Superman #12 CGC 3.0 **Fred Ray WWII Cover** DC Comics 1941

You are bidding on:  Superman vol 1 #12 CGC 3.0 **Golden Age**

September-October 1941 DC Comics

World War II Cover

Jerry Siegel (Stories)   John Sikela (Art)   Fred Ray (Cover)  

1st Print

"Peril on Pogo Island"

Clark Kent and Lois Lane go on a vacation cruise. A girl falls overboard, and Clark rescues her. The next day, Clark and Lois meet the girl and her fiance, Nan Wilson and Niles Grant. Nan says that she was hit on the head just before she fell in. The cruise stops off at Pogo Island, which Nan has inherited. They find that the natives don't like Nan. They leave a token on her door. Clark sees that it is poisoned, and throws it away before she cam touch it. The native workers are chanting around a bonfire, calling Nan "Inga", which the foreman, Carl Bogart, says means "witch". A boy falls into the fire, and Nan takes him back to the house to care for him. The natives knock a tree down in an attempt to kill Nan. Clark changes to Superman, and catches the tree. The natives shoot poison darts, but Superman deflects them. The others go back to the house while Superman fights off the natives. Some other natives try to roll a boulder on top of the house, and Superman throws it back, into the path of another, shattering both. The natives want to leave the white people alone, as they are scared of Superman, but their Witch-Doctor agitates them. They try to set a fire, but Superman builds a ditch. They capture Lois, Nan and Niles and tie them to stakes, but when they find the injured boy was cared for, they decide not to burn them. But the Witch-Doctor does so anyway. Superman rescues them, and the natives run away. Some soldiers arrive, and Superman slips away. The soldiers arrest them, and the Witch-Doctor, and take them to their submarine. Lois deduces it is a secret refueling base. The Witch-Doctor reveals himself to be the foreman, and explains that the country that built the base hired him to keep people away. Superman arrives, and knocks out several soldiers, as the rest herd their prisoners onto the submarine. Superman retrieves it, frees the prisoners, and changes back to Clark Kent.

"The Suicide Murders"

Thomas Corday, Daniel Steele and Robert Starbuck all die, either in accidents or suicide, but Clark Kent runs a story suggesting they are murders. This risky article draws criticism from his colleagues and the Police. A man calling himself Eugene Starbuck arrives at the Planet offices, and asks to speak with Clark. He takes him outside and pushes him under a car. At superspeed, Clark twists out of danger, but the man disappears. He finds out that there never was a Eugene Starbuck. When Burton Steele arrives, Clark mistakes him for another impostor, partly due to a false beard, but he is just an actor. Meanwhile, a man called Bryson has been caught embezzling to pay gambling debts by his partner, Malford. Malford gives him a day to replace the money before calling the cops. Bryson is kidnapped and taken to a man who promises to kill Malford for $10,000. He agrees after he is told either Malford dies or he does. The brakes on Malford's car are disconnected but Superman, patrolling in the hope of proof of his theories, saves it and fixes the brakes. The next day Bryson is arrested. The boss who arranged the attempted murder shoots the henchman who sabotaged the brakes. The boss finds a new client in the form of multi-millionaire Max Binder, who has gone bust. In exchange for a few thousand, the boss will fake an accident so his family will get the life insurance money. Meanwhile, Perry sends Clark to interview Binder. He notices Binder talks as though he was already dead. When leaving, he sees a balcony about to collapse, with Max on it. He changes to Superman, catches Binder, and is told all about the scam, as Binder is now determined to make a new start. When a thug comes to tell Binder to pay more or die anyway, Superman catches him and learns of a plot to kill Senator McPhail. Superman arrives to prevent the killing and catches the boss, delivering him to the police.

"The Grotak Bund"

A number of industries involved in the rearming process suffer disasters. Convinced these are not accidents, Clark Kent and Lois Lane go to a prison and speak to a man who was caught near one of the disasters acting suspiciously. However, the man refuses to talk, and attacks Clark. He dodges, but refuses to hit back. Lois leaves, upset, and Clark changes to Superman. But before he can begin his own interrogation, he sees several thugs break in and rescue the man, taking Sergeant Casey hostage. As Superman follows their car, he catches Casey just as he is thrown out of the car. By the time he returns to the chase, the man has been shot and abandoned. He tells Superman that he wishes to get even on the double-crossers who shot him, but dies before he says more than the word "Calden". State troopers arrive, and mistake Superman for the killer. He tries to explain, but then just flies away. Later, Clark and Lois are told that Superman is accused of murder, but Lois refutes the accusation on the strength of Casey's testimony. They are sent investigate the near-explosion at another plant. They learn about the time bomb found at the last minute, and are shown where it was planted. As they leave, Lois tells Clark of a hunch she has that the saboteur will try again, but Clark refuses to help her investigate. He changes to Superman and keeps watch. The night watchman lets her through, as he is one of the saboteurs, and his colleague decides to just blow the place up with Lois inside, so she will be thought responsible. They tie her up and set the bomb. When they leave, Superman rescues her and puts out the bomb. He catches the crooks, and puts them in the path of an oncoming train to make them talk. They tell him that they're members of the Grotak Bund, which are destroying America's defence efforts. They go to the meeting place and tell their leader they failed. He goes to shoot them as Superman swoops in, knocks out the henchmen and sends the leader fleeing. After an explosion covers his escape route, Superman calls the police to take custody of the henchmen (and incriminating records) before changing back to Clark and entering with the federal raiders. The henchmen tell how their boss always wore a mask. Returning to the Daily Planet, he is told that Lois went to interview patriot Calvin Denby. Guessing the interviewee to be Calden, Clark changes to Superman and arrives as Denby tries to shoot Lois, thinking she knows his secret. Superman blocks the bullet, and it rebounds, knocking out Denby.