Action Comics #217
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAction Comics #217 lands in the threshold months of the Silver Age, making it one of the earliest Superman anthology issues produced under the editorial conditions that would define the era. Its lead story, 'The Amazing Super-Baby,' is a prime example of the imaginative, high-concept 'what-if' storytelling that editor Mort Weisinger championed throughout the late 1950s — scenarios that stretched Superman's mythology in playful, sometimes absurdist directions rather than relying on straightforward adventure. As an anthology, the issue also showcases the three-feature format that Action Comics sustained for years, pairing the Superman lead with the jungle-adventure Congo Bill and the science-fiction Tommy Tomorrow, giving readers a genuinely diverse reading experience within a single 10-cent package.
In "The Amazing Super-Baby," young Tommy takes on the role of training space cadets, but his duties are tested when the notorious criminal "Cosmo" Rey slips into the group posing as Cadet Parker—only to reveal himself with a telltale salute from the wrong hand. Written by Otto Binder and illustrated by Jim Mooney, this 1956 adventure blends whimsy and suspense in a classic DC tale, with Al Plastino’s dynamic cover capturing the moment of deception.
In "The Secrets of the Planeteers!", young space cadets train under the watchful eye of Tommy, unaware that the notorious criminal Cosmo Rey has slipped in disguised as Cadet Parker—his mistake, a single wrong-handed salute, may be the only clue that could expose him.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By mid-1956, Action Comics was operating under the editorial oversight of Whitney Ellsworth, with Mort Weisinger and George Kashdan serving as assistant editors — a team whose influence on the Superman titles would deepen considerably as the decade progressed. Otto Binder, one of the most prolific Superman writers of the era, wrote the Superman lead story, while Wayne Boring and inker Stan Kaye — the dominant visual interpreters of Superman at the time — handled the pencils and inks on the cover and Superman feature; Jim Mooney provided art on the Tommy Tomorrow backup, consistent with his regular role on that strip across this period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated June 1956, placing the issue at the very opening of the Silver Age of comics (collectors' consensus: 1956–1970).
- The Superman lead story, 'The Amazing Super-Baby,' centers on Clark Kent becoming the temporary guardian of an infant who possesses super-powers comparable to his own, with Mr. and Mrs. Roger Bliss identified as the baby's parents.
- The issue is a three-feature anthology: the Superman story is followed by a Congo Bill backup ('The One-Man Safari,' with Janu the Jungle Boy) and a Tommy Tomorrow backup ('The Secrets of the Planeteers').
- Writer Otto Binder scripted the Superman lead; Wayne Boring pencilled and Stan Kaye inked the Superman feature and cover — the dominant artistic team on the character in this period.
- Jim Mooney provided art on the Tommy Tomorrow backup story, consistent with his regular assignment on that strip throughout the mid-1950s run of Action Comics.
- Whitney Ellsworth served as editor, with Mort Weisinger and George Kashdan as assistant editors — an editorial structure that would soon position Weisinger as the primary architect of the expanded Superman mythology.
- The 'Super-Baby' cover image — showing a powered infant — is the issue's most visually distinctive element and its primary identifier among collectors.
- No major first appearances of recurring DC Universe characters have been documented for this issue; its significance is contextual and era-defining rather than tied to a single debut.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints A Date with Judy #17 (1950)
Reprinted in Century, The 100 Page Comic Monthly #4 (1956), Superboy #90 (1961), Superman in Action Comics #1 (1993), The Silver Age of Superman The Greatest Covers of Action Comics from the '50s to the '70s #[nn] (1995)
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