Review of "Siegel and Shuster Dateline 1930’s, Previously Unpublished Work From the Creators of Superman," Eclipse Comics

 Review of

Siegel and Shuster Dateline 1930’s, Previously Unpublished Work From the Creators of Superman, Eclipse Comics

Five out of five stars

Other work by the creators of Superman

 Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are rightfully given credit for the creation of the iconic character of Superman. He was created in 1934, at the height of the Great Depression, and Siegel and Shuster were in many ways just trying to survive financially. Superman was just one of many characters that they created in that time frame yet the others were generally put away and forgotten.

This comic consists of some of that work as well as a short interview of Siegel and Shuster by Shel Dorf. Readers that have read the early stories featuring Superman will immediately recognize the artwork and dialog as being that of Siegel and Shuster.

 There are several short stories featuring other original characters. Some of them are “The Waif,”, “Spuds,” “Gloria Glamour,” “Ma Jenkins,” “Snoopy and Smiley,” and “The Radio Team.” All of the stories are one page in length My favorite was “The Waif,” a poor boy that walks up to a fancily dressed woman that is sipping on what looks like an ice cream soda. He pulls a mouse out of his pocket, which scares the woman away. He then proceeds to finish off her soda.

 Creating Superman would have been enough creative activity for several years. In this comic, you see some of the other products of these two extremely creative minds. Although the other characters did not become popular, they do show a high level of imagination and demonstrate unrealized potential.