Issue Description

Cover by Wayne Boring and George Roussos."A Superman of Doom" (Superman)"Little Brother""The Hot Car Mob" (Federal Agent)"Mimic's Magic" (Zatara)"Bebe""Homer""Case of the Crooked Rock" (Congo Bill)"The Lonesome Kangaroo!" (Vigilante) written by Joe Samachson, penciled by Jerry Robinson and inked by Mort Meskin.

Cover: Superman is landing, dropping off a couple of crooks to the Metropolis Police Department.

In a story with appalling science, the atomic pile at the Elmdale nuclear power plant is about to explode and start a chain reaction that would destroy the Earth (back in 1948 this was still a widely held fear), so Superman goes into action and carries the deadly pile into outer space where there is a tremendous blast.

On his return to Earth, Superman discovers that he has become radioactive and his mere presence destroys all life around him. He initially decides to isolate himself from civilization, but when a crime wave sweeps Metropolis in his absence, he decides he has to do something, so he works out ways of fighting crime from a distance.

Soon Lois gets in trouble again when some crooks kidnap her and demand a million dollars in gold to be delivered by Superman to free her.

Realizing that this time he can't save Lois from a distance, he builds himself a lead suit so he can be next to people without harming them. Bizarrely, in this story his x-ray vision *can* see through lead.

Wearing the suit, Superman is able to save Lois and apprehend the crooks, and discovers afterwards that the lead has "absorbed" all the radiation from his body so he is safe again. (This, of course, is not the way radioactivity works; lead can block radiation, but it doesn't suck it out of radioactive materials - the radioactivity must take its normal course of decay as determined by its half-life.)

Action Comics (1938)

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

In the early days of comics books, it was not the convention to name comics after specific characters. Rather comics bore generic names such as this one. Although this series featured Superman throughout, it thus bore this name, one which it has become famous for (and the name was kept after the launch of The New 52.) It was the fourth DC Comics title, and the first new one produced after Detective Comics spread beyond the one title (this was after it purchased More Fun Comics and New Adventure Comics.)

Starring: Lex Luthor (starting #890) until #900.

Second Feature: Captain Atom (#879-#889), Superboy (#892), Jimmy Olsen (#893-#896)

(Issues #601-642 are filed under Action Comics Weekly)

Collected EditionsSuperman: The Golden Age Omnibus vol. 1 (#1-31)Adventures of Superman: Gil Kane vol. 1 (#539-541, 545, 546 & #551-554)Superman vs. Darkseid (#586)They Saved Luthor's Brain (#600, #668, #670-673, #676-678 )Panic in the Sky (#674-675)Death of Superman (#683-684)World Without Superman (#685-686)Superman: Funeral For A Friend (#685-686)Superman: Reign of the Supermen (#687-688)The Trial of Superman (#716-717)Transformed! (#729 & 732)DC Comics Presents: Superman #4 (#768, #771-773)Superman: Emperor Joker (#769-770)President Lex (#773)Superman: Our Worlds At War, Book One (#780-781)Superman: Our Worlds At War, Book Two (#782)Superman: Ending Battle (#795-796)DC Comics Presents: Superman #2 (#798)Godfall (Action Comics #812- 813, Adventures of Superman #625- 626 and Superman #202- 203)Superman: The Wrath of Gog (#814-819; backups #812-813)Superman: Sacrifice (Action Comics #829, Superman #218-220, Adventures of Superman #642-643 and Wonder Woman #219-220)Superman: Up, Up and Away! (#837-840)Superman: Back In Action (#841-843, plus stories from DC Comics Presents #4, #17 and #24)Superman: Last Son (#844-846, #851 and Action Comics Annual #11)The Third Kryptonian (Superman #668-670, Action Comics #847, Superman Annual #13)Redemption (Superman #659&666, Action Comics #848-849)3-2-1 Action (Superman #665, Action Comics #852-854, Legends of the DC Universe #14)Superman: Escape From Bizarro World (#855-857)Superman And The Legion of Super-Heroes (#858-863)Superman: Brainiac (#866-870)Superman: New Krypton Vol. 1 (#871)Superman: New Krypton Vol. 2 (#872-873)Superman: Nightwing And Flamebird Vol. 1 (#875-879 and Action Comics Annual #12)Superman: Codename Patriot (#880)Superman: Nightwing And Flamebird Vol. 2 (#883-889, Superman #696 and Adventure Comics #8-10)Superman: The Black Ring Vol. 1 (#890-895)Superman: The Black Ring Vol. 2 (#896-900; Action Comics Annual #13; Secret Six #29)Secret Six: Caution To the Wind (#897)Superman: Reign of Doomsday (#900-904)For Post-Flashpoint refer to Action Comics (Vol. 2)

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