With its iconic Trylon and Perisphere, the 1939-40 World’s
Fair in New York was arguably one of the most memorable events of the 20th
Century, a century filled with many memorable events. The theme of the fair was
“the World of Tomorrow” and it gave most attendees their very first glimpses of
technology that had been just science-fiction not long before—including the
talking robot, Elecktro!
One of the longest lasting legacies of the 1939 New York
World’s Fair was DC’s WORLD’S FINEST COMICS.
In a tie-in with the Fair, the still new Superman—just about
a year old—was given the lead spot in a 96-page comic sold exclusively at the
event. His story and all of the others included were built around the Fair. The
item—more like a book than a comic, really—sold for a quarter at a time when
typical comic books offered only 30 pages less for just a dime.
The comics company repeated the issue the following year
with a second issue again spotlighting Superman at the Fair but this time
alongside his since-created stable mates, Batman and Robin, on the cover. Inside,
they had separate stories and, as before, a number of other features appeared
as well.
The Fair ended after two seasons but DC hated to lose a good
thing so they decided to continue with a commercially released comic in the
same vein, priced at fifteen cents, featuring stories of Superman and Batman,
their two most popular characters by that point, and others. Rather than
WORLD’S FAIR COMICS, DC went with the very similar WORLD’S BEST COMICS. Well,
for one issue anyway.
With the second quarterly issue, the mag, still spotlighting
Batman and Superman, was retitled WORLD’S FINEST, a name that would continue on
in an uninterrupted run for the next 45 years!
Fans of my DAYS OF ADVENTURE blog know what to expect here.
We’re going to take a brief look at every single issue of the original run of
this important comic book, giving a little context, a little background on the characters,
the features, the creators and occasionally posting stories.
Let us know what you think in the comments as we go along.
We’re about the get started on THE WORLD’S FINEST BLOG!
Really enjoyed Days of Adventure.
ReplyDeleteThe World's Finest Blog is a wonderful idea.
Looking forward to my daily "fix"
-Sam
p.s. How's that new iMac workin' out for ya?
This is great news, Steve!! I was hoping when you said you had something up your sleeve to replace Days of Adventure that it was going to be something like this. World's Finest...along with Brave and the Bold...was one of my favorite DC titles. It provided a break from the single hero titles and opened up so many possibilities. Those of us who grew up with these titles saw them change and evolve through the years. What a huge treat this will be to relive those times again! Thanks, Steve!!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog to started it off!!!
ReplyDelete323 issues to go!
It is puzzling why DC didn't title the later Superman-Batman and current Batman-Superman series "World's Finest". Everyone knows that is what they are!
ReplyDeleteJust ran into this blog, and am looking forward to catching up - I also agree with prior post that the newer series should've been titled World's Finest as well.
ReplyDelete