All strips reprinted in Superman: The Dailies 1939-1942

A Job For Superman (Introduction by James Vance)
Page 6, Column 2, Paragraph 2. A printing error cuts off the top of the O in Only. In Paragraph 3, the final sentence the T in To is missing the bottom part.

NANJAO. One of the newspaper strips Siegal & Shuster tried to sell to newspaper was called Goober, The Mighty. Years later in a Superman story Goober was a popular comic strip character.

Page 8, Column 2, Paragraph 1, final sentence. Part of "newspapers" didn't print.

Superman Comes To Earth
Strip 2. January 17, 1939. Jor-L says, "An earthquake!"
Shouldn't that be a Kryptonquake? ;-)

Strip 6. January 21, 1939. Jor-L says, "Let Krypton glow itself to eternity"
I think he meant Blow, not Glow.

Strip 11. January 27, 1939. In space the ship is almost hit by a meteor.
The proper term is either meteoroid or asteroid.

The planet Saturn appears way to big as the ship approaches Earth.

Strip 12. January 28, 1939. NANJAO. A passing motorist takes the baby from the ship & turns him over to an orphan asylum.
They hadn't yet decided that it was the Kents who found him.

The Most Deadly Weapon
Strip 107. May 19, 1939. Two Boravian soldiers run bayonets into Superman & the bayonets bend.
Pretty cheap bayonets. To bend like that they must be made out of a soft metal.

Strip 116. May 30, 1939. This appears to follow directly on from the previous strip, Lubane on the phone to find out about the explosions felt at the end of May 29's strip, however in May 29's strip a man was given the formula & told to take it to the lab. He returns in this strip with a sample of the gas.
How the heck did the lab make it so quickly?

Strip 119. June 2, 1939. In the June 1 strip Lubane's gas sample is broken, here he dies from the gas & Superman leaves.
Wait a minute, Supes! Lubane only had a sample of the gas the lab made. Aren't you going to take care of the rest of it in the lab?

Strip 122. June 6, 1939. In order to force the Boravian government & the rebels to reach a peace treaty, Superman smashes 3 of 4 pillars holding up the roof.
I should think the roof, or most of it, would have come down when he smashed pillar number 3.

Superman & The Runaway
Strip 137. June 23, 1939. Clark's editor says, "You know that spectacular rescue by an unknown man of the runaway from the state orphanage".
Okay, I can accept that no one on the train knew who Superman was, but how the heck did anyone know the kid was a runaway from the orphanage?

There appears to be either a missing strip or a numbering mistake here. Everything seems fine until strip 148, then there is an unnumbered strip & the next strip is 151. The missing strip would have been on either July 7, or 8, 1939.

Strips 153 & 154. July 11/12, or 12/13, 1939. Superman has been spying on superintendent Lyman. Lyman hears the noise Frankie is making in the attic & leaves. Superman comes in & thinks the prices spent on groceries is too high & leaves to check it out.
Wait a minute! Previously Frankie told you that Lyman beat the kids & you're just going to leave? Frankie is only back at the orphanage because Clark guilted him into it.

Strip 155. July 13 or 14, 1939. Checking the records at the store where Lyman buys food for the orphanage Superman discovers that Lyman has been exaggerating the amount of money he's been spending.
Sooooo the state doesn't have anyone who can check food prices when Lyman submits his budget?

Royal Deathplot
Strip 176. August 8, 1939. The submarine commander triggers the self-destruct by stepping on a button on the outer hull of the submarine.
Rather inconvenient place for that. What if a fish or sinking object hit the button, would it have gone off?

Underworld Politics
Strip 259. November 13, 1939. The Daily Star (last named in Strip 239, October 20, 1939) is now the Daily Planet.

Strip 262. November 16, 1939. The caption says that Superman is leaping parallel to the building, but he's actually shown moving at an angle to it (& since his goal is to get inside he'd have to move at an angle.)

Unnatural Disasters
NAN, but I just find it amusing that the Christmas day cartoon is Superman realizing that a town is about to be destroyed by a flood. *shrug* I just have a warped sense of humor.

