Action Comics #245 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1958.
Synopsis for Superman: "The Shrinking Superman"
Superman takes Lois Lane to the Fortress of Solitude to show her around his secret hideaway, showing her the many attractions, she is flattered mostly by the room he devoted to her. Leaving her behind to explore while he attends to other business, Lois pays particular attention to the Bottle City of Kandor. When she accidentally knocks it over, she inadvertently frees Zak-Kul, an evil criminal scientist. Zak-Kul uses his Illium-349 to enlarge himself, and then disguises himself as Superman so he can hopefully slip away unnoticed. However, Lois realizes he's an impostor when the real Superman contacts her on his communication device, and he quickly arrives to try and sort the situation out.
However, before Superman can learn that Zak-Kul blurted out his identity to Lois, he has caused Lois to suffer a blow to the head. When she revives she can't tell which Superman is which. When Lois quizzes the Supermen about some of his cases, the real Superman stumbles on the answer because he can't recall one crook from the other because he has caught so many. This leads Zak-Kul to convince Lois to shrink Superman down and place him in the city of Kandor, where he is rendered powerless.
Zak-Kul meanwhile has taken over Superman's life, while secretly committing crimes as well for his own personal gain. Becoming more and more bold, Zak-Kul decides to steal Superman's girl as well by asking Lois to marry him, a proposal she does not refuse. After their marriage, Zak-Kul realizes that Lois would impede on his criminal endeavors, and so tries to kill her by smashing the cliff-side road she is driving on. Plummeting to her death, Lois is saved at the last minute by Superman. Superman explains that while he was in Kandor he found a shrinking device that made him small enough to pass through the molecules of glass that surround the bottle city, and then used Zak-Kul's enlarging device to resume his normal size. He then goes after Zak-Kul, who thinks he can cleverly escape Superman by putting on a disguise, however he makes the mistake of disguising himself to look exactly like Clark Kent, and is easily capture, shrunk back down to size, and returned to Kandor for the police there to take him to justice.
Later as Clark Kent, he is asked by Lois if the real Superman will ever propose to her, just as she is tearing up the invalid marriage license.
Appearing in Superman: "The Shrinking Superman"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Zak-Kul (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Kandorians
- Metropolis Police Department
- A justice of the peace
- "Gunner" Gates (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- North Pole
- Metropolis
- Krypton (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Illium 349 (First appearance)
Synopsis for Tommy Tomorrow: "The Interplanetary Scarecrow "
Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers explored an uncharted solar sysytem in the year 2058, and found a planet encircled by planetoids that were covered with giant Scarecrows.
They wanted to build bases, so the fleet destroyed the Scarecrows. They found the Scarecrow's maker - a city-size ship housing the population of the planet in suspended animation. A single "watchman" on duty told them the history of the Ice Age planet; and that the "Scare-Ravens" were there to keep Space-Ravens from eating their planet.
Tommy confessed their error in destroying the Scare-Ravens; and used tar to turn his scout ship into a fire-breathing scare-raven. The Soace-Ravens are terrified and fly to their end in the Sun.
Appearing in Tommy Tomorrow: "The Interplanetary Scarecrow "
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Space Ravens
Supporting Characters:
- Planeteers
- The Watchman
- Ice Age Planet Population
Locations:
- Uncharted Solar System
Items:
- Ray-Gun
- Scare-Ravens
Vehicles:
- Planeteer Scout Ships
- Suspended Animation Ship
Synopsis for Congo Bill: "Secret of the Super Animals"
Professor Peters sends a Lion, a Ram and a Hippo into space on a rocket while Congo Bill and Janu (New Earth) watch. The ship crashes and the animals escape; now having superpowers.
Officer Kumara would kill them, but Congo Bill uses his wits to lure each animal into a trap, where their superpowers will wear off.
Appearing in Congo Bill: "Secret of the Super Animals"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Cosmic Ray Powered animals
- Ram
- Lion
- Hippopotamus
Supporting Characters:
Other Characters:
- Professor Peters (Single appearance)
- Officer Kumara
Locations:
Items:
- Adhesive Tape
- Lasso
- Launch Pad
Vehicles:
- Experimental Rocket XR-14
Notes
- "The Shrinking Superman" was reprinted in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives Vol. 1 and Showcase Presents: Superman Vol. 1.
- Superman appeared last in World's Finest #97. He appears next in Adventure Comics #253.
- Lois Lane appeared last in World's Finest #97. She appears next in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #5.
- First named appearance of Illium 349; though Brainiac used a very similar enlarging ray previously in Action Comics #242 which may have run on Illium 349.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Superman Recommended Reading
- Action Comics (Volume 1)
- Action Comics (Volume 2)
- Adventures of Superman (Volume 1)
- Batman/Superman (Volume 1)
- Batman/Superman (Volume 2)
- Batman/Superman: World's Finest (Volume 1)
- DC Comics Presents (Volume 1)
- Superman (Volume 1)
- Superman (Volume 2)
- Superman (Volume 3)
- Superman (Volume 4)
- Superman (Volume 5)
- Superman/Batman (Volume 1)
- Superman Confidential (Volume 1)
- Superman: Son of Kal-El (Volume 1)
- Superman: The Man of Steel (Volume 1)
- Superman: The Man of Tomorrow (Volume 1)
- Superman/Wonder Woman (Volume 1)
- World's Finest (Volume 1)
