George Taylor (DC Comics)

George Taylor is a fictional character appearing in Superman comic books published by DC Comics. He is the editor-in-chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Star. An early Superman supporting character, he was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as the unnamed editor who gave Clark Kent his first job as a reporter in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). His name was later revealed in Superman #2 (1939).[1] Perry White replaced him as the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet in Superman #7 (Oct 1940).[2] In the New 52 the character is once again running the Daily Star.

George Taylor
George Taylor in Action Comics vol.2 #8 (April 2012) Art by Rags Morales (penciller and co-colorist) Rick Bryant (inker) and Brad Anderson (co-colorist)
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAction Comics #1
(June 1938)
Created byJerry Siegel
Joe Shuster
In-story information
Team affiliationsDaily Star
Daily Planet
Supporting character ofSuperman
Clark Kent
Lois Lane

Golden Age

Virtually nothing is known about the background of this version of the character, but his personality as a newspaper editor was well defined. He was irascible, yelling at his reporters when angry or excited, but he was also a model of courage, loyalty, and integrity. When the superintendent of a labor camp claimed that reports about him in the Daily Star were libelous, Taylor would not apologize, saying that the information they had obtained was authoritative, and he dared the superintendent to sue. He also defended the reporter's pledge not to reveal the source of information.[3]

Taylor at first refused to hire the inexperienced Clark Kent as a reporter but later changed his mind when Kent brought in the story of an attempted lynching.[4][5] He shortly made it Kent's steady assignment to cover the reports about the existence of someone called Superman. However, when Lois Lane, the Star's "lonelyhearts" column writer, claimed the next day to have met Superman, Taylor didn't believe her, asking if she had actually seen pink elephants.[6] This was indicative of the difference in Taylor's attitude toward Kent and Lane: he was very supportive of Clark, giving him a variety of assignments including South American war correspondent, but if Lois asked for an important story she was told by her editor that it was "no job for a girl!" To be fair, Kent received his share of abuse, as when Taylor called him a "brainless idiot" and fired him for flubbing an assignment. But the editor gave Clark his job back when he brought in the story,[7] and he actually softened toward Lois over time. Taylor also admitted it when he was wrong, as he did when he accused Kent of betraying his confidential source for cowardly reasons.[8]

In the spring of 1940, the newspaper Taylor edited inexplicably changed its name to the Daily Planet.[9][10] He retained his position until November of that year,[11] after which time a new editor, Perry White, was suddenly introduced.[12][1]

Earth-Two

When DC Comics created the multiverse, the Superman of Earth-Two was assigned all the characteristics and baggage of the early Golden Age version of the character, and this included the Daily Star and George Taylor, who was still editor when Clark Kent and Lois Lane got married.[13] Upon announcing his retirement in the early 1950s, Taylor chose his successor by way of a competition between Kent and senior reporter Perry White. By solving a famous missing-person case, White proved the superior reporter but ironically lost the editor's job to Kent because Taylor felt that the better reporter shouldn't be locked to a desk.[14] Sometime after retiring, Taylor discovered a filmstrip depicting Kent changing to Superman, but he promised Clark that he would never reveal the Man of Steel's secret identity. However, corrupt reporter Rod Pilgrim overheard the conversation and subsequently murdered Taylor to acquire the filmstrip. Superman confronted Pilgrim, convinced him that the images were part of a gag film, and turned the killer over to police.[15][5]

Earth-One

In Superman #366 (Dec. 1981) George Taylor was shown to be the editor of the Daily Planet on Earth-One before Perry White.[16] Taylor, who had succeeded a man named Morton, chose White to replace him when he retired at age sixty-five, an event that coincided with Clark Kent's junior year at Metropolis University.[17] George Taylor, Junior, became editor of the Daily Star in Star City and continuously tried to prove that Oliver Queen was the masked hero Green Arrow. George Taylor III was a record-breaking pole vaulter.[18][5]

Post-Crisis

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths wiped out the multiverse and replaced it with one Earth, the Metropolis Daily Star with George Taylor as editor was a rival paper to the Daily Planet, which was edited by Perry White.[19] Taylor was still in his position as late as 2002.[20][5] When Superman was cast into a Golden-Age reality during the "Dominus Effect" storyline of 1998, the original George Taylor briefly reappeared.[21]

The New 52

In the 2011 New 52 relaunch, George Taylor was reintroduced in Action Comics Vol.2 #8 as the publisher of the Daily Star.[22][23]

In other media
  • George Taylor appeared in season one of Adventures of Superman episode The Evil Three. In this version, he was a hotel manager that was murdered by his nephew who was searching the hotel for his fortune.
  • In the third-season episode "Delete" of the TV series Smallville, Max Taylor (full name George Maxwell Taylor and portrayed by Jim Thorburn) was the young Daily Planet editor killed by his assistant who was brainwashed by Molly Griggs.
  • The character also made an appearance in the 2020 animated movie Superman: Red Son.
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References
  1. Fleisher, Michael L. (2007). The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume Three: Superman. DC Comics. p. 463. ISBN 1-4012-1389-8.
  2. Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6.
  3. Action Comics (volume 1) #10 (March 1939)
  4. Superman (volume 1) #1 (July 1939)
  5. Greenberger, Robert; Pasko, Martin (2010). The Essential Superman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. p. 434. ISBN 978-0-345-50108-0.
  6. Action Comics (volume 1) #1 (June 1938)
  7. Action Comics (volume 1) #5 (October 1938)
  8. Action Comics (volume 1) #10 (March 1939)
  9. Superman (volume 1) #4 (Spring 1940)
  10. Action Comics (volume 1) #23 (April 1940)
  11. Action Comics (volume 1) #30 (November 1940)
  12. Superman (volume 1) #7 (November–December 1940)
  13. Action Comics (volume 1) #484 (June 1978)
  14. Superman Family #196 (November–December 1979)
  15. Superman Family #209 (August 1981)
  16. ""Superman 366 – Superman joins the Superman Revenge Squad, and Perry White gets the story," Babblings about DC Comics". WordPress.com. 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  17. Superman: The Secret Years #4 (May 1985)
  18. World's Finest Comics #244 (April–May 1977)
  19. The Adventures of Superman #451 (February 1989)
  20. Superman (volume 2) #183 (August 2002)
  21. ""George Taylor (Earth-Two)," DC Wikia". Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  22. ""George Taylor (Prime Earth)," DC Wikia". Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  23. ""George Taylor," Comic Vine". CBS Interactive, Inc. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
← Action Comics series was debuted with its historical first issue. See Action Comics and Action Comics 1 for more info and the previous timeline. Timeline of DC Comics (1930s)
June 1938 (See also: Superman, Origin of Superman, Krypton (comics), Kryptonian, Superman logo, Daily Star (DC Comics), Lois Lane and Superman and Lois Lane)		 The character Zatara was debuted by Fred Gaudineer. See Zatara for more info and next timeline.
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