Superman from the Beginning

Jeff of Earth-J November 6, 2025 at 7:11am

SUPERMAN #63:

"Achilles vs. Superman" - A man claiming to be the descendant of Achilles shows up in Metropolis and begins to enact modern versions of his "ancestor's" feats: he defeats a museum currator named Hector by using a "chariot" (a tank); he robs the Amazon rubber factory; he robs the Trojan National Bank. Rather than being dipped in the river Styx, the man claims his ancestor was actually dipped in a "chemical of invulnerability, an ancient scientific discovery," whcih he recreated and dipped himself in. Be cause he "didn't want to be different from [his] great ancestor," he didn't dip his heal, either. To compensate, he wears a lead box on his foot. actually, it is a "magnetic repellor" which repels metal projectiles such as bullets and knives. Like the Achiles of myth, his heal was his downfall when he fell into the river and drowned (a rather grim ending for a Superman story of the era).
"The Wind-Up Toys of Peril" - Toyman's ninth appearance. Trivia: The business manager of the Daily Planet is Mr. Weems.
"Miss Metropolis of 1950" - Perry White hits on the idea of sponsoring a beauty contest for pretty girls in perilous occupations. Contestants will be judged for beauty, ability and bravery, the last two qulities to be judged on the job. As soon as the contest begins, "accidents" happen to each of the women. The finalists are...

Ann Kirk, cowgirl
Jane Waite, movie stunt girl
Mary Dodge, chemical worker
Ellen Bond, trapeze artist

The story isn't a particularly good mystery because there is only a single suspect; the hook is trying to figure out his motive.

Note: During the course of this story, Superman flies to the Moon under his own power.

Jeff of Earth-J November 7, 2025 at 7:45am

ACTION COMICS #144 - "Clark Kent's Career!"

A continuity implant which reveals how Clark Kent won his job on the Daily Planet. Before he became a reporter, he tried working as a cab driver, a ploiceman and an door-to-door salesman. Superman's career has been mentioned only a handful of times since the character was first introduced in 1945, but this is the first story that references an actual story, the one in which young Clark Kent met Perry White in Smallville.

Jeff of Earth-J November 8, 2025 at 10:02am

WORLD'S FINEST #46 - "The Seven Crimes of Mr. 7!"

Scraps Fabian is a small-time crook who is not taken seriously. He tries to recruit a gang but they turn him down flat because he doesn't have a reputation. He decides what he needs is publicity and a gimmick, so he tells his sidekick, Gabby, that he plans to adopt the identity of "Mr. 7." His schtick is like a combination of Two Face and the Riddler's in that his crimes are based on the numbers one through seven and he will leave "clues" before each one. His costume is yellow, with blue trunks, boots and a blue hood. The hood is topless, and comes down over his shoulders. His belt and gloves are red, and he has a red "7" on his chest.

First, he launches a publicity campaign: radio ads, a blimp, sky-writing, flyers dropped from a plane. The flyers read: "Mister Seven's first crime of this new week will be to steal a first treasure at one o'clock at First Avenue and First Street." At one o'clock exactly, seven empty autos come rolling down the street. While Superman is busy wrangling them, Mr. 7 steals a valuable first edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

His second crime "will involve a set of twins. Lois assumes the clue refers to the $5000 prize to be awarded at the "Most Beautiful Twins" contest, but actually Mr. 7 robs a jewelry salesman boarding a twin engine plane.

Third clue: "If you think my SECOND crime was clever, wait until you see what I've got planned for number SEVEN CRIME! Meanwhile, think about A FARM THAT'S NOT A FARM!" Superman knows the answer to this one. In order to be classifed as a "farm," the land must be three acres or more, so he sets about checking all of the Metropolis farms less than three acres. While inspecting a Chinese ginseng farm, Superman discovers timed explosives set to start a fire. He builds a fire inside the farm's iron dragon sculpture and "fights fire with fire." Mr. 7's plan was to steal the harvested ginseng ($15 a pound), but Superman thwarted him. Mr. 7 vows revenge.

The fourth clue is a compass delivered to police HQ along with the following note: "Superman, this compass points to the number of Mister Seven's next crime." Superman considers... "Hmm! A compass may point to any of four directions -- north, east, west, south! Does he hope to rob in four spots at one time?" That's not exactly the way compasses work, but, consulting a map, Superman determines that 'the Adams Shoe Factory is the most northern place in the city!" Similarly, the Holm Brothers Silk Warehouse is to the East, radio station WMPS is to the West, and the Ajax shirt Plant is farthest south.

