| Issue | #4 |
| Published | Spring 1940 |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 68 |
| Editing | Whitney Ellsworth |
| Characters | Superman |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster (signed) |
| Inks | Joe Shuster (signed) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Reprinted | in Superman From the Thirties to the Eighties (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1983 series) #nn; in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster; Paul Cassidy |
| Inks | Joe Shuster; Paul Cassidy |
| Notes | Frontispiece. Revised art credit [adding Paul Cassidy] by Craig Delich (Jan. 2006). |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman [Clark Kent]; George Taylor; Professor Martinson (death); Luthor (villain, with red hair, 2nd appearance) |
| Synopsis | When Clark Kent begins to investigate a new weapon being tested by the Army that artifically causes earthquakes, little does he know that Lex Luthor is hot on the trail of securing the plans for that invention, one way or the other. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Jerry Siegel (signed) |
| Pencils | Paul Cassidy [as Joe Shuster] (signed) |
| Inks | Paul Cassidy [as Joe Shuster] (signed) |
| Notes | DAILY STAR becomes the DAILY PLANET. One panel ad for the Spectre series in More Fun Comics at the end of the story, with art by Bernard Baily. |
| Reprinted | in Superman From the Thirties to the Seventies (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1971 series) #nn (1971); in Superman From the Thirties to the Eighties (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1983) #nn; in Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, The (DC, 1987 series) #nn; in Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, The (DC, 1989 series) #nn; in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Tommy Blake |
| Synopsis | Author relates how a good breakfast and regular exercise can lead to better strength. |
| Genre | fact |
| Script | Jerry Siegel |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster |
| Inks | Joe Shuster |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Shorty (a dog) |
| Synopsis | Shorty is standing outside an artist's studio and sticks his head in the window to watch him paint. When the artist leaves, Shorty goes in and eyes the picture: of a steaming turkey! When the artist returns, the turkey is missing from the picture and Shorty is licking his chops. |
| Genre | funny animal |
| Script | Fred Schwab |
| Pencils | Fred Schwab |
| Inks | Fred Schwab |
| Letters | Fred Schwab |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Paul Muni (actor); Bill Dickey (baseball player). |
| Synopsis | Some of the facts related in these filler include: 1) New York Yankee catcher Bill Dickey loses about 8 pounds duiring a game; 2) a law in Nebraska states it's illegal to give away a cigar; 3) actor Paul Muni was once fired by a studio because he said he didn't know how to act; and 4) an usher, devoted to the stage, donated his skull after death to be used as the skull of Yorick in the play "Hamlet". |
| Genre | fact |
| Script | Sheldon Moldoff (signed) |
| Pencils | Sheldon Moldoff (signed) |
| Inks | Sheldon Moldoff (signed) |
| Letters | Sheldon Moldoff? |
| Notes | Lettering credit & info by Craig Delich (January, 2006). |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman [Clark Kent]; George Taylor (cameo); Lois Lane; Luthor (villain, with red hair) |
| Synopsis | Superman faces off once again with the evil Luthor, who first has tapped oil from oil wells all over the world for his purposes, then inundating the western coast of the U.S. when he raises a glass-enclosed city of ancient weird design from the murky depths. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Jerry Siegel (signed) |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster (signed) |
| Inks | Paul Cassidy [as Joe Shuster] (signed) |
| Colors | ? |
| Notes | One panel promo for the Sandman, appearing in Adventure Comics, is found at end of the story, with art by Creig Flessel. |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman |
| Synopsis | Editor's page in which the editors tell the readers that the Great DC Comics Contest was now over, and that winners would be announced in a forth-coming issue of Action Comics. There is also a coupon for readers to join the Supermen of America Club. |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster (spot illustration) |
| Inks | Joe Shuster (spot illustration) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Sequence, information and credits added by Craig Delich (January, 2006). |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | George Rankin (death); the Crime King [Spurnelli](villain, death); the President of the U.S. [unnamed] |
| Synopsis | George Rankin had invented a serum that speeded up his time rate, he living 31,536,000 times faster than the rest of the world: what to everyone was a mere second was actually a year to him! But the effects of the formula would only last one year, and Rankin had something important to accomplish before that year was up. |