Strip 306. January 6, 1940. The dog Blackie has drunk some of the water that's been polluted with a bacteria & dies in seconds.
Shouldn't that have taken longer to take effect?

Clark Kent - Spy
Strips 316 & 317. January 18 & 19, 1940. Ratoff's coat was black but in the tree it's lighter. (Probably because he would blend in too easily with the black of the leaves, but I don't deal in reality.) It's back to black with strip 318, when he's out of the tree.

Strip 320. January 23, 1940. The caption reads, "Ratoff loses his footing", but the drawing show the edge of the cliff breaking beneath him.

Strip 325. January 29, 1940. The title for the strip is "Inside the Plane.", but it is a plant they are inside, (although stealing plans for a plane is involved.)

Superman Goes To War
Strips 342-344. February 17, 19 & 20. The country of Blitzen attacked Rutland. Superman has gone to Europe to end the war. He's in Blitzen when some Rutland bombers attack the city & Supes leaps up & starts smashing the Rutland planes.
Uhhhhh, Supes, Rutland are the victims, not the aggressors.

Strip 351. February 28, 1940. NNAN. Here General Gotha is described as, "War-mongering head of Rutland's military forces!"
This is the first time in the story that Rutland is described as being anything other than a victim. The writer should have done a better job of fleshing this out.

Strip 353. March 1, 1940. Watching how pathetic the leaders of Blitzen & Rutland are when fighting each other the troops of both nations stop fighting & Superman leaves.
You know, Amork & Gotha are still the rulers of their respective countries & most of the troops haven't seen the pathetic fight, so what's to stop them from ordering their still loyal troops from arresting those troops as deserters?

Strip 354. March 2, 1940. Headline reads, "Europe At Peace".
Not in the real world.

Trouble In The Tenements
Strip 372. March 23, 1940. Title for this strip is "Can this Be Clrk?"
Missing an A there.

The Unknown Strikes
Strip 429. May 29, 1940.
Panel 1. Superman has five minutes & Lois says that 2 minutes have already passed. Panel 4 a guy says 1 minute has passed & Lois says there are 4 minutes to go.

Strip 451. June 24, 1940. The strip's title is "Centle" Persuasion.
I think that was supposed to read Gentle, not Centle.

King Of The Kidnapping Ring
Strip 467. July 12, 1940. Editor George Taylor & Lois have convinced Clark to dress up like a bum & he doesn't wear his glasses, but neither seem to notice any similarity between him & Superman

The League To Destroy Superman
Strip 680. March 18, 1940. NANJAO. I believe this is the first appearance of Supes "power" of super-ventriloquism. (One of Supes more mocked abilities, although in years to come it would be used in more outlandish ways.)

Strip 684. March 22, 1941. Earlier two thugs tried to kill Clark Kent, so Superman carries them off, & here spots a plane grabs hold the wing, & has the crooks grab hold of the wing & leaves.
1. Given that he has a crook in each hand how does grip the wing?
2. Somewhat ironic since Supes wanted to teach them a lesson for attempted murder. If those men can't hang on... they fall to their deaths.

Panel 3 Superman has left the men on the left wing, Panel 4 there's now one man on each wing & the man on the far wing appears to be standing.

This strip would indicate that Superman can now fly somewhat as his motion in relation to the plane is too complex to be merely leaping.

Strip 685. March 24, 1941. Danvers is drawn much thinner than he was drawn in strip 677.

Strip 700. April 10, 1941. Ralph Roland has called a meeting of all the local kingpins of crime & this is the explanation given why there hasn't been a single crime committed in the last 12 hours.
Not all crimes are committed by crime kingpins & their henchmen you know.

Strip 713. April 25, 1941. The strip title reads "Kidnaped" instead of kidnapped.

Strip 720. May 3, 1941. Superman is affected by intense heat.
Superman survived going through molten lava in the February 23 & March 3 Sunday strips. Can the heat generated here be hotter than that?

The Death Ray
Strip 767. June 27, 1941. The strip title is "What's A Meer Death Ray?"
I think they meant Mere.