It's nearly midnight on the fourth day but Mr. 7 hasn't struck yet, so Perry White sends Lois and Clark home. He walks her home, her house number is #4, and they arrive at 11:50PM. The next morning, at 4:45AM, Lois is discovered kidnapped and the following note is found nearby: "Superman, the compass points spell N-E-W-S... and add up to newspaper reporter Lois Lane's house number four! and my crime was done before the fourth day ended -- I kidnapped Lois Lane before midnight! This will teach you not to interfere with me!" Some of those "clues" stretch the point a bit, but there is another note nearby: "Today is Thursday the fifth day!* Lois Lane, star reporter, will die when the light from our nearest star sets off a photo-electric cell bomb at 5 A.M... and not even you, Superman, can stop this star from shining!" Perry reckons that the "nearest star" refers to Proximi Centauri (sic), but Superman determines it must mean our own star, Sol.

*(The crime spree began on Sunday, the "first day of the week.")

Comic book logic: Superman determines: "If I had a few more minutes I could find Lois in time, but now I can't risk failing! There's only one thing I can do... Up, up and away!" Rather than using his super-speed and x-ray vision to scour Metropolis, he instead flies out into space and begins to gather together "solar strays" (i.e., meteors, comets and asteroids). "Swiftly, he flattens the cosmic mass into a colossal thin disc. Soon after, a new heavely satellite shields the sun's rays! Superman has created a man-made eclipse!" Yes, he didnt have enough time to simpliy find Lois, yet he had plenty of time to fly into space and create a satellite to block the Sun! (Sometimes I just can't with these people.) After that it took him twelve minutes to find Lois, but he blocked the Sun in less than that.

Superman in space: Although he is described as flying through intersellar space, I think it much more likely he is flying in interplanetary space. It's the same objection I have to referring to Elon Musk's SpaceX vehicle as a "starship," when it is in reality a spaceship. But I digress. Where was I...? Oh, yes!

Friday... the Sixth Day!: "I'm gong to celebrate a wedding anniversary next!" By this time, Mr. 7 has gained a reoputation and is able to recruit the gang which refused to work with him at the beginning of the story. (They don't know that "Mr. 7" is really Scraps Fabian.) Lois points out that the traditional gift for the sixth anniversary is iron, and Superman correctly deduces that the clue refers to the Metropolis Ironworks. What's more, today is payday so Mr. 7 is obviously after the payroll. Mr. 7 himself doesn't go, but hsi six-member gang does. Superman catches them by forming "white hot molten iron... into a metal box divided into six sections." Suprisingly, being thrown into a box of molten iron does not kill Mr. 7's gang, and Superman finds the following note: "Thanks, Superman! You see, I planned for you to capture those guys. That's wy my clue was so easy. You helped me get even with six guys who once insulted me."

Seventh clue: "My seventh crime will rank as one of the seven wonders of our age. After this, people will write stories about me, perhaps even film a movie about Mister Seven." There happens to be a movie about "The Seven Modern Wonders" (Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, the Panama Canal and the Washington Monument) being filmed in Metropolis, so he visits the set and inspects the miniatures used in the movie. Nothing suspicious there, so he decides to visit the real Seven Wonders, starting with the closest ones: the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.

After that, he flies upsate and finds Fabian and Gabby going over the falls in a barrel. They (somehow) survive, and have a getaway car waiting. Superman "bends some discarded piping and then flips it away! Like a boomerang, the bent pipe reaches its target! Mister Seven has been fittingly stopped by a '7'!" (Comic book physics.) After being stopped by the "Eighth Wonder of the World" (Superman), Mr. 7 is sentenced to seven years in prison. I'm not surprised we never see "Mr. 7" again (to the best of my knowledge). He was a pale imitation of two much better "Batman" villains, his "crimes" often didn't make much sense, his riddle weren't pithy, and they can't even decide whether he's "Mr. 7" or "Mister 7" or "Mister Seven." I spent far to much time this morning summarizing a what is basically a mediocre, formulaic story.

Jeff of Earth-J November 9, 2025 at 9:49am

ACTION COMICS #145 - "Merton Gloop and His Magic Horseshoe!"

