Action Comics #148 (1950)
by Ed Hamilton & Al Plastino
My goal in the Superman retrospective is to include stories that are either historically significant or that are the dumbest thing you’ve ever seen.
But there is a third category: stories that REALLY show their age in the worst possible way.
We begin with a guy claiming legal ownership of Metropolis because its purchase from the natives was illegal. Also Metropolis is an island now.
This guy is a “part-descendant” of the original owners. What an awkward way to say it, but I guess readers were not prepared to the shocking idea that you can have both white AND native ancestors.
Now I’m no lawyer, but this sounds like complete nonsense to me.
Even assuming this could be enforceable after 300 years… it’s not like the guy is the descendant of a king who personally owned the land, it belonged to the whole tribe!
Can you personally inherit the possessions of an entire tribe just because you’re the last relative?
Why am I looking for logic in this?
How much could this guy possibly gain from increasing rent and selling buildings for scraps!?
Couldn’t he just sell the land back to city or the state for like a billion dollar?
It’s a good thing that skyscrapers can be built on any random big rock without any consideration to its foundations, or this would be quite silly.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: the worst aged plot of 1950.
Superman has to get back in time to ensure Native Americans sell their land to white people.
We travel back to Metropolis Island (???) in 1644, where the natives are about to sell.
Superman tries to argue for peace, but he’s IMMEDIATELY attacked.
The tribe’s “medicine man” brings up a couple of omens…
…which Superman sabotages.
But what REALLY convinces the natives is a rainbow.
Sounds legit.
This ends up ending the chief’s career.
Take a moment to appreciate this moment.
Yes, THIS IS THE PLOT.
While Superman waits for the tribe to elect a new chief, the old one is still continuing the sale.
The old chief attacks Superman, who obviously has to build weapons to protect himself.
This results in Superman getting the name Flying Eagle.
This reminds me of one of my favorite storylines from the “Adventures of Superman” radio show, “The Howling Coyote”, which originally ran from December 1940 to January 1941.
In that storyline, which SHOCKINGLY wasn’t racist (seriously!!!), Superman was given the tribal name “Eagle Spirit in the Shape of a Man”.
Jimmy Olsen got the tribal name “Little Laughing Squirrel”.
I am not making this up.
Not only Superman failed in ensuring white people were legitimately sold the land (which is a sentence I never thought I’d have to write)… but the sale is not legitimate because Superman caused the old chief to be dismissed!!!
So this is a very early case of DC time travel ensuring that history cannot be changed, even though we are years before those rules are codified.
Superman doesn’t even want to bring back a souvenir. I’m not sure why though, it’s not like this would change history.
So yeah, this whole mission was a failure.
OR IS IT?
Superman recovers the gift he received from a museum…
…and it turns out that A) Superman was made chief B) the sale was made in his name.
This contradicts WHAT WE JUST SAW, as the old chief was the one to sell the island.
The only way this might potentially make a bit of sense is if the white men figured out the chief wasn’t really in charge and went back to make an official sale with the new representatives of the tribe.
I somehow doubt that a bunch of 1644 pioneers cared about legal minutiae with the natives.
Dammit Clark, you managed not to do stupid things like this until the very last panel!!!
Historical significance: 0/10
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
To my absolute shock this wasn’t really racist! But considering the premise… yeah there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you could do this today.
Even leaving that aside, as mentioned the finale doesn’t even make much sense.
What else was in Action Comics #148?
A Tommy Tomorrow story that is considered the first set on Earth-One, since from now on the stories transition from being set in the late 20th century to the 21st century.
Because of course THIS story had to be the backup of a questionable Superman story.
To be fair, the “gypsies of space” are explicitly the victims here.
We also have Congo Bill and Vigilante. It’s impressive they are STILL ongoing in 1950.
The DC Atlas claims Metropolis is located in Delaware. However, most DC fans work under the assumption that Metropolis is a stand-in for New York City, at least in part. The better parts of NYC are Metropolis. The worse parts are Gotham City. This story appears to be focused on Manhattan Island.
In 1626, the Dutch West India Company, through Peter Minuit, acquired Manhattan Island from the Lenape people (also referred to as the Canarsie Indians). The transaction is often described as a “purchase” for 60 guilders (approximately $24 at the time), but the nature of the agreement is disputed. Some historical accounts suggest the Lenape believed they were granting the Dutch the right to share the land, not selling it outright.
It’s impressive that the story isn’t far more racist than it is. Of course it had to be followed by a story about “Space Gypsies”. Today, Gypsy is a slur, and even using the term ‘gypped’ to mean you were scammed is pretty racist.
You’ve mentioned the surprising longevity of Congo Bill before – any chance of a full hero origins review? From the very problematic racial stereotyping to his later transformation to Congorilla there’s a lot to talk about (and just what was with DC’s silver age gorilla obsession?)
I originally skipped him because, frankly speaking, I find Congo Bill to be incredibly boring.
But if you factor Congorilla he’s completely bonkers, so I might go back to cover him.