1. Action Comics vol.1 #34 - cover date March 1941 By 1941, Lois in near-constant peril has become a staple of the Superman stories. Kidnapped by crooks, imprisoned by petty tyrants, threatened with poisonous gas, death traps and super-scientific raybeams of all varieties and not to mention nearly becoming the victim of everyday tenement fires and collapsing buildings any given day of the week, threats to Lois’ life and limb happen so frequently that it runs the risk of becoming so much white noise in the background – ho-hum, she’s fallen off a building again. To keep Lois’ danger fresh, Superman’s writers had a few tools at their disposal; most often, they chose to simply replace Lois with another damsel they could conveniently distress. Having just engineered some timely escapes in a rustic setting for Miss Lane in the last issue of Action, it would have been repetitive to have Lois wander from trouble in the logging camp to trouble in the mines. Enter Doris Laurey, daughter of a coal magnate and recent inheritor of his profitable mines. The blonde Miss Laurey stands in well enough for Lois in terms of stepping blithely before her insidious uncle’s attempts to have her snuffed out, but substituting for Lois only seems to accentuate the unique qualities Lois brings to the table; the quick lip, the defiant chin, the stubborn self-reliance and her unsettling forwardness. More than that – in these early years, particularly – Lois has the luxury of becoming somewhat jaded about Superman, so while substitute women are fainting and gasping in their peril, we lose Lois’ easy quips in the face of danger…  

    Action Comics vol.1 #34 - cover date March 1941

    By 1941, Lois in near-constant peril has become a staple of the Superman stories. Kidnapped by crooks, imprisoned by petty tyrants, threatened with poisonous gas, death traps and super-scientific raybeams of all varieties and not to mention nearly becoming the victim of everyday tenement fires and collapsing buildings any given day of the week, threats to Lois’ life and limb happen so frequently that it runs the risk of becoming so much white noise in the background – ho-hum, she’s fallen off a building again.

    To keep Lois’ danger fresh, Superman’s writers had a few tools at their disposal; most often, they chose to simply replace Lois with another damsel they could conveniently distress. Having just engineered some timely escapes in a rustic setting for Miss Lane in the last issue of Action, it would have been repetitive to have Lois wander from trouble in the logging camp to trouble in the mines. Enter Doris Laurey, daughter of a coal magnate and recent inheritor of his profitable mines.

    The blonde Miss Laurey stands in well enough for Lois in terms of stepping blithely before her insidious uncle’s attempts to have her snuffed out, but substituting for Lois only seems to accentuate the unique qualities Lois brings to the table; the quick lip, the defiant chin, the stubborn self-reliance and her unsettling forwardness. More than that – in these early years, particularly – Lois has the luxury of becoming somewhat jaded about Superman, so while substitute women are fainting and gasping in their peril, we lose Lois’ easy quips in the face of danger…

     

  2. Action Comics vol.1 #33 - cover date February 1941 It wasn’t all that long ago – Action Comics #25, in fact – that Superman found himself totally vulnerable to the hypnotic power of the hateful Medini. A year later and Superman has added his own brand of super-hypnotism to his bag of tricks – to the detriment of the character, I might argue. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are investigating what appears to be a deliberate slow-down in production at a nearby lumber camp – the owner’s late brother had promised to donate all proceeds from the camp to charities for needy youths, but the current owner doesn’t intend to follow through on the promise. In the course of their journalistic snooping, Lois and Clark are captured, tied up and left to burn to death as the cabin surrounding them is set on fire! Clark, naturally, wracks his brain – how to change to Superman and save the day, but not reveal his dual identity to Lois? It’s the stuff of literally hundreds of Superman stories, a chance to pepper the action with a story-specific brain teaser; sometimes comic, generally dependent on specific circumstances, often the result of white-knuckle timing between life, death and chance. Despite the possibilities that present themselves in this scenario – smoke hides Clark’s transformation, Lois passes out from lack of oxygen, a crashing timber divides them – what happens is that Clark hypnotizes Lois. By his mental command, she will not remember what she is about to see. With that, Clark changes to Superman and saves the day, a briefly amnesiac Lois remains none-the-wiser to her meek co-worker’s dual identity, and this gimmick is ruined forever; If Superman can simply hypnotize potential witnesses into forgetting his dual identity, then why doesn’t he do that all the time? A world without worry awaits the Man of Steel and his powerful mental commands. Super-hypnotism remains on the books, albeit used infrequently, through the remainder of Superman’s career, for the better.  

