DC has announced their publlshing plan for the rest of the year for their DC Finest books, and there are quite a few volumes I’m interested in … but we’ll get to that in a bit. First off, let’s take a look at the latest one I’ve read, Superman Family: The Giant Turtle Man, which at 664 pages is the largest DC Finest volume to date.
DC Finest: Superman Family The Giant Turtle Man • May 2025
To be honest, this is the DC Finest book I’ve been waiting for. Superman Family: The Giant Turtle Man collects 1960-61 stories from books such as Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Superboy, and Superman. Its primary focus is the stories from the Jimmy and Lois books, but it also includes ones featuring Krypto, the Super-Dog, Streaky, the Super-Cat, Perry White, and Superboy’s pal, Pete Ross, so it’s a real hodgepodge of stories from this two-year run of Superman Family books. They’re all strange and wonky and sometimes wonderful. The primary artists are Curt Swan (mainly on Jimmy Olsen, but also an occasional Lois Lane story), Kurt Schaffenberger (Lois Lane), Al Plastino, and John Forte. Writers include Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, Robert Bernstein, and a couple of Otto Binder stories.
The cover credits on this read “Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Jim Mooney,” but they’re obviously wrong, probably due to the designer using the DC Finest: Supergirl volume as a template for this book’s cover. It should really read: “Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger”—or maybe writer Robert Bernstein instead of one of the artists—and you’d have a more correct representation of the primary creators of the stories in this volume.
The spine and back cover timeline for this book.
Growing up in the 1960s, I especially loved Jimmy Olsen. It had a zany appeal to me, humorous but not as far gone as DC’s licensed comics, Adventures of Bob Hope or Jerry Lewis (books we will never see reprinted, I’m guessing). This volume covers some prime Jimmy real estate, reprinting all the stories from issues 47 through 56, with a majority of them illustrated by Curt Swan. And while the Jimmy as Wolf-Man issue (number 44) will always be my favorite, the Giant Turtle Man story and cover (number 53) are up there in my fondest memories of the title. That story was a case of Superman Family editor Mort Weisinger ripping off himself, from the days he was a pulp magazine editor of titles such as Thrilling Wonder Stories (see below). I think there’s also another instance—pre-Jimmy Olsen—of a “Giant Turtle Man” cover on one of the DC science fiction books, but I was unable to find it.
Editor Mort Weisinger would never let a good giant turtle man story go to waste.
In addition, Superman Family reprints all the stories from Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane 19-28 (in most cases, beautifully drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger), and stories from Action Comics 266 and 277-278, Adventure Comics 287, Superman 142-143 and 147, and Superboy 87, 90, and 92. What separates this new volume from the black and white Showcase Presents Superman Family reprints of almost 20 years ago is that that series reprinted only Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane issues; the first 53 issues of Olsen and the first 26 of Lois, plus her Showcase appearances prior to having her own title. I hated those Showcase Presents books when they first came out; now I have a much greater appreciation for them and have been snapping up some of them if I find them in stores or at conventions at a reasonable price. I’m guessing some of the “mapping” (issues included) in the current DC Finest volumes takes a cue from those older Showcase ones, and the black and white presentation of those books is sometimes very clear, crisp and downright beautiful.
This DC Finest volume of Superman Family includes not just Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane stories, but also ones featuring Krypto the Super-Dog, Streaky, the Super-Cat, Perry White, and even Superboy’s pal, Pete Ross, in tales from 1960 and 1961. There is some double-dipping here, though. A few of the stories reprinted here were also included in the DC Finest: Supergirl volume which came out in January, and featured a similar timeline. Bottom line: If you love Silver Age Superman books, this is one you’ll definitely want to include in your collection. Both Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane were top sellers for DC in this era, due no doubt to the ongoing popularity of the characters on the Adventures of Superman TV series, shown in endless syndication on channels across the country.
Three other DC Finest Superman-oriented titles that will be released this year.
There are three more Superman DC Finest titles coming this year, one of which came out this week: Superboy—Krypto, the Super-Dog (this just arrived today for me, and it’s another I’m really looking forward to; there are issues of Superboy and Adventure Comics that I’ve never seen before, as the timeline for this book is 1954-55). In just a few short weeks (early June), DC jumps to the Bronze Age of the Man of Steel, with a reprint of the “Kryptonite: Nevermore” storyline by Denny O’Neil, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, from the era when Julius Schwartz took over editing the title in 1970 after Mort Weisinger retired. And in December, a second volume reprinting the Golden Age Superman takes off exactly where “The First Superman” volume—one of the first DC Finest titles—left off, with Superman 6 and Action Comics 26, along with Superman stories from World’s Fair 1940, World’s Best 1, and World’s Finest 2 and 3.
Other DC Finest volumes I’m looking forward to in the next six months or so …
I had told myself when the DC Finest line started, I was going to concentrate solely on the Superman titles, but I did pick up the first Batman title—“Year One & Year Two”—when it was released and enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to getting the second volume with “The Killing Joke,” which comes out next week (as I’m writing this in mid-May). A third Batman volume this year will feature the Doug Moench/Gene Colan stories; that one I will probably skip; the retirement budget can only afford so many $39.95 books each year, sorry to say and Colan’s Batman was never a particular favorite of mine. One of the first DC Finest books of 2026 will reprint the very first Batman stories starting with Detective Comics 27 from 1939. That one I will pick up; I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the earliest Superman stories in “The First Superhero.”
There are other volumes announced for the rest of the year that have grabbed my attention, including a Hawkman one (due in August) that will feature the Joe Kubert Brave and the Bold issues, plus the Mystery in Space Murphy Anderson stories and the Hawkman title itself, also by Anderson. The Spectre volume (September) will also feature some amazing Anderson art, plus some of Neal Adams’ earliest DC superhero work, and a War volume (November) will start with the beginning of DC’s “Big 5” war titles: All-American Men of War, G.I. Combat, Our Army at War, Our Fighting Forces, and Star Spangled War Stories, alongside the first Blackhawk issues published by DC after they picked up the title from Quality Comics, when that company folded.
The DC Finest line continues to amaze and excite me, and I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing what they have planned in 2026 and beyond. Now excuse me while I go start that Superboy volume!
Click here to read all my DC Finest reviews …
@innocent-bystander.com 
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