Biography of Superman (Earth-Two), 1938

The following is a **biography of Superman for the year of 1938**, in which the man known as Clark Kent introduced his heroic persona to the world, and began the struggle of balancing his valorous and mild-mannered alter egos.

## Biography

### First adventures and the San Monte revolution

In mid-1938, Clark Kent sought a job with the *Daily Star* as a reporter, having no prior experience. Editor George Taylor naturally brushed him off, but Clark decided to use his powers to find a story and impress Taylor enough to get the job. In perhaps his first exposure to the public, Superman stormed a criminal break-in of the nearby jail, where a man named Sims was being held on suspicion of the murder of Jack Kennedy, a crime for which Evelyn Curry had been convicted and was to be executed that night. The criminals looked to execute their own brand of justice on Sims by lynching him, but Superman broke it up and put Sims back in his cell. Sims told him that he and Curry had been framed, and the real culprit was singer Bea Carroll, whom Kennedy had cheated on. Superman went to the club where she worked and confronted her in her dressing room. She tried to shoot him, but his impenetrable flesh left him unharmed. Superman convinced her to sign a confession, and delivered it and her to the home of the governor late at night, insisting that he free Ms. Curry. The governor did so despite being quite frazzled at Superman's sudden and intimidating appearance. Superman also left Carroll tied up on the governor's front lawn. The next morning, word of Superman began to spread, and Clark was hired at the *Daily Star* for his reporting on the Curry case.

George Taylor told Clark to keep track of any further Superman sightings. Kent also received word of a domestic-abuse issue, and arrived there at Superman to teach a lesson to the abuser in question. Later, Kent asked coworker Lois Lane on a date, and she rather indifferently accepted. That night, as they were out dancing, a thug by the name of Butch Matson tried to cut in. In an attempt to keep up his meek persona, Clark submitted, but Lois was disgusted and slapped Butch in the face, storming off and calling Clark a coward. She caught a cab, and Butch and his cronies followed her, intent on teaching her a lesson. Clark switched into his Superman costume and trailed the thugs, thoroughly trouncing Butch and leaving him to dangle off of a power line. Superman cordially carried Lois back to her home, leaving her shaken but impressed—the following day, Lois was totally unreceptive to Clark's attempts to apologize.

George Taylor told Kent to go to South American country San Monte to cover the war there. Kent traveled to Washington, D.C. to catch a ship to San Monte within the week. While waiting for passage, he investigated a potentially corrupt politician, Senator Barrows. He eavesdropped on a couple of conversations that Barrows had with Alex Greer, a noted lobbyist, but one whose motivations were a mystery. In any case, Greer made it clear to Barrows that he would receive some kickback in exchange for helping pass a bill that would get America involved in a war in Europe. Superman got hold of Greer and took him on a terrifying trip through the Washington skyline in an effort to get him to reveal who was funding him. Greer finally confessed that arms dealer Emil Norvell was stoking the fires of war, and gave Superman Norvell's address. Greer quietly warned Norvell of the coming danger, and Norvell had a group of thugs fire on Superman with machine guns when he arrived. Superman was impervious to their gunfire, and they fled in fear. He grabbed Norvell and told him to board the *Baronta* to San Monte tomorrow or suffer the consequences—the cowardly Norvell hastily complied.

