Type Comic
Date 1939-09-28
Tags fiction

Action Comics #18

Action Comics #18 (1939-11)

Superman

A senator up for re-election stops his car to help a woman who claims she was in a wreck. She gasses him then takes him away for some nefarious purpose. Later, Clark discovers a rival reporter (Gene Powers, gossip columnist for the Morning Herald) blackmailing the senator with photographs of him and the woman--events the senator doesn't remember. Superman confronts him, and tells him to get out of town. Then, Superman follows him, to discover that his boss at the Morning Herald is in on it. Ultimately, Superman destroys the Herald's printing press, stops the newspapers with the incriminating photos from getting out, and chases the crooked newsman out of Metropolis. The senator wins his re-election, with some help from Clark's articles.

Zatara and the Atlantis Mystery

A follow-up to the last story, it seems. The villainess of that tale, Setap, has returned (in yet another guise), but this time (as at the end of the previous story) she's being quite friendly with Zatara. I suppose he doesn't mind that she kidnapped his friend and planned to destroy all human civilization, before. Anyway, Setap invites Zatara on an adventure: to search for the lost city of Atlantis.

In a return to his classic behaviour, Zatara has changed this man into a map.

Eventually, they get to Atlantis, where an unscrupulous companion of theirs unwittingly unleashes an unspeakable horror--Roor, the octopus. The comic claims it's a terrifying creature that will destroy everything, but it doesn't really seem so bad. Zatara tricks it into eating some sponges and salt, then drinking until it explodes from the pressure. Setap decides to stay in Atlantis.

It's weird. Last time, Setap called herself the queen of Atlantis, but this time she seems not to know much about it. Furthermore, she claims to have been contacted by men from Atlantis, but they certainly don't seem to be expecting her. Mysterious.