    Action Comics vol.1 #33 - cover date February 1941

    It wasn’t all that long ago – Action Comics #25, in fact – that Superman found himself totally vulnerable to the hypnotic power of the hateful Medini. A year later and Superman has added his own brand of super-hypnotism to his bag of tricks – to the detriment of the character, I might argue.

    Clark Kent and Lois Lane are investigating what appears to be a deliberate slow-down in production at a nearby lumber camp – the owner’s late brother had promised to donate all proceeds from the camp to charities for needy youths, but the current owner doesn’t intend to follow through on the promise. In the course of their journalistic snooping, Lois and Clark are captured, tied up and left to burn to death as the cabin surrounding them is set on fire!

    Clark, naturally, wracks his brain – how to change to Superman and save the day, but not reveal his dual identity to Lois? It’s the stuff of literally hundreds of Superman stories, a chance to pepper the action with a story-specific brain teaser; sometimes comic, generally dependent on specific circumstances, often the result of white-knuckle timing between life, death and chance.

    Despite the possibilities that present themselves in this scenario – smoke hides Clark’s transformation, Lois passes out from lack of oxygen, a crashing timber divides them – what happens is that Clark hypnotizes Lois. By his mental command, she will not remember what she is about to see.

    With that, Clark changes to Superman and saves the day, a briefly amnesiac Lois remains none-the-wiser to her meek co-worker’s dual identity, and this gimmick is ruined forever; If Superman can simply hypnotize potential witnesses into forgetting his dual identity, then why doesn’t he do that all the time? A world without worry awaits the Man of Steel and his powerful mental commands.

    Super-hypnotism remains on the books, albeit used infrequently, through the remainder of Superman’s career, for the better.

     

  3.  Action Comics vol.1 #32 - Cover date January 1941 From the mercantile perspective, there’s always been something missing from the Superman equation, and that was accessories. Sure, you could slap Superman’s face or insignia on anything from paddle-ball games to roller skates, you could roll out tee-shirts and wind-up toys, but what about all that sweet dough from accessories? If you wander down the toy aisle at your local megastore, you’ll see the opportunities that assorted geegaws provide a franchise; Captain America’s shield and helmet, Thor’s hammer, even Hulk hands – and then there’s Batman. A souped up car, a utility belt full of gadgets and weapons, a cave HQ, and a variety of costumes in every color of the rainbow for every specialized need, Batman’s got it all – In action figures alone, you could line up a dozen variations on the basic theme and never repeat so much as a seam. Superman, though, gets through life in one costume, no mask, no vehicle, no weapons, and a cape most kids are happy to duplicate with a red towel. This may be why Action Comics #32 introduces THE KRYPTO RAY-GUN, a device which Superman invents and employs against criminals. Despite its impressive handle, the Krypto Ray-Gun is basically a glorified all-in-one camera and slide projector, and its real-world analogue – for which the gun’s in-canon appearance was undoubtedly the impetus – did even less. On the toy shelves, kids could pick up a Krypto Ray-Gun of their own and flash pictures of Superman’s daring deeds onto the walls of their homes, for as long as its battery and light bulb lasted anyway. The Krypto Ray-Gun, as you might expect, never made another appearance, and additional toy-etic additions to Superman’s arsenal against crime remained exceptionally few and far between.

     Action Comics vol.1 #32 - Cover date January 1941

    From the mercantile perspective, there’s always been something missing from the Superman equation, and that was accessories. Sure, you could slap Superman’s face or insignia on anything from paddle-ball games to roller skates, you could roll out tee-shirts and wind-up toys, but what about all that sweet dough from accessories?

    If you wander down the toy aisle at your local megastore, you’ll see the opportunities that assorted geegaws provide a franchise; Captain America’s shield and helmet, Thor’s hammer, even Hulk hands – and then there’s Batman. A souped up car, a utility belt full of gadgets and weapons, a cave HQ, and a variety of costumes in every color of the rainbow for every specialized need, Batman’s got it all – In action figures alone, you could line up a dozen variations on the basic theme and never repeat so much as a seam.