A nebbish gets ahold of a "force repeller."

Jeff of Earth-J November 10, 2025 at 12:08pm

SUPERMAN #64:

Here's another one that will take a while to relate, so sit back and relax.

"Professor Lois Lane!" (1st story) - President Kimball of Quinn College awards the annual trophy for prize reporting to both Clark Kent and Lois Lane, anf makes them honorary professors to teach modern reporting methods for one term. Perry White grants them a leave of absence from the Daily Planet and offers to give a job to each one's star student. Lois chooses her "star pupil," Andy Parks, on the very first day. (I might have thought they would wiat to the end of the semester to choose their best student, but that's not the most outlandish thing that will happen in this story.) Clark chooses Greta Lee. All four of them go to the football game so Lois and Clark can teach Andy and Greta how to write sports stories (because they write so many of them, I guess...?).

Lois sends Andy to interview the coach and Clark sends Greta to interview Johnny Grew, the quarterback. Meanwhile, alumnus Eddie Ward flies his plane overheard trailing a "RAH RAH QUINN U" banner. Both Andy and Greta learn that the quarterback has not yet shown up for the game, so Clark switches to Superman and flies to Johnny's rooming house. Johnny's car is not there, but Superman is able to trail it until it turns off the macadam onto the concrete.

Comic book forensics: Superman crushes a boulder and "dusts" the road for tiretracks, the same way a police scientist might dust for fingerprints. He finds Johnny ten miles down the road with four flattened tires. Johnny says he picked up a hitch-hiker who held him at gunpoint, stole his wallet and flattened all his tires. (Superman will later call on his "photographic memory" to prove that Johnny did pick up a hitch-hiker because at the point he picked the man up the tire treads showed the added weight to the car.) Superman flies him to the game, but Johnny triembles the entire way, then plays badly and the team loses. Did Johnny throw the game?

Clark "gives" the scoop to Greta, only to later discover that Andy has scooped them both. Lois won't tell Clark how Andy got the story, but we soon learn that she doesn't know and that Andy won't tell her, either. Meanwhile, Eddie Ward tells the coach that Johnny didn't pick up a hitch-hiker, because he saw Johnny stranded on the road after the pre-game flyover. He landed and offered a Johnny a ride to the game, but Johnny refused. It is at this point Superman confirms Johnny's story, then rushes to give it to Greta, then learns that Andy has "scooped" her again! At this point it is revealed that Andy got the stories by use of his binoculars and his talant at lip-reading... but Superman had his back to the window when he told the coach and Eddie Ward about the tire "evidence."

Several days later, shortly before Quinn's major football game of the season, Lois and Andy are staking out Johnny's house. There have been rumors that gamblers have been hanging around Johnny's house. A couple of tough-looking mugs show up and Lois suggests that Andy read their lips, but he admits he doesn't know how. They move in closer and get kidnapped. Greta is also hanging around, witnesses them being forced into a car, and runs to get Clark. Eddie Ward's plane is in the field nearby, and Greta knows how to fly it. She and Clark follow Lois and Andy in the plane, but when one of the men holds a gun to Andy's head, Greta turns the controls of the plane over to Clark and jumps out of the plane into the car! Then the car goes over a cliff!

Comic book physics: Changing to Superman "at invisible super-speed," the Man of Steel "hurls [the plane] crazily forward, so that the dangling trailer snaps whip-like around the falling car!" remarking, "Have to make this look like Clark's erratic piloting!" but I maintain that no amount of "erratic flying" in the world would allow for a sign trailing behind a plane to wrap itself around a car securely enough (or at all, really) to catch a car in freefall. Superman then throws the plane to a safe landing a half mile away.

The gangsters tell him that Johnny has taken a bribe to throw the game and is now waiting, unguarded, at the old house on top of Bald Mountain. Superman finds him there, just as the gangsters said, but Johnny won't tell him why he hasn't just left. Superman grabs him to fly him to the game and Johnny absolutely freaks out! It becomes clear at this point why Johnny played so poorly after Superman rescued him the first time and why he refused Eddie Ward's offer to fly him back to the game: Johnny is deathly afraid of heights (which Superman refers to as "airphobia" but is actually "acrophobia").

