Joe Shuster Archives – Comic Odyssey

Superman, the 1940’s: Lois Lane’s Hats Part 3

Posted on July 19, 2020July 19, 2020 by Familiar Purrson

Before I begin, I do want to make something clear: I’m not making fun of Lois herself in this trip down the hat-stand. As a character goes, once she hits her stride, the 1940’s Lois is a consistent, hard-headed, go-getter whom I find much more relatable than some of the other ‘leading ladies’ who are appearing in other superhero comics at the same time. Neither The Flash‘s Joan nor The Green Lantern‘s Irene or many others are as realized a character as Lois, although she will sadly lose some of this quality once Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane begins, when she becomes more romance-crazed and her adventures more silly, at least until the 1970’s. Only The Hawkman‘s Shiera Sanders shows hints of the relatively more ‘modern’ woman she will come to be as Hawkgirl (who will evolve considerably over a tangled web of multiple Earths, Crisis series, and retcons to the point where she is a hero on the animated Justice League (2001) and Hawkman does not seem to even exist). Consequently, at least apparently, of all those character and more, only Lois and Shiera have weathered time to become ‘stars’ in their own right instead of mere supporting cast.

But in the 1940’s, Lois is largely a woman working in a man’s career field, trying to use her ‘nose for news’ to break out of her ‘sob sister’ gig (for those unfamiliar with newspaper terms, one of Lois’ early duties is writing an ‘Advice to the Love-Lorn’ column) and into real, headline-making reporting. Yes, her reach often exceeds her grasp, but the fact that Lois would’ve been dead before the decade was out were there no Superman to rescue her doesn’t detract from this; it merely gives the stories an impetus they might otherwise have lacked.

Now, on to the hats!

Lois is actually looking pretty stylish in this ‘feminized fedora’ (I call it that because of the big bow on the back). It gives her a sort of intrepid woman-of-mystery air, something I at least am not used to seeing in Lois, who is about as in-your-face, what-you-see-is-what-you-get as possible most of the time. Even Margot Kidder (Superman: The Movie, Superman II; Kidder appeared in the other two films of that series, but those were not much more than cameos, so far as I know. If you know differently, let me know, as I can’t bear to watch them) got that right.

In the next issue, she’s equally stylish wearing a seashell.

Okay, no; that’s clearly a turban held on the side of Lois’s head by a ginormous hat-pin which she could’ve used as a weapon. Incidentally, this really was a story Joe Shuster penciled himself; Lee Nowak only did finishes and inked it. That tells me Shuster really did enjoy putting Lois in strange hats. Or perhaps they all really were fashionable, but I’m not sure the sort of hard-boiled reporter Lois is trying to be would’ve worn them.

Sigh. That, of course, suggests the sort of character undermining I mentioned happening later has already begun. But we’re here to have fun, or at least I am, so I’ll leave that for now and pretend that Shuster or someone else in the Shuster Shop was friends with a milliner and trying to do them a good turn.

Next up is one of those hats I’m beginning to think of as ‘orca-brims’ because, like a captive killer whale with a long dorsal fin, they stand up for part of their length, then flop over.

And no, she didn’t fall asleep; instead, Clark put Lois under with one of his slowly-growing list of super-abilities. Oh, Siegel doesn’t call it ‘super-hypnotism,’ but those writers who succeed him will.

In the next issue, Lois has another bonnet (I’m guessing again) perched on the back of her head.

*Superman* (1939) #14 “Concerts of Doom”

I at first thought that the hat was bending in the wind in that second panel. Perhaps that is indeed what Nowak intended, but I think it’s simply shading. I also love how Lois’s hair is done up in a ‘sausage roll’ at the base of the hat. How long does it take her to get it to do that? And I assume that every time she puts the hat on, Lois has to re-do her hair, as she doesn’t wear the hat indoors, and when it’s off, her hair isn’t so tightly rolled.

See?

I don’t know what this next hat is, but it’s odd-looking. This panel also does a good job of depicting those ‘newshound instincts’ of Lois’ that I talked about earlier; her first thought is what a headline the scene will make.

