Yesterday I was a little surprised that I was able to go all the way back to November of 1959, with having a complete set of all the Superbooks on sale for a particular month.  I thought for sure that my oldest set would've been in the early 12¢ era.  I ended up being wrong twice, as not only could I go farther back than I thought, but the next instance of this happening is way into the second half of the Silver Age.  It takes another 7 ½ years for my collection to once again have all of the Superbooks for any particular month.

I give to you, the Superman newsstand of June 1967...

There's two things to notice here.  First, we have three different cover dates for the books that were on sale during June of 1967.  The monthly books are all cover dated August, while the 80 Pg. Giants are dated September and October.  I don't claim to have a PhD in cover dates, but I do know enough that the month on the cover is supposed to be the month that the books were to be removed from the newsstand, and not the actual month that they were released.  Why they decided to give Lois' 80-pager an extra month over Jimmy's is curious.  I'm guessing it's because the Lois book was released during the last week of June.

For future newsstand months, I should probably put them in order of release date, rather than my typical fashion of ordering them by the age of the title (e.g. Action always goes first, then Adventure, World's Finest, Superboy, etc...)

The other thing that sharp-eyed readers may notice is that there is a book missing...Superman #199.  This book is the first Superman/Flash race, and a true key for any Superman or Flash collector.  So why is it missing?  Here's why...

About 8 years ago or so, I finished up the small run of the Silver Age Superman/Flash races, which includes the following...

• Superman #199
• Flash #175
• World's Finest #198-199

When I laid them all out in order, it was a perfect example of the linear storytelling we all enjoy so much.  The first book has the two heroes right at the start of the match, then Superman pulls ahead, then Flash pulls ahead, then to the last book where it is neck and neck over the finish line.  I loved the way they looked so much, that  I hired my sister to mat and frame them for me!  She ended up doing it for free as a birthday present, and they've been hanging up in my office ever since.