Action Comics #208

(September 1955)

Judy and Jim Defy Savage Gorilla! (Table of Contents: 1)

Wilson Chemical Company Cloverine Brand Salve / comics-form advertising / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Ray Thompson (signed as R. T.)

Inks

Ray Thompson (signed as R. T.)

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Help! The gorilla is loose!

Characters

Judy; Jim; gorilla; panicked crowd; two zoo keepers; enthusiastic little kid

Synopsis

Brave kids Judy and Jim hold off an escaped zoo gorilla with the nifty premiums they received by selling White Cloverine Brand Salve from the Wilson Chemical Co.

Keywords

gorilla; kids; live animals as ad premiums; prizes; product-spawned heroics; sales; salve; zoo

Indexer Notes

Ad for Wilson Chemical Co., offering prizes or money for the sales of Cloverine Brand Salve. Among the many prizes offered in the ad is a live pony. "Look! Live Pony! Yessiree, a real, live pony for your very own!" Black and white ad on inside front cover.

The Magic of Mr. Mxyztplk (Table of Contents: 2)

Superman / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Al Plastino

Inks

Al Plastino

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Please, Superman - - stop him!

Feature Logo

Superman [classic design, angled u bottom]

Genre

superhero

Characters

Superman [Clark Kent]; Mr. Mxyztplk; Lois Lane; Perry White; fifth dimension doctor

Synopsis

Mr. Mxyztplk comes to Earth with a plot to make Superman and his friends vanish into the Eighth Dimension by getting them to say their names backwards.

Keywords

archaeology; Eighth Dimension; Fifth Dimension; magic; Metropolis; quiz shows; trickery

Indexer Notes

Bill Woolfolk originally credited as writer, but this story does not appear in his records.

Mxy does not send his victims to his own Fifth Dimension, but into the Eighth Dimension where they sleep for 24 hours before returning to our own Third Dimension.

Boys! Girls! Enter the Big Tootsie Roll Contest -- Now! (Table of Contents: 3)

Tootsie Roll / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Win one of these valuable prizes!

Characters

Captain Tootsie

Keywords

candy; contest

Indexer Notes

Contest rules are as follows: "Tell us why you like ... Tootsie Rolls... or any of these Tootsie Roll candies. Print or write clearly - your name address, city or town, state... and give your age... Every entry must be accompanied with 5 wrappers from one of the Tootsie Roll candies shown above."

[Wishing Big] (Table of Contents: 4)

Peg / comic story / 0.67 page (report information)

Script

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Pencils

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Inks

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

First Line of Dialogue or Text

It's a beautiful night for a drive, isn't it, Peg?

Feature Logo

Peg

Genre

humor; teen

Characters

Peg; Peg's boyfriend

Synopsis

Peg is not one to settle for small wishes.

Keywords

moonlit night; wishes

Daisy Gunbook Ready! (Table of Contents: 5)

Daisy Air Rifles / Daisy B-B Guns / advertisement / 0.33 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

For boys, girls, and dads

Keywords

B-B Gun

Indexer Notes

Lower 1/3 of page.

The Fortress of Space (Table of Contents: 6)

Tommy Tomorrow / comic story / 5.67 pages (report information)

Script

Otto Binder

Pencils

Jim Mooney

Inks

Jim Mooney

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Fellow Legionnaires, we welcome to our ranks -- our newest member -- Tommy Tomorrow!

Genre

adventure; science fiction

Characters

Colonel Tommy Tomorrow; Captain Brent Wood; Chief Hawkke (villain); Martian with x-ray eyes; Venus Frog Man; Pluto Frost Man; Jupiter Robot; Neptune Winged Man; Uranus Stone Man

Synopsis

While pretending to suffer from amnesia, Tommy joins an interplanetary syndicate of crime, in order to bring them to justice.

Keywords

amnesia; crime syndicate; outer space setting

Indexer Notes

Chief Hawkke dubs the supposedly-amnesiac Tommy Tomorrow as "Johnny Jupiter".

Superman's Secret Message (Table of Contents: 7)

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

Script

?

Letters

typeset

[How Do You Spell "Relief"? "I-n-d-i-g-e-s-t-i-o-n!"] (Table of Contents: 8)

Little Pete / comic story / 0.5 page (report information)

Script

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Pencils

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Inks

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Henry Boltinoff (signed)

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Hello, Mom!

Feature Logo

Little Pete [thicker Little, Pete spread out]

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Pete; Pete's mom

Synopsis

Indigestion causes Pete to stay after school, but not for the reason his mom thinks.

