Action Comics #248 for Sale - First Appearance of The Congorilla - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Action Comics (DC, 1938 series)
Issue: #248
Publication date: January 1959
Key date: 1959-01-00
On-sale date: 1958-11-26
Indicia publisher: National Comics Publications Inc.
Price: $0.10
Pages: 36
Rating: Approved by the Comics Code Authority

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of The Congorilla - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Tricksy - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	The Man No Prison Could Hold!	cover	1	pencils: Curt Swan; inks: Stan Kaye; letters: Joe Letterese	The Congorilla First, Clark Kent, Superman
2	The Man No Prison Could Hold!	comic story	11.67	script: Bill Finger; pencils: Wayne Boring; inks: Stan Kaye	Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Superman
4	-	comic story	1	script: Henry Boltinoff; pencils: Henry Boltinoff; inks: Henry Boltinoff; letters: Henry Boltinoff	Tricksy First
5	Formula for Success!	public service announcement	1	script: Jack Schiff; pencils: Bob Brown; inks: Bob Brown; letters: Ira Schnapp	Jimmy; Jimmy's father; Mr. Lane
6	The Amazing Congorilla!	comic story	6.5	script: Robert Bernstein; pencils: Howard Sherman; inks: Howard Sherman	Congo Bill, The Congorilla First
8	-	comic story	0.67	script: Henry Boltinoff; pencils: Henry Boltinoff; inks: Henry Boltinoff; letters: Henry Boltinoff	Shorty
9	-	in-house column	0.33	letters: typeset
11	-	letters page	1	script: Mort Weisinger; pencils: Wayne Boring; inks: Stan Kaye
12	The Graveyard of Space	comic story	5.67	script: Otto Binder; pencils: Jim Mooney; inks: Jim Mooney	Colonel Tommy Tomorrow, Brent Wood

Plus 7.16 pages of advertisements and other matter across 9 sequences, as published.

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Showcase Presents: Superman #1 ISBN 1-4012-0758-8	2005	On eBay ›
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives #2 ISBN 1-4012-0767-7	2006	On eBay ›
Weird Secret Origins #[nn]	2004	On eBay ›
Superman in Action Comics #1 ISBN 1-55859-595-3	1993	On eBay ›
DC Universe Secret Origins #[nn] ISBN 978-1-4012-3403-4	2012	On eBay ›
DC Universe: Secret Origins #[nn] ISBN 978-1-4012-3404-1	2013	On eBay ›
The Silver Age of Superman The Greatest Covers of Action Comics from the '50s to the '70s #[nn] ISBN 0-89660-055-6	1995	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Check spine ticks and cover gloss in the photos; silver-age Marvels chip at the edges easily.
Look for tanning at the page edges and transfer stains on the inside covers.
Confirm the cover price against the plate; higher prices can mean a later or foreign printing.

Series context

‹ #247248 of 866#249 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com