*Superman* (1939) #14 “The Invention Thief”

In the last story of that issue, Lois wears what looks like a beret:

*Superman* (1939) #14 “The Lightning Master”

But I’ve reversed the order of these panels so you can next see it from the front:

She’s wearing it bonnet-style, complete with that red ribbon to give it a ‘Little Bo Peep’ effect. Oh, Joe, oh Leo, whichever of you drew this, what were you thinking?

Next comes another of those creations I simply cannot describe. I will say that it’s so strange the artist himself doesn’t quite know how to depict it. First he does it this way:

*Superman* (1939) #15 “The Cop Who Was Ruined”

Then he changes it with in his more detailed drawings:

And a side view:

What exactly that’s supposed to be, I have no idea. Once again, if you do, by all means let me know. I’m afraid all I can offer is a No-Prize, plus mentioning your name/handle if you like and where you can be found on the Internet. Still, I know how people go for those No-Prizes, so I expect to hear from you.

For mystery of “The Evolution King,” Lois wears a dip serving dish:

*Superman* (1939) #15 “The Evolution King”

Not convinced? Have a closer look:

Dip goes in the center, and there’s space in the outer bowl for chips and crackers. What else can it be?

She tops that one in the same story, though, with this… something:

A sack? Her Flash Gordon Mongo warrior helmet? Your guess is probably better than mine.

At least I can name what Lois is wearing in the next issue. It’s a green Valentine!

*Superman* (1939) #16 “The World’s Meanest Man”

What she’s celebrating, on the other hand… there you have me.

And then there’s this:

The problem with this hat is that the artist (either Novak or Shuster) can’t decide which way that ever-loving upper brim curls. In the panel above it curls down, but in the next one, it’s… up?

And then it’s down again.

Perhaps it’s a mood hat. I know that sort of headgear showed up in Japan a few years back in the form of cat ears, but I had no idea they went back to 1942.

After that. I’m almost relieved to see a bottle cork hat again. Not the same one, of course; this hat is green and sports a nifty fur brim, but I can recognize our old friend from Part 2. Can’t you?

When Lois gets to be lead reporter in place of Clark while he mans her desk as ‘sob sister,’ she matches her elevation with a power hat… I think.

*Superman* (1939) #19 “The Canine and the Crooks”

It sports a feather (I believe that’s what that is), a back strap, and ribbons. What more could you want?

For a story that’s a little silly—Lois and Clark are watching a film (one of the Fleischer Superman Cartoons; I presume the point of this story was to drum up attendance for them) based on a comic by some guys called Seigel and Shuster—Lois wears an equally silly hat:

*Superman* (1939) #19 “Superman, Matinee Idol”

That’s right; she’s wearing a flower pot. At least it’s not orange like the dip-server and the whatsis sack.

And finally, yes, finally! I know this has been a long one, but bear with me: this will have been worth the wait. I’ve said before that Lois rarely exactly repeats herself. This time, however, she seems to be out to prove me wrong.

*Superman* (1939) #21 “The Four Gangleaders”

Why, it’s the return of the blue folded bow-thingy from Superman #15! She must’ve finally run out of space. That’s okay, Lois, we under…

Whoops! How wrong I was!

That’s right, folks; Lois is wearing a cat-hat. In blue. And no, don’t ‘feather’ me: those are cat ears and a tail, they are.

And that’s the end of our survey of the Many Hats of Lois Lane. Or what this entry would’ve been called in the late fifties, with Lois having to wear a new hat every day to save Superman’s life or charm him into marrying her or something. And then Mister Mxyzptlk or the Prankster tricks her into wearing the same hat…

…in short, it’s awful.

I do not claim ownership of any of the partial image representations posted here.

Superman, the 1930’s-40’s: Lois Lane’s Hats Part 1

Posted on July 1, 2020July 1, 2020 by Familiar Purrson

Ah, the forties. The War Years (or the New War Years, I suppose, as opposed to the Great War Years, no one as yet anticipating the subsequent wars the United States would be involved in —or involve herself in—one after another). In such changing times, when the nation’s women went to work with a will, what was a fashion-conscious ‘girl reporter’ supposed to wear? Great heavens! What should she place upon her head?

