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SUPERMAN (1939-86; 2006-11) #4
CGC FN-: 5.5
(Stock Image)
SOLD ON:  Friday, 12/02/2011 3:48 PM
$1,371
Sold For
17
Bids
This auction has ended.
PUBLISHER: DC
COMIC BOOK IMPACT: rating of 8 (CBI)
COMMENTS: crm/ow pgs
Joe Shuster cvr/art; 2nd appearance of Lex Luthor chronologically (Spring 1940); 1st in comic books, with this issue appearing on newsstands before Action #23; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 8 (CBI)
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DESCRIPTION
crm/ow pgs
Joe Shuster cvr/art; 2nd appearance of Lex Luthor chronologically (Spring 1940); 1st in comic books, with this issue appearing on newsstands before Action #23; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 8 (CBI)


Superman #4 is a vital op-culture artifact as the first appearance of Lex Luthor in the comics. It wasn't meant to be that way, though. This issue just happened to hit the newsstands a little earlier than the Luthor story in Action #23. (He was just "Luthor" back then.) "Superman versus Luthor" still has the Man of Steel recognizing Luthor as a former foe. It helps that Luthor sports a shaggy mop of red hair in these early appearances. (Despite the panicked guy on the cover, there wouldn't be a bald Luthor until one was accidentally drawn for the daily Superman comic strip.) Technically, that means Superman #4 has Lex Luthor making his first appearance in his second Superman story.

This classic comic rushes Luthor into his third story, too. The opening tale of "Superman versus Luthor" has the villain using an earthquake machine that he swiped from a scientist. "Luthor's Undersea City" has the evildoer raiding oil wells to fuel his hobby of creating dinosaurs from his secret headquarters. Both stories feature Luthor in his original role as a thuggish "genius" who mainly relied on stolen technology. For further historical importance, this issue has Clark Kent starting his new job as a reporter at the Daily Planet. (He'd been working for the Daily Star.) His boss is still George Taylor, though. The character of Perry White would later be brought over from the Adventures of Superman radio serial.
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Artists Information

Joseph Shuster was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, in Action Comics #1.

Moldoff is best known for his early work on DC's Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and was one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists" on Batman. He co-created the Batman villains Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, the second Clayface, and Bat-Mite, as well as the original heroes Bat-Girl, Batwoman, and Ace the Bat-Hound.


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