Action Comics #421

Action Comics #421 (1973)
by Cary Bates & Curt Swan
cover by Nick Cardy

One of the recurring problems with Superman with people who don’t actually read his comics and only know him from pop culture osmosis is that they consider him as being a character just for kids.
I obviously disagree with that VERY much, but it’s hard to defend certain eras when they make him fight Discount Popeye.

We begin with a kid playing as Batman and needing to be rescued by a bald guy.

He’s telling this to Clark Kent (who he knows from a previous issue), who for some reason is a bit skeptical of the idea of Metropolis having another super-strong guy.
Not really sure WHY though, considering at this point Superman knows PLENTY of people with powers.

I kind of doubt that newspaper reporters can just do this without attracting MORE attention.

Superman then rescues some ships from a giant whirpool…

…by creating a tornado, which as we all know is the its polar
opposite.Sounds legit.

But back to the main plot, we meet Captain Strong. Who in addition to being a sailor, has his own special organic food to sell.

It would be a bit easier to have sympathy for Captain Strong if we were told that this businessman wants to sell his Discount Spinach at an outrageous price.
Strong insists on “rock-bottom profit”, and the idea definitely is that he wants to make it AFFORDABLE, but these two are not necessarily the same thing.

Captain Strong is a huge Superman fan, and it turns out that the kid contacting Clark Kent was just a way to eventually get Superman’s endorsement. That’s kind of clever.

Especially because IT WORKS. Wait, why does Superman have friends at food producers specifically?

Well, Superman has a looooong history of doing commercials.

Too bad that Captain Strong doesn’t just have the strength of spinach, he also has the same intelligence.

Just kidding, Captain Strong immediately figures out the scheme. Mostly because this idiot took off his mask while he was RIGHT THERE.

Is that thing even addictive?

I swear if this turns into a Scooby Doo crossover as well I’m going to scream.

Crisis averted, for now.
Scooby Doo MUST have crossed over with Popeye at some point, right?
That dog is everywhere.

Why would Clark Kent take a taxi!? I could understand if he was with Lois or Jimmy, but alone? Who’s going to notice!?

Superman manages to stop Captain Strong just in time before he freaking murders the guy who tried to steal his Discount Spinach.

This turns into, what else, a Super Sailor Fight.

You’d expect Superman to have the upper hand since he can fly, but… Captain Strong can SWIM THROUGH AIR.

If you thought I was being silly when insinuating Discount Spinach is like a drug…

Turns out that Discount Spinach is just seaweed.

And that’s all it took to defeat Captain Strong.

As for the origin of Discount Spinach, turns out it was an alien food.

And so we end the story with Captain Strong vowing to only eat healthy Earth foods.

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Historical significance: 1/10
Captain Strong has a few more appearances (more on that soon) which ultimately don’t impact Superman. But I wish to believe Captain Strong is a major influence on a post-Crisis supporting character, Bibbo.
And Bibbo is great.

Silver Age-ness: 8/10
That’s as close as you can get to Superman meeting Popeye without a literal crossover…

Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
…which would be interesting if done right. While I’m not a huge Popeye fan, it’s not like you couldn’t have a fun adventure with him and Superman.
But that would require a very cartoony Popeye, and Captain Strong is very much an attempt to do a “realistic” Popeye… much to the detriment of the story, because at this point he’s extremely forgettable unless you notice he’s a walking reference.
He doesn’t even talk funny! What’s even the point of doing Popeye if you don’t make him talk like Popeye!? Heck even I did the Popeye voice for the memes and we don’t even share the same mother language!
Assuming Popeye is speaking English.
The only saving grace is Curt Swan, as always. Man was his talent wasted in this period.

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You would expect Captain Strong to be a one-off, but nope!
He’s back in 1974 in a story that ends with him marrying… Olivia Tallow.

In the same story Superman fights an Unfrozen Caveman…

…from space. Please tell me this is also a reference to a minor Popeye character.

You would think that would be enough, but Captain Strong shows up AGAIN in 1976.
But now he’s just a supporting character, and it makes sense to be there when Superman fights The Shark. In this role he’s starting to resemble Bibbo a little.

Cary Bates must have really liked the character, because he uses him again in 1981.

You would think Captain Strong would be confined to Cary Bates stories, right?
He shows up as late as 1985, in a Craig Boldman story.

We’re going a bit too far with the Popeye parallels, guys. Not EVERYONE from his cast needs a DC equivalent!

WE GET IT, HE’S POPEYE.

His final pre-Crisis appearance is a cameo in 1986 on DC Challenge #10.

And you would think THAT would be the final Captain Strong appearance, but… he shows up as recently as 2003, on Creen Arrow vol3 #22 by Scott Beatty.
It’s just a cameo: he doesn’t have any powers.

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Bonus: at this time Green Arrow was the backup feature, with Elliot S.Maggin as the writer and Sal Amendola as the penciler.
I don’t know much about Amendola, but he’s pretty good and would deserve more recognition.