Most of the period I’m going to cover is technically pre-war for the U.S., although towards the end of this run Superman will begin beating the drums, so to speak, and at the very end begin to give whole-hearted support to the U.S. effort. I think it gives an interesting insight, to those who notice such things, into the fashion of the era. While I myself am not especially a fan of style, I do find myself capable of being amused by it, and, as I watch the parade of headgear Lois dons and often loses, I can’t help but chuckle and wonder, too.

One reason for my merriment is that this is all, so far as I know, Joe Shuster’s work. Even after the Shuster Shop was up and running, Shuster himself did the pencil and ink work on Superman’s, Clark’s, and Lois’s heads (if this is incorrect, please let me know) in the early years of both the Action Comics stories and Superman, so I’m guessing that Lois’ headgear was his work, and if not, at the very least met with his approval.

Clearly Joe enjoyed variety.

Not that we got much of that at first. The stories that appear in Action for the first few years aren’t exactly devoid of Lois, bus neither does she have the costarring role she soon takes on in Superman. Her hats, I suppose, reflect this.

First up: a rather ordinary brim slouch.

*Action Comics* (1938) #1 “The Coming of Superman”

Next, either a very plain turban or else, heaven help us, a snood. Oh, Lois! Did you leave in that much of a hurry?

*Action Comics* (1938) #2 “Revolution in San Monte”

Lois next dons a rather subdued if stylish picture hat:

*Action Comics* (1938) #5 “Superman and the Dam”

And then some sort of day hat:

*Action Comics* (1938) #7 “Superman Joins the Circus”

The first issue of Superman featured reprints from Action, and it took over half a year (Superman was at first a quarterly magazine) to get its legs under it. But by the end of the magazine’s first year, Lois was ready with, ah, this:

*Superman* (1939) #4 “Luthor’s Undersea City”

I think that’s a pillbox hat of some sort, but frankly, it looks like a jar lid, knurls and all.

Two issues later, perhaps to celebrate Superman going bi-monthly, Lois would get a little more stylish with a tan fascinator:

*Superman* (1939) #6 “The Rulers of Gateston”

And a smart green skimmer as well:

*Superman* (1939) #6 “The Construction Scam”

In the next issue, Lois sports either a red small saucer hat or a beret—I suspect the former—with a sporty bow on top:

*Superman* (1939) #7 “The Three Kingpins of Crime”

And in the next story that issue, “The Gay City Plague” (No, it’s some sort of gas turning people into glass. Really. Hush), she wears the same hat, but in green:

*Superman* (1939) #7 “The Gay City Plague”

Bored? Lois has the cure! Again, I’m not sure what this thing is, although my guess is some sort of ‘Robin Hood’ Tyrolean hat.

*Superman* (1939) #7 “Bert Runyan’s Campaign”

(Incidentally, for those artist enthusiasts among you, these stories in Superman #7 were mostly penciled and inked by Wayne Boring as Joe Shuster began to find himself incapable of carrying the ever-increasing art load.)

And for election night in that story, Lois spruces up in, well…

Look, online research can only get you so far, folks. All I know is that if it’s the same hat, Lois has fed it too much and it has now grown and is ready to reproduce, tribble-style.

(If any fashion-literate person recognizes this thing perched on Lois’ noggin, please let me know.)

Now and then Lois does repeat, of course. In “The Giants of Professor Zee,” she seems to have donned the same green saucer hat she wore in “The Gay City Plague.”

*Superman* (1939) #8 “The Giants of Professor Zee”

Then again, sooner or later she has to, right? Plus, Lois is about to pull one of her crazier stunts (details at another time, I hope), so she probably isn’t thinking much about her appearance.

Later that issue, Lois wears either some sort of flop beret or more likely a turban. It’s strange, either way.