    Superman, though, gets through life in one costume, no mask, no vehicle, no weapons, and a cape most kids are happy to duplicate with a red towel. This may be why Action Comics #32 introduces THE KRYPTO RAY-GUN, a device which Superman invents and employs against criminals.

    Despite its impressive handle, the Krypto Ray-Gun is basically a glorified all-in-one camera and slide projector, and its real-world analogue – for which the gun’s in-canon appearance was undoubtedly the impetus – did even less. On the toy shelves, kids could pick up a Krypto Ray-Gun of their own and flash pictures of Superman’s daring deeds onto the walls of their homes, for as long as its battery and light bulb lasted anyway.

    The Krypto Ray-Gun, as you might expect, never made another appearance, and additional toy-etic additions to Superman’s arsenal against crime remained exceptionally few and far between.

  4. Action Comics vol.1 #31 - Cover date December 1940 A super-scientific crime wave strikes a town through which Lois and Clark happen to passing. Using an advanced sleeping gas to knock out the whole town, crooks bedecked in gas masks are robbing banks freely. Luckily Clark finds some spare masks, Superman is immune to the stuff anyway, and Lois is pretty susceptible to Superman’s Kryptonian Nerve Pinch when circumstances require that her gas mask “fail” and she sleep while an important quick-change takes place. In the end, the scientist responsible for the sleeping formula repents and hands it over to the US Government , which – along with the now-captured crooks - is what constitutes a happy ending for this tale.

    Action Comics vol.1 #31 - Cover date December 1940

    A super-scientific crime wave strikes a town through which Lois and Clark happen to passing. Using an advanced sleeping gas to knock out the whole town, crooks bedecked in gas masks are robbing banks freely.

    Luckily Clark finds some spare masks, Superman is immune to the stuff anyway, and Lois is pretty susceptible to Superman’s Kryptonian Nerve Pinch when circumstances require that her gas mask “fail” and she sleep while an important quick-change takes place.

    In the end, the scientist responsible for the sleeping formula repents and hands it over to the US Government , which – along with the now-captured crooks - is what constitutes a happy ending for this tale.

  5. Action Comics vol.1 #30 - Cover date November 1940 In the middle of Summer, Metropolis finds itself impossibly blanketed in snow. The culprit – commanding a vast horde of Arab mercenaries and occupying an ominous flying ship – is ZOLAR, an orange-skinned mad genius armed with an arsenal of radium-powered weapons and deadly miniature sun-spheres (thus, “S/Zolar”, of course). Zolar wraps up a month full of bald-headed, gaunt, cackling maniacs in the Superman stories, being – along with the Yellow Mask from the in-house ads running in National books – one of the possible sources for the recently embaldened Luthor in the daily newspaper strip.

    Action Comics vol.1 #30 - Cover date November 1940

    In the middle of Summer, Metropolis finds itself impossibly blanketed in snow. The culprit – commanding a vast horde of Arab mercenaries and occupying an ominous flying ship – is ZOLAR, an orange-skinned mad genius armed with an arsenal of radium-powered weapons and deadly miniature sun-spheres (thus, “S/Zolar”, of course).

    Zolar wraps up a month full of bald-headed, gaunt, cackling maniacs in the Superman stories, being – along with the Yellow Mask from the in-house ads running in National books – one of the possible sources for the recently embaldened Luthor in the daily newspaper strip.

  6. Action Comics vol.1 #29 - Cover date October 1940 It used to be the norm that Lois would only consent to a dinner date with Clark if it meant she could dupe him into receiving a few slugs to the breadbasket while she digs up some juicy journalistic dirt. Increasingly as the series continues, though, Lois begins relenting to Clark’s insistent advances and their dates become somewhat regular – if incomplete. Assorted social ills tend to distract Clark on his way to most of these meals, such as in this instance where Lois’ concern for an elderly neighbor awakens Clark to an insurance scam and a poisonous pillmaker. It ends with Superman dispensing with a lynch mob and arriving a little late to stop a murder, but the big bad guy is put away before many more old codgers can surreptitiously die by his machinations…

    Action Comics vol.1 #29 - Cover date October 1940

    It used to be the norm that Lois would only consent to a dinner date with Clark if it meant she could dupe him into receiving a few slugs to the breadbasket while she digs up some juicy journalistic dirt. Increasingly as the series continues, though, Lois begins relenting to Clark’s insistent advances and their dates become somewhat regular – if incomplete.

