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 Unofficial Action Comics Index

Action Comics 42

ACTION COMICS #42

Cover Date: November 1941
Cover Price: $.10
Publication Date: 1941-09-19

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Cover Credits:
Art: Fred Ray


Story: [No Title] (13 Pages)

Credits:

StoryJerry Siegel
PencilsLeo Nowak
InksShuster Shop
Assistant editingMurray Boltinoff, Mort Weisinger
EditingWhitney Ellsworth

Feature Character(s):

Superman

Supporting Character(s):

Kent's Editor
Lois Lane
Jimmy Olsen

Villain(s):

Lex Luthor (disguised as Zytal, an interplanetary traveler)
Dirk Chadwick and his gang (first appearance; gangsters working for Luthor; all die)

Location(s):

Metropolis
Empire in the Sky (first appearance; Luthor's floating city)

Story Reprinted in:

Superman: The Action Comics Archives #3 (2001)
The Superman Chronicles #7 (2009)
Superman: Golden Age Omnibus #2 (2016)
Superman: The Golden Age #4 (2018)


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Second Story: "The Vigilante" (8 Pages)

Credits:

StoryMort Weisinger
ArtMort Meskin
Assistant editingMurray Boltinoff, Mort Weisinger
EditingWhitney Ellsworth

Feature Character(s):

Vigilante (Greg Sanders; first appearance; a Country & Western "troubadour")

Villain(s):

Killer Kelly (first appearance; Public Enemy #1; fakes his execution)

Other Character(s):

Betty Stuart (first appearance; a blues singer)

Location(s):

New York City, NY

Story Reprinted in:

Secret Origins #4 (September-October 1973)
Action Comics 80 Years of Superman: The Deluxe Edition (2018)


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Third Story: [No Title] (4 Pages)

Credits:

ArtSheldon Moldoff
Assistant editingMurray Boltinoff, Mort Weisinger
EditingWhitney Ellsworth

Feature Character(s):

Black Pirate (next in Sensation Comics #1/2

Supporting Character(s):

Bonnie

Location(s):

Mediterranean Sea in the 16th Century


4

Fourth Story: [No Title] (6 Pages)

Credits:

StoryGardner Fox
ArtChad Grothkopf
Assistant editingMurray Boltinoff, Mort Weisinger
EditingWhitney Ellsworth

Feature Character(s):

Three Aces (heading back from South America)
Fog Fortune
Gunner Bill
Whistler Will

Villain(s):

Miguel Miranda (first appearance; a bandito trying to overthrow a Central American country)

Location(s):

Central America


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Fifth Story: [No Title] (12 Pages)

Credits:

StoryKen Fitch
ArtBernard Baily
LetteringBernard Baily
Assistant editingMurray Boltinoff, Mort Weisinger
EditingWhitney Ellsworth

Feature Character(s):

Mister America (creates a "flying carpet" that he uses as a cape)

Supporting Character(s):

Fatman (Bob Daley; creates his own crime-fighting identity using items from his living room; last in issue #40/5)

Villain(s):

Queen Bee and her gang (first appearance; a crime boss who knows judo and karate)

Comment(s):

This Queen Bee is not known to be related to later women with the same name.


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Sixth Story: [No Title] (6 Pages)

Credits:

StoryFred Ray
ArtFred Ray
Assistant editingMurray Boltinoff, Mort Weisinger
EditingWhitney Ellsworth

Feature Character(s):

Congo Bill

Supporting Character(s):

Professor James Kent

Villain(s):

Tomkins (first appearance; a worker on a movie who tries to sabotage filming so he can steal ivory)

Location(s):

Africa


7

Seventh Story: [No Title] (9 Pages)

Credits:

StoryGardner Fox
ArtJoseph Sulman
Assistant editingMurray Boltinoff, Mort Weisinger
EditingWhitney Ellsworth

Feature Character(s):

Zatara the Magician (last in World's Finest Comics #3/6)

Villain(s):

Tigress (last in issue #35/6; last appearance)
Frosty Parke (first appearance; a criminal associate; temporarily gains the ability to control people's minds)

Location(s):

A small Eastern US City


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