Thursday, July 04, 2013

Daily Panel | No hollow victory


From a March 1939 Superman newspaper strip by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

It bothered me when Superman drugged and imprisoned a football player in order to take the guy's place and beat a crooked coach in Action Comics #4. I thought the newspaper strip might be headed towards similar territory when Superman meets a washed up heavyweight champ who was swindled by his manager, but right away there were some differences. First of all, Superman acts with the boxer's full cooperation when he disguises himself and goes to work. But more importantly, while he's out winning fights in the boxer's name, he's also helping the boxer train and rebuild confidence. That way, when the boxer decides he wants to step back in at the last minute and reclaim his title for himself, Superman gladly gets out of the way to let him. It's the first real moment I've cheered for Superman since starting to read these early adventures.

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