Action Comics #35 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1941.
Synopsis for Superman: "The Worthless Gold Mine"
An elderly couple visits the Daily Planet for advice, where they are greeted by Lois Lane. Ben and Emily Sims have been struggling in a financial crisis that may soon leave them without a home. A slight ray of hope has opened up, when a man visited them recently with an offer to buy their gold mine stock, which they bought years ago, for five hundred dollars. Even though it was less than what they'd originally purchased it for, the Sims ask Lois if it would be a good idea to sell. A quick appraisal with the newspaper's financing editor tells Lois that the stock is virtually worthless. But then why would anyone want to buy it? Lois asks the couple if she could hold on to the stock for a week while she investigates further, to see if the mine has any hidden value. They graciously thank her for helping them, and the gold mine stock is left in her care.
Later that day, a man dressed like a mobster with a scar on his cheek tells Lois he's come to take the stocks. The Sims had told her they wouldn't sell to anybody until her investigation was complete, so Lois refuses the man's "request". He then tries to take them by force, but the other reporters in the Daily Planet help to throw him out. Afterwards, Lois is determined to investigate the Guybart Mine for herself. Clark sees her off at the airport. After Lois has boarded, Clark spots the same man from earlier heading into the telegraph office. No sooner does Lois' plane take off, than a smaller plane comes into view and begins shooting. Superman flies up and tears the attacking plane's wing off, sending it into a downward spin. The pilot is yanked out by the Man of Steel's mighty grip and made to answer a few questions. Some stranger had paid him to bring down the airliner and steal some stock being held by a woman on board. Sensing trouble, Clark decides to keep an eye on Lois as Superman.
In a small mining town, Lois asks around about the Guybart Mines until she is greeted by one Brock Walters, owner of the Walters Mine. He offers to drive Lois to the abandoned Guybart Mine after a quick stop by his office to oversee the latest gold transport. The guards handling Walter's weekly stockpile turn out to be robbers in disguise! Lois is used as a human shield while they steal the armored truck full of gold! She is roughly thrown in front of the vehicle then, and it is about to run her over! To her surprise, the vehicle lifts off the ground just in time. Superman takes the thugs for a ride of his own as he flies with the truck in hand. Spinning it to and fro until the men inside can take no more! They stumble out in a daze, while Superman leaves them for the police.
Meanwhile, Lois has recovered enough to allow Walters to take her to the Guybart mine entrance. She walks inside to look around. There is a sudden rumbling, and behind her the mine entrance collapses into a cave-in. Walters calls his men at Walters Mining to help uncover the entrance, but it looks hopeless. Lois feels the air getting thin, but just as she's about ready to pass out, Superman bursts through the cavern wall! Lois is relieved to see him. Before heading outside, Superman takes Lois to a hidden chamber he has found, full of gold bars just lying on the ground! That must have been why the stocks were being sought after! Lois is excited that Mr. and Mrs. Sims will have enough to save their home! When she exits the mine shaft, she gives the news to the other miners. Just then, the man with the scar shows up with his boys, holding their guns on the crowd! The thugs work in the mine until all the gold is taken out in crates. The boss then orders the hostages to be shot, so there won't be any witnesses. Lois tries to run, but the scarred leader grabs her and takes off with her on a horse! Moments later, Superman swoops down, grabbing both Lois and the scarred man, and carrying them into the air. He takes them back to the mine entrance, where he has already dealt with the other men by destroying their guns. He reveals, by removing the scar make-up, that the gang leader is actually Brock Walters! Walters and a handful of his men have been secretly stealing gold from his own mine and stashing it in the old Guybart shaft, to pick up later. Sadly, the Sims wouldn't be able to keep the gold after all. But there was still a reward for catching the gold thieves, which Lois accepts. Later she'd give the reward money to Ben and Emily Sims, so they could continue living in their own home!
Appearing in Superman: "The Worthless Gold Mine"
Featured Characters:
- Template:Apn
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Brock Walters (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Benjamin Sims (Single appearance)
- Emily Sims (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Earth-Two
- Metropolis
- Guybart Mine
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- None
Synopsis for Pep Morgan: "The Kidnapped Girl"
Pep helps put an end to a kidnapping plot.
Appearing in Pep Morgan: "The Kidnapped Girl"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- None
Synopsis for Black Pirate: "Fire on Board"
The Chinese Junk is burning, and the villainous Lu Chan and his crew have stolen the Black Pirate's ship! Jon Valor's loyal crew search the oriental vessel until they find their captain and his female friend trapped in the hold! A great wall of fire prevents them from helping. Valor notices a water barrel nearby and has and idea. He sets the Queen of the Seas inside and then rolls the barrel as hard as he could through the flames. Unscathed, she climbs out when she reaches his crew. Seconds later, Valor does the same for himself. The crew used the remaining barrels to put out as much of the fire as they could, though the boat was in no condition for sailing.
