★★★★★ 5
Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Krypto, a little of everything.
"Superman in the Fifties" is a collection of 17 stories from 1950 to 1959 reprinted in color. For me it was a nostalgic return to when I was a child and able to purchase 10 comics for a dollar off a turning rack (no sales tax either) at the local soda shop. The comics from the fifties served as an escapism for much of the youth at the time that was coming of age with the awareness that we could be threatened by nuclear attack at any time. Bomb shelter construction could be found in Popular Science magazines, and drills were performed in schools with students going into halls and crouching down and covering their heads or hiding under desks.
A hero was needed, one with super powers who could make the world right. We could all dream. Superman, "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...fighting a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way." Sorry, just had to put that TV intro in from the 50's.
The stories may seem dated, but that is part of the mystique of reading comics that are reprinted.
The titles in this volume are:
- Three Supermen From Krypton!
- The Menace From The Stars!
- The Girl Who Didn't Believe In Superman!
- Superboy's Last Day In Smallville!
- The Ugly Superman!
- Superman's Big Brother!
- The Super-Dog From Krypton!
- Titano, The Super-Ape!
- The Supergirl From Krypton!
- Superman's Super-Magic Show!
- The Super-Duel In Space
- The Battle With Bizarro!
- The Bride Of Bizarro!
- The End Of The Planet!
- Superman And Robin!!
- The Stolen Superman Signal
- The Girl In Superman's Past
My favorite was "The Super Duel in Space" with Brainiac reducing some of Earth's cities and putting them in bottles. It was a good change up from the usual fiction, and non-fiction that I read. It provides plenty of background about Superman for young readers with terrific art that was hand drawn, unlike most modern comics that are created on computers. The stories are a very good sampling of "Superman" from the fifties.
I look forward to reading "Superman in the Sixties."
I give "Superman in the Fifties" 5 stars.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2011