Superman #18
Superman (Interpresse) #18 is a representative chapter in one of the most significant continental European superhero reprint programs of the Silver Age: Editions Interpresse S.A.'s French-language Belgian monthly, which brought DC's flagship World's Finest Comics Superman-Batman team-up stories to Francophone readers beginning in 1969. The issue reprints a story from World's Finest Comics #174, a tale built around robot doubles of both Superman and Batman — the kind of Silver Age high-concept plotting that defined the era. As the direct successor to the earlier Franco-Belgian co-venture Superman et Batman (Interpresse/Sagédition, 1967–1968), this series marks the moment Interpresse Belgium took sole editorial control and continued distributing American superhero adventures to a generation of European readers who had no other access to them. The appearance of 'Tante Henriette' — the French-localized name for Aunt Harriet Cooper — also documents how European editors handled culturally specific supporting characters, domesticating DC's American domestic subplots for a new audience.
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Interpresse S.A. launched its Belgian branch in 1965, and in 1967 joined with the French publisher Sagédition to produce Superman et Batman — a title that ran until 1968, when Interpresse Belgium assumed sole responsibility and relaunched the series as Superman (Interpresse, 1969 series). Issue #18, dated February 1969, falls in the series' first year and was part of a monthly reprint program sourcing recent DC material, with copies printed in Italy by Fratelli Spada. The Belgian editorial line was guided by figures including François Scohy (credited on adjacent issues as responsible editor), and the series continued until 1980, eventually succeeded by Egmont Serieforlaget.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Editions Interpresse S.A. (Belgian branch), cover-dated February 1969 — issue #18 of the 1969–1980 series that ran to at least 145 issues.
- Primary story content reprinted from World's Finest Comics (DC, 1941 series) #174, a Superman/Batman team-up involving Professor Madden and android duplicates of both heroes.
- The series was printed in Italy by Fratelli Spada and published monthly ('mensuel') in French, making it one of the primary conduits for Silver Age DC superhero stories in Francophone Belgium.
- This title was the direct continuation of Superman et Batman (Interpresse; Sagédition, 1967 series), which had been a joint Franco-Belgian venture; when that arrangement ended in 1968, Interpresse Belgium took over and relaunched as this solo series.
- 'Tante Henriette' is the French localization of Aunt Harriet Cooper (Harriet Cooper), Dick Grayson's aunt — a character first created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff in Detective Comics #328 (1964) and later popularized by the 1966 Batman TV series.
- Aunt Harriet/Tante Henriette was a recurring figure in World's Finest Comics imaginary stories of the late 1960s, kept alive editorially by Superman editor Mort Weisinger even after the Batman TV show's cancellation wound down her appearances in the mainline Batman titles.
- The story reprinted from World's Finest Comics #174 was also reprinted in Superman Extra (Egmont Ehapa, 1980 series) #3 (1981) and in Showcase Presents: World's Finest (DC, 2007 series) #4 — giving it a documented reprint trail across multiple countries and decades.
- Interpresse's broader Superman publishing legacy culminated in the 1990 original graphic novel Superman: A Tale of Five Cities (Superman og Fredsbomben), the only Superman story ever produced outside the United States with official DC approval.
Cast · 8 characters
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Superman et Batman sont conduits dans un piège mortel où ils sont torturés au-delà du point de rupture.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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