Retro Comics are Awesome

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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Superman #6 concluded

The Construction Scam

Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Paul Cassidy, Paul Lauretta

Grimes Brothers department store collapses on opening day, and Clark Kent is sent to cover the disaster. He can quickly see that the building materials are poor, and when he heads to Globe Construction to investigate, he finds a dead man in the office. Though Sergeant Clancy believes the man killed himself due to the presence of a gun in his hand, Clark's microscopic vision shows him that the man was strangled by someone who had only four fingers on his right hand. Clark investigates until editor Taylor pulls him off the story and sends him and Lois to write up the costs of the new municipal stadium.Roughed up and kept out by a worker, Clark once again heads to see the owner of the construction company, this time Jackson Construction, and notes that he has four fingers. Time for Superman to investigate!

The stadium is, of course, constructed of poor quality materials, as Superman suspected. There's an action sequence as the workmen try to stop him and Superman toys with them before rushing a couple of injured men to the hospital. Later he eavesdrops on the owner of Jackson Construction having a talk with the mayor and giving him a cut from the department store construction deal. Superman confronts the mayor (and there's a fun scene where Superman holds the door to the mayor's office shut against security using just his pinky finger) before kidnapping him and the head of Jackson Construction, making them sit safely and watch as the stadium collapses and Superman does his best to keep in intact while the people inside get out. Lois is at her best here for once, telling Superman to forget her and "save those children!" She's hurt and he takes her to the hospital. After forcing the mayor and the head of the construction company to confess to graft and using inferior materials, he returns to check on Lois as Clark. She needs a blood transfusion and he donates, using his fingernail to penetrate his own skin so he can give blood, after which Lois recovers almost instantly to the amazement of the doctors. Lois is, for once, grateful to Clark for saving her life.

This is another variant on the "inferior construction materials scam" story that we've seen elsewhere in this era, but executed reasonably well, though it's obvious who the villains are and what's going on from early on. Superman extracts another forced confession after terrifying the criminals, which seems to be a favorite tactic of his. And Sergeant Clancy makes another appearance. We'll see him as a regular if minor supporting character for some time.George Taylor is still the editor of the newspaper, but I think Perry White will be replacing him soon. It's interesting to see Lois get a blood transfusion from Superman (whose blood conforms to all known blood types) and if this were a modern story, we'd surely have seen more consequences from that, rather than it just being another way to demonstrate Superman's many powers.
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Action Comics #29
October 1940

The LIfe Insurance Con
Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Jack Burnley

She said to pick her up at two o'clock! Can it be that Lois is finally breaking down and recognizing my charm at last?

Clark invites Lois for a drive, and she accepts, but is then an hour late having forgotten about poor Clark. And then she wants him to drive her to the slums. Lois wants to visit Mrs. Davis, whose sister and sole means of support recently died, meaning Mrs. Davis is off to the poorhouse. But she's not worried, she's bought an insurance policy from Mr. Fullerton. But poor Mrs. Davis has not been feeling well, and when she offers Lois some of her "aspirin" that she purchased at Gram Drugstore for a headache, Clark is able to tell that it's actually a slow acting poison. No points for guessing that the two plots are related. The splash page image of a mob attacking Gram and the druggist firing at the mob only for Superman to deflect the bullets is repeated here in a smaller form. And Sergeant Casey makes another futile attempt to arrest Superman, who just laughs and leaves the scene. Lois attempts to investigate Fullerton and is nearly killed for her troubles, only for Superman to rescue her, as usual. There's a bigger fish involved besides Fullerton in the form of political boss Martin, local ward politician. Superman busts up the gang with evidence from their safe, and as the plot summary makes clear, one man sold insurance while another would kill the policy holders and collect the money, and they got cover from Martin.

First off, more Jack Burnley art is always awesome. For some reason the splash page image of Superman leaping forward to intercept the bullet just jumps out at me, possibly because it's one of the splash images chosen for the omnibus as well. Second, the last issue of Action had the hand-drawn Superman logo, and so did the individual stories in Superman #6 so this is the first time we see the proper logo on the splash page, at least that I've noticed. Finally, the plot seems a bit unlikely, since it seems like a number of deaths in such a short time would be hard to pass off as accidents. But then we don't know how long this scheme has been going on or how many victims there are, so I guess it's a plausible enough comic book plot. I do like the multiple layers of villains, which is sometimes a characteristic of these early Superman stories.
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Superman #7
November-December 1940

Metropolis's Most Savage Racketeers
Writer: Jerry Siegel Pencils: Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring Inks: Wayne Boring

"Super-strength is pitted against the twisted intellect of a super-criminal!" is an apt description of many of these early Superman stories where he doesn't face off against some opponent who is his physical equal, but he instead has to unravel a plot of some sort by non-powered criminals. So we've seen this type of story before, but this one is notable because it's the first appearance of editor Perry White, replacing George Taylor. He's right there in the first panel, though we see the back of his head, not his face. White will be the editor from here on out, and I've wondered since I first read this story just why the editor, a minor character at best in the series so far, was changed at all. I really don't know, but it's good to see Perry. He'll get some characterization down the road, while poor old George Taylor never made much of an impression at all.

