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From Papers to Comics to Papers
As we mentioned in last week's Auctions/Prices, Sotheby's comic art auction (Part I of which ends today) features three extraordinary Superman newspaper panels. From the 1930s, these panels were composed in pen and ink on Craftint paper - a special paper that could bring out, or at least highlight, a dot pattern. But did you know that, although Superman didn't become a newspaper hero until after he had reached incredible comic book popularity, these panels were created before Superman's foray into comics? And these unused, surviving three panels are the only known and earliest surviving examples from the first series of dailies. The section that features these three panels originally consisted of five panels, in a sequence depicting the origin of Superman. Panels 2 and 3 were long ago cut and removed, and very possibly may have been used in the laborious cutting and pasting process of putting the first page of Action Comics #1 together. But as for the three surviving panels, the first panel features the planet Krypton exploding as a spaceship, containing the super-baby, rockets into space. The missing second panel most likely featured the rocketship being discovered on Earth, and the sleeping baby being turned over to an orphanage. The missing third panel most likely featured the baby's shocking feat of strength - lifting a chair over his head to the astonishment of the orphanage staff. Then we come to the forth panel, still intact, showing a young Clark Kent in costume (minus his cape), outracing a train. Panel 5 shows Superman in full costume, towering over the city. This original Superman sequence, of course, had to be cut apart, pasted up, re-written and re-drawn for publication as a comic book story. So, Jerry Siegel rewrote what had been the fourth panel in Superman daily strip #1, and extended it into panels 4,5, and 6 on the first page of Action Comics #1. In turn, Joe Shuster had to create three new drawings to replace that original fourth panel. So, he re-drew them, and, at the direction of Siegel, made a few key adjustments. Rather than leaving Superman (who is seen outracing a train) in costume, he attired him in civilian clothing. The decision was made to never again show him in costume until he had officially adopted the alter-ego of Superman. The team also inserted two new panels on the first page of the comic book (panels 8 and 9), to fill up some extra space. Also, one the first page of Action Comics #1, Joe didn't use the first panel he had drawn for strip #1. Rather, he re-drew the panel, and lowered the caption from top to bottom. He also re-drew panel 7, as well as a final, promotional ad panel, and the now-famous Superman logo. Once Superman's comic book success made him a natural candidate for the newspapers, however, the comic book story had to be, yes, re-cur, re-pasted, re-rewritten and re-drawn to create a "new" look for the McClure Syndicate. But as rare and valuable as original Superman art is today, there is something uniquely extraordinary about those original surviving three panels. Reference Material: The Adventures of Superman Collecting; Created and designed by Harry Matetsky
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