Strip 768. June 28, 1941. Last time Superman's strength was being drained by the death ray & it said, "With his last remaining strength Superman knocks the weapon from the girl's hand", but here in the first panel Superman had enough strength to hang Lil up on a hook. So much for "his last remaining strength".

The Pseudo-Superman
Strip 786. July 19, 1941. "Lippy"s not too smart. Disguised as Superman he has blackmailed the city to deposit $100,000 on top of the Farnsworth Building. He knows Superman will show up to stop him & that Coker will try to kill the real Superman with his electro-darts and yet "Lippy" shows up to try to snatch the $100,000 dressed as Superman.
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Strip 789. July 23, 1941. The strip title is "Her Lips Are Not For "Tippy".
The guy's name is "Lippy" Jenks, not Tippy.

Strip 792. July 26, 1941. Superman punches the Pseudo-Superman and says, "You - like all my other imitators - have had this coming for a long time!"
Other imitators? I believe this is the only imitator in the comic strip continuity Supes has had. (Okay so that reference was really aimed at all the Superman like characters published by other comics, but in continuity...)

Strip 794. July 29, 1941. NNAN. One of the Supermen (like you couldn't guess which), is shot several times by the electro-darts. The authors captions for panels 2 & 3 read, "down it plummets" & "where it lies still-in-death!"
It? It?!? Dang that's cold, Jerry! It was a living person just a moment ago.

The Deadly Dwarf
Strip 820. August 28, 1941. "Remember me, I'm your old friend Bob Crandall, whom you haven't seen for years!"
Ouch! That's clumsy writing.

Strip 826. September 4, 1941. Clark & Lois are shown in the wrong seats of the car.

Strip 838. September 18, 1941. Superman has flown into the stratosphere & there you can see the planet Saturn, drawn much bigger than it would appear from Earth.

Strip 839. September 19, 1941. Last strip Supes had to fly into the stratosphere to clear his mind from Slag's hypnotic compulsion, but here it's said that Slag's death has freed her from her trance.
So why didn't it free Superman? He was actually there when Slag died, Lois was asleep in Slag's HQ.

The Electric Rod
Strip 869. October 24, 1941. NNAN. When asked how he intended to kill Superman back in strip 855, Sleez produced a rod charged with tremendous amounts of electricity, so one would think he would use that against him, but here we find his clever plan is to get Supes to sit in a chair that will send enough electricity to kill an army.
Uh, yeahhhhhhh... maybe he realized one rod wouldn't have a strong enough charge, but still jabbing someone is a lot easier than trying to get them to sit.

Strip 875. October 31, 1941. A superpower that I don't believe was used before or since. Superman restores Lil's eyesight "by transmitting some of the power of his own remarkable eyes to her".

The Blonde Tigress Regrets
Strip 881. November 7, 1941. Charlie reveals to Lois that it was really Ralph Roland who killed Charles Danvers, not Superman.
Problem is way back in strip 697 Roland said, "Superman is mistaken if he thinks he can ruin my business, murder my partner, and get away with it! Come with me, Charlie!" Since both Roland & Charlie know that Roland killed Danvers why the pretense of the murder claim when he's just talking to Charlie?

Superman's Hollywood Debut
Strip 893. November 21, 1941. Lois's hat has a feather in it. Oddly enough we didn't see this feather in the previous strip

Strip 897. November 26, 1941. The feather in Lois's cap has switched sides. It's now on the right side instead of the left. (It will switch back to the left in the next strip.)

Superman tosses Hollywood talent scout, Lem Stuart, high into the air, so high we see two ringed planets... one of which is partly in front of an Earth cloud.

Strip 912. December 13, 1941. Lem Stuart has realized that Clark Kent looks exactly like Superman in the previous strip. In this strip Lois says, "Well... I must admit there is a slight resemblance, if you stretch your imagination to it's greatest extent."
Man, she really doesn't want to believe Clark is Superman. Then again when she later sees Clark in costume she automatically assumes it's Superman not Clark in costume so maybe she pays more attention to Superman's bod then his face? ;-)

Earlier Lem Stuart said that Mammoth Studios production of a Superman movie will be a Class "A" production, but here he offers Clark Kent the role of Superman without knowing if Clark can act or not.