Clark and Lois are sent to interview prosecuting attorney George Lash, a man who has a high opinion of himself, much to the disgust of Lois. Lash has arrested underworld kings Moran, Billings and Norton on conspiracy charges. But at lunch, all three crooks are out of jail and willing to talk freely with Clark and Lois. Later that day, Superman decides this means he'd better check in on Lash, who he finds apparently drunk, though he determines that someone drugged him to make it appear he was drunk. It seems at first that this is just a case of ruining the man's reputation, but then it turns out the prosecutor's wife has been murdered, and Lash is blamed. Superman confronts him but is convinced that he's innocent and is being framed. Superman takes his usual trip through the underworld, ripping safes apart with his bare hands and shrugging off electrocuted steel doors in his pursuit of evidence. He tricks Nick Norton, the actual killer, into confessing by making him believe he is about to get a rash from some poison ivy that was in the bushes he hid in while framing Lash. It was all psychological though, there was no poison ivy, but Norton believed it and confessed his guilt. And I have to admit, it's fun to see Superman using a wits as much as his strength.
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Superman #7 continued....

The Exploding Citizens
Writer: Jerry Siegel Pencils: Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring Inks: Wayne Boring

This is a bizarre story. There's no two ways about it, a story where the inhabitants of a city are all turning into glass is very strange, particularly for this era of Superman. At the lake resort, Gay City, people are turning to glass and shattering, and get a stay at home order from the mayor. Clark is sent to cover the story. Lois is refused permission to go because "it's too dangerous for a woman", but she of course goes anyway. Meanwhile Superman, after stopping a runaway train, arrives and is misdirected by the police commissioner as some crooks try to kill him by dropping a building on him, before he notes rays which no one else can see coming from a tower near the lake.

So while Superman is dealing with a missing scientist and the gas he is using on the city to turn people into glass, Lois is sitting dead still, afraid she'll turn into glass and shatter if she moves. Superman is able to apply an antidote to her and ultimately the entire town, and then stop what is actually a fairly mundane plot, with the police commissioner and his cohorts trying to scare people out of town to buy properties cheap and sell for a huge profit. I was expecting an extraordinary crime to match the extraordinary means used to perpetrate it, but no such luck.

On the last panel... where did Lois suddenly get the idea that she wanted to learn Superman's true identity? I can't recall her suspecting him of having any other identity prior to this. This may well be the first instance of her interest in unmasking him, so to speak.
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Superman #7 continued, and I have to say, I enjoy these older issues with four stories per issue. It really did give the creators a chance to do a variety of plots every time.

Superman's Cleanup Campaign
Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Wayne Boring

I really like the splash page for this story, with Superman in mid air, holding a car in one hand with the city skyscrapers in the background. Those crooks throwing grenades at him aren't too bright though, as even the thickest criminal ought to realize that if by some chance they did manage to kill him, he's the only thing keeping them suspended safely and they're likely to plunge to their deaths if Superman goes down. Even so, great image, and the event depicted actually happens in story.

"Red" Tyler guns a man down on the street in full view of several pedestrians and is arrested, but he's sure he will escape conviction, which he does thanks in large part to Metropolis public prosecutor Ralph Dale. Clark convinces editor White that the Planet should champion an honest man in the next election, and Clark convinces young lawyer Bert Runyan to run for the office against Dale.Of course this gets the political machines under Nat Burly (great name) after Runyan, leading Superman to get involved. He stops two of Burly's paid assassins from attacking Runyan, and then he prevents Runyan from being framed for drinking, driving and killing a pedestrian. Despite strongarm shenanigans during the election, Runyan is close to Dale's vote count, until the votes are "counted" in the 43rd ward (voter fraud alert!) giving the crooked Dale the victory. Superman forces Burly's operative who stuffed the ballot box to confess live on air during Dale's victory speech, and thus blows the whole scheme. Runyan wins the election, thus putting an honest man into Metropolis city government.

It's hard to say this type of plot has dated at all. Overt and obvious strongarm tactics aside, crooked politicians and trying to ensure honest elections are a staple of American history, so this story is as relevant today as it was in 1940. If only we had Superman around to clean up election fraud!
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Wrapping up Superman #7....

