The first time Superman, Batman and Robin were on a cover together…
Brochure cover
By PETER BOSCH
As a follow-up to my article last year about 1939’s New York World’s Fair Comics from DC, it’s time to look at the 1940 edition: Besides being a great item all around, it was the very first time – 85 years ago! – that Superman, Batman and Robin were on a comic-book cover together.
Jack Burnley
The Fair re-opened May 11, 1940, and the comic went on sale there that day or on the event’s July 3 “Superman Day.” Either way, fans who couldn’t make the trip to New York were able to purchase it at their local newsstand on Aug. 2, 1940.
Enjoy this INSIDE LOOK at this very rare issue:
Title page art by Creig Flessel
Superman, written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Burnley (ghosting for Joe Shuster)
Superman, written by Siegel and drawn by Burnley (ghosting for Shuster)
Red, White and Blue, written by Siegel and drawn by Harry Lampert
Slam Bradley, written by Siegel and drawn by Howard Sherman
Zatara, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Joe Sulman
The Hour-Man, written by Ken Fitch and drawn by Bernard Baily
The Sandman, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Chad Grothkopf. The splash panel is based on a Creig Flessel drawing from Adventure Comics #50 (May 1940).
Johnny Thunderbolt, written by John Wentworth and drawn by Stan Asch
Batman, written by Bill Finger and drawn by Bob Kane, with backgrounds by George Roussos
Batman, written by Finger and drawn by Kane, with backgrounds by Roussos
Back cover. Art by various illustrators.
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MORE
— 1939 NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR COMICS: An 85th Anniversary Salute. Click here.
— GOLDEN AGE GOLD: 13 of the Greatest BATMAN AND SUPERMAN COVERS Ever. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is due in 2025. (You can pre-order here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
May 11, 2025
I wish DC would do a facsimile addition of this comic book.
May 11, 2025
Actually, they did. I can’t remember the year. It was a combined 39 and 40. Both issues in a trade paperback. Its on my bookshelf.
May 11, 2025
Hal, you are probably thinking of The DC Comics Rarities Archives hardcover, which also had The Big All-American Comic Book in it, too.
May 11, 2025
Wow! And I’d never read a “Red, White and Blue” story (or even part of one!) before! I don’t know that they’ve ever been reprinted!
May 11, 2025
There’s been a few Red, White and Blue reprints — mostly hidden away in reprints of other material deemed of greater interest. New York World’s Fair Comics #2 was reprinted in the DC Comics Rarities Archive volume.
They also appeared in All-Star Comics #’s 1 and 2, which was reprinted in the All Star Comics Archives Vol. 0, Comic Cavalcade #’s 1 and 2, which was reprinted in Comic Cavalcade Archive Vol. 1, and All-American Comics #16, which has a facsimile edition.
The DynaPubs Flashback reprint series from the 1970s had a few issues that did black-and-white reprints of comics with their stories. Specifically #’s 13 (Reprinting All-Star Comics #2), 20 (Reprinting New York World’s Fair Comics #2), 22 (Reprinting All-Star Comics #1), 28 (Reprinting World’s Finest Comics #7), and 30 (Reprinting All-American Comics #24). The last two comics in the list are the only issues that have not been reprinted elsewhere in color.
So, by my count, that’s 8 Red, White and Blue stories that have been reprinted. Anyone else know of others I’ve missed?
May 11, 2025
I would have sworn that cover, at least the Batman and Robin figures were either penciled or inked by Jerry Robinson.
May 11, 2025
DC is really missing the boat by not doing Golden Age size facsimile editions of this comic and the 1939 World’s Fair comic.
A Treasury Edition size facsimile would be even better!
May 12, 2025
I would buy a facsimile (original size or tabloid size) of this book in a heartbeat. The only disappointment here was that Slam Bradley and Zatara weren’t drawn by their regular artists (Joe Shuster and Fred Guardineer, respectively).