So -- This town's being run ragged by racketeers! Hm -- Driving a cab's hardly the place for me. If I can't get that reporter's job, the place for Clark Kent is the police force! Then I can really do something! 
Action Comics #144 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1950.
Synopsis for Superman: "Clark Kent's Career"
Appearing in Superman: "Clark Kent's Career"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Lois Lane
- Perry White (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- syndicated racketeers
Locations:
- Metropolis
- Smallville (Flashback only)
Synopsis for Tommy Tomorrow: "The Poison Planet"
Because of dangerous plant life on the planetoid Arkar, the Planeteers are sent to fit it out with rocket tubes and fly it out of the Solar System. The population is to be evacuated to Jupiter. There is stalling and protesting from the population, and one ambitious attempt is made to eradicate the dangerous plant life, but it fails, and soon the giant rockets are installed, and the Akaris are embarked onto spaceships. But the project's commander, Col. Tomorrow, arranges to have himself "forced" to fly the rocketing planetoid close to the Sun, which has the effect of killing all of the dangerous plant life but leaving the planetoid otherwise habitable. Tomorrow then resumes command and restores Akar to its former orbit, and returns all of the evacuees to its surface, assuring the Akarians that the Government will soon change its ruling about launching their homeworld out of the Solar System.
Appearing in Tommy Tomorrow: "The Poison Planet"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Science Council
- Planeteers
Antagonists:
- Giant herbicidal robots (Destroyed)
Other Characters:
- Doctor Lon Norden, Arkari scientist
Locations:
- Earth-54 Universe (See Notes.)
- 1990
- Earth
- New York City
- Planeteer Headquarters
- Arkar, planetoid
- Earth
- 1990
Vehicles:
- Tomorrow's Space Ace
- Evacuation Spaceships
- Planetoid Arkar, temporarily
Synopsis for Congo Bill: "Dead Man's Gold"
Appearing in Congo Bill: "Dead Man's Gold"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- World Wide Insurance Company
- Bill's boss
Antagonists:
- Sir Abel Trent, hereditary policyholder
- Captain Cave, corrupt commander
- his crew
Other Characters:
- Sir Desmond Trent, 1687 merchant sailor (Flashback only)
- U.S.C.G. cutter crew
Locations:
- Old Spanish Main
- Great Britain
- London
- Trent's Old English Town House
- Fleet Street Tavern
- London
Vehicles:
- The Golden Hawk (sunk in 1687)
- unnamed salvage ship
- USCG Cutter
Synopsis for Vigilante: "The Quest for Two Dead Men"
Vigilante painstakingly rediscovers the site of a gold mine, and captures a slippery crook in the process. The mine is turned over to the local hospital-building committee, formerly headed by the slippery crook.
Appearing in Vigilante: "The Quest for Two Dead Men"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Slick Adams, Committee Chairman
Other Characters:
- Jim Poland, 1870 prospector (Flashback only)
- Zeb Lee, 1870 prospector (Flashback only)
- Charity Committee
- Scholars and Historians
- Dolores Mariposa
- Senor Mariposa
Animals:
- Homing Pigeon
Locations:
- American Old West, 1870
- Two Dead Men Mine
- Arizona, 1950
- Sage, growing town
- Mariposa Hacienda
Items:
- Navajo Rug Treasure Map
vehicles:
- Vigilante's motorcycle
Notes
- Congo Bill can construct an underwater metal detector out of a metal pipe, a cable, and some electrical wire. He also can work submerged in a deep-sea diving suit.
- Superman: This story shows how Clark Kent moved to Metropolis, and got hired by Perry White, at the Daily Planet. This plotline crosses over to the current month's issue of Adventure Comics #152.
- Tommy Tomorrow: Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium lists this issue as an appearance of Earth-54.
- Vigilante's sidekick Stuff, the Chinatown Kid is absent from this issue.
Trivia
- Also appearing in this issue of Action Comics were:
- "Up, Up, and Away!" (full page ad for the current issues of World's Finest #45 and Superman #64)
- Jerry the Jitterbug by Henry Boltinoff
- Jasper by Lit-Win
- "Editorial Advisory Board" (promotional text)
- "Any Gum, Chum?" (text article), illustrated by Raymond Perry
- Shorty by Henry Boltinoff
- Leave It to Binky: "Home, Sweet Home!" (Public Service Announcement) by Jack Schiff, Sheldon Mayer, and Ira Schnapp
- Little Pete by Henry Boltinoff
- Teen Adventures (biographies of teenagers Pierre St. Amand, Barbara Bittner, Jack Roush, and Mary Chase) by Stookie Allen
See Also
Links and References
Look at how sad this is making Batman. You did this.