The Black Gang
Writer: Jerry Siegel Pencils: Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring Inks:Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring

The Black Gang specialize in night club robberies, targeting the rich almost exclusively. Editor White is unhappy that the Morning PIctorial is getting all the news on this group, so he sends Lois and Clark out to get the story. Lois decides the best way to do that is to pretend to be a rich couple and go out on the town to investigate. She bleaches her hair blond, and insists that Clark remove his glasses. Reluctantly he does so, worried that she'll recognize him as Superman, but she just says that he's actually handsome. The two head out to a club and generally act like a couple of obnoxious wealthy diners, tipping liberally and making a spectacle of themselves in the hopes of attracting the attention of the Black Gang.

They are approached by Peter Peeker (not Peter Parker!) of the Morning PIctorial, and then a handsome gent offers to dance with Lois, while a lady comes over to the table to greet him and ends up putting the moves on Clark. It's pretty obvious that these two are in the gang, though Lois and Clark don't seem to have put two and two together just yet. The lady claims a headache and asks Clark to escort her home, trying to put the moves on him along the way, but he's not interested and keeps up the "timid Clark" persona. The Black Gang intercept the car, force them off the road and try to rob them. Clark's had enough and runs off, with bullets hitting him but the gang thinking that they've missed him. Ten pages into the story and Superman finally makes an appearance. As suspected, the lady was a decoy for the gang, and Superman follows their car back to their hideout, where he rescues Lois and finds out that Peter Peeker is involved with the gang, explaining how his newspaper gets so much news about them.

The Morning PIctorial has shown up before in Superman #5 and 6, with Peter Fib and I.M. Lyon supporting shady politicians in issue #5 and "Scoop" Carter in issue #6, so this paper has regularly been set up as a tabloid rival to the Daily Planet with less than honest reporters. Therefore it's no surprise to see another crook acting as a reporter for that paper. Much of this story is a bit slow with too much time spent on Clark and Lois playing the part of rich idiots while Clark gets jealous as we wait for the shoe to drop and for the crooks to appear. The fact that Lois does not recognize Superman as himself when his glasses are removed is interesting, given that she's met Superman many times at this point. It won't be the last time this happens!
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Action Comics #31
December 1940

In the Grip of Morpheus
Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Jack Burnley

We're back to the proper Superman logo rather than the hand-drawn version, and we get more great Jack Burnley art with this story about the inhabitants of a small town of Brentville all falling asleep, including Lois as Clark, driving her to her vacation, follows the road into town. Clark is, of course, immune to whatever is causing this. Swiping a couple of gas masks from a fire station, he stops at a house on the outskirts where he hopes people are awake, and they are. Borrowing their phone to call the sheriff of another town, he's chased from the house and called a liar by a man named Kolb, who tries to brain him with a wrench. A group of crooks turns out to have gassed everyone in town so they can rob with impunity, until Superman stops them. The true brains behind it all is Baron Munsdorf, who wants the sleeping gas formula for his country. Though not named as such, he's clearly meant to be a Nazi spy. Pearl Harbor is a year away, but the war in Europe is obviously on the mind of Jerry Siegel, and we'll see more of this type of villain in the near future.

Superman foils the plot, even though Munsdorf tries to kill him with an "ultra-modern atom gun". "The shock is terrific," Superman says, "but my frame of steel can withstand it!" In the end it's the energy from the gun that kills Munsdorf. He shoots at the Professor who invented the sleeping gas, Superman blocks the shot with his hand, then the energy from the blast kills Munsdorf when it reflects back as Superman reaches for him.

Clark knocks Lois out with a nerve pinch twice in this story, and she spends most of this story asleep or unconscious, being carried from one location to another by Superman. It's pretty amusing. As an early "Nazi spy" story it works fairly well, though the structure is typical with Superman slowly unraveling the mystery by working his way through layers of bad guys and withstanding attacks that would kill anyone else. He loves to eavesdrop at windows too.

This wraps up volume one of the Superman Golden Age omnibus, and it's a great collection. I am still enthused for these giant collected editions of early DC, and I can understand why Superman was so popular back in the day. We've started to see some storytelling formulas develop already, so sometimes the plots are predictable, but the action is fun and the dialogue often injects something lively into the stories. Golden Age Superman has a distinctive way of speaking where he will often offer a wry or sarcastic comment or mock the bad guys for being so ineffective against him. The art is crude by modern standards, but I've long since gotten used to it and it hardly bothers me any more. Good stuff all around, and I'm looking forward to re-reading volume 2.
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome

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Golden Age Superman Omnibus vol. 2

This book collects Superman stories from Action Comics #32-47, Superman #8-15, World's Best Comics #1, World's Finest Comics #2-5, running from January 1941 through April 1942, so not quite a year and a half worth of Superman stories.