Strip 940. January 15, 1942. Previously Paul Grafton was shown with a mustache here he's clean shaven.
While it's possible he could have shaved, I think the artist forgot which character was which.

Strip 947. January 23, 1942. Paul Grafton is wearing a black suit & pants in the first panel, but they turn gray in panels 2 & 3.

Strip 960. February 7, 1942. The man who's tried to stop production of the Superman movie appears & Superman exclaims, "The killer!"
Actually he hasn't killed anyone. He's attempted to kill 3 people four times, but that just makes him an attempted killer.

All strips reprinted in Superman: Sunday Classics 1939-1943
For some reason the dustjacket features characters from the daily strip (the scientists of sudden death) rather than from the Sundays.

24 Hours To Ruin
Strip 3. November 19, 1939. Mike Hensely's car is knocked off the cliff, Superman grabs the edge of the cliff & the bumper of the car & throws it back onto the road.
Yeahhhhhhhhhhh... the cliff would probably crumble under Supes grip & the bumper would probably tear off.

Strip 5. December 3, 1939. Clark is reporting to the Daily Planet, but in strip 1 it was said he was a Daily Star reporter (the promo strip which some papers ran to advertise the Sunday strip also says Planet).
I think this is the only time the paper was referred to by both names during one story, usually the change occurred between them.

Giants Of Doom Valley
Strip 15. February 11, 1940. NNAN. Lois has apparently died her hair brown instead of it's normal black.

Assassins & Spies
Strip 23. April 7, 1940. Superman is standing on the back of a truck that drives into a low tunnel, on the other side there is a Superman shaped hole at the top of the tunnel.
1. I doubt the truck was moving with sufficient force for that.
2. Superman is not a part of the truck, it should have continued onward while Supes was knocked off.
3. Wouldn't this weaken the tunnel & make it dangerous for other vehicles?

The Chosen
Strip 32. June 9, 1940. Panel 3. One of Superman's leggings is colored pink.

The Dangerous Inheritance
Strip 42. August 18, 1940. Last strip the brakeman's suit was blue, but here it's grey & next strip it will be brown. Later strips also feature trainmen uniforms changing color strip to strip.

Strip 48. September 29, 1940. Silas Pierce tells Lafe Kram that he has noticed how people he guides tend to disappear while he returns with a lot of money.
So why the heck hasn't anyone else noticed this & filed charges?

The Bandit Robots Of Metropolis
Strip 56. November 24, 1940. To put out flaming cans of gasoline, Superman douses the fire with water.

Lois undoes a deck plate & manually handles one of the rods controlling the submarine altering it's movement.
That doesn't seem right.

Strip 57. December 1, 1940. The previous strip Superman discovers the submarine was disguised with a reflective surface. Here the sub goes into a tunnel & becomes visible.
Shouldn't it reflect the interior of the tunnel? Later strips has the sub visible with no reflection as well.

Luthor, Master Of Evil
Strip 60. December 22, 1940. Lois is struggling to walk in a hurricane, meanwhile a car has been picked up by the winds & is coming at her.
How much does Lois weigh???

Strip 68. February 16, 1941. NANJAO. Superman says his invulnerable costume is constructed of a specially treated chemical which he invented.
Kryptonian fabric is not the explanation yet.

Death Race
Strip 73. March 23, 1941. NANJAO. Pete Parker appears. (Who says Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man was the first time they met? ;-)

Strip 81. May 18, 1941. Superman carries a bad guy high into the air & we see what looks like the planet Saturn, although in panel 5 we see two Saturns.

The Committee For A New Order
Strip 86. June 22, 1941. Panel 1. L from Special missing in first word balloon.

