The World's Greatest Superheroes: Vandal Savage Strikes!

This half-page ad ran in DC Comics, encouraging readers to ask for the strip in their local papers.

The World’s Greatest Superheroes ran for seven years, bringing the adventures of the Justice League (and its signature superstar Superman) to America’s front doorsteps and breakfast tables. It was also DC Comics’ first trip to the funny pages in 22 years. 

Previously, Batman and Robin had enjoyed excursions in three consecutive decades, beginning in 1943. Wonder Woman helmed a single short-lived, six-episode-a-week series (at just over a year in publication) during World War II. And Superman drew in as many as 20 million regular readers as the star of a strip which bridged 1939 to 1966.

By 1978, the time was ripe for a return to newspapers. Superheroes were big on TV again, Superman: The Movie had broken box office records, and DC’s rival Marvel Comics had already staked a claim in the market, with newspaper strips featuring the Amazing Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Conan the Barbarian and Howard the Duck hitting papers starting as early as the year before.

Promotional artwork featuring the Justice League, including members who never appeared in the strip.

While DC launched a single strip to Marvel’s multitude, they made up for it in guest stars. The World’s Greatest Superheroes counted among its roster not only Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin, but also Aquaman, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Black Canary and Black Lightning. 

It was a feast for fans of the Justice League, but the crowded cast had little room left to breathe. Before long, the series was quietly recast around Superman, with only occasional guest stars. In 1982, WGSH was officially retitled to reference the Man of Steel, and remained a Superman-centric comic strip until its end in 1985.

Neither The World’s Greatest Superheroes nor the subsequent Superman strips have ever been collected, except for a paperback edition which contained the first story arc (reprinted below). Not only are comic fans denied these rarely-seen adventures from regular DC creators, diehard fans of the Man of Steel miss out on the Superman Sunday Special – a weekly color strip from later in the strip’s run  which included some occasionally very deep-cut Superman trivia and related activity sheets. 

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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s – death from above? Metropolis narrowly evades nuclear armageddon when Superman and The Flash save the city from a mysterious missile carrying a multi-megaton payload. 

The culprit behind the near-catastrophe? It’s stone age supervillain Vandal Savage, a cunning caveman granted exceptionally long life by the radiation of a strange stone from space. Fifty thousand years into his very slow-moving scheme to conquer the world, Savage has realized that his immortality is wearing off. His solution? Engineer massive catastrophes around the globe, killing millions and, using ancient black magic, claiming their remaining years of life for his own!

It’s worked before. Under the identities of Cheops, Genghis Khan, and a guy who knew Napoleon, Savage has prolonged his lifespan through the sacrifice of millions repeatedly throughout the centuries. And this time around, he’s going to eliminate his greatest enemies at the same time! He traps Wonder Woman in a tornado at the Empire State Building, freezes the Flash in a fake iceberg, sidelines Superman with a kryptonite sphinx and Aquaman … well, Aquaman he just knocks over. 

“Vandal Savage Strikes!” could be a stronger opener, but it performs the heavy lifting of getting WGSH’s sizable super-cast onto the stage and establishing the everyday stakes faced by the world’s greatest superheroes. 

A pretty good example of the story’s superfluousness comes in the form of an indestructible videotape recovered from the remains of the nuclear missile mentioned above. Rushing back to their satellite headquarters, the Leaguers are interrupted on their way to view the tape by a holographic projection of Savage appearing in their orbiting headquarters. Savage’s hologram reveals his scheme, then vanishes. They then watch the videotape, which covers Savage’s origin for the benefit of the readers.

Why bother with a videotape when you can project holograms? Why hide it in a nuclear missile, of all places? Why bother telling your enemies your scheme in the first place, or explaining your origins? And what was the fate of Savage’s secret satellite, hidden in orbit? Listen, we don’t have time for all of these questions. The Justice League has lives to save – including their own! 

01. Vandal Savage Strikes!
(1978-04-03 to 1978-07-01)
Starring: Superman, The Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman
Villain: Vandal Savage
Creative Team: Pasko, Tuska/Colletta