ACTION COMICS 20 (1940)
by Jerry Siegel & Paul Cassidy
cover by Joe Shuster
After his first appearance, the Ultra-Humanite faced Superman a couple more times before this his remarkable two-part story. He was unremarkable at first, but you’ll see he’s quite unusual here.
The cover has nothing to do with the story. It’s a common Golden Age thing.
Likewise, the very first panel is completely independent.
Clark Kent is set to interview famous actress Dolores Winters, and he saves her life from an assassin… as Clark Kent! This is more in line with the modern Clark, rather than the Silver Age one.
I can’t tell from the artwork if she’s smitten or if she’s falling asleep.
Except that night:
The actress also suddenly decides to quit acting. Now that’s a compelling mystery, who is going to solve it? Not Clark Kent, that’s for sure!
If only movie stars were that honest in real life.
But the party turns too gay that she has to call her armed goons.
Murdering your guests is kind of the opposite of “liven up the party!”.
Another sign of the times: the Daily Planet doesn’t exist yet, Clark works at the Daily Star.
Man, financing movies was brutal in the 40s!!!
For reference: 5 million dollars in 1940 would be 97,702,500 dollars in 2021.
Having discovered that the instructions on how to deliver the ransom will be at the studio, Superman decides to hang out nearby…
…and reads the note delivered to the studio’s head while standing in the next room.
If I’m not mistaken this is THE FIRST TIME EVER that he uses x-ray vision!!!
X-ray vision was also mentioned in Action Comics #11, but that looked more like what we would today interpret as telescopic vision.
Also in this period he can already hold his breath for 45 minutes (not to mention talk underwater!!!), as we discover as he follows the ransom being loaded on a submarine.
And who does he find there if not Dolores Winters!
Now you might be thinking, “this is interesting and all, but why did you bring up the Ultra-Humanite at the beginning?”, well…
Yep! In addition to being the first supervillain, the Ultra-Humanite is ALSO the first gender-bending supervillain.
Unfortunately for “Ultra”, this is ALSO the first-ever use of Super Breath!!!
She does, indeed, get away this time.
But it won’t take long!
ACTION COMICS 21 (1940)
by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
Clark Kent is doing his thing when SUDDEN EXPLOSION!!!
It’s easy being a prize-winning journalist if everyone you meet IMMEDIATELY spills the beans.
The Ultra-Humanite seems to really, really appreciate the new body.
At least the scientist says she “resembles” Dolores Winters, otherwise we’d have to think Superman kept the Ultra-Humanite’s new identity a secret.
It’s not like Golden Age Superman would be that dumb.
Fastest torture scene ever!!!
So kidnapping a bunch of celebrities is worth more than destroy an entire city!?
Sounds legit.
Also: SHE’S NOT BLUFFING.
1940 Superman can’t fly yet, but it’s not a problem.
Ultra-Humanite has really upped her game from the first appearance: now we’ve moved into the realm of volcano lairs and robot soldiers!
Okay THIS Ultra-Humanite is actually pretty cool.
After a surprisingly long scene, Superman does eventually return with the jewels.
I’m not entirely sure who is stopping Ultra. My best guess in the scientist, but it’s hard to tell by the artwork.
And that’s the last appearance of the Ultra-Humanite during the Golden Age!
So… yeah. The Ultra-Humanite, the first formerly disabled gender-bent genius supervillain who turned into a genetically engineered super-strong albino gorilla.
How can you not love comics!?
Historical significance: 7/10
The Ultra-Humanite’s female version will return a couple of times, in stories set in this era. More importantly, more powers! It’s not always easy to pinpoint WHEN Superman uses his powers, though, so it’s not as high as it could otherwise be.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
It was pretty low until we got to the volcano lair.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
This was AWESOME. I really wish we kept THIS Ultra-Humanite!!! Sure, some of the plans are a little silly, but the rivalry with Superman would’ve been very interesting… but Lex Luthor will debut just 2 issues after this one. A pity that the Ultra-Humanite came back in the gorilla form, because the way she uses her new identity and body is rather unique. Especially in the 40s!!!
More than that, the pacing is surprisingly modern. A little less in the second part, which wastes A LOT of pages with Superman stealing the jewels. But it’s almost as good as the early Golden Age gets!
There’s at least one other form between Dolores and the genetically-engineered ape of modern day, that being a few stories where U-H was using a giant insect body for…reasons. The guy is utterly immune to body dysmorphia, to the point where I swear you could stick his brain in a flowerpot and he’d find a way to work with it.
Also note that U-H has the best trained henchmen of any villainous mastermind ever. They’re apparently capable of performing full brain transplants in 1939 – and we know they weren’t just working from instructions because one of them secretly preserves Dolores’ brain and re-transplants it to a new body so she can become a supervillain much later on. Those robots may not really be an improvement with that high bar set.
Never explicitly stated that I know of, but his original form was probably meant to be a polio survivor, hence the partial paralysis. That would have been a horribly familiar sight to readers in the 40s, with a vaccine still to be developed.