This is part of an ongoing series where I review Golden Age Superman, weekly, issue by issue, starting from the very beginning. Action Comics #7 is the first issue to be published in 1939.
In keeping with the depression-era socialism that runs through Siegel and Shuster’s work in the early days, Superman Joins the Circus has the Man of Steel help a small business protect itself from racketeers, using his abilities in order to generate capital for someone else, rather than for his own gain. The setting allows for entertaining stunts and great physical comedy. It’s also the first issue since Action Comics #1 to feature Superman on the cover, replicating a scene from the end of that issue. I love the way Shuster draws dangling ties, something that shows up on the Action Comics #1 cover as well. There's so much expression to how the clothes flap around; it does a lot to capture momentum in still panels. I imagine it's a big part of why so many superheroes wear capes, as all those skintight onesies are harder to endow with movement on the page.
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| Action Comics #1 interior |
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| Action Comics #7 cover |
Wayne Boring, who would go on to become one of the defining Superman artists of the Silver Age, is credited as the ghost artist on both the Grand Comics Database (GCD) and the DC Fandom wiki, though Shuster still gets the credit on the official Golden Age edition, and neither source to the contrary have a particular citation; they seem to be based off of close observation rather than definite proof. I can't say I'm enough of an expert to spot the difference here, especially since the intent of a ghost artist is to mimic the original and fly under the radar, so a lot of Shuster's trademarks are still present. If it is indeed ghost drawn, Boring did a good job taking on Shuster's style.
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The story starts with Clark being a pushover, as his coworker, Curly, picks on him and Clark won’t stand up for himself. He’s then sent to interview the owner of a travelling circus, where he overhears a gangster trying to strongarm the owner into selling him the business. The closeups on the gun show Shuster/Boring experimenting a bit more with framing, which was quite rare at the time. There’s some weird inconsistencies, though, like when Superman crushes the gun on page 5 the angle doesn’t look quite right (and you can't see his sleeve), and he’s wearing yellow boots the whole story, even though they’re the proper red on the cover. In fairness, though, Superman's uniform had been a bit in flux for the first few issues: though the red boots are on the Action Comics #1 cover, in the interiors he's got blue footed pants. This would continue until #5, where he has the red boots in the interiors as well. In #6, even the fake Superman has red boots, which makes the yellow here feel especially weird, all the more so because it never happens again. It's unclear who did the colouring for these issues, so I'm not quite sure what exactly happened here.
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Action Comics #4: blue footed pants
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| Action Comics #6: phony Superman with red boots |
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| Action Comics #7: yellow boots |
As the title would suggest, Superman because the circus’ new strongman in order to help the owner settle his debts and foil the buyout scheme, stopping some attempted sabotage along the way, while Lois is on the prowl for a good story. It ends rather abruptly, with the crooks of course getting caught by Superman as they try to hold Lois hostage. Then, we see the payoff to the intro, as Clark pranks Curly. It’s a bit odd since it’s not really an arc- we know Clark could easily beat that guy up if he wanted, but he’s choosing to blend in. It doesn’t really tie in with the rest of the narrative either, which feels a bit off for a 13 page story. The circus stuff itself is good fun, but overall it’s not the most remarkable issue.
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