The next thing to snap around here will be your neck! Get back to the ball, Cinderella, and leave this knave to me! 
- — Superman
Action Comics #59 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1943.
Synopsis for Superman: "Cinderella -- a la Superman"
Clark Kent gets roped into babysitting Lois' bratty niece, Susie Tompkins. Upon reading her the story of Cinderella in an attempt to get her to fall asleep, Clark himself nods off instead and dreams that he, as Superman, is part of the story and acts as Cinderella's "fairy godfather".
Appearing in Superman: "Cinderella -- a la Superman"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Susie Tompkins (First appearance)
- Lois Lane
Antagonists:
- Cinderella's stepmother (In dream sequence only)
- Cinderella's stepsisters (Javotte named) (In dream sequence only)
Other Characters:
- Cinderella (In dream sequence only)
- Unnamed prince (In dream sequence only)
Locations:
Synopsis for Vigilante: "Fiddler's Fee"
Greg Sanders and the Chinatown kid, Stuff, encounter a crime wave that is orchestrated by a seemingly blind violinist called "The Fiddler". The Vigilante team try to stop the musically inclined villain from perpetrating a heist on a yacht, but fail and are thrown overboard. Once they get back to shore, Vig and Stuff track the Fiddler's gang back to his hideout on Crooked Lane. Using his lasso, Vig swings through the window and gets the drop on the surprised crooks! Stuff assists his pal in roughing up the criminal element, The Fiddler threatens to activate his specially built violins if they don't back off. One fired poison arrows, another sprayed acid, and yet another was loaded with TNT. This one he tosses, but Stuff catches it before it can hit the ground! Vigilante knocks the fierce fiddler out with a hard left hook! His glasses and wig fall off, revealing him as Benjamin Bowe, the violinist who performs in the city concert hall. The police arrest the gang, and Bowe finds his days of fiddling are over when the judge sentences him to prison.
Appearing in Vigilante: "Fiddler's Fee"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Fiddler (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Melba Mills (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Earth-Two
- New York City
- Crooked Lane
- New York City
Items:
- specialized weapons disguised as violins
Synopsis for Three Aces: "Sky Knights of Malta"
The Aces find out they had a spy in the Navy when their latest mission gets ambushed by Nazi fighter planes. They are forced to land, where the Nazi General takes them captive. In their cells, Whistler comes up with a plan to escape by luring the guard over with money. When he gets close to the bars, Fog and Gunner overpower him and grab his keys. Free, the trio infiltrate the storage room and set alight the crates of dynamite. The Nazi base is soon in flames! Fog, Gunner and Will manage to make it back to their planes. They make it back to base and expose the spy to their Commander.
Appearing in Three Aces: "Sky Knights of Malta"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Nazi Party
- Miller (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Wing Commander Lloyd (Single appearance)
Locations:
Vehicles:
- The Aces' Planes
Synopsis for Americommando: "Missive for Mussolini"
During his secret operations in France, Tex Thompson, the Americommando, comes across a man being chased by Nazi officers! He jumps in to the rescue a little too late, the man lays suffering from a gunshot wound. At the hidden headquarters of the French Resistance, Tex hears the man's last request. He was an agent for the British Intelligence, who was now asking Tex to deliver a coded message to the owner of the Belvedere Hotel, in Italy.
Tex sneaks into an airport currently occupied by Nazi troops. He manages to steal a plane and get airborne before the guards notice and send their pilots after him. The fighter planes are faster, but Tex has been trained for this, by the Army Air Corps.. He outmaneuvers the Nazi pilots, flipping around behind their planes and shooting them down, one by one. Tex makes it to Italy in one piece, but he decides not to let the Nazis have their plane back. He sends the plane on a collision course into one of Mussolini's military warehouses. Meanwhile, Tex parachutes safely down into the nearby brush, unseen by Nazi eyes.
At the residence of Antonio, the man the Americommando was supposed to meet, a man claiming to be Antonio answers the door. Tex immediately finds something off about this "Antonio"; for one thing, his tone is too anxious. Nevertheless, Tex hands the paper over. But when the stranger finds the paper is blank, without even any hidden writing, he becomes enraged. His disguise slips off, and he is seen to be Colonel Ulrich von Geissler of the Gestapo, also known as "the Hook," for the prosthesis he wears on one hand.
Americommando is locked in the basement until such a time that he reveals the secret of the message. He is joined by another prisoner, the real Antonio! Antonio discloses his blindness to Tex, but he says he has his own way to read what is on the paper. Suddenly, Tex understands the secret behind the message. He calls for the guard, wanting to tell the Colonel what the message says. In truth, this is a ruse, to get close to Geissler. Once they are face to face once more, Tex quickly takes out the Colonel's men! Geissler swings his hook hand his way as Tex nabs the paper. But he ducks, and the Colonel finds his hook embedding itself in the wall. Antonio is freed, and the two run outside and hijack the Nazis' car. Antonio guides Americommando to the hideout.