Action Comics #32
January 1941

The Gambling Racket in Metropolis
Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Jack Burnley

This isn't the first anti-gambling story that begins with Superman stopping a suicide. Action Comics #16 opens in a similar fashion, and of course Superman has stopped several suicides, including Larry Trent's back in Superman #2. So the opening feels familiar, and again I'm struck by the fact that this comic is not yet aimed primarily at a younger audience, because I can't imagine a kid's comic of the day dealing with a heavy topic like suicide due to guilt over blowing the family income by gambling. It's good to see Clark Kent abandoning his cowardly persona while investigating reports of the Preston Club being a secret illegal gambling club as he demands answers from the police chief and from the mayor. When Clark threatens to write an article, the Mayor offers to lead a raid on the club, but upon arrival it appears to be nothing but a social club.

Clark is not convinced, and as Superman learns that the mayor tipped Preston off, allowing him to hide the evidence. White sends Clark and Lois back into investigate, hoping to catch Preston off guard. When that doesn't work, Lois goes in disguise, hoping to get the goods, but she's caught, and here's where the story takes an odd turn, as Preston forces Lois to drink some drug that blanks out her memory. He's given the same thing to the Mayor's son to establish a hold over the Mayor. Lois finally walks up on Clark changing into Superman and he thinks his secret is out, but she is under the influence of the drug and doesn't know what's going on. The doctor can't help her, so we get another new power displayed by Superman: "mental hypnosis", where he gazes into her eyes and concentrates and Lois recovers.

And then Superman does what he should have done from the start: after taking pictures of the gambling through the window with his "krypto ray-gun" (a gun shaped camera that projects pictures on the wall) he just busts into the club and breaks up the gambling ring, smashing gambling equipment and slugging the thugs sent to stop him. "No more hard-earned savings will be wasted here! OUT OF MY WAY!" He really could have done this back on page three and saved everyone a lot of trouble, but at any rate, Preston runs, goes to see the Mayor, and since Lois is there he takes them both hostage. Superman cures the Mayor's son, rescues him and Lois, turns over the evidence, and though the Mayor thinks his reputation is ruined, Lois promises to tell how he was coerced.

I never get tired of Superman sticking up for the little guy, and I never get tired of Jack Burnley's art. Starting the story with a gambling victim really puts a human face on the problem and gets me squarely behind Superman's efforts to put an end to the illegal gambling. It's not a random problem that's bad just because it's bad, it's already nearly wrecked one family in Metropolis, and doubtless has affected others. At the same time, it does feel like this is something we've seen before, though I think generally when Siegel has a second run at a topic, he often improves on the initial effort.
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Superman #8
January-February 1941

The Giants of Professor Zee
Writer: Jerry Siegel Pencils: Paul Cassidy

The mad scientists are at it again! At a "hidden retreat within a semi-extinct volcano" out west, Professor Zee and Dr. Cardos have learned how to increase the size of living organisms, and they're ready to try it on humans so they can launch "a new, a great civilization!" I guess that civilization requires money, because the first giant we see robs the U. S. mint. The army can't stop the giant, who steps on cars, kicks over trains and tears up forests, laughing all the while. When news of all this comes over the radio, Lois has to go investigate of course, but Superman also heads for the west coast, enthused that he might face some "real opposition" for once.

The plot is rather thin, but the action is fun as Superman rescues a car and its passengers from a giant cat, demonstrates that he can shout very loud, gets buried in a glacier and fights the giants. If you thought the "semi extinct" volcano might be significant, you're right: Superman stirs it to life somehow by throwing a giant boulder into the crater, and rescues Lois and the Governor and his daughter as a flood caused by the lava-melted glacier kills all the giants. Zee and Cardos are trampled to death by the giants as they try to escape the flood. Interestingly there is a strange glass wall that Superman really struggles to break through, so I guess Zee and Cardos have other talents besides creating giants, if they can engineer a type of glass that even Superman struggles to break.

I enjoy this type of "mad scientist unleashes chaos" storyline, and it's a change from gangsters, giving Superman a fantastic foe to pit his strength against. But I have to chuckle at the lack of imagination of these brilliant men, who can't think of anything better to do with their amazing scientific discovery other than to rob banks.
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A few weeks ago I bought the three Green Lantern: Sector 2814 tpbs, which between the three volumes collects Green Lantern 172-200. I'm about halfway through volume 2, and after reading these I can understand why some GL fans characterize Hal Jordan as "whiny". He's certainly at his most entitled "me first" attitude ever as the story opens, tired of being out in space (the opposite of the current series, where he really just does not want to go to Earth at all), lecturing the Guardians, and finally quitting the Corps entirely when they call him out to save a planet while Ferris Air is under attack. And he's not nice about the resignation either, he burns his bridges. The Guardians wait a bit, and then when it looks like the resignation is for real, they offer the job to John Stewart, who refuses at first but finally accepts. And of course Hal knows who the new Green Lantern is, and surprise, surprise, he's having second thoughts and regrets about quitting the Corps. The story is interesting, and it's nice to see where John gets his start as a full time Green Lantern, but it does Hal Jordan no favors at all. Maybe he'll learn some humility by the end of all this.
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