Superman #94
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSuperman #94 (January 1955) sits at the precise hinge point between the twilight of the character's Golden Age publishing run and the dawn of what historians would soon call the Silver Age — a transition most scholars mark as beginning just months later. The issue contains the first appearance of Mayor Manning, Metropolis's mayor, a background civic figure who would recur throughout the Superman line well into the 1960s. As a three-story anthology showcasing the full stable of DC's pre-Silver Age Superman craftsmen — Wayne Boring, Al Plastino, and Win Mortimer on the cover — it serves as a crystalline snapshot of how the Superman editorial operation functioned on the eve of Mort Weisinger's formal takeover and the mythological expansion that would follow. It also reflects the storytelling versatility the line demanded at the time, ranging from civic-disaster suspense to alien diplomacy to broad rural comedy.
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The issue was produced under the editorial credit of Whitney Ellsworth, but the Grand Comics Database documents that Mort Weisinger was in practice the actual on-the-ground editor — a situation that mirrors the broader transition occurring across the Superman titles in the mid-1950s, with Weisinger steadily accumulating editorial authority before his formal appointment in 1957. The lead penciler Wayne Boring had been DC's staff Superman artist since 1942, paired almost constantly with inker Stan Kaye; together they defined the thick-shouldered, broad-jawed visual template for the Man of Steel throughout this era. The GCD also records a notable attribution uncertainty: Bill Woolfolk was originally listed as writer on at least one story in this issue, but the story does not appear in Woolfolk's own records, leaving its true authorship unresolved.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: January 1955 (on-sale: October 31, 1954); published by National Comics Publications (DC Comics) as Superman Vol. 1 #94.
- First appearance of Mayor Manning, the mayor of Metropolis, introduced in the story 'The Men Without a World'; he would next appear in Superman #108.
- Three complete Superman stories in 44 full-color pages: 'Three Dooms for Metropolis,' 'The Men Without a World,' and 'Clark Kent's Hillbilly Bride.'
- Cover art by Win Mortimer; interior art split between Wayne Boring (pencils) with Stan Kaye (inks) on two stories, and Al Plastino on 'The Men Without a World.'
- Scripts credited to Bill Woolfolk (two stories) and Jerry Coleman (one story); however, the GCD flags that at least one Woolfolk credit cannot be confirmed against the writer's own records.
- Whitney Ellsworth holds the official editorial credit, but the Grand Comics Database identifies Mort Weisinger as the actual working editor — a reflection of Weisinger's gradual consolidation of control over the Superman line.
- The issue also includes a two-page 'Little Pete' humor feature by Henry Boltinoff and a prose text story, 'The Night Climbers,' consistent with the anthology format standard for the era.
- At least one story from this issue was reprinted in Superman Super Library (K.G. Murray, 1964 series) #14, giving it international distribution in Australia.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints World's Finest Comics #37 (1948), Miss Beverly Hills of Hollywood #3 (1949)
Reprinted in Albi del Falco #22 (1955), Superman #92 (1955), Superman Super Library #14 (1965), Stålmannen #8/1957, Supermán #61, Superman #65
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