Their ship would soon set sail under a dangerous new crew unless something was done. Valor dives overboard and swims to his vessel just as it sets sail. Lu Chan and most of his crew have gone to bed for the evening, so Jon is able to sneak aboard. He springs upon the man at the wheel, choking down any cries that would have come. The wheel now his again, Valor begins steering back to pick up his crew.
Appearing in Black Pirate: "Fire on Board"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Bonnie (the Queen of the Seas) (Name revealed)
Villains:
- Lu Chan
Other Characters:
- Valor's crew
Locations:
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- Jon Valor's ship
- Lu Chan's Junk (Destroyed) (Still floats; not salvageable)
Synopsis for Three Aces: "The South American Indians"
Appearing in Three Aces: "The South American Indians"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Wilkins (First appearance)
Villains:
Other Characters:
- Thola (First appearance)
Locations:
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- Aces' Planes
Synopsis for Mr. America: "The Spider"
Down the city streets march new recruits for the United States Defense Program. Bob Daley and Tex Thompson, a.k.a. Mr. America, watch excitedly from their apartment window. Suddenly a loud BOOM rattles the ceremony as every manhole cover on that street is blown up! Several recruits are killed, many more are injured! What seems like a horrible accident was actually planned by a criminal mastermind and saboteur known only as "the Spider". His men report the results of the explosion, and the Spider reveals that he has even bigger acts of destruction in mind. Soon the whole city will cower at his name! ...But not if Mister America can help it!
Two of the Spider's lackeys sneak into the Cosmopolitan Company building, purveyor of the city's electricity. While searching for the transmitter they used to detonate the bombs, a night watchman interrupts them. Before the thugs can open fire, Mister America appears with his bullwhip, snapping the guns out of their hands! They run off before the masked vigilante can harm them further. Mr. America finds the transmitter and hands it to the watchman so he can turn it over to the police as evidence of the dynamiting.
Bob Daley waits outside, keeping a lookout for Tex. What he sees instead are the pair of toughs that ran out of the building. They wait near the fence for their target, armed with a wrench. When Mr. America jumps up and over, he is struck on the head and knocked unconscious! Bob watches as his friend is then loaded into the truck. He follows behind.
The truck arrives at a small dock house near the river. Mister America is dragged out and brought before by the lead commander of the Spider's men. Tex is tied up and dropped in a small boat filled with explosives. It will be sent on a collision course with a scow they had left, and the impact will blow up both vessels, leaving no more trace of Mr. America. As a final farewell, the commander lets his enemy know that the Spider was out right now, poisoning the Army camp's water supply. After they leave, Bob steps onto the dock and, completely by accident, trips and falls into the boat just as its motor starts. He cuts Tex loose, and the two of them jump overboard just as the boat hits the scow, causing a great explosion! Thinking the costumed meddler dead, the commander and the others head towards the plane, to let their leader know the good news. Suddenly a noise interrupts their discussion, like someone whistling the tune "Yankee Doodle". Next thing the saboteurs know, they are kicked into the water by a blazing mad Mr. America! He and Bob steal the plane. Their next stop, the Spider's hideout!
The Spider resides in a small cabin in a field. Tex's arrival is noticed by one of the men inside, so he is greeted by a hail of bullets. Mr. America uses his whip to catch the branch of a tree and pulls himself up out of the line of fire. Taking cover behind the trunk, he uses an old trick and holds his cape out on a stick. After it is riddled with bullets, the Spider and his boys come out to check the "body". When they are near enough, Tex whips their guns out of their hands. He continues chasing them with the whip, herding them all the way to the army camp. Rather than suffer another whipping, The Spider confesses his crimes to the general. Tex and Bob return to the apartment before too many questions are asked. Tex wishes to keep his identity secret for awhile longer, as there's yet more work to be done.
Appearing in Mr. America: "The Spider"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- The Spider (Single appearance)
- Herman (Single appearance)
- Otto (Single appearance)
- Bill (Single appearance)
- Joe (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Joe (security guard) (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- None
Synopsis for Clip Carson: "The Panama Canal"
Adventurer extraordinaire Clip Carson is assisting the American Authorities to capture spies in the Panama Canal. His actions catch the attention of the Adder, a dangerous man who kills with his poison ring.
