Action Comics Issue 1 first impressions
"As a distant planet is destroyed by old age, a scientist places his infant son in a space capsule and launches it toward Earth. The capsule is found by a passing motorist, who brings the baby to an orphanage, where the child astounds the attendants with his superhuman powers. The child, who is named Clark Kent, can jump over buildings, lift enormous weights, and run faster than a freight train. Furthermore, his skin is impenetrable. Realizing that he has powers far beyond normal humans, Clark dedicates himself to serve humanity as Superman, the champion of the oppressed."
I was quite surprised reading this book, firstly by how long it was. Unlike Amazing Fantasy 15 (first appearance of Spider-Man), which holds 32 pages, Action Comics 1 boasts an impressive 52 pages.
The plot of the story is interesting as it spends more time on Superman than Clark Kent, living up to its namesake "Action" comics. It's interesting reading this issue in of course, a retrospective way, because the Superman in this book isn't quite the same as the modern day iteration.
So what's changed from 1938? Well to begin with, there's no mention of Krypton at all. The only information we get is that he hails from a "distant planet". The idea of Krypton wasn't explored further until Superman issue number 1, which was released a year later.
Although he still has his Clark Kent journalist persona, he works for Daily Star as opposed to Daily Planet and still interacts with a strong spirited Lois Lane. He's regarded by his colleagues as "spineless" which is in keeping with how Clark was meant to be perceived by those who didn't know his true identity.
With regards to his powers, as extraordinary as they are, they're quite basic by today's standards. For example, instead of his traditional flight, originally Superman would "leap tall buildings in a single bound". He had the strength to "raise tremendous weights", his speed would allow him to "run faster than an express train" and that his endurance meant "that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin".
So at this point in the character's creation, heat vision and super breath were not abilities he originally possessed. Infact, the term "heat vision" wasn't used until later in 1961 in Action Comics issue 275. Superman was predominantly using his X-ray vision to set things on fire but it didn't feature the classic red beams we know today.
When it comes to the suit, not much has changed. The overall look is basically the same, the big difference would be the emblem. In the original, it's a yellow shield with the letter S. The outline of the shield reminiscent of those used in medieval history, compared to the way the overall emblem looks now, it's come a long way from 1938.
The front cover itself is so classic and so widely recognised that it's even been used in reference in some of the films. This image of a man with such tremendous strength that he could lift a car, really captures the feel of this character in a nutshell.
Overall I thought this was a good book. It was definitely on my list of "must reads". Despite the book obviously being a little dated with it's dialogue and style, the interesting thing about it has to do with not what the story is about, but what it represents for the character. Love him or hate him, Superman has been around for over 80 years and everything about this book brings about a sense of history.
If you're a Superman fan or even a comic book fan in general, I highly recommend taking a read. Thankfully the book has been reprinted enough times to allow fans to read. Of course you could buy an original copy, if you have a spare $3.2 million.
Comments
Post a Comment