Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #26
Published July 1940
Cover Price 0.10
Pages 68
Editing Whitney Ellsworth, Murray Boltinoff
Notes 1st issue labeled "World's Largest Selling Comic Magazine. Yellow "S" on blue shield on cape.

Cover Details

Characters Superman
Genre superhero
Pencils Wayne Boring
Inks Wayne Boring
Letters typeset
Notes 1st issue labeled "World's Largest Selling Comic Magazine. Yellow "S" on blue shield on cape.
Reprinted In Superman: The Action Comics Archives (DC, 1997 series) #2 (1998).

13 page Superman story "Professor Cobalt's Quack Clinic"

Characters Superman [Clark Kent]; Lois Lane; George Taylor (unnamed); Villains: Professor Clarence Cobalt, Grafton; Tommy; Little Mary; Dr. Wortington.
Synopsis Professor Cobalt, proprietor of the Cobalt Clinic, has his advertisement turned down by the Daily Planet because it makes spurious claims. Clark runs him out after Cobalt gets aggressive with George Taylor. George gets Clark and Lois to investigate the clinic for an exposé.
Genre Super-hero
Script Jerry Siegel
Pencils Don Komisarow (pages 1-5); Paul Cassidy (pages 6-13)
Inks Shuster Shop
Notes Includes a one-panel plea after the end of the story for contributions to President Roosevelt's Infantile Paralysis Fund. Pencilling credit for Pages 1-5 up-dated from Wayne Boring to Don Komisarow per Bob Hughes 8-23-08.
Reprinted In Superman: The Action Comics Archives (DC, 1997 series) #2 (1998).

6 page Pep Morgan story "Trapped in the Snow"

Characters Pep Morgan; Pierre.
Synopsis On a hunting expedition to Saskatchewan, Canada, Pep and his friend Pierre are snowed in and must traverse hundreds of miles to get to the next outpost before another storm.
Genre Adventure
Pencils Fred Guardineer (signed as Gene Baxter)
Inks Fred Guardineer (signed as Gene Baxter)

4 page The Black Pirate story "Rescued"

Characters The Black Pirate [Jon Valor]; Captain Courtney; Jeanne; V: Captain Ruff's brother.
Synopsis The Black Pirate is trapped in a shark-infested sea. After fighting them off, he is picked up by another ship, run by Captain Courtney. When they dock at Savannah, Jon Valor leaves town on horseback. He meets up with a childhood friend, Jeanne, at an inn. That night, a bearded intruder comes to the inn and demands the Black Pirate.
Genre period
Pencils Sheldon Moldoff
Inks Sheldon Moldoff

6 page Three Aces story "Ingrid Svenson's Inheritance"

Characters Three Aces: Fog Fortune, Gunner Bill & Whistler Will; Ingrid Svensen; New Guinea natives
Synopsis Looking for adventure in California, Gunner encounters a crying girl, Ingrid Svensen, in a diner. She needs an flight to New Guinea to retrieve pearls from on top of Devil Mountain, pearls that her father left to her in his will. Once there, the Three Aces have to figure out how to help Ingrid get the pearls.
Genre Adventure
Script Gardner F. Fox
Pencils Chad Grothkopf
Inks Chad Grothkopf
Notes Writer credit added by Craig Delich 8-23-08.

10 page Tex Thomson story Introducing "Miss X"

Characters Tex Thomson; Bob Daley; Miss X (I); Special Prosecutor Maloney; V: J. Vander Wallace; Lefty.
Synopsis Since Gargantua T. Potts joined the French Army, Tex and Bob find things pretty dull, but a phone call threatening death if they mix in with the new prosecutor, Maloney, gets them set on a new investigation. Maloney deputizes them to help sniff out rackets. Working on the case, they are helped by the mysterious Miss X.
Genre adventure
Script Ken Fitch
Pencils Bernard Baily (signed)
Inks Bernard Baily (signed)
Letters Bernard Baily
Notes Letterer credit added by Craig Delich 8-23-08.

2 page text story "Message to the Major [Part 2]"

Characters Subaltern Jones
Genre war
Script Gardner F. Fox (signed)
Pencils ? (spot illustration)
Inks ? (spot illustration)
Letters typeset

6 page Clip Carson story "Claim Jumpers"

Characters Clip Carson; Marion Trent; James Trent; Villains: Jacques Frontenac, the "devil wolf".
Synopsis Clip runs into Marion Trent in New York City and ends up helping her get to her father's cabin in the Hudson Bay area. Her father found a lode, and Jacques Frontenac and his spies are after the location.
Genre adventure
Pencils Sheldon Moldoff
Inks Sheldon Moldoff

11 page Zatara story "The Jagtooth Gold Mine"

Characters Zatara; Tong; Annette Devere; Francois Devere; Henri Jardine (flashback); V: Tony.
Synopsis Zatara and Tong are in the far north searching for the Jagtooth Gold Mine he has been commissioned to find. At a cabin beset by the plague, Zatara gives the inhabitants medicine and asks them about the mine. They say that the mine is guarded by a vicious man, Tony, whom Zatara will have to defeat to return the mine to his friend, Henri Jardine.
Genre Occult
Script Gardner F. Fox
Pencils Fred Guardineer
Inks Fred Guardineer