Sitting Around and Doing Nothing

 

cover art by Al Plastino

In a cute story from Action Comics #140 (January 1950), written by Dorothy Woolfolk and drawn by Al Plastino, Superman seems to have taken up the "job" of sitting alone in the desert, doing nothing.

The world gets worried when Superman doesn't show up for several charity events. He even disappoints a bunch of kids by not coming to their baseball game as promised. Why? No one knows. When a pilot spots him in the desert, he simply shouts out for everyone to go away.

That's not very Superman-y behavior. Soon, people are showing up to find out what's what. Superman is polite and even expresses regret at seeming rude, but he quickly builds a fence around the spot at which he is sitting. When people attempt to parachute in, he builds a roof.

Well, Lois Lane isn't going to put up with that nonsense. She also parachutes in... but without actually wearing a parachute! Superman, naturally, is forced to save her.

This gets her inside his little enclave, where he finally explains what he's doing. He's been thinking hard--because there's a specific threat to the world and he doesn't know how to deal with it.

A meteor has carried a plant to the surface of the Earth. This plant grows at a super-fast rate and threatens to eventually engulf the planet. It also proves to be indestructable and returns to the Earth whenever Superman throws it into orbit. 

Didn't I say in my review of a Magnus Robot Fighter story that meteors are never good and always bring trouble? Didn't I? No one ever listens to me!

Of course, all of us are wondering why he didn't fly it into space and toss it into a star or a black hole. But this is still early in Superman's career. Golden Age Supes didn't have quite the same level of powers that Silver Age Supes would be demonstrating a few years later. How powerful he was in 1950 is probably portrayed a little inconsistently from issue to issue, but I think we can just allow the story to go with its premise without it setting off our "Continuity Alarms." I'm pretty sure this story would retroactively be considered to be a part of Earth-2, where Superman was less powerful for much of his early career.

Anyway, Superman has simply been thinking of a way to save the Earth. At that time, two men (who have decided Superman must be guarding a treasure, fly in via helicoptor through the hole in the roof Superman made when saving Lois. They threaten to shoot her if Superman doesn't hand over that treasure.

It's an empty threat. The two guys aren't really crooks and their guns are empty. They are simply reacting to their greed without giving their plan sufficient thought. Superman instantly sees that their guns are indeed empty and also notices his X-Ray vision has an effect on the plant. 

He doesn't even bother to lock the would-be crooks up before zippng off to buld a device for intensifying his X-Ray vision. This explodes the plant and the world is saved. As Lois later tells Clark: "When you go away on vacation, all you get is a sunburn. When Superman went on vacation, he saves the world!"

Poor Clark. He never does anything right, does he?

Despite its ominous title, "The Creeping Death" is a cute story. I like the idea that Lois will throw herself out of an airplane with complete confidence that Superman will save her. I like the way Superman remains polite even when he's chasing people away. I like that there's a problem that has him stumped for a time in how to deal with it despite all his powers. 

Next week, we'll visit with the master swordsman Zorro.