MIKE GOLD: Would Superman trust the president?
Would you trust the President of the United States with your most precious secret?
If the polls are even remotely accurate, today a substantial majority of Americans would not. Perhaps any reasonable person would not trust any politically motivated opportunist with such knowledge. But there was an unfortunate time when Superman did.
In Action Comics #309, cover dated February 1964, The Big Red S needed someone to cover him at an event where it was necessary for both Superman and Clark Kent to be in attendance. I won’t trouble you with the details – Batman was similarly engaged – but Supes asked the President to stand in. Evidently having nothing better to do, John Kennedy said “sure, you bet, champ” and did the Iron Mask bit. Superman closed the story with “If I can’t trust the President of the United States, who can I trust?”
Sigh. Young-uns, now you know why we Baby Boomers long for the good old days.
Of course, the good old days weren’t always so good. Sharp-eyed reader that you are, I’m sure you noticed how this particular issue was cover-dated “February 1964.” History-aware that you also are, you knew President Kennedy was murdered in November, 1963. You probably did the math, remembered that cover dates were well in advance of newsstand release dates, and figured they (sorry about this) dodged the bullet.
No such luck. Action Comics #309 appeared in distributors warehouses about two weeks after the assassination. Editor Mort Weisinger, who by that time was well on his way towards finishing Action #313, didn’t remember the JFK story had yet to see print. Few others at the company knew of the issue’s contents. The book was not recalled at the distributors level. Comics got the lowest priority on the shipping chain: imagine Fed-Ex offering “Overnight,” “Two-day,” and “Eventually” and you’ll begin to grasp the problem.
Not that it stayed on the racks very long. Enough people saw it to express outrage, not knowing the molasses-like nature of the newsstand distribution process in those days. So word got out and many (certainly not all) retailers removed the issue. In those days, many distributors split their top-selling comics, distributing a part of the print run once again several weeks later. Those who were paying attention pulled Action #309 from this second round.
But there was Superman, answering the question: Who do you trust?
What would The Man of Steel do today? I wonder.
Mike Gold is editor-in-chief of ComicMix.com.
Artwork copyright 1963 National Periodical Publications, Inc. Renewed by DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.
I remember reading it at the news stand and getting a little offended at the timing. My little 7th grade mind didn't know anything about shipping schedules and such, but I can remember being a little soured by DC afterwards. Happily, for my reading pleasures anyway, I soon discovered the wonderful world of Marvel and never looked back.
An import part of the irony of this story is the tradition that anyone who learns Superman's secret identity has to be killed off… by the writers, that is. Clearly Weisinger was part of the conspiracy with Oswald and Ruby.
Not bad.Bobcat Goldthwait said it was Joe DiMaggio who was behind the assassination of both JFK and RFK, and next to the one published in Blackhawk Special #1, that's the theory that makes most sense to me.
Nice, quick, sharp, short story. I associate the word "Caul" with the membrane of the placenta at birth. I don't immediately think of an embroidered baby blanket. So I was a bit confused when the old woman offered Modi the use of her daughter's birth caul.Why was the coloring all in sepia tones? This is a coloring method that I read as "flashback." But this doesn't seem to have a flashback point. Anyway, the art and the coloring are still beautiful.
Actually I was using "caul" exactly as you say – the membrane of the placenta at birth. These folks keep that item for good luck – so they tan it and tattoo the thing. And I didn't make that up – found that detail in an interesting book on the old Viking legends (but don't ask me which one of these books in this stack had the detail).The art on this story is entirely by the masterful Neil Vokes. Neil likes to work in ink wash. His originals are graytone – but I shifted that to sepia just to give it color and still retain the look that Neil gave it. I like how it gives the story a distinct look.
I have heard of cauls being used in folk magic. There is a plot point in Orson Scott Card's "Tales of Alvin Maker" that revolves around a character saving Alvin's Birth Caul. It was the tattoo on that caul that threw me off and the fact that Modi would be so willing to snuggle up with it. I know, these are different times, but… eeewww!The splashes of Odin and Skogul are cool. I missed those the other day. And Neil Vokes needs mentioned in the credits.
Apparently there are problems updating the credits on a weekly basis on this current ComicMix system. So the credits I had in mind for this week did not get posted. But Mike and I love Neil's work and are happy he was able to play in our sandbox. We did give him a credit on the first page of the story.Oh – and to be fair – Neil actually thought he was drawing a towel or blanket, not a birth caul. So visually it might really be confusing. This is fallout from the free form way that the story was created (Mike gave Neil a short, verbal plot – Neil drew whatever he wanted and the first I knew about it was when I got the art – when I had to make up a story to fit the art – and that's why we all had a great deal of fun doing it!).And BTW – I love those Alvin Maker books. Scott Card and I talked about the possibility of turning them into a series of comics about a decade ago. But Scott had some kind of contract conflict on that and was pushing Ender instead. And I was less intrigued by the comic book possibilities in that series – even though I have enjoyed the books.