The next day, Clark boarded the *Baronta* himself and found that Lois had also been assigned to San Monte. That night, Superman checked in on Norvell to assure that he was being good. Later, a group of thugs hired by Norvell attacked Superman on the ship's deck. Superman tried to brace himself against the railing, but broke through it and fell into the ocean. Rather than try to get back on board, Superman swam ahead of the liner and met it in San Monte. After the ship arrived, the thugs attempted to attack Norvell, who had reneged on their deal. Superman saved him, and in return insisted that he enlist with the San Montean army to help in the war effort. Superman himself also enlisted, and the two were soon thrown into battle—this was essentially Superman's way of showing Norvell the practical consequences of the munitions business. Later, Superman used his incredible speed to snap up-close photos of enemy generals plotting in their tent and sent them back to the *Daily Star*. Lois was soon caught by the San Montean military with an important document in her hotel room—it had been planted there by Lola Cortez, a mysterious woman who had been aboard the *Baronta* and apparently supported the enemy in the war. Lane was sentenced to death for espionage, but Superman saved her when she was put in front of the firing squad, and encouraged her to return to the U.S. Norvell begged Superman to let him return to America, and Superman allowed him to as long as he quit manufacturing munitions, to which Norvell eagerly agreed. To finish things off, Superman grabbed the heads of the two opposing armies in the San Montean war, introduced them to each other, and insisted that they fight it out to decide the war. When pressed, the two couldn't say what the war was even for, and so agreed to call it off with Superman's encouragement.

### The Blakely Mine disaster

News soon spread of the Blakely Coal Mine in Blakelytown collapsing, leaving one miner, Stanislaw Kober, trapped and dying inside. Kent went ostensibly to cover the story, but more truly to rescue the miner. Arriving at the scene, Kent disguised himself as a miner and "fell" into the mine as subterfuge for the surrounding police. He sprung into action and rescued the dozen men in the rescue party, knocked unconscious by toxic gas, as well as Stanislaw himself, who was alive but horribly injured. Superman was impervious to the toxins. Kent later went to Kober's hospital bed and asked him about the mine. Kober blamed the mine's owner, Thornton Blakely, who refused to remedy the mine's unsafe working conditions and forced the miners to keep risking their lives or be out of a job. Kent inquired with Blakely, who insisted that nothing was wrong with his mine and it was the miners's fault if they hurt themselves. Kent again disguised as a miner and snuck onto Blakely's estate that evening, where he was hosting a party with various well-to-do guests. He deliberately got himself caught, and claimed to Blakely that he was just interested in seeing how rich people lived. This gave Blakely a curious new idea for how to entertain his guests: they would travel down into the mines and in turn experience the miner's way of living. They traveled down into the mine, and Kent sabotaged it such that they became caved in. In his miner persona, he told Blakely and the others that he was content to die, and that they had better get to work digging their way out if they wanted to live. Blakely tried to use some of the safety equipment, but it failed, proving that his mine was faulty. The wealthy elites soon tuckered themselves out digging, and Kent took the opportunity to subtly free them and allow for rescue teams to come in. Following up in his reporter garb, the nerxt day Kent spoke to Blakely, who assured him that he had learned the error of his ways and now fully understood the plight of the miners, and that his mine would become the safest in the country.

### The big game

While handling another situation on a moving train, Superman overheard a group of thugs talking with the football coach from Dale University. The coach was desperate to win Dale's season-closing game against Cordell University, believing his job to be at stake, and arranged for the thugs to stand in on the Dale team take out three crucial members of the Cordell team. Superman took it upon himself to stop the criminals, and decided to disguise himself as a Cordell player. He settled on Tommy Burke, an eternal benchwarmer, due to their passing resemblance. He tracked down Burke, drugged him, and left him in his apartment. Clark showed up to practice disguised as Burke, and quickly wowed coach Oliver Stanley with his superhuman skill. Word began to spread of "Burke's" ability, and the thugs hired by the Dale coach kidnapped the real Burke. Much to the coach's confusion, Clark confronted him at the game and told him that he would expose his dirty dealings unless he resigned following the game. During the game, the thugs attempted to stab Superman, but their attack proved ineffective against his tough skin. Burke managed to escape his confines and made his way to the game, only to eager to accept the adulation that Superman was building up for him. At halftime, Cordell's victory was all but assured—the Dale coach handed in his letter of resignation, and Superman switched out his uniform with Burke, who demonstrated his usual unspectacular ability. Encouraged by his newly impressed girlfriend, Burke quit football for good after the game was over.