| Genre | crime |
| Script | Hugh Langley (signed) |
| Pencils | Fred Guardineer |
| Inks | Fred Guardineer |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Information and art credits by Craig Delich (January, 2006). |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman [Clark Kent]; George Taylor; Paul Dorgan (cameo, death); Barney Calhoun (intro, death); J. F. Curtis (villain, intro, death, killed by Superman); Louie (villain, death) |
| Synopsis | The suicide of the author of a manuscript, which states that sinister forces seek to retard this nation's return to prosperity, prods Superman to dart from place to place, averting the disasters that have been planned by these forces to disrupt vital aspects of national industries. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Jerry Siegel (signed) |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster (signed) |
| Inks | Paul Cassidy [as Joe Shuster] (signed) |
| Notes | One panel ad for Batman appearing in Detective Comics appears at the end of the story, with art by Bob Kane. |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman |
| Synopsis | Editor's page in which Superman recommends a reading list of many great reading books to the readers, and tells them which books will be reviewed in up-coming DC comic magazines. |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster (spot illustration) |
| Inks | Joe Shuster (spot illustration) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Sequence, information and credits added by Craig Delich (January, 2006). |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Ed Barnett (one-armed football player); Mrs. D. Beach |
| Synopsis | Some of the facts covered in this filler include: 1) a Santa Barbara grapevine, the largest in the world, which yields ten tons of grapes per year; 2) the common slug has 30,000 teeth; 3) a Mrs. Beach walked from New York to Chicago in 42 1/2 days back in 1912; 4) the "popeyed chameleon" is capable of looking in different directions at the same time; and 5) in 1930, one-armed football player Ed Barnett caught four forward passes and intercepted three others in a game. |
| Genre | Fact |
| Script | George Papp [as Geo. Papp] (signed) |
| Pencils | George Papp [as Geo. Papp] (signed) |
| Inks | George Papp [as Geo. Papp] (signed) |
| Notes | Some information added by Craig Delich (January, 2006). |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman; The Sandman; The Batman; Ultraman; The Spectre; The Flash (spot illustrations w/covers) |
| Synopsis | House promotional ad touting the Big Six comics published by DC: Action, Adventure, Detective, All-American, More Fun and Flash Comics. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | various |
| Inks | various |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Sequence and information added by Craig Delich (January, 2006). |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | James Rolland (death); Professor Greystroke (scientist-inventor); Bixby (press agent) |
| Synopsis | Actor James Rolland, upon leaving Mammoth Studios, is approached by an inventor, who tells him (and an assembled audience) that he owes everything to the actor for his invention of a giant crystal-like globe he calls the space-folder! He furthers states that Rolland will be the first person to use that invention to travel to a distant spot in the universe. Rolland steps into the globe and disappears in a puff of smoke, but, unfortunately, re-appears in the center of the sun....and perishes! As a footnote, in the future of 1982, in the Museum of Interstellar History, Rolland is honored for paving the way for interplanetary space travel. |
| Genre | sci-fi |
| Script | Bert Lexington (signed) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |
| Characters | Superman [Clark Kent]; George Taylor; Carlson; Amy Carlson; Gus Snide (villain, intro); Nick (villain); Pete (villain) |
| Synopsis | Superman pretends to join a group of racketeers who want to control the city's truck drivers' union so that they can paralyze food distribution and demand blackmail. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Jerry Siegel (signed) |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster (signed) |
| Inks | Paul Cassidy [as Joe Shuster] (signed) |
| Reprinted | from McClure Syndicate newspaper daily strip circa 1939-40; in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 [in this form] |
| Characters | Superman |
| Synopsis | House promotional ad for Superman appearing in Action Comics. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Joe Shuster |
| Inks | Paul Cassidy |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Sequence, information and credits by Craig Delich (January, 2006). Superman figure traced or pasted up from the cover of Superman #2. |
| Reprinted | in Superman Archives (DC, 1989 series) #1 |