Action Comics #40 for Sale - First Appearance of Sylvester Pemberton - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Action Comics (DC, 1938 series)
Issue: #40
Publication date: September 1941
Key date: 1941-09-00
On-sale date: 1941-07-18
Indicia publisher: Detective Comics Inc.
Price: $0.10
Pages: 68

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

Why this issue matters

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

First appearance of The Star-Spangled Kid - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

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

First appearance of Stripesy - 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	-	cover	1	pencils: Fred Ray; inks: Fred Ray	Clark Kent, Superman
2	The Billionaire's Daughter	comic story	13	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: John Sikela; inks: John Sikela	Superman [Clark Kent]; Lois Lane; Nancy Thorgeson; Morgan Thorgeson; Parello (villain)
3	Supermen of America	in-house column	1	letters: typeset	Superman
4	The Summer Job	comic story	6	pencils: George Papp; inks: George Papp	Pep Morgan; Don Alvera
5	-	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5		Bob; Superman
6	Strange! Unusual!	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5	letters: typeset
7	The Death of Avilla	comic story	4	pencils: Sheldon Moldoff; inks: Sheldon Moldoff	The Black Pirate [Jon Valor]; Bonnie; Captain Don De Avilla (villain)
8	Smoky by Will James	in-house column	0.5	script: Josette Frank
10	-	comic story	1	script: Henry Boltinoff; pencils: Henry Boltinoff; inks: Henry Boltinoff	Pvt. Pete
11	In the Bering Straits	comic story	6	script: Gardner Fox; pencils: Chad Grothkopf; inks: Chad Grothkopf	Three Aces [Fog Fortune; Gunner Bill; Whistler Will]
12	Middy the Mariner	comic story	2		Middy
13	The Purple Gang	comic story	8	script: Ken Fitch; pencils: Bernard Baily; inks: Bernard Baily	Mr. America [Tex Thomson]; Bob Daley; The Purple Gang (villains)
15	Birds of a Feather	text story	1	script: Robert Stowe	Tom Barry; Mrs. Trevelyan
18	The Adventure of the Prehistoric Valley!	comic story	6	script: Fred Ray; pencils: Fred Ray; inks: Fred Ray	Congo Bill; Joe Kent; Doctor Hanlen; Sheila Hanlen
19	This Is a Preview of the Star-Spangled Kid	promo (ad from the publisher)	3	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: Hal Sherman; inks: Hal Sherman	Pat Dugan First, Clark Kent, Sylvester Pemberton First, Jerry Siegel, The Star-Spangled Kid First, Stripesy First, Superman
20	The Duped Daughter	comic story	9	script: Gardner Fox; pencils: Joseph Sulman; inks: Joseph Sulman	Zatara; Walter Grew; Ann Grew; Jim; Hank; Bucky Moor
21	Action! Thrills! Adventure!	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	letters: typeset

Plus 4.5 pages of advertisements and other matter across 7 sequences, as published.

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Superman: The Action Comics Archives #3 ISBN 1-56389-710-5	2001	On eBay ›
The Superman Chronicles #6 ISBN 978-1-4012-2187-4	2009	On eBay ›
Superman in Action Comics #1 ISBN 1-55859-595-3	1993	On eBay ›
Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus #2 ISBN 978-1-4012-6324-9	2016	On eBay ›
Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] ISBN 978-1-60699-987-5	2017	On eBay ›
Superman: The Golden Age #3 ISBN 978-1-4012-7089-6	2017	On eBay ›
Superman Work Book #[nn]	1945	On eBay ›

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

Before you buy

Golden-age paper is brittle. Ask about page suppleness and check edges for chips in the photos.
Check for trimmed edges, married covers, and clipped coupons - all common on books this old.
Confirm the indicia matches this plate; many golden-age titles changed names mid-run.

Series context

‹ #3940 of 866#41 ›

Sources

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

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