The Superman Chronicles, Vol. 5 by Jerry Siegel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This chronological look through Superman's early years continues as this Volume collects Superman stories from Action Comics #32-#36, Superman #8 and #9 and World's Best Comics #1 and have publication dates between January-May 1941.

Superman continues his war on racketeers and fifth columnists in this book.

Action Comics #32 is noteworthy for Superman inventing a hand held Krypto Raygun with which he could take pictures and then play them back on the wall and also for curing a chemically induced catatonic state through "mental hypnosis."

Superman #8 is probably the best illustration of every type of Golden Age Superman story with Superman taking on a group of mind controlled giants, fifth columnists, a carnival racket, and a gang controlled by drugs provided by their boss.

Action Comics #33 has Superman taking on a mystery at a lumber camp where the will of the late owner to leave the proceeds of future sales to a boys camp after he died is in danger of failing because the owner died. This is an okay issue. Same thing for Issue #4 about an heiress inherits a mine.

Superman #9 has one of the most iconic covers in Superman history with Superman tearing through the yellow background. It also has some of the best stories in the book including Superman taking on phony pacifists, a tale of a racketeer trying to intimidate judge, a great intrigue tale surrounding a missing formula, and a suicide that sets Superman on the trail of something far bigger.

World's Best Comics #1 has Superman facing his most dangerous mad scientist foe since Luthor's last appearance. This time he's actually phased, which is a rarity for golden age Superman.

Issue #35 is a somewhat confusing story about an attempt to steal 100 shares of a useless mining stock. The story is fun but the solution is hard to buy. Issue #36 has Superman taking on more phony anti-rearmament activists. They go out of their way to avoid naming the Axis powers in this pre-World War II book, so this book goes with "Country X" as the bad guy. (I'm not making that up.)

Overall, this was fun, even though I didn't quite think these ere as good as the stories in Volume 4, there's still some nice plots and Superman and Lois are both fun characters to read about.



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