Type Comic
Date 1940-11-21
Tags gambling, fiction

Action Comics #32

Action Comics #32 (1941-01)

Superman

Superman stops a man committing suicide, who had lost all his money gambling at the Preston Club: "How can you even consider abandoning your wife and family? Now promise me you won't try such a foolish thing again!"

Outraged that there is gambling happening in Metropolis, Clark, visits the police chief, who directs him to the mayor, who offers to lead the raid on Club himself. When the arrive, though, there's no sign of gambling. Suspicious, Superman trails the mayor and overhears: "This has got to end, Preston! I want nothing to do with your filthy racket!"

Lois disguises herself and gets a friend to help her get into the club, later, and sees that the club is filled with gambling equipment. She's caught and forced to drink a drug that makes her forget--everything. Clark takes her to a doctor, who declares that "Her case is hopeless! She will have to spend the remainder of her days in a sanitarium!"

Unwilling to abandon Lois, Clark decides to try 'mental hypnosis'. He stares into her eyes and... she is cured. He returns home, to his laboratory, where has "The Krypto-Raygun--a startling invention with which I can snap pictures--they are developed right in the gun--and can be flashed upon a wall!" Startling.

Superman takes pictures of the gambling at the Preston Club, then returns to the mayor's office, where Lois is looking for answers. Listening in, he learns that the mayor's son has been dosed with the same drug that was used on Lois, and he's being blackmailed by Preston.

Preston kidnaps the mayor and Lois, intending to send them over a cliff in a car, but Superman rescues them and captures Preston. He gives the Krypto-Raygun with the evidence to Lois, and Preston's fate is sealed.

Note

The Krypto-Raygun is one of the 'prizes' offered for selling boxes of greeting cards. Product placement?

Supermen of America

The column discusses Reverence: "Difficult and dangerous times are upon us again. But if we revere the God that made our nation possible, and have faith in Him and in the nation, we are safe from the ravages of the forces of darkness."