Action Comics #2: Revolution in San Monte, part 2

 My current plan is to go through the golden age Superman stories that have been reprinted, issue by issue, looking at their themes, style, structure, or whatever I happen to find interesting about them. 

Revolution in San Monte, part 2 opens where the previous issue left off, with Superman finally managing to uncover the plot to stroke the flames of war in South America. On the one hand, this serves as an interesting critique of modern-day American statecraft, with the CIA’s incessant intervention in the regimes of developing countries forming a modern extension of imperialism. On the other hand, it feels rather strange to see a distinctly anti-war story which traces the root of all conflict to capitalist greed when World War Two is just on the horizon, especially considering the villain’s throwaway line last issue claiming that “before any remedial steps can be taken, our country will be embroiled with Europe”. This thread isn’t brought up in the second issue, though the ending implies the problem is resolved. It’s unclear if this is meant to be criticising industrialists for working with the Nazi Party, or to be a more general anti-war settlement reflecting the more popular isolationist view that was popular in America at the time. 

From Siegel and Shuster’s background and political leanings, the former seems most likely, but it still feels a bit strange, especially with how tangential it is to the narrative. Perhaps the political climate of the time didn’t allow them to be as overtly anti-Nazi as they would’ve liked. Or perhaps it was originally intended to be explored more in a future story that was scrapped. The early days of comic books didn’t always allow for meticulous planning, and Siegel and Shuster’s roots in 3-5 page serialized comics meant that they were still learning how to structure self-contained, 13 page stories. The vignette structure of Action Comics #1 reflects their background in shorter, punchier narratives. 

Here, though, they begin to integrate a wider narrative throughline throughout the issue. Superman fights his way through the weapons manufacturer Emil Norvell’s armed guards, dragging him to San Monte on a boat trip to show him the effects of his weapons first hand. There’s a loose resemblance to Tony Stark’s origin story here, though with less of a redemption arc. Upon experiencing war firsthand, he agrees to never manufacture arms again. Lois attempts to do some war reporting of her own, but is captured and Superman has to save her. Her role here is pretty minor, which is a bit disappointing. 

Norvell’s quick change of heart is somewhat of a liberal fantasy, where your opponent is just misguided and will see the right path when you show them the way, like those big speeches in The West Wing where everyone claps about how great democracy is (I’ve never actually watched that show in fairness, but that’s the impression I get from clips I’ve seen). The end of the war is shown in similar fashion, where the opposing generals don’t even know why they are fighting and quickly agree to end hostilities. There’s no real ideological conflict to be found, simply a lack of education on the world around us and how our actions affect others. There’s no named sides or goals from either camp, just conflict for conflict’s sake. It follows the Dickesian tradition of having an outside force scare rich people into being nicer. Siegel and Shuster would revisit this motif several times throughout their run on the series. Some of this is, of course, the limitations of the format- you’re never going to see Emil Norvell or these unnamed army commanders again, and their arcs only offer a few pages for each of these warmongers to be reformed. The structure of modern, multi-issue comic arcs allows for much greater depth in character evolution, but those short stories are laid out more like fables, with two-dimensional side characters that exist to prove the author’s thesis rather than live out their own, rich inner lives. Neither approach is inherently bad, but they make for very different types of stories. 

The panel-work throughout these first two issues is fairly standard for the time, with three rows of two or three enclosed panels per page. There are no boundary breaks or elaborate layouts here. It’s clear, direct, and easy to read. The book also isn’t overly wordy at this point. Most speech bubbles are only a short sentence or two, and captions are primarily used for time passing and scene transitions. Shuster’s faces are rather cartoonish, with exaggerated expressions that effectively communicate the drama of the scenes. The streaky shading and action lines gives a sense of dynamism to the action scenes, and the backgrounds aren’t overly cluttered with detail. There’s a vaguely impressionist feel to it, where the background offers loose suggestions of marching armies, skyscrapers and automobiles, and your brain fills in the details. There’s an unrefined, raw excitement to these comics that jumps off the page at the reader. They are blunt, in your face, perhaps a bit naive, and make for great escapism.