Auction Name: 2026 February 27 - March 1 Comic Art Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 92021

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/7462*92021

Joe Shuster Action Comics #21 Superman Cover Original Art (DC, 1940). This was only Superman's ninth full appearance on a cover of Action Comics! And, counting Superman comics, it's the Man of Steel's 12th cover full appearance overall. It was rendered by his co-creator Joe Shuster, and is the earliest published story page or cover by Joe Shuster we have ever offered! Any original art of Superman by Joe Shuster from this era is a rare treasure indeed, but a cover is simply unheard of! What a Super find! A word on the cover's inker: while it is not certain whether Shuster or one of his studio colleagues inked the piece, we have most often seen the cover inks for #21 attributed to Paul Cassidy and will stick with that attribution here. The World War II setting is also noteworthy -- while the United States had not entered the war at that point, scenes such as this show that the goings-on abroad were very much on the public's mind. Produced in ink and brush ink over graphite on illustration board with an image area of 12.5" x 17.5". The logo and trade dressing are a production stat. The text inset is printed paste-up. There is a 4" x 3.5" section in the upper left of the board that has been peeled to the sub-board surface. There are some surface stains in the image area. In Good condition.


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