In the next story, our intrepid ‘girl reporter’ sticks with red, but returns to saucers. Not one of the earlier hats, though. No, indeed! This one has a skullcap.

*Superman* (1939) #8 “The Carnival Crooks”

Bored? Just wait! As the series gets more popular and the relationship between the ‘triangle’ (or perhaps helix) of Clark, Lois and Superman gets more intense, Lois’ hats become much more extreme. Clark has some definite feelings about that, by the way:

*Action Comics* (1938) #9 “Wanted: Superman”

Oh, he says it’s about her infatuation with Superman, but I think Clark is laughing about Lois’ hats.

As for me. I’m not done with them yet. We’ve only begun to plumb Lois’ collection, and I know you’re as eager to see more as I am.

You see, we need the laughs, too.

Note: If you’re interested in the hat terms I use, here are my sources: Vintage Dancer’s “Women’s 30s Hat History” and “1940s Hats History,” and the Art Deco Society of California’s Deco Life page “The Mad Cap.” I wouldn’t have known where to begin without them other than ‘Hee-hee, lookit that!’ so they are all much appreciated.

I do not claim ownership of any of the partial image representations posted here.

Superman Costume Evolution: The Early Years

Posted on June 30, 2020June 30, 2020 by Familiar Purrson

The Man of Steel’s costume, despite what you might think, has come a long way since Joe Shuster first introduced him to us in Action Comics #1. It actually evolved in a very short time, but evolve it did.

If you know the background of the development of Superman, then you know that he began—sort of—as the featured villain in a Jerry Siegel story for which Shuster drew illustrations. In it, the ‘superman’ has psionic powers, for lack of a better term, instead of mostly physical ones, and, of course, he’s bald. For whatever reason, either Shuster, Siegal or both thought that a good way of indicating villainy was to depict a character as bald, which will cost Luthor his locks (yes, he had them, and, no, there was no ‘Lex’ when the character was first introduced) very soon. After deciding a heroic superman might see better, the character’s appearance underwent various and sundry transformations as Siegal kept pitching the character, but when he and Shuster reunited (after an understandable spat, since Siegal had tried to shop Superman around with other, better known artists), and got an offer to publish a story, they decided on this:

What’s the first thing I noticed when I read this comic? No boots! Or boots colored the same as his tights, anyway. Superman appears to be wearing a footed onesie with red trunks pulled over it, but if you look carefully, you can see what appears to be some sort of high sandal straps wrapping around his calves. I’m assuming those straps were meant as a nod to Hercules, since his and Superman’s powers are pretty much the same at this point. (and although I may be the first to make the costume link, I’m certainly not the first to make the comparison: See Action #1)

From the same page:

Whoops! Forgot to color in his trunks! Scandal! Scandal!

The ‘S’ on Superman’s chest is a small triangle and completely golden with a red ‘S.’ In bigger panels of later comics some red can be seen, but not much, and sometimes the emblem will appear completely golden. The yoke of Superman’s shirt is rounded, too, and from his front, you can’t see where his cape attaches. Finally:

There’s no ‘S’ on his cape at all.

That’s pretty much it. Superman already sports his familiar golden belt and red trunks (most of the time. Haha!), and the colors are the same, but I admit that when I first read these stories (back when I bought a giant-sized anniversary edition of the first Action comics), I was a bit surprised.

On the cover, which Shuster drew earlier than he did the first story in Action, Superman has boots instead o the sandal-things (or booties. For cryin’ out loud, Joe!), and they are red, not blue, although I think I can see the strap lines, too. Possibly Shuster made the footwear blue in the comic to slightly simplify his work? (Or whoever was the colorist did; I can’t find a credit anywhere save for the cover, where it’s Jack Adler of Green Lantern (Silver Age] and other fame.)

Also, the ‘S’ is definitely red. It is often yellow and the emblem a simple triangle in the comics, again, most likely, to make the task of drawing and coloring the character more simple, but here Superman proudly bears a wide golden shield with a big red ‘S’ on it, a harbinger of things to come.

