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Superman Comics, A Reading Guide for the Golden Age, Silver Age & Bronze Age!

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“Up, Up, and Away!” Superman is one of the most iconic comic book superheroes who dedicated his life to truth, justice, and the American way. The creation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster made his first appearance in Action Comics #1 (May 1938). Sent to Earth from a distant planet as a baby, the child (now named Clark Kent) grew up and discovered he had super abilities. As an adult, he decided to become Superman, “champion of the oppressed” and “had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!”

A page of history was written as the debut of Superman is now considered the beginning of the superhero genre. While Action Comics started as an anthology, the title would eventually become dedicated to Superman Stories. It didn’t take long for the Man of Steel to headline more than one title as he soon came to live adventures in newspaper strips as well as in the new Superman title! During the next decades, the Kryptonian would team up with Batman and other superheroes while living some wild tales in Metropolis as Clark Kent/Superman, working as a journalist for the Daily Planet with his love interest Lois Lane and photographer Jimmy Olsen, and facing enemies such as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, or General Zod.

From the 1940s to the mid-1980s, there have been many Superman adventures, and DC Comics has reprinted some of them in different collections (there are many more stories to be collected yet). This article is here to help you navigate all those collections (some only available second-hand, very pricey or not), and explore those old colorful times!


A little bit of warning: as everything coming from the Golden Age and most of the Pre-Crisis era, those were different times, from the value represented on the pages to the storytelling! Those stories were never written with the idea that they would be collected or that someone would want to read all of them one day! This is the perfect place to indicate, for the perfectionist out there, the work of the Aspirian Kryptonian, who is building a Superman List featuring everything! Her listing covers 1938 to 1958 at the moment.

This article was suggested by one of our readers! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or write to us with some other suggestions

Where to start with Superman?

If you’re new to Superman, reading a range of stories featuring the Man of Steel is a great way to discover the character. For this purpose, DC Comics has released two volumes that can serves as a good starting point for new readers, offering stories released from 1938 to 2012. 

  • Superman: A Celebration of 75 Years
    Collects stories from Action Comics #0, 1-2, 137, 242, 544, 775 and 900, Adventures of Superman #498, Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, Superman #11, 17, 53, 75, 76, 141, 149, 247 and 400, Superman Annual #11 and a 1940 story from Look Magazine.
  • Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman Deluxe Edition
    Collects stories from Action Comics #1-2, #42, #64, #241-242, #252, #285, #309, #419, #484, #554, #584, #655, #662, #800, Action Comics (Volume 2) #0, “The Game”

The Best Pre-Crisis Superman Stories

In 1987, DC Comics started a line of comics called The Greatest Stories Ever Told and, you guessed it, a volume dedicated to the Man of Steel was released under the title The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told. The line lasted until the early 1990s and was revived for a time in 2004. This gave us two new volumes: Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Vol. 1 and Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Vol. 2. This can be a great way to discover some Superman classics!

What can be considered the best stories is always something a little bit personal, but the following is a recommended reading list of some Superman Classic Stories:

  • “The Super-Dog from Krypton!”
    From Adventure Comics #210 (March 1955). Simply put: Krypto!
  • “The Supergirl from Krypton!”
    From Action Comics #252 (May 1959). The introduction of Kara Zor-El.
  • “Superman’s Return to Krypton!”
    From Superman #141 (November 1960). Superman goes back in time to Krypton before its destruction.
  • “The Last Days of Superman!”
     From Superman #156 (October 1962). The Original Death of Superman.
  • “The Amazing Story of Superman Red and Superman Blue”
    From Superman #162 (July, 1963). One of the most famous “alternate” stories.
  • “The Showdown Between Superman and Luthor!”
    From Superman #164 (October 1963). Superman is challenged by Luthor to fight him on an alien planet without using any powers.
  • Superman vs Muhammed Ali
    A One-shot originally published in All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-56 (1978). The Man of Steel teams up with the heavyweight boxing champion to defeat an alien invasion!
  • Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore
    Collects Superman #233-238 and #240-242. The story can be considered in a way the start of the Bronze Age for Superman as Julius Schwartz took over as editor and changed the tone of the book.
  • Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
    Collects Superman #423; Action Comics #583; Action Comics Annual #11; DC Comics Presents #85. The famous classic tales from Alan Moore!

DC: Finest Superman, the new collection

New! Looking to collect Superman stories at a more affordable price than the Omnibus editions? DC Comics has recently launched the DC Finest collection, reprinting Pre-Crisis era stories. Much like Marvel’s Epic Collection, these volumes are not released in chronological order, but the ultimate goal is to eventually cover the character’s entire history. Currently available in the series are:

Superman DC Omnibuses Pre-Crisis Era

Want to collect all the Superman stories? You can’t miss the DC Comics Omnibus Collection of Superman that reprints in publication order the adventures of the Man of Steel, which is featured in Action Comics and Superman as well as World’s Finest Comics.

You’ll find all the seminal elements of Superman today with the introduction of Lois Lane as well as many of other major characters such as Lex Luthor, Mr. Mxyztplk and Bizarro. You’ll see his partnership with Batman, the first debut of Supergirl in the Silver Age and more!

While the Golden Age era is not yet finished for Superman, DC Comics recently released the first omnibus dedicated to The Man of Steel in the Silver Age era:

If you want to learn more about Supergirl, be aware that DC Comics has also released two omnibuses from the Silver Age starring Superman’s cousin.

Superman Other Early Collected Editions

Superman DC Archive Editions

Published between 1989 and 2014, the DC Archives Editions were a line of hardcover books printed on high-quality archival paper. DC Comics collected the Action Comics stories in The Action Comics Archives volumes, while the Superman series was reprinted in the Superman Archives volumes. Two World’s Finest Comics Archives have also been released. In the Silver Age, the collection collected Superman and Action Comics together, in the Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives.

