Action Comics vol.1 #9 - cover date February 1939
Superman - hero or anithero? In his earliest incarnation, Superman was far from the reassuringly paternal authoritarian figure he has embodied for the majority of the past seventy-four years. Recall Superman’s first words to Lois Lane - “You needn’t be afraid of me, I won’t harm you” he reassures her through a lean, tough grin as his broad figure looms over her wilting form - and realize that Superman was terrifying.
Making targets of businessmen, civil leaders and politicians clearly wouldn’t have seen Superman clasped to the collective bosom of the representatives of law and order. In fact, in these early stories, Superman is a grim and mysterious figure - a loner who passes easily among the ranks of drifters and hard men - pursued by the police, army and whatever other authorities can take to the streets after him.
Hot on the heels of his slum-smashing scheme from the previous issues, Superman finds himself under the scrutiny of “100% Reilly”, a Chicago lawman offering a hefty reward for details leading to Superman’s identity and capture (officially marking the first time someone has connected the dots between Kent and Superman). Despite the appearance of a suicidal maniac and the ire of the entire Metropolis police force, the adventure ends in farce with Reilly’s perfect record slightly spoiled and Superman getting away scot-free…
"Straczynski then presumably added, “DC’s action subjected Siegel & Shuster to years of extreme poverty. They forced Jerry Siegel’s wife to beg DC to give her husband work. By the time Joe Shuster was 62, he was almost blind and living in a California nursing home, despite having created a character known and beloved throughout the world. And those are the reasons why I’m extremely proud to make comics for DC today. Those are my dogs! Those are my dogs that did that! That’s how my bros make it do, nephew! Woot Woot! Alan Moore signed a crummy contract, Joe Siegel signed a crummy contract, Jerry Shuster signed a crummy contract, DC is an empire of cruelty built on a mass grave of crummy contracts signed by broken men, but if that’s why I can make money today, then obviously, it was all worth it. And if I can anticipate your next question: no, there’s technically no evidence yet that anyone at DC was implicated in the death of Whitney Houston, but my fingers are crossed."
— Abhay Khosla, The Comics Journal (via guttersnipercomics)
(via ragnell)
