1939 - January

 Action Comics #8, January 1939

Cover: 

• A colonial-era dressed soldier, perhaps European, is grappling with a traditionally-dressed Native American.
• The cover is supposedly an homage to a picture about James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans”.
• The cover boasts “64 Pages of Thrills!”
• The cover has no apparent connection to any of the interior content.
• The cover is signed by Zatara artist Fred Guardineer.
• There is no mention of Superman on the cover.

Story: 

• “Untitled” - 13 pages, credited to “Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster”
• First story in the anthology-style book

Fabulous Firsts:

• Possible first use of Super-Hearing (see Powers and the 1938 - June post)
• First time Superman is described as “The Iron Man”

Origin:

• This story contains no mention of Superman’s origins.

Costume:

• Superman’s boots are back to red after a one-story use of yellow boots.
• Superman’s chest emblem is entirely yellow throughout this story, except for the panels where it is mysteriously missing.

Powers:

• “Leaping over towering buildings”
• “Rending steel in his bare hands”
• “LIfting incredible weights high overhead”
• “Impervious to bullets because of an unbelievably tough skin”
• “Racing at a speed hitherto unwitnessed by mortal eyes”
• “Though Clark is seated far across the room, his sensitive ears catch the boys’ remarks.”

Characterization:

• Superman understands the boys’ situation beyond their criminal behavior and exhibits empathy as he considers their living conditions.
• Superman also understands the position of the authorities as they attempt to stop him.
• However, Superman behaves as if it is all right to rescue people apprehended by the police. He also expresses not much faith in “the court of law.”
• This is another story where Superman behaves somewhat erratically and exhibits questionable judgment.
  

Supporting Cast:

• Unnamed Judge
• Frankie Marello, juvenile delinquent
• Mrs. Marello, Frankie’s mother
• Box-Ears, Frankie’s friend
• Pinky, Frankie’s friend
• Nick, Frankie’s friend
• Unnamed fourth friend of Frankie
• Gimpy, “loathsome corrupter of youth”
• Unnamed Police Officers
• Unnamed Shouting News-Boy
• Unnamed Slum Residents
• Unnamed Firefighters
• Unnamed National Guardsmen
• Unnamed Bomber Pilot
• Police Chief Burke

Synopsis:

     After a judge sentences a juvenile to two years of reform school, Superman decides to help out other troubled youth by stopping them from committing robberies, rescuing them from police custody, punishing the crook who has “corrupted” them, and destroying their tenement housing..

     Because of Superman’s destruction of the slum, the U.S. military is called in to eliminate him, but Superman escapes. In the weeks to come, new, better housing is built to replace the old buildings Superman had destroyed. Later, the Chief of Police confides in Clark Kent that while publicly he is calling for Superman’s arrest, he thinks Superman “did a splendid thing.”

Favorite Quotes:

• “Shoot if you must – But after you’ve had your fun, go away before I get annoyed!”

Oddities and Analyses:

• In Action Comics #1, Superman is able to hear clearly a conversation inside a building while he is outside by a closed window. I believe this to be his first use of Super-Hearing. However, in this story Clark is described as “seated far across the room” but is able to hear the boys’ conversation because of his “sensitive ears”. It is not explicitly called Super-Hearing, but the ability is clear.
  
• Panel 7 on Page 2 reminds me of George Reeves jumping out of windows in the Adventures of Superman television program of the 1950s.
• I like how Superman face-palms Gimpy, causing Gimpy to fall to the floor.
• Superman really lays into Gimpy. Next, Superman punches Gimpy, causing him to flip upside-down as he smashes into a china cabinet.
• Superman then dumps Gimpy headfirst into a barrel of tar. Why there is a barrel of tar in Gimpy’s home is never explained.
• Superman grabbing Box-Ears before the police do is one thing, but picking up a squad car with one hand and with the other hand dragging out the apprehended Nick is something else. Superman is really interfering with police business here, aiding and abetting felons.
• I feel bad for the kid with the red hat; he never gets a name.
• Notice that when Gimpy happens upon Superman and the boys, he looks completely fine. There is no evidence that not too long beforehand (an hour, maybe?) Superman beat the crap out of him. There are no remnants of tar on his clothes, either.
• I love that Shuster took three panels to show Superman outracing a bullet.
• After unsuccessfully trying to scare the boys straight, using many of the same tactics he used against Alex Greer in Action Comics #1, Superman is at a loss as to how to help them. That is until he makes the rash and morally questionable decision to just destroy their homes. The Superman of the 1950s might have done a similar thing, but he definitely would have been the one to rebuild the homes, too. Superman of the 1930s does not consider these things and leaves that work for others to do.
• However, I can’t help but to wonder if the former tenants were able to afford the new housing. Did Superman just make worse the city’s homelessness problem?
  
• Things really escalate rather quickly in this story. It starts with Superman defying the police and then engaging in wanton destruction. But it continues with the National Guard being called in, along with “a squadron of aerial-bombers”. Does the National Guard have bombers? Or is this the full on U.S. Army coming in and dropping bombs on the city to stop Superman? Is it actually Zack Snyder who wrote this story?
• There is no mention of the Daily Star or Clark’s editor in this story, but Superman is seen reading a copy of News-Press.
• In many panels, Superman has a tuft of hair coming down his forehead, somewhat like the iconic curl that many artists will use on the character.
• Lois Lane is not in this story.
• But, “Acquiring Super-Strength” is back! In this installment, kids are encouraged to glance at objects of differing distances, like faraway telephone poles and pencils in hand,  in order to acquire “Super-Vision”. First of all, I’m not sure this works, but it is interesting that this lesson comes before Superman has exhibited any vision powers of his own. Maybe this is how he got them!

Apropos of Nothing:

• The inside back cover includes a gag feature called Oscar the Gumshoe drawn by Bob Kane. Of course, in a few months, Kane will be credited with the creation of the other focus of this blog: The Bat-Man (as he was often called in the early days)!!

All comic-related images are the copyright of DC Entertainment.