CoronaVirus Comics SUPERMAN "The Last Days of Superman!"

Our recent blogathon featured a never-reprinted 1968 mini-series based on....

...the-often reprinted 1962 book-length tale shown above, which was based on the following never-reprinted post-Golden Age story from DC's Superman #66 (1950)!

BTW, in pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths canon, stories published before 1956 were considered to be tales of Earth-Two versions of Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman/etc!

You'd think a story this momentous would rate the cover, right?

Nope!

The cover's totally-unrelated to any story in the comic, although it was seasonally-appropriate since the issue came out late summer-early autumn, during baseball season!

Illustrated by Al Plastino and Stan Kaye, and scripted by...someone (we don't know who), this was a reworking of an Adventures of Superman radio show storyline, though we haven't tracked down which specific one it was.

Trivia: All three versions indicate they are "real" (Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Story!) and were all part of "official" continuity for the Earth-One and Earth-Two Supermen!

Why do three variations on the same story?

DC's editors believed the comics audience changed every few years as kids supposedly-outgrew reading them, so a story could be reworked six-seven years after initial publication and appear "fresh and original" to the "new" fans!

Lord knows what they'd think of today's comics fans and collectors, some of whom are senior citizens!

And no, I'm not telling you how old I am...

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Superman: Greatest Stories Ever Told

Volume 1

(including Superman #156 which was a full-length reworking of this never-reprinted tale!)

Reading Room: ONE-SHOT HEROES Rainbow

Of all the comic characters inspired by other comic characters...

...this one has to be the silliest of all!

...the next issue of...???

As it turns out, this appearance in the back of Centaur's The Arrow #3 (1941) was the Colorful Crusader's one-and-only foray into superhero action.

Face it, it's not much of a gimmick, and the costume doesn't really show a "rainbow" effect, like Holo-Man, for example...

Art by Don Heck and Joe Giella

...but the concept of a character inspired to become a superhero (albeit one without weapons or powers) from reading a comic book is rather cool.

Written by "Ed Herron" (France Edward Herron aka France Herron), who was a writer/editor at several companies, co-created the Red Skull (with Jack Kirby) and Captain Marvel, Jr. (with Mac Raboy), and was a major contributor to various Superman and Batman series of the 1950s-early 1960s.

Illustrated by Alfredo "Al" Plastino, who went on to better things as one of the two primary artists (along with Wayne Boring) for Superman in the 1940s thru early 1960s (including working with Herron again)!

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