    Assorted social ills tend to distract Clark on his way to most of these meals, such as in this instance where Lois’ concern for an elderly neighbor awakens Clark to an insurance scam and a poisonous pillmaker. It ends with Superman dispensing with a lynch mob and arriving a little late to stop a murder, but the big bad guy is put away before many more old codgers can surreptitiously die by his machinations…

  7. Action Comics vol.1 #28 - Cover date September 1940 Metropolis is suffering a series of highway robberies conducted by a powerful masked man in leopard-skin strongman togs. Coincidentally, the circus has recently come to town and its star feature happens to be Herculo, a brash and aggressive strongman who dresses in leopard-skin wrestling togs.   Have you figured it out? Well, slow down, young detectives, there’s a twist to this mystery – the circus’ hulking ex-strongman who resents having been passed over for Herculo. Actually, that doesn’t make the mystery of The Strongman Robberies any harder to solve, but at least during the course of this story you get to watch Superman trade punches with a man twice his size and save Lois from rampaging circus animals. 

    Action Comics vol.1 #28 - Cover date September 1940

    Metropolis is suffering a series of highway robberies conducted by a powerful masked man in leopard-skin strongman togs. Coincidentally, the circus has recently come to town and its star feature happens to be Herculo, a brash and aggressive strongman who dresses in leopard-skin wrestling togs.  

    Have you figured it out? Well, slow down, young detectives, there’s a twist to this mystery – the circus’ hulking ex-strongman who resents having been passed over for Herculo. Actually, that doesn’t make the mystery of The Strongman Robberies any harder to solve, but at least during the course of this story you get to watch Superman trade punches with a man twice his size and save Lois from rampaging circus animals. 

  8. Action Comics vol.1 #27 - Cover date August 1940 Poor Clark simply cannot catch a break. Lois finally relents and accepts the offer of a dinner date - That’s right, after being drugged, slugged, tricked into confrontations with gangsters, and generally manipulated by Lois into behaving as a foil for any scoop she sniffs out, Clark has finally wrangled a real-live date with Lois Lane. However, he and Lois end up distracted by the Brentwood Rehabilitation Home for Wayward Boys – a charity Lois supports and Clark distrusts. It turns out our Mister Kent is in the right, as a brief investigation-before-dinner turns up an escaped boy who describes all sorts of cruel punishment being doled out by the Home’s administrators, Mr. and Mrs. Tweed. From here on out, it’s Superman’s business, rebuffing a parade of assaults and dealing with the Tweeds’ ominously named guard dog Black Satan. If Lois still has any doubts as to the excesses of Brentwood, they’re probably put aside by the time the Tweeds have her strapped down to a working buzzsaw. Superman confronts many small-time confidence men and crooks in his early adventures, and they almost always resort to a few punches or a pistol when push comes to shove. In both of his adventures involving crooked childrens’ homes, however, the villains turn from grifters to blood-hungry maniacs as soon as their backs are against the walls. It’s difficult to say from a distance whether this is because Siegel in particular felt that criminals who preyed on children were worse than normal criminals, because these stories were aimed at children and benefited from portraying exceptional threats to them specifically, or some combination of both …

    Action Comics vol.1 #27 - Cover date August 1940

    Poor Clark simply cannot catch a break. Lois finally relents and accepts the offer of a dinner date - That’s right, after being drugged, slugged, tricked into confrontations with gangsters, and generally manipulated by Lois into behaving as a foil for any scoop she sniffs out, Clark has finally wrangled a real-live date with Lois Lane.

    However, he and Lois end up distracted by the Brentwood Rehabilitation Home for Wayward Boys – a charity Lois supports and Clark distrusts. It turns out our Mister Kent is in the right, as a brief investigation-before-dinner turns up an escaped boy who describes all sorts of cruel punishment being doled out by the Home’s administrators, Mr. and Mrs. Tweed.

    From here on out, it’s Superman’s business, rebuffing a parade of assaults and dealing with the Tweeds’ ominously named guard dog Black Satan. If Lois still has any doubts as to the excesses of Brentwood, they’re probably put aside by the time the Tweeds have her strapped down to a working buzzsaw.

