Sorting through some old magazines, I came across the Superman Coloring Book, published by Whitman in 1966. It has a nice Curt Swan cover with a full-colour Superman posing in front of a page of black-and-white strips, but the real treasure is inside. Normally finding an old colouring book with the pages coloured-in is a disapointing experience. Collectors want their books mint, with no markings or damage. But for me, the thing that really makes this book worth owning is the inventive colouring that adds life to the mediocre hackwork of the interior drawings, produced by something called "Jason Studios" for Whitman. The coloured-in pages are just beautiful and make the story of the book almost a surreal reading experience. You may have read the classic Superman adventure, "Superman Red, Superman Blue" --now read "Superman Orange, Brown, Pink, and Green!"
After a really slow start to the story, featuring the gang hanging around the Daily Planet office on a slow news day, the plot really begins with Superman chasing some crooks who hit him with a Red K missile which causes him to shrink. That's when our mysterious colourist really gets interested:
Our only clue to the identity of this coloring genius --a scrawled "Joann" at the top of the page!
Eventually Supes figures out some sort of solution involving a Lead Mine (!) and things get back to normal.
Lois looks kind of disappointed that Superman is no longer tiny!
The End!
There are other ways to be nonconformist besides coloring outside the lines. There are also the colors to be considered....
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