Action Comics #101

Action Comics #101 (1946)
by Jerry Siegel & Win Mortimer
cover by Wayne Boring

This is one of the most famous Superman covers from the late Golden Age, and one of the few where the cover scene actually happens in the story.
That is a GREAT cover… I particularly appreciate how the explosion seems to have blown the logo out of the usual position… but will the story hold up?

The teaser page isn’t particularly encouraging.

We begin with Superman being a dick. He’s not The Worst yet, but you see it has roots in the older issues.

He also disassembles a stalled car without then putting it back together…

…and flips a skyscraper upside down.
It’s quite impressive that thing doesn’t collapse on itself!

Going back a few days we meet this guy, who discovered a drug that makes you insane.
I believe that’s what the entire DC staff was ingesting in the Silver Age.

“Going crazy” here ranges from throwing pies to attempted murder.

After stopping a politician from murdering people, Superman then has to stop an actor who got a little too much into the role.

The intention is to blackmail rich people into buying the expensive antidote; that wouldn’t be a bad scheme, if only the criminals didn’t TALK ABOUT IT IN PUBLIC.

As Lois Lane gets captured when snooping around… what else is new… Clark Kent connects the dots, identifying the guy going around selling the antidote.
Sure is convenient that the only two targets just happened to be in the same room of Clark when they went insane.

But when Superman finds the guy’s hideout, he’s already given Lois the drug that makes people insane.

*gasp* Lois Lane losing her mind!? I can’t even imagine how that would look like!!!

Superman taking the drug takes us back to the beginning of the story, with his silly shenanigans.

How is Superman going to clear his head? By interrupting a nuclear test and CRASHING INTO THE GROUND.

That was the test of the “old-type atom bomb”, and now they’re about to test the “new” type… which Superman decides to film for no reason.
Given this issue has a cover date of October 1946 and was presumably published a couple of months earlier, this might be Operation Crossroads (also known as the Bikini Atoll tests, the first ones after WWII)… those were carried out in July, leaving just enough time to include this little scene in the comic. Perhaps that’s why it’s so disconnected from the rest of the story?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the backstory to the cover.

And that’s already the end, with Superman quickly arresting the blackmailer and fixing all the damages he caused.

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Historical significance: 0/10
We’re not even shown Lois acting crazy because of the drug. Luckily both her and Superman won’t suffer any long-lasting effects, right?
Right?

Silver Age-ness: 2/10
A potion that makes you crazy? Please, just BEING in the Silver Age does that!

Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
Well that was disappointing. Either go with the blackmail stuff or with Superman doing silly stuff when high… attempting to do both, with only 12 pages, doesn’t really deliver.
The cover is BY FAR the best part. Sometimes it’s better when you DON’T know the backstory!

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What else was in Action Comics 101?

We have Action Comics mainstays Vigilante and Zatara.

We have Congo Bill fighting a giant octopus.
I’m not entirely sure those are native to the Congo.

This is still early enough to still include some comedy serials. Unlike other titles, however, they won’t end up replacing Superman. In fact they will slowly be phased out.