Mass Market Paperback-sized comics reprints are definitely a thing of the past. I have a fondness for the them based on a well-thumbed copy of "The Untold Legend of the Batman" which is a reprint of a Len Wein, Jim Aparo and John Byrne three-issue run that sorta retells bits of the Golden/Silver Age Batman stories. I LOVED IT. It was such a great entry-point for a Batman-obsessed kid like me, giving me a lot of the groundwork to figure stuff out when I picked up new issues of various Batman titles. Now I don't really search them out, but I pretty much buy whatever paperback-sized reprints I see.
So, a while back I stumbled into this book, a Daredevil reprint, a Batman "Choose Your Own Adventure" style book, and one of the Denny O'Neill/Neal Adams Green Arrow/Green Lantern run. This Superman book caught my eye because the stories were from the newspaper strip which I have never seen anything from. Plus during the pandemic I showed my wife the 1978 "Superman" and have continued on to "Superman II." She's enjoyed both, but I have fears for showing her the next two in the series what with Nuclear Man and Richard Pryor. Back to the matter at hand. I would have loved a daily newspaper comic full of superheroes like Batman, Robin, Superman, Black Lightning, Aquaman, Flash and Wonder Woman. Sure would have beat "Kathy" and "Family Circus." The strip contained is written by Martin Pasko who I've only ever read work from his brief stint on "Swamp Thing." Plus I've always like Colletta and Tuska too.
In this slim volume Superman pals around with Wonder Woman, The Flash and Aquaman. They hang out in their satellite HQ and save the world from the oldest living man Vandal Savage. Savage is a surprising villain for being in a newspaper. I'd have imagined they would have stuck with Lex Luthor or Brainiac but it was a pleasant surprise. There's natural disasters, hidden traps in icebergs, dumping on Aquaman, hypnotized Wonder Woman and Superman being the big-blue boy-scout he is. They whole story plays like a slightly more sophisticated episode of "The Super Friends." Newspaper Strips when collected sort of start and stop, obviously because they are designed to be read in spurts. It can be a little jarring at times. This one is a bit smoother than others though. If you go in expecting to spend a couple of minutes (seriously they can be read real quick) enjoying silly superhero hijinks then you'll enjoy it. But it's certainly not a "serious" superhero book. I really prefer my superhero comics to be a bit "lighter" I want to have fun with these characters, so this is just perfect.
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