WC: ACTION COMICS #322

The title that I got the most issues of in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988 was definitely ACTION COMICS. There were close to twice as many issues of this book as anything else in that long box. Which is understandable–ACTION COMICS was selling in phenomenal numbers during the early Silver Age, and these books weren’t especially prized by collectors just yet. They were simply too common, and their stories aimed at a different audience than the people who were then buying back issues. Still, every issue of ACTION COMICS was entertaining, especially if you could get on the beam with the ethos and interconnectivity of what editor Mort Weisinger and his creative teams were building. These weren’t so much typical super hero stories as they were fantasy fairy tales with a science fiction bent to them. Mort left the cataclysmic battles to Marvel, the Man of Steel would seldom sully his hands in that manner during Mort’s tenure.

Instead, Mort’s assorted Superman stories always had a simple hook that could be appreciated by his young readership. In this story, it’s all about Superman becoming cowardly for some reason, despite still possessing all of his phenomenal super-powers. What could scare the Man of Steel so/ That’s what you had to fork over your twelve cents to find out. Once you did, you’d be able to experience this tale by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Al Plastino. Plastino was another of those journeymen whom Mort liked to use but whose stiff style never appealed to me. He also constantly made both Superman and Clark Kent look middle aged at the youngest, which made a certain amount of sense–Superman was positioned as a father figure, as an adult, throughout most of this era, even if his own emotions often made him act in a way comparable with his readership.

Unfortunately, as was too often the case for all of DC’s books during this period, the cover turned out to be a bit of a put-on, a lie to get readers to buy the book. In the actual story, the Superman Revenge Squad zaps Superman with a cowardice projector while he’s in his Clark Kent identity. This causes Kent to react even more afraid than his typical performance–he just about can’t control himself in any fearful situation. But once he changes into his Superman attire, he’s just fine–it’s only as Kent that he’s terrified, despite what the cover had intimated. (We see the cover image as a fantasy sequence as Superman considers what may happen to him should his fearfulness spread to his costumed identity–a clear cheat.) Experimenting, Superman assumes a new secret identity, Brad Dexter, and learns that he’s not cowardly as Brad, still only as Clark.

A quick pause here for a full page house ad for the second SECRET ORIGINS collection, which was part of the 80 Page Giant series. The first SECRET ORIGINS collection was a wildly popular and influential release, containing reprints of the origin stories of many of DC’s new heroes. This second edition followed suit, though it was a bit less well focused than the original as there weren’t all that many popular heroes left whose beginnings hadn’t been collected in the original edition.

But Superman can’t live without also being Clark Kent, and so he attempts to break his cowardice in that identity without a positive result. Eventually, Supergirl shows up, and she’s able to do what Superman cannot by dressing her cousin in his Clark Kent clothes mid-feat without him realizing it. Once he’s acted with bravery while dressed as Clark, the compulsion towards cowardice is lifted and Superman is back to normal. The restored Man of Steel is able to trick the Revenge Squad saucer when it comes back to finish the job, feigning cowardice in order to get close enough to their ship so that he can toss it into the waiting arms of the space police.

In the back-up slot, and almost as popular as the Superman lead stories was Supergirl’s solo series. This adventure was the work of writer Leo Dorfman and artist Jim Mooney, who regularly handled the Maid of Might’s exploits. This story is a sort of riff on the induction of Superboy into the Legion of Super Heroes, but with a different twist. It concerns a trio of heroines–Plant Girl, Time Girl and Music Maid– from the planet Feminax, an all-woman planet, who invite Supergirl to join their ranks and receive an award for her heroism. Flattered by all of this attention, Supergirl accompanies them.

The three female heroes show Supergirl around Feminax, in particular a museum dedicated to her and her other famous super-relatives. But something is strange about the exhibits, they all showcase moments in which Supergirl was humiliated or tortured. When Supergirl questions this, her three guides fess up. They aren’t super heroes at all, and their powers were cleverly faked. What they really are are criminals, as is everyone on Feminax–a Sisterhood of Evil. What’s more, they’ve got a prism mounted in their citadel that distorts the rays of their yellow sun, making Supergirl’s powers go haywire. In this state, she’s easily captured by the Sisterhood and imprisoned.

Searching around her cell for a means of escape, Supergirl comes upon the bodies of three actual super-heroines in a state of suspended animation. Supergirl’s super-mentality isn’t affected by the prism’s distorted sun-rays, and so she attempts to use her super-mind to roust the three heroines from their sleep, reasoning that they can help her to escape. But this turns out to be a boneheaded move as well, as when the three slumberers revive, they reveal that they are actually three of the most evil women in Earth’s history: Lucrezia Borgia, Lady Macbeth and Mata Hari. The Sisterhood summoned them from out of time to aid in their nefarious schemes, but the process didn’t work correctly, so they needed Supergirl’s help to revive them. Now that she’s done so, the three join forces with the Sisterhood to bring about the destruction of law and order in the universe. And it’s all Supergirl’s fault! How will she ever prevent this from happening/ The answer would have to wait until part Two, as it’s here that the story is To Be Continued!

And the book closes with a 2/3 page Metropolis Mailbag letters page, which also includes a trio of Coming Super-Attractions! Superman is forced to tell the truth and reveal his secret identity! Lois Lane and Lana Lang gamble to see who’ll become the bride of a super hero from another world! Superman is frozen in time! The letters page itself includes a note from Irene Vartahoff, who would go on to work at Marvel in the years to come.