At last, in the security of a peasant's hut, Tex and Antonio open the message. There are no words written on it, but the blind man moves his hand slowly across the page, feeling for the indentations that stood in for letters. Finally, Antonio stands up and tells Tex he'll explain what the message means later. Right now, he goes to notify his men, so they can carry out the orders received.
That night, flaming arrows are burnt into the ground, so that the Allied bomber planes knew where their objectives are; supplies and reinforcements that now will never reach the Axis forces in Africa. All of it thanks to the Americommando helping the British agent deliver his final message.
Appearing in Americommando: "Missive for Mussolini"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Nazis
- Colonel Ulrich Von Geissler (Single appearance)
- Castro (Single appearance)
- Bandino (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Antonio (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
- secret message
Vehicles:
- three Luftwaffe aircraft
- Allied bombers
Synopsis for Congo Bill: "The Phantom Warriors"
A diamond mine in the African Congo is robbed by natives wearing masks, who kill all the workers, including the foreman, Smith. They gain the name the Phantom Warriors because of how they seemingly appear in the mines out of nowhere, and disappear the same way. No one sees them enter or leave at the entrance.
Tom Scott, the owner of the mine, is worried, a sentiment shared by his general manager, Ager. This was the fourth attack this week, each time his men are killed, and more and more of his best diamonds are stolen. Luckily, Scott's old friend Congo Bill arrives and agrees to check out these mysterious Phantom Warriors. He believed it was likely they had used another entrance unknown to either Scott or Ager. Another diamond hunter, Van Meers, had a mine in the district that remained undisturbed. Earlier, he had sent a police constable to investigate Van Meers. Bill thought it best if he went down there to see if anything had been uncovered.
Down the Congo river in a canoe, Bill paddles to the shore of the Van Meers mining operation. Meers welcomes Congo Bill and, almost too eagerly, agrees to put him up for the night. Police Constable Angus is there as well, just on his way out to look around the premises one more time before dark. Later that night, Bill and Meers hear a hoarse cry ring out from the clearing! Rushing outside, they come across Angus' body, stabbed to death! Apparently he knew too much. Next to him, Bill finds ashes, from a pipe, then reconstructs the killer's trail, from broken branches and bent twigs, leading through the jungle. He follows the path to a spring-fed pool where the trail just stops. A spear is hurled over his head! The Phantom Warriors have found him!
More spearmen arrive, throwing their spears as they approach. Bill has no place else to run, so he dives into the water! A powerful current sweeps him up and through a sheer rock cliff to a hidden underground river. The water becomes shallow enough for him to stand, which was a good thing, because by now the painted warriors have appeared in the tunnel, and they give chase to him again! Bill tries to get away, but there's a trap; a boulder on a rope nearly does him in! His leg hurting, the intrepid adventurer rests against a niche in the wall, only to feel it move inward at his weight. On the other side is a tunnel, from one of Scott's mines. He has just found the secret entrance the thieves have been using! Bill is found by some of the miners, while the Phantom Warriors suddenly appear right behind him. Fortunately, the miners are armed, and are able to chase the painted natives away with their rifles. Unfortunately, they think Bill was leading them!
The miners capture bill and take him back to Tom Scott and Agers. The two men don't believe him when he tells them he was being chased and found the secret entrance by accident. So Bill takes desperate action; he flips the table and runs, goading Scott to give chase. The manhunt goes all the way back to Van Meers' cabin, but both men are surprised when Meers is found dead. Another man enters, Agers, holding a gun on Bill and Scott both. He has been the mastermind behind the Phantom Warriors scheme, as Bill suspected. When he found the ash next to the Constable's body, Agers was the only one he knew in the area who smoked a pipe. The thief would also have to know the mine tunnels well. Bill surprises Agers with a knockout punch. His friend Tom Scott apologizes for suspecting him, and offers half interest in his diamond mine. But Bill refuses. How was he supposed to carry around all that money during his adventures?
Appearing in Congo Bill: "The Phantom Warriors"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Ager (Single appearance)
- Van Meers (Single appearance; dies)
- Phantom Warriors (native gang) (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Smith (Single appearance; dies)
- Tom Scott (Single appearance)
- Constable Angus (Single appearance; dies)
Locations:
Synopsis for Zatara: "Crime Takes a Detour"
A bloated criminal known as "Hog" Slagg comes up with a new type of kidnapping scheme. Using an old farmhouse and a hidden road, he lures unsuspecting rich folk onto his property where he then locks them in a cell until the ransom is paid. But a slip-up occurs when one of his thugs tries to hijack a tour-bus, which master magician Zatara just happens to be riding. Zatara gets wind of the operation after his friends from the Magician's Guild are among those kidnapped. He uses his magic to find the hidden road and follow it to Slagg's hideout. The other magicians are encouraged by Zatara to use their magic tricks on the thugs. Meanwhile, he pays the big boss a visit. Slagg finds the magician's power too much to bear, so he agrees to sign a confession for the police.
Appearing in Zatara: "Crime Takes a Detour"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- "Hog" Slagg (Single appearance)
- Shifty McGloin (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Jim (Single appearance)
Locations:
Notes
- Cinderella -- a la Superman is reprinted in Superman: The Action Comics Archives Vol. 4.
See Also