Retro review: Action Comics #454

This isn’t a (very) late review, it’s a look at a recent facsimile edition, saving this website from a pretty dull fifth week of comics. There’s no obvious reason Action Comics #454 is getting the reprint treatment – there’s no big character debut, or anniversary – but I’m told people are amused by the glorious Bob Oksner cover illo. Why, I don’t know, it seems perfectly serious to me.

Which is exactly what I thought when I bought this as an 11 year old in 1975. I had no idea the arches in the background were nodding to McDonald’s. Heck, I was no wiser when an undisguised McDonald’s appeared in Iron Man #130 five years later, we didn’t have many in the UK back then. Inside this comic, printed on paper stock resembling the Bronze Age standard – it feels a little thicker – the eatery is called McTavish’s, and its mascot, Donald, looks for all the world like the Joker.

First though, the set-up. The then-new Toyman is robbing a bank in Metropolis and WGBS News has all the details.

To no one’s surprise, Superman makes the scene – but Toyman makes a monkey out of him.

The bad guy gets away, meaning Clark Kent has to tell two million viewers – station owner Morgan Edge says so! – about his other identity’s mild humiliation.

After work Clark embarrasses Lois Lane at a banquet…

…and later comes up with a theory.

And that’s how Superman winds up at the fast food outlet that would one day be replaced by Big Belly Burger.

Is Superman correct? Has Jack B Nimble come up with a way to keep Superman off his back? Or is the Metropolis Marvel missing something? If you don’t know, check out this hugely entertaining Superman story. Cary Bates’s typically tricksy script has all the hallmarks of Seventies Supes – a grabber of a gimmick, fun with the WGBS folk and a frankly nutty solution.

The story title, ‘Superman’s Energy Crisis’, is a nice reminder of then-current affairs – the need for scads of food is a one-off problem here but post-Crisis it became a regular thing for new Flash Wally West.

The art by penciller Curt Swan and inker Tex Blaisdell is a huge nostalgia bullet, comforting in its familiarity and calm. Swan’s mastery of naturalism along with occasional experimentation with layouts – panels within panels, a silent slice of Superman introducing a flashback, a moody cityscape implying pollution – makes for a wonderful visual experience.

One thing I can say about this story is that there’s more pooping than I’ve ever seen in Metropolis – if someone were to tell me Bates wrote this tale to win a bet I’d not be surprised.

The issue has a second feature, starring the Atom. Given it’s written by Marty Pasko, who went on to a terrific run on the Superman title shortly afterwards, I’m surprised it’s not better. To be fair, Pasko had only recently graduated from his longtime role as hyper-critical letterhack ‘Pesky’ Pasko, and was now working for Action editor Julie Schwartz.

‘The Campus That Swallowed Itself’ picks up a plot strand from the previous issue; Ivy Town Professor Ray Palmer, aka size-changing hero The Atom, has co-invented a machine that can make subconscious desires real. Here it’s the thoughts of a campus gardener that run riot.

What’s lady lawyer Jean Loring up to? Well, the school buildings are being crushed by rampant ivy, and Ray theorises that if Jean – who talks to her plants – can think enough good thoughts while being hit by his veeblefetzer, the crisis will go kaput. Of course, it’s not that simple, with a riot breaking out.

‘Rambuctuous (sic)’? The Tiny Titan is rather understating things.

Pasko’s narrative technique, directly addressing the reader, is pretty annoying, but at least it’s not second-person, a favourite with many Seventies writers, and he dropped it by the time he was writing Superman.

Worthy of comment is the fact that Jean Loring is allowed to be something other than nagging girlfriend, she’s rather a hoot.

The big surprise for me here is how much more life the art of Jose Delbo has compared to his simultaneous work on Wonder Woman. Here he’s doing pencils and inks, there he was inked by the likes of Joe Giella and Vince Colletta – there may just, possibly, be a connection.

With some wonderful house ads, a Hostess Batman strip and a fun letters page, this issue could barely be more fun. Whatever the reason, I’m delighted DC has put it out there for fans old and new.