The Superman Archives Editions of the Golden Age Era

The Superman Archives Editions of the Silver Age Era

The Superman Chronicles Collection

Released between 2006 and 2012, The Superman Chronicles was a book collection planned to reprint every Superman adventure in chronological order and color in accessible trade paperbacks. The line was canceled after ten volumes.

Showcase Presents

Published from 2005-2016, Showcase Presents was a line of large black-and-white paperback comic books of over 500 pages of reprinted stories collecting Silver Age issues of Superman!

Superman newspaper comic strip collections

Less than a year after his debut, Superman started to live some original adventures in 1939. The continuity was separate from the comic books and some stories were occasionally adapted into the comic books in the early years, while later years saw stories adapted from comic books (always with some changes.) Those dailies have been, in part, reprinted by The Libray of American Comics in:

Superman Dailies

Superman Sundays

As of 2024, no imprint has published the Superman daily comics from 1949 to 1959 because no entire set of solid proofs or private collections of those years can be found.

Superman Decade editions

A great way for readers to explore Superman’s early Decades, this collection collects the best stories from each decade, …

  • Superman in the Forties
    Collects Stories from Look magazine; the Superman daily newspaper comic strip; Action Comics #1-2, 14, 23, 64, 93, 107; Superman #1, 23, 40, 53, 58, 61; Superboy #5; World’s Finest Comics #37 
  • Superman in the Fifties
    Collects Stories from Superman #65, 96, 97, 79, 80, 127; Action Comics #151, 242, 252, 254, 255; World’s Finest Comics #68, 75; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #8; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #13; Showcase #9; Adventure Comics #210 
  • Superman in the Sixties
    Collects Stories from Action Comics #289; Adventure Comics #294; Superboy #85, 106; Superman #141, 146, 156, 161, 164, 165, 169, 170; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #20, 42; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #53, 79; World’s Finest Comics #175 
  • Superman in the Seventies
    Collects Stories from Superman #233, 238, 247, 249, 270, 271, 276, 286, 287, 298, 300; Action Comics #436, 466, 484, 491, 494; DC Comics Presents #14; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #106 
  • Superman in the Eighties
    Collects Stories from Action Comics #507, 508, 554, 595, 600, 644; Adventures of Superman #408; DC Comics Presents #29; Superman (vol. 2) #30 . Some issues in this collection are post-crisis.

For the forties, you can also check out Superman: The War Years 1938-1945 that also gave a nice overview of this era.

Other collected editions

ran through the Silver Age and Bronze Age periods of the Superman family.

Focused on the works of an artist

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen lasted 163 issues.  The first 53 issues have been collected in Showcase Presents. For the rest, this is more complicated. A few issues can be found:

  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #57 has been collected in DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories, Vol. 1
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #59, #65, #72, #80, #85, and #105 have been collected in Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #69 has been collected in Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #76 has been collected in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #106 has been collected in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 7

Finally, Jack Kirby’s run on Jimmy Olsen has been collected in the Fourth World Omnibuses as well as in:

Superman trade paperbacks

Throughout the years, DC Comics released several trades collecting stories from the Silver and Bronze Age. Those are mostly collections of stories connected by characters or a theme, from stories  where Supes faces Brainiac or Lex Luthor to tales featuring the Daily Planet Staff, time travel adventures, stories from the Phantom Zone and the exploration of his Kryptonian heritage.

  • Superman vs. Brainiac
    Action Comics #242, 489, 491, 544, 649, 763; Superman #167; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #17; Adventures of Superman #438
  • Superman vs. Lex Luthor
    Collects Action Comics #23, 544; Adventure Comics #281; Superboy #86; Superman #90, 164, 292, 416; Superman (vol. 2) #9, 131; Superman: Lex 2000; The Man of Steel #4 
  • Superman: Daily Planet
    Collects Action Comics #211, 429, 436, 461; Superman #79, 280; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #17, 29, 45, 54; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #42, 44, 63, 75, 124 
  • Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore
    Collects Superman #233-238 and #240-242.
  • Superman: Past and Future
    Action Comics #300, 338, 339; DC Comics Presents Annual #2; Superboy #85; Superman #48, 107, 181, 295, 300; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #59; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #86; World’s Finest Comics #166. Superman’s time travel adventures 
  • Superman: Tales from the Phantom Zone
    Action Comics #336; Adventure Comics #283, 300; Superboy #89, 104; Superman #157, 205; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #33; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #62
  • Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor
    Action Comics #242, 245; Superman #158, 338; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #21, 76, 78; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #53, 69; The Superman Family #194; World’s Finest Comics #143
  • Superman: The Secrets of the Fortress of SolitudeSuperman: The Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude
    Action Comics #241, 261, Annual #2, #10; DC Special Series #26; Superman #17; Superman: The Man of Steel #100
  • Superman vs Muhammed Ali
    A One-shot originally published in All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-56 (1978). The Man of Steel teams up with the heavyweight boxing champion to defeat an alien invasion!
  • Superman: The Many Worlds of Krypton
    Superman #233, 236, 238, 240, 248, 257, 266; The Superman Family #182; World of Krypton #1-3; The World of Krypton #1-4

To conclude… the final imaginary tale of Superman before the DC Universe was rebooted:

What to read after those classic tales of the Man of Steel?

For more Superman stories, we invite you to dive into our Superman Reading Order for the Modern Age.

 

If you want to continue to explore tales from the Golden and Silver Age, you can check out some Batman Comics or the adventures of Wonder Woman during the Pre-Crisis era.

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