Superman #14

A Superman book that went on sale before the war

Superman #14 carries a cover date of January-February 1942, but according to its copyright registration it went on sale on November 1, 1941. That timing matters. When the issue reached newsstands, the United States was still officially at peace. Five weeks later, on December 7, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the next day Congress declared war. The cover readers remember as a wartime rallying image was drawn and printed before America was in the war.

The book was a 68-page, ten-cent bimonthly published under the Superman Inc. name, edited without credit by Whitney Ellsworth with Murray Boltinoff and Mort Weisinger as assistant editors. Superman had been the first hero to carry a second comic of his own, after Action Comics, and in the early 1940s the title was selling more than a million copies a month, according to a DC history cited by Wikipedia. The same source says overall comics circulation tripled during the war as servicemen added comics to their reading.

No figure for the print run of this particular issue appears in any source fetched for this page.

Fred Ray and the shield

The cover was penciled and inked by Fred Ray, and the issue's index notes that Ray himself verified the credit. It shows Superman standing before a red, white and blue American shield with a bald eagle perched on his arm, set against a solid black background. The image has nothing to do with the four stories inside, which involve a hypnotist, a stolen invention, an undersea kingdom and a villain who commands lightning.

Frederic E. Ray Jr. was born on February 4, 1920, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He broke into National Comics, the future DC, at 20, with illustrations for text features in late 1940. His first Superman cover was the 1940 giveaway Superman's Christmas Adventure, and in early 1941 he took over cover duties for both Superman titles, starting with Superman #9 and Action Comics #34. His redesign of the S symbol on Superman's chest became one of the defining features of the character's 1940s look.

Wikipedia calls the Superman #14 cover 'one of comics' most famous.' A poll run by an auction house with a grading service placed it among the ten best covers of the entire Golden Age. Ray went on to draw the Revolutionary War feature Tomahawk for more than two decades, became an authority on Revolutionary War uniforms who consulted for the Smithsonian Institution, and wrote and illustrated books and booklets on American history. He died on January 23, 2001.

What the dime bought

Every Superman story in the issue is credited to Jerry Siegel as writer and signed Joe Shuster, but the art is by Leo Nowak, one of the studio artists who drew under Shuster's name, with John Sikela inking one story. In the first, concertgoers are robbed without noticing, and Clark and Lois discover mass hypnosis at work. In the second, a young inventor signs away the rights to a fire-extinguishing powder to a crook.

'The Undersea City' sends Lois and Clark to interview a fisherman who swears he saw a mermaid. Clark finds Princess Kuella and an underwater kingdom whose scheming adviser plans to invade the land. The issue's index calls it the first mermaid story in the Superman feature. The closing story, 'The Lightning Master,' introduces a villain who rains lightning on Metropolis; his next appearance came in All-Star Squadron Annual #2.

Filler pages included a two-page Rollin Stone gag strip, text stories, and a Clancy the Cop page. The ads place the book precisely in the fall of 1941: a Schwinn bicycle Christmas page, a Krypto-Raygun, Lionel trains, and a house promotion announcing that the 'Big Seven' was becoming the 'Big Eight' with Wonder Woman, along with an ad for Sensation Comics #1. The back cover sold Daisy's Red Ryder air rifle, the same gun later made famous by the film A Christmas Story.

From 9.2 to 9.4

The black background is what makes this cover so hard to find in high grade: every tick and crease shows. A July 2013 auction listing reported the CGC census at the time as six copies at VF 8.0, eight higher, and none above 9.2. By March 2022 a listing counted nine at 8.0 and 14 higher, and a March 2023 listing said 20 copies were graded above 8.0.

For years the top was 9.2. A CGC 9.2 with off-white to white pages sold at auction on May 30, 2015, for $35,850. In September 2018 a CGC 9.4 was announced for auction, and by November 30 the bidding stood at $55,555 with two weeks to go. When it closed in mid-December, collectors following the sale reported the final price as $112,000. One forum poster wrote during the sale that the 9.4 copy had previously been graded 9.2; that claim comes from a single post and was not otherwise confirmed.

Lower grades trade far more often. A CGC 8.0 sold online for $16,300 in September 2024, according to a sales tracker, and raw copies in poor to good condition have changed hands for hundreds to a few thousand dollars.

The cover that outlived its stories

The stories inside were reprinted in later collections, including the eighth volume of The Superman Chronicles in April 2010, but the issue's fame rests almost entirely on Ray's image. A 2025 review of the issue put it bluntly: the cover is one of the most famous Superman covers ever, and it has nothing to do with the contents.

Leo Nowak, who drew all four stories, was drafted in 1943 and left comics after the war. Ray kept drawing for DC until 1972, but the shield cover remained the work he is best known for.

The numbers

Cover price

10 cents

Pages

68

Print run of #14

No verified figure found; the title sold more than a million copies a month in the early 1940s, per a DC history

Census, July 2013

6 at CGC 8.0, 8 higher, none above 9.2

Census, March 2022

9 at CGC 8.0, 14 higher

Census, March 2023

20 graded above CGC 8.0 (per a sale listing)

Highest grade reported

CGC 9.4 (2018)

Timeline

1. Feb 4, 1920

   Fred Ray is born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

2. 1940

   Ray draws his first Superman cover, for the giveaway Superman's Christmas Adventure.

3. Mar 1941

   Ray's run on Superman covers begins with Action Comics #34, followed by Superman #9 (April 1941).

4. Jul 1941

   Mort Weisinger begins his long association with the Superman title with #11.

5. Nov 1, 1941

   Superman #14 goes on sale, per its copyright registration, with a cover date of January-February 1942.

6. Dec 7, 1941

   Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, five weeks after the issue's on-sale date.

7. 1943

   Leo Nowak, the issue's interior artist, is drafted.

8. Jan 23, 2001

   Fred Ray dies.

9. Apr 2010

   The issue's contents are reprinted in The Superman Chronicles, Volume 8.

10. Jul 2013

    The CGC census shows six copies at 8.0, eight higher, and none above 9.2.

11. May 30, 2015

    A CGC 9.2 sells at auction for $35,850.

12. Sep 2018

    A CGC 9.4 copy is announced for auction.

13. Dec 14, 2018

    The CGC 9.4 closes at a reported $112,000.

14. Mar 2022

    The census shows nine copies at 8.0 and 14 higher.

15. Mar 2023

    A sale listing counts 20 copies graded above 8.0.

The world in 1941

• Mar 11, 1941

  President Roosevelt signs Lend-Lease into law, supplying military equipment to the Allies.

• Oct 17, 1941

  The destroyer USS Kearny is torpedoed off Iceland, killing 11 sailors, the first American military casualties of the war.

• Oct 23, 1941

  Walt Disney's Dumbo is released.

• Oct 31, 1941

  After 14 years, work stops on Mount Rushmore.

• Nov 26, 1941

  Roosevelt signs a bill fixing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November.

• Dec 7, 1941

  Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.

• Dec 8, 1941

  Roosevelt gives his 'Infamy' speech and Congress declares war on Japan.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Superman #14 is number 34 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (42 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The issue went on sale on November 1, 1941, more than a month before the United States entered World War II.
• Fred Ray was about 21 when he drew the cover, and he later consulted for the Smithsonian Institution on Revolutionary War uniforms.
• None of the four stories inside has anything to do with the patriotic cover; one is about a mermaid princess.
• Every story is signed Joe Shuster, but all four were drawn by Leo Nowak.
• The back cover advertises the Red Ryder BB gun later made famous by A Christmas Story.
• The issue carried a house ad announcing Wonder Woman's arrival, turning DC's 'Big Seven' into the 'Big Eight.'