WC: ACTION COMICS #356

And so, we come to the end of the line. This is the final issue that I got in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, where I bought a box of close to 150 silver age comics from a guy I bumped into at the post office for $50.00. And it’s a good place to sign off, as it represents the moment when the Silver Age first began to give way to the Bronze Age, even though that transformation was still a few years off. This issue of ACTION COMICS represents the first Superman cover produced by artist Neal Adams, who would become associated with the character. Neal’s more realistic interpretation and modern approach helped bring the Man of Steel more in line with the times. Though here, he’s still illustrating the sort of kid-oriented story that was editor Mort Weisinger’s stock in trade. The look of the Annihilator’s juvenile delinquent son feels at least a decade out of date by 1967 when this issue came out.

What’s more, the actual story was illustrated by Wayne Boring, whose artwork also felt like a throwback to an earlier decade. So the visual disconnect between the cover and the interiors is massive. The story is the middle portion of a three-part adventure written by Leo Dorfman. By the latter 1960s, Mort had softened his opinion on continued stories and started to produce them regularly, particularly in ACTION COMICS. This one involved a new enemy for Superman, the Annihilator, and his similarly super-powered son.

The Annihilator is biochemist Karl Keller who lucked into some strange chemicals from Krypton that gave him an explosive touch. What’s more, Keller’s form is so charged with explosive energy that if he’s struck by Superman or shot by the authorities, he’ll explode like an atom bomb. So Superman can’t confront him directly, and he’s forced to protect the Annihilator from the rest of law enforcement as well as the criminal goes about his wave of crime. At a certain point, on a whim, the Annihilator decides to adopt a juvenile delinquent, Pete, as his son as a part of his secret identity cover. The kid is only too happy to have a super villain as a foster father, but he’s also sharp enough to realize that his new dad’s powers come from those chemical vials, and swipe them.

Quick pause here for another DC House Ad, this one for its short-lived licensed version of BOMBA THE JUUNGLE BOY. As super heroes cooled as a genre in the marketplace, DC and other publishers were actively struggling to find another category that would hit big and keep them in business.

The end result of this is that the Annihilator loses his power just before he can fatally strike Superman with his explosive punch. The Man of Steel theorizes that the Annihilator has built up a resistance to the chemicals that gave him his powers, but Pete dissuades him of that idea by demolishing the Washington Monument with one punch. So now Superman is back in the same situation that he was in at the start of the story, but with a volatile teenage no-goodnik in the driver’s seat. And that’s where Part Two is To Be Continued next issue! This story contained a decent amount of action, but it still felt like a throwback to some earlier age, a misguided attempt to appeal to the youth culture of the time, and woefully out of step. it’s also an instance where the cover illustrates the final moment from the story, a complete cheat to the reader that would require them to seek out the next issue if they wanted the closure that they thought they were buying.

Next came the Metropolis Mailbag letters page for the issue. It’s a pretty average representation of the page with not a whole lot to call out about it. So let’s move on.

The Supergirl story in this issue was written by an author who was a little bit more plugged into the times, that being college student Cary Bates. Here, he joins with artist eternal Jim Mooney for a story in which the Maid of Might appears to be losing her super-powers. But the eventual twist is even crazier than that. Returning from a mission overseas, Supergirl finds herself tired–something that should be impossible for her given her powers. As she goes about her business over the next couple of days, she finds her abilities waning as she uses them–they aren’t as potent as they should be, and they’re fading all the time.

A time out at this point for a house ad for TEEN BEAT, DC’s attempt to start up a magazine dedicated to popular teen culture. It wound up having to change its name to TEEN BEAM after an issue due to a conflict with another publisher. And while it represented another attempt for the firm to diversify its output, it was a bust as well.

After Supergirl gets weaker and weaker, she eventually falls out of the sky. Luckily, Superman becomes aware of her situation and flies to her aid. Unfortunately, this is a day he’s been dreading. When Kara recovers, superman tells her the truth: that she isn’t a human being at all, but rather an android created by her father Zor-El of Argo City to assist Superman on Earth. But the power source that Zor-El used to give his android super-powers was finite, and now it’s almost all used up. It’s a pretty crazy explanation, but Superman and Supergirl both treat it as being absolutely true, and Kara is heartbroken about this revelation concerning her true nature.

Another stop here to remind readers that the Justice League of America will be starring in the next 80 Page Giant filled with classic reprints. There are some weird proportions on that cover, particularly on Superman and the Flash.

Anyway, a short time later, Supergirl’s android body runs out of power and crashes lifelessly to Earth. And then Superman wakes up–this has all been a dream that he’s been having, not reality at all! Whew! He heads out to rendezvous with his cousin for an engagement they have, and is horrified to come across her lifeless android body! Oh, no, it IS true after all! And that’s when Supergirl wakes up from the dream that SHE’S been having, a dream that included the dreaming Superman. It’s a strange double-bluff that doesn’t do all that much to disguise the fact that this entire story was nothing more than a dream (but not a hoax or an imaginary tale!)

The Direct Currents page is back again this time, and we can see the beginnings of the changes to the DC line. Notably, the cover images are less staged and more visceral, more in the manner of this issue’s Neal Adams cover. This was part of an attempt to make DC’s wares more appealing on the stands. Carmine Infantino was brought on as cover designer for the line, creating sketches that were stronger on visuals and with less emphasis on story concept to sell the issue. This was the beginning of his rise to power within DC.

And the inside back cover features an ad for DC’s efforts in television, including the SUPERMAN/AQUAMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE, which would also include segments starring the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Atom, the Justice League of America and the Teen Titans. And of course the live action BATMAN television series, then entering its third and final season, was also spotlighted, including new addition Batgirl.