November 1940: When Superman Wasn’t So Tough

Even by 1940, Superman wasn’t quite so super.

Two years after his debut, the Man of Tomorrow could still be rendered unconscious with a diabolical gas developed by the evil scientist Kotzoff (Superman 7, Nov. 1940) or the fiery “globe gun” wielded by the Middle Eastern conqueror Zolar (Action Comics 30, Nov. 1940).

Elsewhere in the Superman title that busy month, the Man of Steel corralled Nick Norton, a gangster who tried to frame a Metropolis prosecutor for murder, and protected another honest lawyer, Bert Runyon, who was attempting to clean up public corruption. Superman also ended a string of brutal night club robberies performed by the hooded thugs of the Black Gang, exposing their leader as Peter Peeker, a gossip columnist on the Morning Pictorial.

The two comic books appeared on the newsstands in September 1940. 

Meanwhile, on radio, Superman was involved in the adventure of Professor Thorpe’s Bathysphere. In his daily newspaper strip, Superman battled the Hooded Saboteur, a fascist terrorist. “By wrecking utilities, he hoped the sick and weak would die, making civilization return to a simpler, hardier way of living!”

And in the Sunday newspapers, trouble brewed when Lois Lane inherited 5,000 acres of land from her uncle. 

The land turns out to be rich in radium, but Lois elects to remain a “sob sister” and gives the millions to charity.

Her deceased uncle’s name? Bill Bixby.

That same month, in Hollywood, production began on what would have been the first Superman movie serial, The Mysterious Doctor Satan.

“(B)ut the license National Comics provided to the Fleischer Studios to make their Superman cartoon series was exclusive and therefore prevented other film companies from using the character,” Wikipedia notes. “The script was subsequently reworked with a new character standing in for Superman. The Copperhead’s love interest, Lois, had only her surname changed between these drafts, while his secret identity, down to the surname, mimicked Batman’s Bruce Wayne, National’s other major comic book character.”