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| Issue #001 18-April-1938 |
*[Please note that this version of the comic has only the Superman story and not the other stories that were originally part of the anthology.]
Most Amusing Panels Prize:
Superman dumps nameless bound & gagged woman on the Governor's lawn. Tells her to "make yourself comfortable." WTH?
I must confess, this will be my first time reading many of the "classics" in my collection. Yet, when I do read them, I am invariably confounded and amused, often in equal measure, and Action Comics #1 was no exception.
Surprising Details:
In Superman's first appearance in comics, this alien baby who has crash-landed on earth is not adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent as I had always believed him to be.
Rather he is "turned in" to an orphanage after his discovery at the crash site by a "passing motorist." (An alien spacecraft with a child therein was apparently not that shocking of an event back in 1938.)
Siegel and Shuster establish Superman's bona fides as a classic hero by having him complete astounding feats as an infant, much like the Greek Hercules who strangles two snakes whilst but a babe in his crib.
What really cracked me up with this issue, though, was the bound and gagged woman at the beginning of the story. Upon my first reading, I could find absolutely no explanation for her state of bondage nor for Superman's unceremonious depositing of her on the lawn at the governor's estate.It was only on the second reading that I realized the note Superman leaves behind to explain himself contains the secret as to the bound woman's identity: She's the bad guy!
(I clearly breezed by that little detail.)
The other totally amusing reading error I made was when Clark Kent, as Superman, attempts to rescue Lois Lane from Pushy Guy (who has kidnapped her because she had turned him down when he had tried to cut in on her and Clark on the dance floor).
After catching up to them at super-speed, Superman elects to violently shake the bad guys out of the getaway car -- the same car, alas, in which they are holding Lois hostage. (Poor girl!)
But, upon closer inspection, I realized that the red I had mistaken for part of Superman's cape was, in fact, Lois' red dress as she falls from the car into superman's waiting arms (or, more accurately, his waiting left arm as he has to use his right one to shake the car).
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| Dang, talk about heroes causing property damage...! |
The Cliffhanger:
In addition to rescuing Lois from her would-be kidnappers, Superman saves the innocent woman on death row (by depositing the real culprit on the Governor's lawn), stops a random wife-beater (after a phone tip to the newspaper where Clark Kent works), and threatens a Washington lobbyist who is trying to corrupt a Senator.The issue ends on a literal cliffhanger in which Superman is nonchalant about missing his jump between buildings in our nation's capitol with the terrified Lobbyist dangling in his arms. "Doggone it!"
Last Notions:
I find it difficult to bring a sophisticated modern reading to material as dated as this. Crafted in a different era to an audience with radically different experiences and expectations, I might as well be a human alien commenting on Martian artistry to the Poet Laureate of Mars.
Instead I intend to read the classic comics in my collection to better understand the legacy that informs the contemporary comics that I love.
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| Released: 18-April-1938 |
Issue: #001
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: June 1938
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 13 pages + Cover*
Story Title: "Superman: Champion of the Oppressed"
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