Related
Everyone recognise the narration ofSupermanand his many escapade as an adult , but less than a tenner after the Man of Steel ’s Golden Age entry , DC Comics decided to fill in the gaps by introducingSuperboy , exploring the last boy of Krypton ’s boyhood dangerous undertaking in Smallville . Most report of Superboy ’s creation aretold from the side of Joe Shusterand Jerry Siegel , but a quote from DC editor Jack Schiff is one of the few windows fan have into the elusive and shady side of Superboy ’s universe from the perspective of DC editorial .
For a quality that is just a younger version of Superman , most devotee would be surprised to find out that thecreation of Superboy is fraught with contention , and the more excavation that is done , the unknown the story becomes . One of the foreign particular come from a comment that was publish in the1983 Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide , where DC editor in chief Jack Schiff made a bizarre claim that Superboy was created due to superfluous paper . Schiff ’s title of DC newspaper publisher Jack Liebowitz acquiring extra newspaper is eyebrow - raising , and a bit of factors need to be considered in ordering to elucidate its startling implications .
During the warfare we had some extra paper which Jack Liebowitz had wangle to produce . So ( Whitney Ellsworth ) called Joe Schuster and told him we were going to put out a Superboy mag . Joe spent a duet of twenty-four hours in the office , drawing unlike heads and flesh of Superboy and other characters until we had it just correct . I worked out a hand with Don Cameron , who was writing Batman , Superman and just about anything else we needed .
Related : Superman ’s First Superpower is Actually aged Than He is
You Need Paper To Print Comic Books
In decree to sell mirthful books , publishers need newspaper to impress on , and prior to Superboy ’s creation , it became increasingly hard for publishers and printers to get their hands on paper . Historian Paul Hirsch explained the government ’s role in easing paper rationing to comic publisher who were willing to let in American propaganda in their publications , saying in an interview to theLibrary of Congress :
Overwhelmingly , funny book companies were willing accomplice to the WWB ( Writer ’s War Board ) . Cooperating with the WWB was see as a patriotic obligation . work with the WWB also made fiscal sense , as newspaper publisher had to comply with wartime rationing of Mrs. Henry Wood pulp , the all important ingredient in comic book paper . A publisher in respectable standing that publish WWB - approve stories might get access to extra woodwind instrument flesh , and sell more laughable al-Qur’an .
In an article write forAlter Ego # 164 , Mark Carlson - Ghost writes :
The most important thing to realize about this brief period in comic book history is that stringent paper quotas were set by the U.S. Union government early in 1943 . But the requirement for comicbooks continue the same . In an geological era of worldly concern war , if anything , the desire for escapist fantasies increased . So do the math . Reduced product on the newsstands , and the same or increased demand , meant that just about everything on sales agreement sell out .
Around September 1944 ( as reported in theNew York Times ) , the U.S. Government started implementing additional theme rations on all user of newsprint including newspapers and comic book in gild to stamp down loophole publishers were using to get more paper . Comic books were usually made three calendar month in advance of release , and hitnewsstands ( where comics were sold before laughable stores)around a calendar month to two month before the cover version date . Superboy ’s unveiling inMore Fun Comics # 101had a cover date of January 1945 and went on sale in mid - November 1944 , which means the production was happening around September 1944 , which lines up perfectly with when DC would have been notified about the additional rationing . The timing is further confirmed look at the old issue , More Fun Comics # 100 , had a varlet tally of 56 page compare toMore Fun Comics # 101 ’s foreshorten 48 pages , so Jack Schiff ’s claim of Liebowitz get extra paper during this metre does n’t check weewee considering the magazine publisher Superboy appeared in had areductionof Thomas Nelson Page .
touch : Superman Actually Invented His Own Comic Creators
Superboy Gets His Own Comic
The restrictions station on essential detail in World War II lead to the ontogenesis of a black market , which saw people with approach to goods sell them to buyers under the mesa for high-flown prices . Harry Donenfeld , who owned DC Comicsat the time , also owned the printing process presses that printed all of DC ’s title . Donenfeld also owned a statistical distribution society call up Independent News , which distribute DC ’s comedian as well as comic and magazines by DC ’s competition . Before the warfare , Donenfeld was allegedly an companion of criminal figures such as Frank Costello , Benny Fein and Moe Annenberg . It ’s not out of the region of possibility that with these connexion , extra paper could now have been acquired .
The class following the war saw an increased demand for newspaper as the wood pulp ration were lento purloin , but the American paper industriousness did n’t return to its pre - war res publica with a badly decreased yield of paper being bring about within the U.S .. In 1939 , the U.S. produced 939,000 tons of newsprint , compared to a post - war amount of 771,000 tons in 1946 , and the U.S. ’s consumption of newsprint in 1939 was 3,548,000 tons compare to 1946 ’s consumption of 4,284,000 tons ( as clarify in aCQR Newsprint Supply Report . ) The lessen production and increased need visit for larger amounts of newsprint to be import from other countries , primarily from Canada , which was dependent to moment tax . It ’s possible that with government rations on newsprint no longer in core , Liebowitz and Donenfeld were able to acquire extra paper through non - official sources in a sentence where it was becoming firmly for publishing companies to take said newspaper , but government watchdog were n’t as wakeful about checking in on where the paper was add up from as ration were lifted .
interrelate : Superman ’s First Manga see The Man of Steel Grab Lunch in Japan
If Schiff ’s claim is accurate , it ’s potential he was confusing his timeline . If indeed Leibowitz was able to acquire enough extra paper to make a new comic claim , legally or otherwise , it most likely would have been after the war , which would mean Schiff was cite 1949’sSuperboy # 1 , and not 1945’sMore Fun Comics # 101 . In this way , the story may reveal far more than was intended about the intrigue behindSuperboy ’s immense popularity .
Superboy Succeeds
If the youth of America loved Superman , they know Superboy almost every bit . Superboy ’s feature inMore Fun Comics(and inAdventure Comicssix payoff by and by ) was very popular , so popular in fact that in early 1949 DC settle he was big enough to become only the 6th DC Comics superhero to take in his own comic al-Qur’an claim withSuperboy # 1 .
It ’s very possible the obtaining of extra paper spurred this decision . Even though youngSuperman ’s day in Smallvilleare all but run short in today ’s comics , the Golden Age boy from Krypton was a monolithic success for DC Comics , and even if extra newspaper publisher was n’t the reason for his creative activity , there is no doubtSuperboymadeextra newspaper publisher with his success .
Special thanks to Warren Bernard and Roy Thomas for worthful perceptivity .
Next : The Origins of Truth , Justice and the American Way in Comics
Sources:1983 Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide , Library of Congress , Alter Ego # 164,New York Times- Sept 15 , 1944,CQR Newsprint Supply Report
