Action Comics #60 (1943)
by Jerry Siegel & George Roussos
cover by Jack Burnley
Despite the cover, this is not a war story. It takes a while for the covers of Action Comics to reflect what’s actually happening in the issue.
Instead, this is the first time Lois Lane gets powers.
We begin with Clark Kent being really pushy, insisting that it’s not fair for Lois to have a thing for Superman and not for him.
Clark, sometimes you make it REALLY hard to root for you.
In fact he annoys Lois so much that she’d rather walk into traffic than talk to him.
Yes, you should definitely feel responsible because you were annoying her. Not for the fact that you could’ve saved with super-speed or super-breath (even this early in the Golden Age).
Because she was hit by a truck, the best medicine is a blood transfusion.
Sounds legit.
The transfusion immediately cures Lois, while also fixing her hair I guess.
If you haven’t already figured out what’s about to happen… look I’m glad you visited, but if this is the first superhero story you’ve ever read maybe this site isn’t for you.
Yes, Lois has indeed developed… gee golly gosh… Superman powers.
Golden Age Lois is DEFINITELY smarter than the Silver Age one, but she has quite an ego.
Still… it’s the 1940s, so lower your expectations.
In utter defiance of any semblance of a secret identity, Lois decides to return home jumping across the whole city.
She creates her own Superwoman costume, which is a mixed bag.
It’s not a bad ensemble, and I’d imagine that the bare shoulders might even have been considered riqué in 1943. I like the combo of the skirt over the pants, it’s not what Supergirl will go for but as Saturn Girl has demonstrated it can work.
I also excuse the high heels for all characters that can fly… but the part that doesn’t work is her logo, which is the Superman one but inside a heart.
Honestly, just give her the regular Superman logo and this would be a good Supergirl costume.
Superwoman’s first mission… is to save a man from his wife.
“Attractive-looking people”. Well, since the component is given by a woman without a nose, who am I to judge?
The next threat is more Superman level. I’m not a fan of the comic suddenly deciding the costume has red underpants beneath the skirt… just be glad Supergirl never lands like this.
Once she saves Clark Kent, he IMMEDIATELY recognizes Superwoman as Lois Lane.
Well duh, she’s not ever wearing glasses!
She explains what happened in a panel that is much better than the rest of the issue.
Lois intends to continue her superhero career, but Clark won’t have any of that.
Lois, even if this somehow works, do you expect to bully EVERYONE who realizes you’re Superwoman?
Once Clark agrees to keep her identity a secret, Superwoman is IMMEDIATELY captured…
…by a bald evil scientist who looks suspiciously like Lex Luthor.
Ah yes, the famous Dr. Skowl, Superman’s nemesis for… checking my notes… this story and nothing else.
I’ve said before that every Golden Age superhero is contractually obligated to be captured and tied up by the villains, with Batman and Superman being the exceptions… but I might have to correct my statement on that.
This looks like a job for Superwoman!
Lois finally has Superman on the spot after five years, which is literal because I guess in this period they were still considering stories were happening in real time.
Lois being “crazy” and “batty” checks out. I’m not so sure about “dippy” and “slap-happy”, but still.
As happy as Lois is, there’s a disaster right around the corner since her secret identity has already been exposed.
I guess it’s a good time to bring back our time-honored game of “guess the stupid ending”!
How will Lois get out of this one?
A) her powers fade for no reason at all
B) Superman hypnotizes her into forgetting she has powers
C) Superman goes back in time to prevent her from being hit by the car
D) she wakes up, it was all a dream
E) she doesn’t, this is the first ever parallel universe
And the answer is…
…it was all just a dream.
Historical significance: 2/10
The first Supergirl prototype (I’ll review the others) and the first of many, many, MANY times Lois gets Superman’s powers.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
The ending makes a bit too much sense for the true Silver Age, but we have the love-obsessed Lois and, well…
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
Even with just 12 pages it manages to give some variety, and for the standards of the series the action isn’t that bad. The final twist isn’t TOO predictable, and I can excuse them for the copout since this is so early that they haven’t abused it yet.
I also liked how Lois gave helping others as her prime motivation, and it’s not until she saves Superman that she obsesses on marrying him.
While Lois has already moved away from her badass first years, she’s not anywhere near as insane as her Silver Age counterpart.
Since I mentioned the possibility of this being the first “imaginary tale”… it’s both too early and too late for that.
Too early because the official use of the term “imaginary tale” is a much later story (which I’ll eventually cover), but even unofficially it already happened.
That would be Superman #19 from 1942, in a story by Siegel & Shuster that sees Clark Kent and Lois Lane watching Superman cartoons together.
That was a weird story: the cartoon they’re watching in the theater shows Superman changing into Clark Kent, so the real Clark spends the entire story distracting Lois whenever the cartoon shows his secret identity.
I don’t even know whether to classify this as breaking the fourth wall.