Keywords

indigestion; school

Indexer Notes

Top half of page.

Amazing Gold-Plated Miniature Spy Camera (Table of Contents: 9)

Modern Merchandise Co. / advertisement / 0.5 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

? (photo)

Inks

? (photo)

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Measures only 2 inches wide and 1 1/4 inches tall......only $2.98 ea.

Keywords

camera; mail order marketing

Indexer Notes

Ad offering a mini spy camera from Modern Merchandise Co. Lower half of page.

[Nit-Picker] (Table of Contents: 10)

Shorty / comic story / 0.67 page (report information)

Script

Henry Boltinoff

Pencils

Henry Boltinoff

Inks

Henry Boltinoff

Colors

?

Letters

Henry Boltinoff

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The jackpot winner is -- Shorty!

Feature Logo

Shorty

Genre

humor

Characters

Shorty; contest host

Synopsis

Shorty wins a huge jackpot of prizes in a contest, but still finds something to complain about.

Reprints

• from Superman (DC, 1939 series) #61 (November-December 1949)

Keywords

contest; jackpot; never satisfied; prizes

[Prison Break] (Table of Contents: 11)

Fearless Fosdick; Wildroot Cream-Oil / advertisement / 0.33 page (report information)

Script

? [as Al Capp]

Pencils

? [as Al Capp]

Inks

? [as Al Capp]

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Gangway, Fosdick!! We're bustin' out!!

Genre

crime; satire-parody

Characters

Fearless Fosdick; three escaping prisoners

Synopsis

Three convicts escape from prison but, when Fosdick produces a jar of Wildroot Cream Oil, the cons return to get some for themselves.

Keywords

detective; hair product; prison break

Indexer Notes

Lower 1/4 of page.

Landslide (Table of Contents: 12)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Jack Miller (credited as John Michaels)

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

He thought the meek geologist was a weakling, but he came to learn how wrong he was.

Genre

adventure

Characters

Mark Rader; Basil Davenport

Keywords

geology; mountain

Congo Bill's Last Adventure (Table of Contents: 13)

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

Script

Jack Miller

Pencils

Ed Smalle

Inks

Ed Smalle

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

You didn't believe a mastodon still existed, Congo Bill!

Feature Logo

Congo Bill with Janu The Jungle Boy

Genre

adventure; drama; jungle

Characters

Congo Bill; Janu the Jungle Boy; Chota (chimpanzee); Loring; Bombo (elephant); mastodon

Synopsis

Congo Bill leads a photojournalist in pursuit of a mastodon living in modern Africa.

Reprints

• in The Hundred Comic Monthly (K. G. Murray, 1956 ? series) #7 ([April 1957])

Keywords

jungle setting; mastodons

631 Movie & TV Star Pictures 25¢ (Table of Contents: 14)

DeLuxe Photo Service / advertisement / 0.5 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Exciting new collection!

Keywords

celebrity photos; mail order marketing

Indexer Notes

Ad offering celebrity photos from DeLuxe Photo Service. Top half of page.

$7.18 Worth of Stamps (Table of Contents: 15)

Zenith Stamps / advertisement / 0.5 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Giant Imported collection of 338 different stamps

Keywords

mail order marketing; stamp collecting; stamps

Indexer Notes

Ad offering around the world stamps from Zenith Co. Lower half of page.

Do You Need Extra Money? (Table of Contents: 16)

Colonial Studios Greeting Cards / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

$35.00 is yours for selling only 50 boxes of our 300 Christmas Card line.

Keywords

Christmas cards; sales

Indexer Notes

Ad for selling Christmas cards for Colonial Studios, Inc. On final interior page of the comic.

This exact same ad (in the exact same position - final interior page of the comic) appears in Felix the Cat (Harvey, 1955 Series) #64 (October 1955), but under the name of "Cheerful Card Company".

The Insult That Turned a "Chump" Into a Champ (Table of Contents: 17)

Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension System / comics-form advertising / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Look, Joe, let's see if you can make it right too

Genre

non-fiction

Keywords

bodybuilding; fitness; mail order marketing; training

Indexer Notes

Ad for muscle-building courses from Charles Atlas. Black and white ad on inside back cover.

If You Get a Stunning $10.98 Dress Without Paying 1¢... (Table of Contents: 18)

Fashion Frocks / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

...Will you wear and show it in your community?

Keywords

dresses; sales

Indexer Notes

Ad for selling dresses for Fashion Frocks by wearing the dresses to entice others into buying them. Color ad on back cover.