    Superman confronts many small-time confidence men and crooks in his early adventures, and they almost always resort to a few punches or a pistol when push comes to shove. In both of his adventures involving crooked childrens’ homes, however, the villains turn from grifters to blood-hungry maniacs as soon as their backs are against the walls.

    It’s difficult to say from a distance whether this is because Siegel in particular felt that criminals who preyed on children were worse than normal criminals, because these stories were aimed at children and benefited from portraying exceptional threats to them specifically, or some combination of both …

  9. Action Comics vol.1 #26 - Cover date July 1940 With a name like “Doctor Cobalt”, you might think that this issue’s antagonist positively oozes dire menace. However, despite a moniker better suited to the movie serials, Doctor Cobalt’s primary crime is pharmaceutical fraud – he switches his customers’ badly-needed medicine for sugar pills and pockets the profits. Clark is hepped to the Cobalt’s insidious nature thanks to the Daily Planet’s morally upstanding advertising department, which chooses to refuse the Doc’s custom and calls him a quack in the process. The question is occasionally raised as to whether journalism is the best career choice for a secret Superman, and this story helps serve as a reminder that it’s not just the job that serves Clark Kent well in his crusade against crime – the Planet is his ally. Dr.Cobalt’s full name, by the way, is Clarence Cobalt – you know, of the Connecticut Cobalts. Lovely people.

    Action Comics vol.1 #26 - Cover date July 1940

    With a name like “Doctor Cobalt”, you might think that this issue’s antagonist positively oozes dire menace. However, despite a moniker better suited to the movie serials, Doctor Cobalt’s primary crime is pharmaceutical fraud – he switches his customers’ badly-needed medicine for sugar pills and pockets the profits. Clark is hepped to the Cobalt’s insidious nature thanks to the Daily Planet’s morally upstanding advertising department, which chooses to refuse the Doc’s custom and calls him a quack in the process.

    The question is occasionally raised as to whether journalism is the best career choice for a secret Superman, and this story helps serve as a reminder that it’s not just the job that serves Clark Kent well in his crusade against crime – the Planet is his ally.

    Dr.Cobalt’s full name, by the way, is Clarence Cobalt – you know, of the Connecticut Cobalts. Lovely people.

  10. Action Comics vol.1 #25 - Cover date June 1940 A curious crimewave breaks out across Metropolis, leaving confused bank couriers bereft of both their valuable packages and their memories. Meanwhile, Lois inadvertently uncovers the culprit when she visits the spiritualist Medini – secretly a powerful natural hypnotist – intending to employ supernatural forces to expose Superman’s secret dual identity (for the first time ever – although she doesn’t yet suspect that Superman and Clark are one and the same). Supernatural or no, Medini’s powerful mesmerism later overpowers the Man of Steel, leaving Superman seemingly robbed of his powers. Both Ultra and Luthor were able to create devices which briefly sapped Superman’s terrific strength, but Medini is the first foe in Superman’s slowly expanding rogues gallery who is able to overcome our hero with an innate natural ability. It’s arguable – depending on how you choose to define the term – that Medini is Superman’s first actual super-villain. He’s certainly the first super-powered foe of Superman’s to not also be a mad scientist of some stripe, making it all the more of a shame that he dies at the end of the story.

    Action Comics vol.1 #25 - Cover date June 1940

    A curious crimewave breaks out across Metropolis, leaving confused bank couriers bereft of both their valuable packages and their memories. Meanwhile, Lois inadvertently uncovers the culprit when she visits the spiritualist Medini – secretly a powerful natural hypnotist – intending to employ supernatural forces to expose Superman’s secret dual identity (for the first time ever – although she doesn’t yet suspect that Superman and Clark are one and the same).

    Supernatural or no, Medini’s powerful mesmerism later overpowers the Man of Steel, leaving Superman seemingly robbed of his powers. Both Ultra and Luthor were able to create devices which briefly sapped Superman’s terrific strength, but Medini is the first foe in Superman’s slowly expanding rogues gallery who is able to overcome our hero with an innate natural ability.

    It’s arguable – depending on how you choose to define the term – that Medini is Superman’s first actual super-villain. He’s certainly the first super-powered foe of Superman’s to not also be a mad scientist of some stripe, making it all the more of a shame that he dies at the end of the story.