPT SUPERGIRL (13 pgs.), written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Jim Mooney. It was Siegel's 36th Superman Family story and his 63rd overall for the silver age. This story was originally published in ACTION COMICS 275, April 1961. We first covered this story in Episode 240 for the week of October 3, 2012.
- (1:17:03) THE TWO FACES OF SUPERMAN (26 pgs.), was originally published SUPERMAN 137, May 1960, published on March 17, 1960. This Hstory was written by Jerry Siegel, pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. It was Siegel's tenth Superman story for the silver age, and his 22nd overall for the era. This story was also reprinted in SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN vol. II. We originally covered this story back in Episode 213 for the week of January 11, 2012.
Also highlighted in this episode are the issue's ads and other features, including the text article, THE SUPERMAN LEGEND ((1:37:46), writer unknown.
We will finish covering the Superman Family comic books cover dated August 1964 with: PART II: WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 143, PART III: SUPERMAN 171, PART IV: ACTION COMICS 315 & PART V: SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE 51!
Then we will feature: SUPERMAN COMIC BOOKS COVER DATED SEPTEMBER 1964: PART I: 80 PAGE GIANT 2 (starring Jimmy Olsen), PART II: SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 79, PART III: 80 PAGE GIANT 3 (featuring Lois Lane, and guest starring Lana Lang), PART IV: WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 144 & PART V: ACTION COMICS 316.
The home for THE SUPERMAN FAN PODCAST is http://thesupermanfanpodcast.blogspot.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
You can join the SUPERMAN FAN PODCAST Group or Page on facebook, and follow the podcast on twitter @supermanpodcast. You can also keep track of the podcast on Tumblr, Medium, Flipboard, the Internet Archive and Stitcher.
SUPERMAN FAN PODCAST is a proud member of:
- The COMICS PODCAST NETWORK,
The theme of this podcast is PLANS IN MOTION, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com. "Plans in Motion" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any art shown on this podcast is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit. I make no claims of ownership of these images, nor do I earn any money from this podcast.
If you are interested in my artwork, go to wayfarerercomics.wordpress.com. I am available for commissions, so click on the Art Commissions tab for more information. If interested, send an e-mail to wayfarercomics@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening to the SUPERMAN FAN PODCAST and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman!
And don't forget to take care of each other out there!
And don't forget to take care of each other out there!
I must say, the phrase "80 Page Giant" will even now that I am 61, bring a flood of happy memories. I always loved seeing those on the newsstand, because, even though many of them were all-reprints, in those days, comic book distribution was pretty spotty, so these were often stories I hadn't read before.
ReplyDeleteThe 80 Page Giants would often come to involve "themes" (Kryptonite, Alien Foes, etc.), and this one seems mainly devoted to dreams or imaginary stories, and I think this gives a kind of unity through the issue.
I find myself growing in admiration for Jerry Siegel's talent as a storyteller, and that talent seems to have grown and matured during the Silver Age. Perhaps, as you suggested, working for Mort Weisinger (who has a reputation as a very stern task-master) helped bring out the best in Siegel.
You mentioned that you thought, at first, that the text piece, "The Superman Legend", might have been written by E. Nelson Bridwell, but that he hadn't yet started working for DC yet. Is it possible that this piece was a try-out before he was formally hired? I have no idea; it's just a thought.
Thanks for this episode, which must have involved extra work for you, but which was a great treat for this son of the Silver Age.