After "[is it] a bird?" (Tuesday), "[is it] a plane?" (yesterday), what can we have but, "No, it`s Superman...."
This is not the earliest set of Superman, but it is intriguing, because it was first issued in America by Topps, as a trial. You can read a bit more about that at Kandor Archives. Then it was issued here by A. & B.C. Gum, who had been connected with Topps for just under ten years, and were allowed to not only make and sell "Bazooka" Chewing Gum, but to produce Topps cards and distribute them.
Now A. & B.C. Gum was formed in 1949. There are many ideas of how it got its name, but the leading two are that it stood for American and British Chewing [Gum] - and that four men who had just left the Army and were looking for something to fill the time used their family names in alphabetical order. You can read about the four men theory at CardhawkUK/A&BC .
You can see the entire set at the Trading Card Database under Superman in the Jungle - and if there are any Superman collectors who recognise those images from a Superman comic do let us know. I have failed to track that down.
Our original British Trade Index part three says that the cards measure 81 x 55 m/m and were issued in 1968. However our updated version gives 81 x 56 m/m. Both split the set into two sections :
1. Titled "Superman in the Jungle" Nd. (66)
2. Titled "Punch out Jigsaw Puzzle" Nd. (16) The puzzle pictures form a picture of Superman in the Jungle.
By the way if you look at the text on our card, there is an error. It`s a pretty bad one too. In case you cannot spot it, the start of line two says "Sueprman".
Now what I really want to know is did this error come from the Topps trial set, or was that set correct?
Anyone knowing, do please tell.
So was there ever a corrected card.... ?