Several collectors at conventions have asked me why I focus so heavily on the 1948-61 era of 10-cent comics, rather than the earlier era.

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Early issues of Superman have received all sorts of coverage over the years, not to mention seven volumes in the DC Archives so far (#1-29). Yet collectors should not ignore the middle part of Superman’s run, before the Comics Code Authority. The pre-Code 1948-55 run includes #50-95. Among these 46 issues, three stand out as iconic comics — #53 (July-Aug 1948), #61 (Nov-Dec 1949) and #76 (May-June 1952).

Issue #61 is where Superman first discovers he is from Krypton — for more than a decade, readers knew this, but he didn’t! For many years, #61 was among the most underrated of all comics, as collectors sought out #53 for the special origin issue, but in recent years #61 has become a hot item. I highly recommend acquiring a low-grade copy if you can’t afford anything better. Issue #61 also features the first appearance of Kryptonite in comics. Oddly, however, the cover feature reads, “Does Superman prefer Lois Lane as a Blonde, Brunette or Red-Head?” One can only speculate why Kryptonite’s debut was not featured on the cover.

I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think DC’s first real reference to the history of its characters is the banner atop #53 — “10TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE!” I may be overlooking something, but until that issue, DC may not ever have referred to the “comic book age” of any of its characters. For many readers in 1948, it was probably their first exposure to the origin of Superman, as originally told in Action #I in 1938 and Superman #1 in 1939.

For Superman #76, supposedly the first meeting of Superman and Batman in “The Mightiest Team in the World,” DC did a little revisionist history. “…Yet these two mighty champions of the right have never met— until now!” reads the splash-page blurb. “Yes, at long last Superman and Batman meet face to face…” This, after Superman and Batman worked together in All Star Comics #36 (Aug.-Sept. 1947) only five years earlier! One can only imagine how many letters the company would have received with such a continuity glitch during the letter-column era of the 1960s! I’ve always wondered about this claim in #76. Did the writer neither know nor care about All Star #36?

At any rate, this story in #76 is one of the most memorable in DC history. It’s hard to imagine that it didn’t create enthusiasm, yet it took a full two more years before the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader began to team up in World’s Finest #71! That has always struck me as one of the oddest developments in comics. Of course, that was the issue in which World’s Finest downsized from 68 pages for 15 cents to the standard 36 pages for a dime. At any rate, if you can acquire Superman #76 for less than your house payment, do so. The Overstreet Guide lists “good values” as $307 for #53, $150 for #61 and $196 for #76 — by far the three most expensive of the 46 issues from #50-95.

For me, these are three of the best comics DC produced in its first 20 years. But there were lots of other memorable appearances of Superman in the late l940s and early l950s. The “sleeper” is #65 (July-Aug 1950), with the historic first appearance of three villainous survivors from Krypton to whom I referred to in the previous “Nolan’s Niche” when I covered their return in Action #194 (July 1954). Issue #65 features a fabulous cover by Wayne Boring of a stunned Superman and Lois Lane watching Mala, Kizo, and U-Ban demonstrate the powers of flying, bullets bouncing off a chest, and breaking chains. This cover is unique for its period and has to rank among the best in DC’s history.

The other cover “sleeper’ is #57 (March-April), with a gorgeous Boring cover of Lois Lane in a Superman costume holding the Man of Steel in her arms while flying. However, Lois does not appear in costume inside — instead, Superman meets one of Lois Lane’s super descendants in the story “Every Man a Superman.” In this story, the future super-powered version of Lois tells Superman he married the original Lois! Well, so much for continuity.

In unusual stories based on real people, Superman meets actor/director Orson Wells in #62 (Jan-Feb. 1950) and singer Perry Como in #67 (Nov-Dec. 1950) after encountering early television star Ralph Edwards in Action #127 (Dec. 1948).

I also highly recommend Superman #68 (Jan-Feb. 1951), the first cover to feature Luthor in Superman’s own title. This bright red cover, featuring Superman locked up in a giant incandescent light bulb, is one of the best of the run. In the story, though, Superman deals with an exploding bulb, so this cover is highly deceiving for the story, “The Six Elements of Crime!” I remember finding this issue in a second-hand store when I was 10 in 1958 and wondering why the cover and story were so disparate. Luthor next appeared on a cover in Superman’s own title on #74 (Jan.-Feb 1952) in the classic story, “The Lost Secrets of Krypton.”

Other than the 15-cent World’s Finest and Comic Cavalcade, only Superman and Batman provided a special bargain to DC readers. In l952, Superman ran 52 pages through #78 (Sept-Oct. 1952), a full year after DC downsized its line to either 36 or 44 pages, depending on the perceived popularity of each title. By the way, a lot of collectors do not realize that Superman, DC’s best-selling title, ran 44 pages until #97 (May 1955).

My favorite covers in the post-52 page era are #81, featuring “The Superwoman from Space;” #83, “Clark Kent, Convict;” #87, “The Thing from 40,000 AD;” #91, “Great Caesar’s Ghost,” and #94, “Clark Kent’s Hillbilly Bride.” I also love the humorous cover on #51, showing Superman in pain after Lois drops one of her cupcakes on his foot! The baseball covers on #60 and #66 are also wonderful, as is Superman thrilling two youngsters when he lets a lion bite into his arm on the cover #50 (Jan-Feb. 1948).

Unfortunately, Superman also was featured on a number of really nonsensical covers during this run. In fact, the quality of the cover themes is wildly erratic throughout the run. For example, the cover of #56, featuring “Smarty Pants, the infant prodigy who really runs Superman ragged!” is one of the worst DC covers of all time. Likewise, the cover of the villain Tiny Trix on #58. The rest of the covers are at least OK until the awful cover concept for #88 (March 1954), featuring “The Terrible Trio” of Luthor, Prankster, and Toyman.

If you’ve never looked into the 1948-54 Superman issues, check them out. You’re sure to think sonic of them, as Clark Kent would say, “just super, Lois — just super!”

This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.