Comic book psychotherapy: Superman decides that the only way for Johnny to conquer his fear of heights is to confront it... so Superman begins tossing Johnny high up in the air over and over and over again. Luckily, "by the tenth toss," (Clark Later tells Greta), "Johnny was getting used to it. He even bagan to find it fun!" (rather, than, y'know, giving him a heart attack or causing him to soil his pants or mentally scarring him for life). Lois tells Clark that, just because he got the story from Superman, it's not fair to Andy for Clark to "give" it to Greta, but Clark has already figured out that giving it to one is the same as giving it to both, because Greta Lee is in love with Andy Parks! (Why else would she have jumped out of a plane to save him?) Also, it was Greta who had been "giving" her scoops to Andy all along!

Finally, Clark remarks, "The Daily Planet can certainly use a good team of married reporters! Right, Lois?"

Notable introduction: "Faster than a speeding bullet! Able to hurdle the highest mountain! More powerful than an atomic cyclotron!"

The Baron > Jeff of Earth-J November 10, 2025 at 2:11pm

OK, yeah, that was nuts.

Jeff of Earth-J November 11, 2025 at 7:45am

SUPERMAN #64 (con't):

"The Isle of Giant Insects!" (2nd story) - Science runs amok once again. Giant ants mistake Lois Lane, recently-crowned "Queen of the Charities," to be queen of all humans. Comic book science: Superman squeezes rocks with super-pressure to create molten glass.

"The Free-For-All-Crimes!" (3rd story) - The 16th appearance of the Prankster.

Jeff of Earth-J November 12, 2025 at 8:16am

ACTION COMICS #146 - "The Statues That Came to Life!"

It all starts one night when a beat cop witnesses a mounted statue "come to life" and gallop off. the next day, the two stone lions from in front of the public library run amok. Superman suspects Luthor, and indeed he is correct. In his laboratory, Luthor crows to one of his men...

Comic book science: "It was easy for a genius like me! Science tells us that all matter consists of atoms! My life-ray gun fuses those atoms into an activated mass of pseudo-protoplasm! In simple language, I can bring inanimate objects to life!"

He sends the following note to Superman c/o the Daily Planet: "By the time you get this it will be too late to save the girl who means the most to you!" Lois is safe, and the only "girl" who means more to Superman than Lois is the Statue of Liberty! He flies to Bedloe's Island (renamed "Libery Island" in 1956) just in time to see Lady Liberty climb down off her pedestal. Miss Liberty strolls across the harbor, endangering a ship. Superman flies the ship to the pier, then sets the statue back atop its pedestal, where it calmly waits when Superman forges chains from the cannons of sunken ships.

With that threat neutralized, Superman flies off to check on Lois, who is posing from a bronze sculpture of herself. Luthor is also on hand, and brings the statue to life. As Superman approaches the artist's studio (the same artist who sculpted the giant statue of Superman which overlooks the harbor, BTW), the figure of Lois Lane plummets from the window. It is that of the statue, of course, and while Superman "saves" it, Luthor escapes with the real Lois Lane. Luthor later bring the statue of a discus thrower in the town square to life and sends world to the city that he demands that a ransom of $10 million be left in the town square at midnight or he will destroy the city. Superman convinces the mayor not to pay, and when the deadline passes, Luthor brings the giant Superman statue to life. The real Superman prevents the statue from destroying the dam, and the story wraps up pretty quickly after that.

19th appearance of Luthor.

Jeff of Earth-J November 13, 2025 at 7:54am

This is another kind of wonky one, so again, sit back for...

WORLD'S FINEST #47 - "The Girl Who Hated Reporters!"

This is the "secret origin of Lois Lane." In every version of Superman's origin I have ever read, by the time Clark Kent applies for a job on the Daily Planet, Lois is already there. But according to this story, EYKIW. The story begins in the present, but quickly switches to flashback as Lois and Clark reminisce about how she became a reporter. It begins as the two stop in for lunch at Harry's Dog House, one of those "novelty" diners, this one shaped like a hang-faced hound dog. The restaurant is across the street from the Daily Planet building and is frequented by reporters. Harry's is known for its sauce, which he keeps in a barrel hanging from the ceiling over the counter. What's more, the dog's nose is rigged to light up at the sauce's unique scent. (Superman rigged it up for Harry's birthday, a month before Lois came to town.) That's how his customer's know the quality of the sauce; the lighted nose is Harry's guarantee.

