Superman #13/1967
Superman #13/1967 is part of the foundational run of Egmont Ehapa's Superman series — the publication that, more than any predecessor, established DC's superhero characters as genuine pop-culture figures in the German-speaking world. Launching in 1966 as 'Superman' before expanding its cover banner to 'Superman und Batman' with issue 3/1967, the series brought together the entire core cast of both the Superman Family (Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White) and the Batman Family (Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon) in a single compact, biweekly package — an editorial approach with no direct equivalent in the American source material. For a generation of German readers who had no access to US newsstand comics, these Ehapa issues were the definitive, often only, encounter with Silver Age DC storytelling, making the series as a whole culturally pivotal to the medium's history in Europe.
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Ehapa Verlag, the German subsidiary of the Danish Egmont publishing group, had secured exclusive DC Comics rights for the German-language market starting in 1966 — a license it would hold until 1989. Earlier attempts to publish superhero comics in Germany had stumbled, but the Ehapa Superman series succeeded through wide kiosk distribution and notably superior production quality: the issues used higher-grade paper stock and four-color intaglio (Kupfertiefdruck) printing rather than the cheap newsprint of American editions, yielding richer, more vivid color. Editor Hans G. Kramer oversaw the early issues, which reprinted Silver Age DC material — sometimes stories nearly a decade old — selected in part to introduce German audiences to character origins and core mythology they would otherwise have missed entirely. The standard format for the run was 32 pages including covers, priced at 1.00 DEM, with stories beginning directly on the inside front cover.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Egmont Ehapa Verlag GmbH as part of its 'Superman (1966 series),' the third attempt to establish DC superhero comics in the German market and the first to achieve broad popular success.
- Issue falls within the early stretch of the run during which the cover banner was transitioning: from 'Superman' (issues 1–2/1967) to 'Superman und Batman' (beginning issue 3/1967), firmly anchoring Batman's co-starring status alongside Superman for German readers.
- Standard format for the era: 32 pages including covers, priced at 1.00 DEM, published biweekly (14-day frequency), printed in four-color intaglio on higher-quality paper than contemporary US editions.
- Character roster spans both DC hero families: Superman-side (Superman/Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White) and Batman-side (Batman/Bruce Wayne, Robin/Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner James Gordon) — a dual-family anthology structure not replicated in any single American title of the period.
- Content consists of reprinted Silver Age DC stories; editorial policy in the early years favored origin and background stories to introduce heroes to a German audience with no prior access to US comics.
- Many hero names in the run were Germanized for this audience (e.g., Flash → 'Roter Blitz,' Green Lantern → 'Grüne Leuchte'), though Superman and Batman retained their American names.
- Issues from 2/1966 onward carried the 'Code Moral Europressjunior' seal of the Association Européenne des Editeurs de Publications pour la Jeunesse, reflecting the series' positioning as approved youth reading.
- Ehapa held exclusive DC publication rights in Germany from 1966 to 1989; this series was the flagship title that introduced the full DC Silver Age universe to German-speaking readers.
Cast · 11 characters
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Lois trinkt eine Versuchslösung um unter Wasser atmen zu können, das Mittel hat nur einen Nachteil. Sie muss jede Stunde mit Flüssigkeit in Berührung kommen um nicht zu ersticken. Sie muss sich also einiges einfallen lassen, denn die Banditen wollen das verhindern.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).