Action Comics #56

(January 1943)

Editorial Advisory Board (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.33 page (report information)

Children of the Sea (Table of Contents: 2)

Good Books Worth Reading / text article / 0.67 page (report information)

Script

Josette Frank

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Inside front cover.

Design for Doom! (Table of Contents: 3)

Superman / comic story / 13 pages (report information)

Script

Jerry Siegel (signed)

Pencils

John Sikela (signed as Joe Shuster)

Inks

George Roussos

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero

Characters

Superman [Clark Kent]; Lois Lane; Perry White; Emil Loring (introduction)

Synopsis

An insane architect tries to destroy some of America's greatest historical structures so that they might not overshadow his creation of what he believes to be the world's tallest building.

Reprints

• in Superman: The Action Comics Archives (DC, 1997 series) #4 ([July] 2005)
• in Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus (DC, 2013 series) #3 (2016 [February 2017])
• in Superman: The Golden Age (DC, 2016 series) #5 ([June] 2020)

Supermen of America (Table of Contents: 4) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

[Robert L. Golay] (Table of Contents: 5)

Supermen of the U.S. Army / cartoon / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Cliff Young ?

Inks

Cliff Young ?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

non-fiction

Characters

Robert L. Golay

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 6)

Laffs / cartoon / 0.5 page (report information)

Script

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Pencils

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Inks

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Now stop me if you've heard this one!

Genre

humor

Indexer Notes

3 gags. Writer credit added by Craig Delich.

I Ask You! (Table of Contents: 7) (Expand) /

Superman / promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.5 page (report information)

Melody of Menace! (Table of Contents: 8)

Vigilante / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Mort Meskin (signed as Morton Jr.)

Inks

George Roussos (signed as Roussos)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero

Characters

The Vigilante [Greg Sanders]

How Well Do You Know Our War Weapons? (Table of Contents: 9) (Expand) /

Bendix / advertisement / 0.5 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 10)

Clancy the Cop / comic story / 0.5 page (report information)

Script

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Pencils

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Inks

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Hey you - Pull over!

Genre

humor

Characters

Clancy

Indexer Notes

Writer credit added by Craig Delich.

War Hawks of Greenland (Table of Contents: 11)

3 Aces / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Gardner Fox

Pencils

Louis Cazeneuve

Inks

Louis Cazeneuve

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

adventure

Characters

Three Aces [Fog Fortune; Gunner Bill; Whistler Will]

Indexer Notes

Writer credit added by Craig Delich.

The Man the Whole World Feared (Table of Contents: 12)

Americommando / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Joseph Greene

Pencils

Bernard Baily (signed)

Inks

Bernard Baily (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero; war

Characters

Americommando [Tex Thomson]; Fatman [Bob Daley]

Indexer Notes

Writer per Jerry Bails via Craig Delich. Last appearance of Fatman.

The Traitor (Table of Contents: 13)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

John Hilton (credited)

Letters

typeset

Genre

adventure

Don't Miss Your Favorites! (Table of Contents: 14) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

The Game for Life (Table of Contents: 15)

Congo Bill / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Ed Smalle ?

Inks

Ed Smalle ?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

jungle; adventure

Characters

Congo Bill; Bullet; Koro

Synopsis

Bill uses a criminal gang's plan to dominate the natives with baseball against them.

Keywords

baseball; guayule; seaplanes; sharks

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 16)

Private Pete / comic story / 0.44 page (report information)

Script

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Pencils

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Inks

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Private Pete - A whole crew of new hostesses just arrived...

Genre

humor; military

Characters

Pvt. Pete

Indexer Notes

Writer credit added by Craig Delich.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 17) (Expand) /

advertisement / 0.23 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 18) (Expand) /

Lionel Trains / advertisement / 0.33 page (report information)

Malta (Table of Contents: 19)

Stamps / text article / 1 page (report information)

Script

Sidney Elias

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Page includes many small ads from stamps dealers.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 20)

Silly Willy / comic story / 0.5 page (report information)

Script

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Pencils

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Inks

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Gosh! Someone's drowning...

Genre

humor

Characters

Silly Willy

Indexer Notes

Writer credit added by Craig Delich.

How Can They Do It?? (Table of Contents: 21) (Expand) /

World's Finest Comics / promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.5 page (report information)

The Case of the Phoney Funny Man (Table of Contents: 22)

Zatara / comic story / 9 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Joe Sulman

Inks

Joe Sulman

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

adventure; fantasy-supernatural; superhero

Characters

Zatara

The Boy Commandos Are Here! (Table of Contents: 23) (Expand) /

Boy Commandos / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 24) (Expand) /

Wonders of Science Simplified / advertisement / 1 page (report information)