The Superman Chronicles, Vol. 2 by Jerry Siegel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the second story in the Superman Chronicles which detail Superman's comic book adventures in Chronological order across multiple book. This book collects stories Action Comics #14-20 and Superman #2 and #3.

Action Comics #14, #17, #19 and #20 feature Superman's first archvillain the Ultra-humanite, a wheelchair bound mad scientist. Action Comics #19 is probably the best of these as Superman has to help a scientist combat a purple plague that's decimating Metropolis' population. My only problem with Ultra is that his aims are vague. He mentions global domination, but how one thing will lead to another is always a question with him. However, Ultra does succeed in knocking Superman unconscious a few times and that's pretty good for 1939.

Action Comics #15 has Superman trying to raise a million dollars to help a knock off of Boys Town and he plans to do it by finding sunken treasure and rents a boat to do it as Clark Kent. Unfortunately, he finds treachery among the crew.

Action Comics #16 has Superman taking on organized gambling as a vice that must be stopped.

Superman #2 and #3 borrow heavily from the daily newspaper strip with a couple of my favorite stories. One being Superman helping a boxer down on his luck make a comeback against corrupt gamblers, and a story in Superman #3 shows Superman helping an orphanage fulfill of orphans being abused by their corrupt headmaster.

Clark Kent is a reporter,but in Action Comics #18, we're introduced to a less savory member of the fourth estate who just wreaks of sleaze and runs a blackmail racket to boot.

As mentioned earlier, Action Comics #19 features a chemical attack on Metropolis in the form of a purple plague that only Superman is safe from. He helps a research scientist find the cure even as public skepticism grows. It's probably the best-written story in the book.

If you love Golden Age Superman, this is a great book. It's true that Superman is still a bit rough. He uses threats of violence to get confessions quite a bit. And he even robbed a chemical factory so that our scientist could could continue his work.

Still, despite this bending and breaking of rules, Superman's caring and heart are on full display. He peps up the discouraged scientist in #19 and encourages him to keep going and trying. Superman was written at a time when the remembrance of corrupt cops was fresh in people's minds and the law too often worked on behalf of criminals and those who crushed the poor. Superman is called the "savior of the helpless and the oppressed" in the text story and that's apt.

Despite how rough his behavior is for twenty-first century readers, Superman's selfless caring for others makes this book a winner.



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