Action Comics #148 - "Superman, Indian Chief!"

[lordultimus]

Warning for racism.

Comments

[thanekos]

" Turns out the twenty-first century isn't much better. Beats being Kamandi, though. " - Tommy Tomorrow

[icon_uk]

Wow! This has... not aged well, has it?

[lucean]

After seeing that cover, the warning for racism beneath made me laugh pretty hard. And boy did the story not disappoint. Although I keep getting such a kick how chill the tribe is about Superman just randomly appearing there.

Also I'll admit I'm not a construction engineer, but trying to take down a skyscraper by starting to hit the walls around the ground floor with sledge hammers seems ill-advised for multiple reasons.

[superfangirl1]

I don’t think laws work that way. I really enjoy and love silver age wacky stories through.

[dan_ingram]

Thank goodness Superman investigated and found out the truth. For all we know, the United States government has always honored its treaties with Native Americans.

*cough*

[donnblake]

I was about to say- the most unbelievable part of this is the government going "Oh, this super valuable land we built a city on? You can have that back."

I also appreciate the fact that that crew is going to demo a skyscraper, starting by attacking the base with sledgehammers. I think that's gonna go well for them.

[dan_ingram]

"I also appreciate the fact that that crew is going to demo a skyscraper, starting by attacking the base with sledgehammers. I think that's gonna go well for them."

Energy and perseverance conquer all!

...if only briefly.

[crinos]

I'm kind of reminded of the 1940's Fleischer Superman short where a Native American Scientist demands Manhattan be returned to his people, and when they refuse he starts setting off Earthquakes from his underwater laboratory.

That is both a more coherent and less racist story than this one.

[tripodeca113]

Superman who can travel through time "I only have five minutes left".

[crinos]

I assume he can only make large leaps between eras, since small trips run the risk of causing time paradoxes. So he keeps himself to the same relative time of wherever he lands: if its 8 in the morning here, it will be 8 in the morning there.

I mean that's the kind of thing you have to deal with when you're basically eyeballing time travel.

[jkcarrier]

Supposedly, editor Mort Weisinger would talk to the kids in his neighborhood and ask them what they wanted to see Superman doing. They'd say "I wanna see Superman be a fireman!", or "I wanna see Superman be an Indian chief!" and he'd go back to the office and assign the idea to a writer. Ol' Mort had his finger on the pulse.

You do have to wonder if, at some point, the kids just started throwing out the most ridiculous shit they could come up with, just to see if he'd do it: "I want Jimmy Olsen to turn into a turtle!", "I want Superman and Supergirl to get married!", "I want Superman to utterly humiliate Lois Lane...again!" ("Damn, Billy, you ask for that every month...you got issues, kid?")

[juniper6]

Oy vey.