Action Comics #48 for Sale - First Appearance of Vigilante - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Action Comics (DC, 1938 series)
Issue: #48
Publication date: May 1942
Key date: 1942-05-00
On-sale date: 1942-03-14
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 Vigilante - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

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

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

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

First appearance of Fatman - 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
1	Editorial Advisory Board	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.33	letters: typeset
2	Good Books Worth Reading	text article	0.67	script: Josette Frank
3	The Adventure of the Merchant of Murder	comic story	13	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: John Sikela; inks: John Sikela	Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Superman, Perry White
4	-	in-house column	1	script: ? [as Clark Kent]; letters: typeset
5	Crime's Caravan!	comic story	12	pencils: Mort Meskin; inks: Mort Meskin	Greg Sanders First, Vigilante First
6	Action and More Action!	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5	pencils: Fred Ray; inks: Fred Ray
7	World's Finest Value	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5	pencils: Fred Ray; inks: Fred Ray
8	-	comic story	1	script: Tom McNamara; pencils: Tom McNamara; inks: Tom McNamara; letters: Tom McNamara
10	Your 5 Favorite Features "Go to Town" Again!	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5	pencils: Fred Ray; inks: Fred Ray	The Crimson Avenger, Green Arrow, Roy Harper, Sir Justin First, Sylvester Pemberton, Oliver Queen, Greg Sanders First, The Shining Knight First, Speedy, The Star-Spangled Kid, Lee Travis, Vigilante First
11	The Adventure of the Secret Submarine	comic story	6	script: Gardner Fox; pencils: Louis Cazeneuve; inks: Louis Cazeneuve	Fog Fortune, Gunner Bill, Whistler Will
12	The Pied Piper of Doom	comic story	8	script: Ken Fitch; pencils: Bernard Baily; inks: Bernard Baily	Bob Daley, Fatman First, Mr. America, Tex Thomson
13	The Flying Jeeps	comic story	2
14	The Dummox	text story	2	script: Norman Goss
17	Star Spangled Comics	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.23
18	-	comic story	6	script: Fred Ray; pencils: Fred Ray; inks: Fred Ray	Congo Bill
19	The Case of the Maddening Music!	comic story	9	script: Gardner Fox; pencils: Joe Sulman; inks: Joe Sulman	Zatara
20	Now on Sale	promo (ad from the publisher)	1

Plus 3.27 pages of advertisements and other matter across 5 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 #9 ISBN 978-1-40123-122-4	2011	On eBay ›
Superman in Action Comics #1 ISBN 1-55859-595-3	1993	On eBay ›
Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus #3 ISBN 978-1-4012-7011-7	2017	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 #5 ISBN 978-1-4012-8797-9	2020	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

‹ #4748 of 866#49 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Wikidata, Q106858713 (Sir Justin), first-appearance property (CC0)

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