Fresh out of college, Lois Lane came to Metropolis and applied for a job as waitress at Harry's diner. She doesn't particularly care for reporters because they always hit on her. One day, Superman comes to the restaurant to warn the reporters that the gangster Eddie Fisk is gunning for them. He warns them all to leave, but Lois stays because Harry is away. This is the first time Lois meets Superman, and he promises to protect her. He knows that the gansters won't attack until there is a crowd of reporters, so he builds a single dummy, then moves it at super speed so that it appears to be many while he himself is invisible. They attack, and a stray bullet hits the barrel of sauce, which spills on Lois's dress, ruining it. Superman ties the gunsels up with a string of weiners and carts them off to jail. Meanwhile, Lois is so insenced that she rushes off in a cab to confront Fisk at the Diamond Club, his hangout. (So much for not leaving the diner unattended.)

She slaps him and he likes her spunk. She decides to play along with him in order to win his confidence and get some real evidence against him. She pretends to be willing to look the other way regarding any illegal activities he might be engaged in, so long as he buys her a new dress. Just then, one of his men comes in with reporter Clark Kent, whom he caught snooping outside. This is the first time Lois Lane meets Clark Kent. In order for her to prove herself, Fisk insists that Lois shoot Clark with a machine gun. When she hesitates, Clark uses "the heat of his x-ray vision" to burn her trigger finger, causing it to convulse and pull the trigger. Clark catches the bullts with "invisible super-speed" and then, quicker than the eye can see, forms them into tiny boomerangs which he flings in such a way that they encircle Eddie Fisk.

Clark then "runs away" while Fisk's man kidnaps Lois, telling his boss that if Kent should contact the police, that he should tell them Lois will be killled. When he returns as Superman, he assumes that Lois either ran away because she was frightened by the bullets, or went to summon the police. Fisk is so terrified he spills everything, giving Superman enough evidence to wipe out his organization for good. Then he realizes the mistake he has made and plays his trump card, threatening Lois. At this point, superman rushes over to Harry's Dog House, clears it, and asks to borrow the building itself. Harry agrees (he is almost out of sause, anyway), and Superman rigs up "a booster for the photo-electric cells that made the dog-house's nose light up when they detected the scent of Harry's sauce."

Knowing that Lois still had sauce spilled on her dress, Superman flies the building (from on top, as if he's "riding" it) across the city. "The booster made the cells a thousand times more sensitive, then [he] circled town until the nose scented the sauce still clinging to [Lois] -- and it lit up!" Lois phoned the story in to the Planet, the next day Perry White hired her, and the rest is history.

Jeff of Earth-J November 14, 2025 at 11:20am

ACTION COMICS #147 - "Superman Becomes Miss Lovelorn!"

Here is a story that doesn't work on any level... too much "writer's fiat." It starts with "ckecks" Ross and his "Blackout Bandits" robbing a department store by cutting off the electricity and taking advantage of the confusion in the darkness. In order for this premise to work, it takes place on "open-at-night day" for all department stores. Coincidentally, Lois and Clark are on hand, but Clark ducking out to change to Superman somehow coauses Lois to miss the scoop, althoough that's never happened before. this in turn causes Perry white to assign Clark to the "Miss Lovelorn" column as punishment, promising that if he goes a good job he'll get his regular assignments back sooner.

Clark/Superman decides to buckle down and begins solving the letter-writer's problems in person, which again doesn't make sense because Perry White would have no way of knowing the letters were being answered... unless the women called in to the Planet in gratitude, which they did. (None of his "solutions" make particularly good sense, either, but we need not go into that at this time.) Clark/Superman does such a good job that the publisher insists that Perry assign Clark to the "Miss Lovelorn" column permanently.

In despiration, clark publishes a fake letter designed to draw out the "Blacvkout Bandits" which is so far-fetched it shouldn't have workedm but it does. When the bandits show up at the Planet offices, Clark doffs his disguise, in front of Lois Lane as well as the bandits, "revealing" that he is Superman. Superman maintains that he was merely masquerading as Clark Kent, and to "prove" it he uses "the heat of his x-ray vision to cause the phone to ting. Lois answers, and superman uses super-ventriloquism to convince her that "Clark: is on the other end of the line. then Superman announces publicly that Clark Kent is "Miss Lovelorn," which cause women city-wide to cancel their subscriptions because they don't want their letters being answered by a man. Perry is forced to remove Clark and reassign the job to... Lois."Oh, no!" she says. "Not that!"

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