Superman Through the Ages! Forum

DC has just announced a DC Finest volume called "The Last Days of Superman," which will reprint 1950-51 where the Golden Age omnibuses left off (Action Comics #144-159, Superman #64-70, and World's Finest #46-53) arriving in early 2026.

Other DC Finest volumes that reprinted new material so far are Kryptonite Nevermore (which also includes Action Comics from the start of the Bronze Age, but not the World of Krypton backups) and most notably, "The Super-Dog from Krypton," which is all of Superboy and Adventure Comics from 1954-55.

They have also reissued some previously reprinted material in that format. "Zap Goes the Legion" (the Action Comics run that has been reprinted 3 times) "The Super-Girl from Krypton" (Silver Age Action Comics backups), "The First Superhero" (Siegel and Shuster 1938-40), JLA and JSA. The Super Friends volume and "The Giant Turtle Man" will extend a few issues beyond the last Showcase reprints.

I should note that the format is based on the Marvel Epic Collections, where they use the title of the most significant storyline on the cover. So the Super-Dog from Krypton is not only a Krypto book, and to my disappointment there isn't a whole series from the 50s I didn't know about called The Gorilla World.

These are wonderful books that definitely hit my sweet spot in terms of page count and price.  So far the reproduction in all of them has been great.  My favorite is "Superman Family: The Giant Turtle Man" but I'm digging the other Superman-related volumes as well.

You left one off your list:  December will bring us "The Invisible Luthor," although the (Golden Age) contents have all been reprinted before in Archives and/or omnis.

I'm thinking "Last Days of Superman" represents the progress they've made to date in restoring content for GA Superman Omnibus Vol 8, which may or may not ever materialize, but as I like the "Finest" format better, it's a win for me.

And yes, the "Gorilla World" has created a lot of confusion for folks.  Similarly the title "Superboy: The Super Dog from Krypton" must be a bit of head-scratcher to the average bookstore visitor.

I'm on board for all the super-stuff, plus I'm looking forward to "The Flash: The Fastest Man Dead" next year; the Bates/Novick era was "my" Flash.

The last couple of years I have been doing a readthrough of Superman titles and Fantastic Four. I have thought about doing Flash next, because a) after the sheer volume of Superman family comics and strips, any other character should be pretty easy lifting, and b) because Flash has been central to the DC reboots, I feel like it's the one series you could probably read from the beginning to present.

I have the Trial of the Flash reprint, do you know which issues will be in the DC Finest book?

The announced (yesterday) contents are as follows:

World’s Finest Comics #198, The Flash #200–204, 206–212, 214–229, and The Brave and the Bold #99.

Since that WF story was a two-parter (involving a race with Superman, no less), it's reasonable to assume issue 199 will also be included.  DC isn't always great about listing the contents of these things correctly.

Flash #200 is the first issue drawn by Irv Novick and thus a logical starting point.

B&B #99 is nutty even by Bob Haney's standards, involving Batman's possession by the ghost of a pirate while visiting the Wayne family beach house, where the cremated remains of Thomas and Martha Wayne are kept in a bottle in a wall safe (despite all those visits made to their graves in other comics).  The story ends with Batman thanking the Flash for helping him finally get over the deaths of his parents so he can move on with his life, which technically should make this 1971 tale the last Batman story ever told.  Good old Haney.