1939 - April

 Action Comics #11, April 1939

Cover: 

• The cover shows an emerging submarine slamming into a warship, causing some of the warship’s crew to fall overboard.
• The cover art has no apparent connection to any of the interior content.
• The cover is signed by Zatara artist Fred Guardineer.
• The cover boasts, “64 Pages of Thrills!”
• The cover also reads, “Appearing in This Issue and in Every Issue Superman!

Story: 

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

Fabulous Firsts: 

• On top of a “Henrietta” gag-page is an announcement for “THE BATMAN! This thrilling adventure strip starts in the May issue of DETECTIVE COMICS! Don’t miss it!”  This is possibly the first time there is a mention of Batman in print. [See Oddities and Analyses]

• First use of “x-ray eyesight”

Origin:

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

Costume:

• The costume is essentially the same as it was in the previous story (blue suit, blue boots, red shorts, red cape, yellow belt, triangular yellow emblem with yellow “S” on the chest, although in many panels the “S” is uncolored, or not even there.
• Like in the previous story, there are several panels where Superman’s cape appears to be wrapped around his neck rather than tucked in the back only.

Powers:

But what is he seeing?

• “Racing faster than a bullet”
• “Leaping over skyscrapers”
• “Lifting and rending huge weights”
• “Possessing an impenetrable skin”
• “Springing great distances”
• “X-ray eyesight and super-acute hearing”

Characterization:

• Superman’s scheme to get Bronson and Meeks is somewhat elaborate, with multiple steps along the way, definitely his most thought-out plan yet.
• Similar to how he handled the slums in an earlier story, Superman has no problem intentionally destroying personal property.

Supporting Cast:

Ankles bound together or shoes untied?

• Unnamed News Reporter
• Unnamed Police Sergeant
• Mr. Meeks, stock broker
• Mr. Bronson, Meeks’ partner
• Unnamed Owners of “Black Gold” Oil Stock
• Unnamed Manager of “Black Gold” Oil
• Unnamed Watchman of “Black Gold” Oil
• Unnamed “Black Gold” Oil Workers
• Louie the Rat, hired thug
• Nate the Snake, hired thug
• Unnamed Limousine Driver
• Unnamed Editor of the Daily Star

Synopsis:

While hanging out in the Police Station Press Room, Clark hears of a call come of a suicide. Apparently two stock brokers named Meeks and Bronson have been selling bad stocks, particularly of “Black Gold” Oil and refusing to buy them back. Clark, under the guise of “Homer Ramsey”, visits all owners of “Black Gold” Oil and buys their stock from them. He then visits the “Black Gold” Oil drilling site, only to find that the drill is not operational.

At night, Superman breaks into the drilling site, fixes the drill, and begins drilling, ultimately hitting a massive gush of oil. This excites Meeks & Bronson as they try to buy back all the “Black Gold” Oil stock at pennies on the dollar before the word gets out, only to find that the stock has already been purchased by Homer Ramsey.

Meeks & Bronson hire two thugs to kill Homer Ramsey, which they fail to do since Homer is actually Superman. Superman then sells the stock to Meeks & Bronson for $1,000,000. As soon as the transaction is complete, Superman gathers up the stock brokers, brings them to the drilling site, and proceeds to destroy the oil derrick, rendering the stock again to be worthless.

Favorite Quotes:

• “Wh-who are you?” … “Just someone who hates your guts thru and thru!”
• “From now on, stick to selling shoe-laces!”

Oddities and Analyses:

• Clark Kent disguises himself as “Homer Ramsey” by simply taking off his glasses. Wouldn’t that make him look like Superman? Usually this would not be a big problem except that some characters interact with both “Ramsey” and Superman.
• Clark’s fellow reporter also claims that Meeks & Bronson have cheated him out of money, but he seems to do nothing about it.
• Superman not only tackles the night watchman, but he ties him up as well.
• Superman walking away from the suddenly gushing oil derrick looks strangely like Iron Man walking away from an explosion in the feature film Iron Man.
• A “Black Gold” OIl manager calls Meeks & Bruson “in Cleveland”. I guess they haven’t received the memo from the daily strip that these stories take place in Metropolis.
• It would be cool if Louie the Rat and Nate the Snake became recurring characters.
• Although the text mentions Superman using x-ray vision (for the first time!), we don’t get to see what Superman is seeing in the moment.

  

  No need to use the door...

• When Superman arrives at Bronson’s home, he literally busts through the wall into Bronson’s bedroom. At Meeks’ house, Superman politely uses the door. 
• Superman utterly destroys the oil derrick. Couldn’t Meeks & Bronson sue for destruction of property, especially now that they are the sole owners? Also, does this not put out of work a whole group of dedicated workers who had nothing to do with Meeks and Bronson’s schemes? 
• And couldn’t this oil help the US become energy independent?
• It is never mentioned what Superman does with the $1,000,000 he gets from Meeks & Bronson. Has Superman begun to use his powers for personal profit?
• Lois Lane does not appear in this story.
• The last panel reads, “More Startling Adventures of Superman (Man of Steel) Action Comics.”
• Fourteen pages after the Superman story, on top of a gag page featuring the character Henrietta, is an announcement for The Batman, coming in the next month’s issue of Detective Comics. This announcement appears in all comics published by Detective Comics, Inc., with the April cover date. It did not appear in titles published by DC’s “sister” company, All-American Publications, Ltd. 
• However, it seems that Action Comics #11 was the first title released that month, making this the very first time the name of the character The Batman is seen in print!
• It is interesting that The Batman is not hyphenated as The Bat-Man, as it is written in the first Batman story.

Very Tony Stark-like ... or is Iron Man very early-Superman-like?

Apropos of Nothing:

• I often wonder how Zatara keeps his hat on … it must be magic.

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