Up to now, this site has been exclusively about TTRPGs. That changes today.
I used to work at a site called CBR, which used to stand for Comic Book Resources but now stands for nothing, I think. Anyway, earlier this year I started reading comics weekly, and I am loving it. I did this once before for about 6 months during the New 52 era of DC, but I was 13 and my comic shop was an hour and a half away, so that didn’t last. But now I have adult money (for now haha) and a great local shop, and I’m on board. I’m reading mostly DC, including almost all the Superman-related titles out right now. Action Comics, Superman, Power Girl, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville, Michael Dorn’s Steel miniseries, you name it. I think I’m probably doing the thing that a new fan does where they are stuck in the mainstream and don’t know that they’re getting repetitive material that’s been around for years, but I’m content to be there for now. I’m sure I’ll be jaded in no time.
At some point last year I got the idea in my head that I’d try to read every single issue of Action Comics, all 1060ish of them, starting in 1938. I’m not sure how realistic this project is, but it sure sounds fun. I read Action Comics #1 back in September, but I revisited it today. So here’s a short review of each story in the issue:
Superman – Superman’s first page sees him breaking into the governors house to intimidate him into pardoning a woman sentenced to death. It’s a banger. After a few more daring dos, Clark gets assigned to cover a brewing war in a fictional South American country. He attends a congressional hearing, and after sneaking into the senator’s office as Superman, overhears a conversation with a man who later turns out to be an arms dealer. It’s quite the start for the character, and it’s a story that will be continued in the following issue. I just love that Superman starts out immediately involved in the politics of the world, not just saving people from speeding trains. The script is a bit stiff, there’s a lot of narration. It almost reads like a radio script. But it’s honestly a lot more dynamic and visually interesting than some of the other stories in the issue, thanks in no small part to being in color. If you haven’t read this story and you care about Superman even a little bit, you owe it to yourself to go check it out. It’s worth it.
Chuck Dawson – A Western story about a plucky kid going toe to toe with a gang. It’s kind of fun in a pulpy way, reminds me of listening to old time radio on long car trips as a kid. There’s not a whole lot to write home about, but we’ll come back to Chuck Dawson again.
Zatara – Before reading this issue, I didn’t know Zatara and Supes had a common origin. It’s funny to see a character that very much still exists in DC media in the same issue as someone like Chuck Dawson. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the characters that survive the next almost 100 years are the most fantastical, rather than the cowboys like Chuck. Zatara performs such exceptional feats of magic in this issue as falling gently in some bushes and turning a gun into a banana. Unfortunately, Zatara also features his extremely racist sidekick “Tong.” This will not be the last instance of intense racism even in just this issue, unfortunately.
South Sea Strategy – The racism of the pulp genre of the age is on full display here. I won’t give this story much more attention, but I do think it’s worth noting this is a prose story rather than a comic. It’s a good reminder that we’re still reading a magazine that has comics, rather than a straight up comic book.
Sticky-Mitt Stimson – This is reminiscent of a newspaper comic, and it features Sticky-Mitt consipring to steal fruit and escape the police. It’s pretty silly, but funny.
The Adventures of Marco Polo – Next an adventure story about the famous explorer Marco Polo. In this story, Polo is 17 and is journeying east with his father and uncle. Like South Sea Strategy, the format is the thing most worth remarking on here. It’s somewhere between comic and short story. There’s a ton of text in this one, even more than the Chuck Dawson comic. Nearly every panel has several lines describing the events, even when that information is already conveyed in the art. It feels like this is an illustrated story rather than a proper comic. It’s interesting to see that!
Pep Morgan – I like Pep Morgan, but I didn’t know it when I first read this issue. This is a story about a boxer braving his big match. It is once more a story with a vile racist streak. But what makes Pep Morgan interesting is that he’s just… a new kind of athlete each issue. In issue #2, he’s a baseball player. In another, he’s at a summer camp as a lifeguard. It’s such a strange concept for a character, I can’t help but love it a little. But it wasn’t enough to keep Pep around as long as the likes of Zatara and Superman.
Scoop Scanlon, Five Star Reporter – Scoop is a forerunner to characters like Tintin; a reporter who does a hell of a lot more than reporting. This story is fine, but again the comic itself isn’t very visually interesting. Scoop would eventually go the way of Chuck and Pep, but he got a small Easter egg in Alan Scott: Green Lantern earlier this year!
Tex Thomson – Tex is another cookie-cutter action hero: He struck it rich in the Texas oil fields, now he’s exploring the world. The first Text Thomson story has him stumbling into a murder investigation. He gets framed, he gets out, it’s all very basic. But stay tuned – things get… weird with Tex Thomson in the following issues.
And that’s Action Comics #1! This is quite possibly the most famous comic issue of all time, but I had no idea what to expect going into it. having read it, I’m honestly not surprised. The majority of the stories in this books are devoted to characters that don’t exist in pop culture at all anymore. The first Superman story is very fun though, it’s a lot more exciting and nuanced than I expected. I can’t say I recommend all of the issue, but Superman’s first appearance is well worth checking out.