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So the fifth collection of Superman Chronicles takes us through the early part of 1941 (from January to May). Just to add a bit of historical perspective, the US still had not entered World War II, though the war had been raging for about 2 years by this point. So this is classic Golden Age Superman, as done by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Other artists of the Superman Studio (Jack Burnley, Paul Cassidy, Wayne Boring, and cover-artist Fred Ray). Now you will notice there are more issues of Action Comics than Superman. Superman was published seasonally and contained 4 Superman stories to the one featured in Action Comics.
-Action Comics #32- Superman saves a man who tried to commit suicide and learns he tried to kill himself due to money he owed some gambling resort. Superman is intent on stopping this gambling ring, Lois gets involved, Superman has to save her, and using his Krypto Camera he’s able to stop them. That’s a big theme you’ll see in these comics. Superman was too powerful for pretty much any of the two-bit gangsters here so Lois is the one who is always captured and Supes has to save her while stopping these wrongs.
-Superman #8- In our first story Superman stops a band of mutated giants who were created by Professor Zee and saves Lois (of course). The second story doesn’t feature Lois in trouble but Clark Kent in a nice twist. Clark is framed for a murder and he must use his Superman identity to clear his name. The mention of the fifth column makes this a very early war story. After clearing his name of murder Superman is back to saving Lois and stopping some crooked carnival goons from swindling money from idiot marks. Finally, Superman captures some crooks but they go free on a legal technicality. This is a huge injustice so Superman catches them in the act again and this time they won’t get off easy. I thought this issue had a wide range of stories and the Clark Kent story was my favorite.
-Action Comics #33- Some lumberjacks are doing some inappropriate things with the money left by their deceased boss so Lois and Clark go to investigate. They take jobs there and Lois gets tossed into a whirlpool. Superman saves her and then finally uncovers the perpetrator, the brother of the old boss. Well, that’s one case solved for Superman. Lois only had to get saved twice this issue, too.
-Action Comics #34- Clark and Lois head out to question a new female mine-owner. They get jobs there and both are targets of attempted murder attempts. Superman eventually saves the damsel in distress and Clark actually gets the big story in the Daily Planet. That was a new twist, not having Lois as the damsel to be saved, though she was saved this issue, too.
-Superman #9- I would be remiss in mentioning how great the cover is, with Superman literally bursting through the page. Our opening story sees Clark and Lois get caught in a plot against government re-armaments. Superman gets to the middle of it and actually picks up the scoop on the story. This was your standard foreign threat story that was very timely in 1941. Our second tale finds a familiar plot – a damsel in distress that only Superman can save. Throw in some gangster goodness and you’re set. Our third tale sees Superman rescue a judge’s daughter and help the judge not have to side with the criminal to get his daughter back. The final stories sees Superman investigate two otherwise separate events that are actually tied together. Clark and Lois investigate a murder, Lois gets captured, and Superman shows up and makes the save, solves the crime and scoops the story. Of course, Lois needs saving here. There was a little wrinkle here that would continue that Clark would start scooping Lois for the stories.
-World’s Best Comics #1- Superman investigates a company getting attacked many times by some one showing ill-will towards the company. Superman manages to piece together everything and even has to reroute a river after a damn breaks.
-Action Comics #35- Lois investigates why someone would pay a lot of money for otherwise worthless stock. Once Superman gets on the case they understand the person buying that mine wants to house stolen gold there. Don’t worry; the day is saved by Superman.
-Action Comics #36- Superman stops some damn fifth columnists from trying to dissuade the public from re-armament. I’ll give you two guesses as to who gets captured and who saves the day.
-The Bottom Line- Well, if you can get past the simplicity of the stories you have a decent collection. Let’s face it, the guys who wrote this weren’t Shakespeare and they weren’t trying to be. The whole gimmick of Superman was hard to orchestrate, though, which necessitated the theme of all these stories. Superman is invincible and how else could they get to him except through Lois Lane, who was not invincible. There were some interesting stories in here and I am always a sucker for WWII era stories but there’s nothing really great here that you’re missing out on. In fact, Superman didn’t even have any villains yet and so you get a steady stream of the same stories. They are not bad, but repetitive, and that can hurt in a collection like this. Recommended for Superman completists, not recommended for everyone else.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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