Appearing in Clip Carson: "The Panama Canal"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- The Adder (Single appearance; dies)
- Wu Fang (Single appearance)
- Pedro (Single appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Old captain (Unnamed)
Locations:
Items:
- The Adder's ring
Vehicles:
- The Adder's ship
Synopsis for Zatara: "The Inheritance"
Young Billy Bowers is playing ball with a friend on the streets of Manhattan. A strange man approaches him with an offer; he needed Billy to deliver a letter, and then he'll get a shiny new quarter. Billy asks for the quarter first, in case the man wasn't around when he gets back. But what if Billy just took the quarter without making the delivery, the stranger countered. So he asked the boy to put up some insurance that he could hold onto until the job was done. Billy's ring, for instance...
Billy soon finds out that the address written on the envelope didn't exist. He'd been swindled! The great magician Zatara walks over when he notices the young boy slouching. Billy tells Zatara what happened, and then the magician gets an idea. After being taken back to the place where Billy met the man, it doesn't take Zatara long to find him again. He casts a spell on the crook's shoes, which makes them talk. His own footwear begins calling him a thief, which causes him to try and flee. Even when he tried buying new shoes at the shoe store, he could hear the other shoes mocking him. It was a nightmare. The man ran outside where Zatara is waiting. After a few seconds of questioning, the shaken criminal reveals that he had been ordered to steal Billy's ring by the Pawnshop owner. he ring didn't have much value other than it was given to Billy by his mother, who got it from his grandfather years ago. With young Billy by his side, Zatara walks through the Pawnshop wall to confront the owner. But an employee tells them that the boss was out for the day. The shop door opens, and in walks an old nemesis, the Tigress! She tells her old foe that, this time, they're on the same side. She wants to help him catch "Pawnshop Pete", who has found a child that looks just like Billy. He needs the ring to complete the boy's appearance, and then use him to get a million dollar inheritance left to Billy by his uncle! Zatara wanted to find this Pete, so he leaves Billy in Tigress' care, and disappears in a puff of smoke! But as soon as he's gone a car pulls up, Tigress and a hired thug force Billy into it at gunpoint.
With the help of his magic, Zatara tracks Pawnshop Pete to a hotel. Casting a spell of invisibility, Zatara goes inside, searching each of the rooms until he finds Pete and another tough-looking bruiser with Billy! But as soon as the youngster starts to talk, Zatara knew he was wrong. It was the phony that Pete had dressed up to steal Billy's inheritance! The boy was rehearsing his lines as his "bodyguard" had instructed.
Meanwhile, poor Billy was still the Tigress' prisoner. She had an ominous feeling that Zatara was on to her, so she sends her thugs ahead in the car, to warn Pete.
The magician reveals himself to the identity thieves. A spell renders the bodyguard's gun useless. He turns to Pete and demands the ring back! Zatara doesn't notice the door open behind him. He is struck hard by the butt of the thug's gun, knocked out cold. He's carried out of the hotel, with the crook's telling anyone who takes notice that they are just helping out a friend who had a little too much to drink. They drive out onto a bridge and unload Zatara into the water below.
The Tigress rejoins Pete and his gang. At the harbor, she, the false Billy, and the bodyguard all board the boat, setting sail to South America, where Billy's inheritance was waiting. Suddenly, Zatara appears with the help of magical wings, lands on the deck, and turns the trio of thieves into stone figures! He takes the ring off of "false Billy's" finger, thinking to himself that he'll return them to life after he finds the real Billy Bower!
Zatara uses a spell to help him find Billy. The lad was tied to a chair being guarded by a man with a gun. The gunman is dispatched with a quick no-gravity spell, sending him crashing into the ceiling.
Zatara gives Billy his ring back and flies him to the boat bound for South America. The two of them sail off together to help Billy start his new life in riches.
Appearing in Zatara: "The Inheritance"
Featured Characters:
- Template:Apn
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Tigress
- Pawnshop Pete (Single appearance)
- False "Bill" (Single appearance)
- Tuffy (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Bill Bowers (Single appearance)
- Joe (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
- Billy's Ring
Vehicles:
- None
Notes
- The Worthless Gold Mine is reprinted in Superman: The Action Comics Archives Vol. 2 and Superman Chronicles Vol. 5.
- Superman seems to be flying for the first time. He catches a damaged airplane and safely lowers it to the ground.
- But see also Superman #10 (May/June 1941): In one story Superman seems to be hovering, but in another he's definitely still jumping.
- Aside from the stories above, this issue contains:
- "Dinky" by Henry Boltinoff
- "Forty Minutes to Go" by Charles Berry (text story)
See Also