Action Comics # 3

A while back, I purchased a domain to start a Superman blog. I went ahead and pre wrote some entries but I don’t really have the time to take on this project right now. I thought I might share a few of the posts on here since I haven’t had as much time to blog as I’d like lately either. 

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As I continued reading through some of the first Action Comics, I couldn’t help but take notice of Action Comics # 3. It takes a pretty harsh look at the treatment of workers and the choice of profit over safety, which of course continues to be an on-going battle we have in today’s world.

In this story, Superman rescues some miners who are trapped in a cave. The next day, he speaks to one of the miners to ask for his opinion on what caused the cave collapse. The miner tells Clark Kent that everyone knew the mine wasn’t safe, but the company didn’t care.

Clark decides to approach Thornton Blakely, the owner of the mine regarding these allegations. Like a typical CEO, Blakely blames the miners at first, but then ultimately shows his hand in this panel.

I couldn’t help but chuckle, at the line, “There are no safety-hazards in my mine, but if there were — what of it? I’m a business man not a humanitarian!” I’m sure anyone working in public relations would advise someone from spouting that off, but I think we’ve all seen the business world behaves very much in that way.

The following day, Superman dressed up as a miner and crashes a luxury party Mr. Blakely is throwing. He plays off his appearance as if he’s a bit out of it, which at first aggravates Mr. Blakely, but then he decides to exploit Superman and his naïveness. He wants to move his elegant party to the mine, since his rich friends get bored easily, and he wants Superman to lead the way.

Once they are underground, Superman knocks down the supports and traps the rich party-goers inside. As the oxygen begins to run low, Mr. Blakely goes to get the safety devices to find them all rusted over.

Mr. Blakely and his guests are forced to try and dig their way out, as suddenly the hardships of his own workers becomes a stark reality for him.

Seeing that he’s learn his lesson, Superman removes the barriers to allow them to be rescues and frees the partygoers from a certain death.

The story ends with Clark Kent interviewing Mr. Blakely once again, and Mr. Blakely assuring Clark that his workers will be the best treated and safest miners out there.

I think it’s important to consider the time when this story was written. The cover date was August 1938, so we’re at the tail end of The Great Depression. Folks were out of work and many of those who did find work were being exploited as they had been for years. You can almost feel the frustration and angst in the writing as Schuster and Siegel express themselves in this story. It’s even more frustrating to see how they were exploited for the rights of Superman at the time.

Superman was a man of the people and he was fighting against corruption and one might could go as far as to say Capitalism depending on your interpretation of this story. It’s a far cry from the Boy Scout he has appeared in some later stories, and I almost feel like maybe this is the Clark Kent/Superman we could really use in 2024. I’d love to see a story where Clark confronts an Elon Musk character. Then again, bringing that much reality into the comics may ruin the escapism and we all know Warner Brothers/Discovery would never allow Superman ruffle those types of feathers in today’s world.