The Superman Dailies '49-'59: Superman meets Steve Allen

For a diehard Superman fan – especially one who, like me, has a strong soft spot for the Golden Age iteration of the Man of Steel – the character’s daily and Sunday newspaper strips are a treasure trove. Produced between 1939 and 1966, largely consisting of original stories, and sporting a unique continuity from the assorted monthly Superman titles, the newspaper strip represents a whole universe of outstanding new adventures produced by some of the character’s greatest innovators.

The Library of American Comics has done a spectacular job of collecting the strips in a series of hardcover volumes beginning in 2013 (picking up where Kitchen Sink had begun with its reprint series in the late nineties). The series is largely complete, with the unfortunate exception of one decade of stories for which no reproduction-suitable strips can be found – 1949-1959.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent marry, from the SUPERMAN daily newspaper strip, 1949.

This is a shame, because some of Superman’s most interesting stories happen during this decade. As I clipped strips from online newspaper archives, I was endlessly entertained by the surprising twists and turns: Lois Lane marries Clark Kent, the first-ever Supergirl debuts, artist Wayne Boring makes his only in-universe appearance, inveterate conman J.Wilbur Wolfingham shows up after years-long absence from the comic books, more than one major storyline is reinvented for the newspaper audience, and much more!

For instance, in this story, originally published from September 1955 through January 1956, Superman meets writer/comedian/musician and then-Tonight Show host -- and let's add "substitute Superman" to that list of accolades -- Steve Allen!

Superman was no stranger to celebrity cross-overs, such as with actors Ann Blyth and Orson Welles, wrestler Antonino Rocca and, most famously, Muhammad Ali. The urbane Allen, however, was a fixture of late-night television, rather than a sports figure or popular movie star of the day, and might have been a mystery figure to the broader juvenile audience of the comic books. However, for the newspaper strip audience – a larger and statistically older readership– the bespectacled talk show host was perfect guest star material.

George Reeves as Clark Kent (l) and Steve Allen (r)

Capitalizing on Allen’s resemblance to Clark Kent (or, more specifically, his resemblance to actor George Reeves as Clark Kent on the then-contemporary television show), the story speculates a criminal scheme which endangers Superman’s secret identity – and, possibly, his life! 

In order to unearth a deadly piece of Kryptonite currently in the possession of a murderous racketeer called “The Duke,” the late-night comedian is asked by the Man of Steel to don a duplicate super-suit and help him out a little. 

The chain of events that leads Allen to impersonate the Man of Steel’s civilian identity is a real Rube Goldberg device. The sequence of events that begin with Clark Kent getting beaned with a flowerpot and result in Steve Allen lifting a cardboard piano strains credulity and involves at least three overheard snippets of conversation, but it gets there in the end.

Appearing alongside Allen in the strip are his Tonight Show cohort - singer Eydie Gormé, bandleader Skitch Henderson and announcer (and future Match Game host) Gene Rayburn. This story also qualifies as a fun “first” in comics: A superhero appearing on a popular real-world late-night television show, an act that would later be revived by Spider-Man (and SNL’s Not-Ready-For-Primetime Players), the Avengers (on Late Night with David Letterman), along with, almost certainly, many others.

Superman Meets Steve Allen
September 26 1955 - January 7 1956
Story: Jack Schiff (unconfirmed)
Art: Win Mortimer