Indeed, changes would be coming soon, but not too soon. In fact, in Action #3, “Superman Battles Death Underground,” a story about exposing a skinflint mine operator in which our hero poses as an immigrant miner, Superman doesn’t even wear his costume. Hard to believe now, I know, but it makes sense in the climate of comics at the time. The other pages of Action Comics were filled with hardboiled characters of various stripes who all operated in everyday clothes, except for Zatara the Master Magician (one of several characters so billed in Detective Comics, Inc.’s and other companies’ stables, although Zatara would endure, after a fashion, much longer than most), a refined type who always wore a tux and top-hat. Admittedly, since Zatara’s ‘day job’ (more like night job, as his heroics mostly occurred in broad daylight) was performing in clubs as a stage magician, such garb was part of the tools of his trade, even if he seems slightly overdressed when Zatara’s merely having lunch with friends. In any case, given the types with whom he shared the magazine, Superman dressing as a regular person probably didn’t seem out of place at all.

So… Superman can’t fly and doesn’t wear his costume. I can’t help thinking that Jon Peters would be so very happy!

In Action #6 we first see Superman wearing proper boots within a comic:

*Action Comics* (1938) #6 “Superman’s Phony Manager”

And, though difficult to see (sorry for the bad scan), the ‘S’ on his chest is definitely red. After this, sometimes the colorist would forget or not bother because of tight angles, but overall, the ‘S’ will remain red.

The chest emblem is also larger, although still a simple triangle instead of the more familiar stylized pentagon. Also, the cape is attached to the neck of Superman’s shirt at the front instead of somewhere in the back. although this will revert to the older way in the next issue. Ironically, this image is not of Superman, but an actor pretending to be him as part of a scam. That guy’s handler must’ve been on the ball, since he put his protégé in a costume Superman hadn’t even been wearing yet!

In Action #18 Superman’s cape is now attached to the edges of his shirt in the front the familiar manner (he must’ve liked the look) and will remain that way. The yoke of his shirt is now more of a slight curve than an arc, too. That pesky ‘S’ is still so small, though!

*Action Comics* (1938) #18 “Superman Meets the Ultra-Humanite”

In Superman #4 (Yes, our hero is now popular enough to get his own bimonthly magazine with three stories or more of his own while still keeping the star spot in Action), we see the golden ‘S’ emblem on his cape for the first time (it will be red and gold, too, from time to time until someone, probably management, finally settled on gold), although we still have ‘triangle S’ on his chest. The cape emblem and the more elaborate cape flow were both the work of Paul Cassidy, whom Shuster hired to do inking and detail work as Shuster’s workload increased. The work below is of another artist, Leo Nowak, who followed Cassidy’s lead on both:

*Superman* (1939) #4 “The Invisible Luthor”

And finally, in Superman #5 (and at some point thereabouts in Action, too) we see a full-sized stylized ‘S’ emblem on his chest, also the contribution of Cassidy. Cassidy was also responsible for the making permanent the ‘modern’ look of attaching Superman’s cape to the sides of the front of his shirt neck. which you can also clearly see below in this panel, penciled and inked by Cassidy:

*Superman* (1939) #5 “The Slot Machine Racket”

I must confess: I love seeing that big, stylized red ‘S’ at last! Thank you, Paul!

The tops of Superman’s boots now angle up from the back of his calves and end, not with a point on his shin, but with a small indent, and they are double-stitched at the top, too, as you can see below in these panels penciled by Wayne Boring and inked by Paul Lauretta.

Superman’s boots will retain this design even up until today.

And that, as they say, is that, except that by now Joe Shuster, as you can see, had several other assistants helping him draw, ink, and color the stories, among them Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, and Wayne Boring, who would soon concentrate on the new Superman daily newspaper strip. Instead of working for Detective Comics, Inc., though, although that would gradually change, at first these fellows worked directly for Joe Shuster in what would be called the Shuster Shop. For details on these artists and others in the Shuster Shop, look here.

I do not claim ownership of any of the partial image representations posted here.