### The Valleyho Dam collapse

One day, Lois approached Clark and told him of an important story at the hospital—Clark was thrilled, but upon arrival found that Lois had tricked him. In fact, Lois had been told by George Taylor to assign Clark to cover the impending rupture of the Valleyho Dam—Lane wanted the story, but Taylor told her it wasn't the right story for a woman. She'd thus sent Clark on the wild-goose chase so that she could covertly go to the dam herself. Returning to the *Star* offices, Clark was fired for having ostensibly disregarded the dam story. Realizing he'd been duped, Clark donned his Superman garb and outpaced the train to Valleyho. People were in a panic, fleeing the town in advance of the dam's failure. Superman tried to stop it, but the dam's ruptures proved too much, and the water came bursting through. It caught a taxi that Lois had commandeered in the madness, driving too close to the dam, and Superman swooped in and rescued her. He broke off a huge rock from a mountainside, using it to block up the water's path and preventing it from getting to the town proper. He brought Lois to safety, and she eagerly thanked and kissed him, declaring that she loved him. Later, Clark called George Taylor from a payphone—he'd gotten the story after all and secured his job once more. He confronted Lois about her trick earlier, but she harshly brushed him off yet again.

### The bogus manager

Clark Kent remained assigned to working on stories related to Superman, and George Taylor introduced him to Nick Williams, who claimed to be Superman's manager. Williams intended to profit off of Superman's name through a series of merchandising opportunities. He offered to introduce the naturally confused Kent to Superman that night. Lois heard about this around the office, and offered to take him out that night, pretending to be interested in him. Clark caught on to her intentions, but pretended to be flustered and nervous and to not want to blow off his meeting with Superman. He accepted, on the condition that they go out first, then both go on his assignment. At the club that night, Lois attempted to drug Clark's drink—he feined passing out, as the drug didn't pierce his powerful system. Thinking herself successful, Lois went to the meeting instead. Clark arose and donned his Superman costume, arriving at the meeting place, an apartment, in time to save Lois—Nick Williams and a fake Superman had tried to convince her that he was the real thing, but she wasn't even slightly fooled. They attempted to kill her by throwing her out of the window, but Superman rescued her and brought the con artists to justice for attempted murder.

### Superman saves the circus

Kent was assigned to interview the leader of a circus that was arriving in town. The man, Jordan, was down on his luck—the circus hadn't been doing well financially, but he nonetheless kept his spirits as high as he could. Clark decided to help the man, and, as Superman, offered to join his show to ensure a big crowd. The man accepted, and Superman was widely advertised for the show the following night. This caught the attention of Derek Niles, a predatory businessman who'd been trying to buy out Jordan's circus. He and his cronies tried to sabotage the show, but Superman fought them off and assured that it was a big success. Lois Lane naturally attended, but had to sneak in after capacity was filled. She was captured by Niles, but Superman saved her too and brought Niles to justice.

## Notes

1. ↑ Clark's hiring isn't directly depicted, but it must have happened given the direction of the events otherwise.
2. ↑ Kent is erroneously written as having sent the photos to the *Cleveland Evening News*.

## See also

* Biography of Superman (Earth-Two), 1939
* Biography of Lois Lane (Earth-Two), 1938-1939

## References

1. ↑ *Superman* #1a: "Superman, Champion of the Oppressed!" (July 1939) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
2. ↑ *Action Comics* #1a: "Superman, Champion of the Oppressed!" (June 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
3. ↑ *Action Comics* #2a: "Revolution in San Monte." (July 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
4. ↑ *Action Comics* #3a: "The Blakely Mine Disaster." (August 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
5. ↑ *Action Comics* #4a: "Superman Plays Football." (September 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
6. ↑ *Action Comics* #5a: "Superman and the Dam." (October 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
7. ↑ *Action Comics* #6a: "Superman's Phony Manager." (November 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
8. ↑ *Action Comics* #7a: "Superman Joins the Circus." (December 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).