#electrothanasia ray

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Superman blocks the dread electrothanasia ray, by Steve Rude.

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Superman #15 (vol. 1) March-April 1942

The cover seems to have been inspired by Superman (aka The Mad Scientist), the first Superman animated theatrical short from Fleischer Studios, which premiered in September,1941.

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From The Mad Scientist, the first of the Fleischer Studios Superman theatrical cartoons, September 26, 1941.

Faster than a speeding bullet!

More powerful than a locomotive!

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

It’s Superman, strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men!  Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers!  Bend steel in his bare hands!

And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way!

A threatening letter arrives at the offices of The Daily Planet!

An ominous building is perched on a mountaintop high above the city of Metropolis.

The clock strikes midnight.

“The hour has come!”

The mad scientist activates his deadly machine!

The madman’s lair thrums with the enormous destructive energies building inside the machine!

The electrothanasia ray fires!

Destructive power, the likes of which mankind has never seen, streaks across the sky!

The electrothanasia ray destroys a mighty bridge in an instant!

The mad scientist gloats!  The world will never laugh at him again!

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True to his word, the mad scientist has unleashed a rain of destruction upon the city of Metropolis with his electrothanasia ray!  Word of the rampage reaches The Daily Planet newsroom via radio broadcast.

“This looks like a job for SUPERMAN!”

“Up, up, and away!”

Withreporter Lois Lane as his captive audience, the mad scientist selects another target.

Once again the electrothanasia ray lances through the night sky, bringing death and destruction to Metropolis!

Superman races to prevent catastrophe!

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Superman has managed to keep the damaged skyscraper from toppling, but now he has to stop the destructive electrothanasia ray!

Superman struggles mightily against the force that can lay a city to waste!

“It’s Superman!”

The mad scientist intensifies the power of the electrothanasia ray in hopes of destroying the Man of Steel!

Can even the mighty Superman overcome the power of the electrothanasia ray?

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Superman has been pummeled to the ground by the tremendous power of the electrothanasia ray, but he still finds the strength to stand up and fight back!

“I don’t believe it!  He isn’t human!”

Panicked and desperate to destroy Superman, the mad scientist sets the electrothanasia ray to maximum power!

With no outlet, the destructive energy turns back on itself!

Perry White: “That’s a great scoop, Lois!”

Lois: “Thanks, Chief, but I owe it all to Superman.”

This was the first instance of Clark/Superman breaking the fourth wall and winking at the audience.  It was used several more times in the Fleischer Studios cartoons usually, as in this case, at the end when Lois gushes about Superman in front of Calrk.

The wink made its way into the comics the following year (1942) in Superman #19, when Clark and Lois go to the movies and watch - of all things - a Superman cartoon.  Clark has to pull some pretty outrageous stunts so Lois doesn’t discover his secret identity during the parts of the cartoon showing him changing into Superman.  At the end of the story cartoon Superman and comic book Clark hare a wink with each other.  After that, the wink became a trademark characteristic not just by Superman, but also Superboy.  Heck, I’m willing to bet that Supergirl, Krypto and Streaky probably winked at least once to the audience, too.

Of course, the wink became familiar to millions of people around the world when George Reeves used it numerous times over the course of The Adventures of Superman television series.

And finally, Christopher Reeve’s version of the wink came at the closing of the four Superman films, when Superman smiled directly at the audience as he flew over the Earth.

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I love that it’s available on the Internet Archive, which I did not know.

Personally, because of occasional Internet connection/signal problems, I still prefer physical media (DVDs/Blurays), but this is great to know if I’m traveling and want something to watch.

Superman #15 (vol. 1) March-April 1942

The cover seems to have been inspired by Superman (aka The Mad Scientist), the first Superman animated theatrical short from Fleischer Studios, which premiered in September,1941.