Destroy All Trucks
Strip 106. November 9, 1941. In the previous strip Lois's dress was light green, Clark's suit was brown, & George Taylor had a light blue vest & pants with a red tie, but here Lois dress is blue, Clark is wearing a green suit (with a brown hat) & Taylor has a brown vest & pants with a green tie.
Admittedly Clark had changed to Superman & back in these two comics so maybe he grabbed the wrong suit, but that explanation doesn't work for Lois & Taylor.

Strip 107. November 16, 1941. Lois thinks it strange that Superman has chosen to stay in contact with reporters like Clark & herself. Superman says, "I'm even more closely attached to Clark than you realize! & Lois thinks, "Can I interpret that to mean Superman has a romantic interest in me? Or am I on the wrong track...?"
Based on what Supes actually said, yes you're on the wrong track.

Strip 115. January 11, 1942. Lois's yellow dress is bluish-grey.

Strip 116. January 18, 1942. Andrew Morgan's green suit is now brown.

The Image
Strip 123. March 8, 1942. In the last strip Tom Phelps was wearing a green suit, now it's turned brown.

Strip 124. March 15, 1942. Last strip Lois was wearing a blue dress, here she's wearing a green dress.
Then again she had been kidnapped at the end of last strip so maybe The Image forced her to change clothes in the car? ;-)

Arson Evidence
Strip 131. May 3, 1942. Last strip Lois had a blue skirt, here it's red & 2 strips from now it'll all be green. Last strip Don had a brown suit & here it's green & in 2 strips it'll be purple-grey.

Strip 134. May 24, 1942. Last strip Murray had a brown suit, now it's green.

Closeup of the Daily Planet, the headline reads, "Innocent Man Freed Murray Jailed" in the next panel the name Mason precedes Murray.

Champion Of Democracy
Strip 136. June 7, 1942. Flashback has Clark getting hired by White (no first name yet) instead of Taylor.

The Superman Truck
Strip 138. June 21, 1942. The taxi driver finds out Clark & Lois are heading to Holabird & says, "Wait for me! I just got my draft notice this morning assigning me there!"
I realize it was war time, but I'd imagine they'd give draftees a few days, at least, to take care of affairs? (My dad thinks it was originally 60 days, then later shortened to 30 days, either way it seems to be a nit.)

Strip 139. June 28, 1942. The driver, Bill Gracy, just leaves his cab at the train station & goes to the army base for who knows how long.
Huh? While I suppose it's possible he could be an independent hack who is his own boss, if he's not I think his boss might fire him for leaving the cab at the train station.

"The army wants drivers, not steerers".
I fail to see the distinction. While it makes sense that they would want drivers who are also mechanics there is nothing about the word driver that says you have to be a mechanic. Heck originally a driver was the person who drove the animals who were pulling the wagon.
My dad had heard the phrase so it appears to be a case of nitpicking real life.

The army testing person, after giving Bill a variety of tests that do not put him behind the wheel of a vehicle, says, "I'm beginning to believe you may be able to drive after all".
Well, since you haven't actually seen him drive, it's an act of misplaced faith.

Lieutenant Colonel Matthew's introduces Clark & Lois to the designer of the Superman truck & "his assistant James Gordon."
Hey! I thought he was the police commissioner of Gotham City? ;-)

Strip 142. July 19, 1942. Previously Lois was wearing a green dress, but now the top is light blue, the skirt has polka dots & she now has a frilly bow type thing at the bodice.

Strip 148. August 30, 1942. The guy previously identified as James Gordon is now being called James Carson.
Did the writer forget or did someone bring up that James Gordon was a character in the Batman series?

Hollywood Victory Caravan
Oddly enough no one mentions Clark's starring in the Superman movie.
I guess they didn't want to confuse people who were only seeing the Sunday comics.

Strip 165. December 27, 1942. NNAN. Clark is changing to Superman in a phone booth (is this the first time?) and says, "This definitely isn't the most comfortable place in the world to switch garments".
*snicker*

Strip 173. February 21, 1943. The bus stops a foot from the spot where the road washed out. The driver & passengers don't know this until they are out of the bus.
Frankly the driver should have seen it as he was braking.

Must have been fun to read theses.

Yeah.

I have a book full of old Superman comics.