Action Comics #64
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAction Comics #64 marks the debut of the Toyman — Winslow Percival Schott — one of the more durable and culturally adaptable villains to emerge from Superman's Golden Age rogues gallery. Where most themed criminals of the era vanished after a handful of stories, the Toyman outlasted his era, spawning two legacy successors in the comics and driving memorable portrayals across television, animation, and video games across eight decades. The issue also serves as a quiet showcase for writer Don Cameron's remarkable 1943 productivity at DC: within the same calendar year he introduced Alfred Pennyworth into the Batman books, and here he added a villain whose whimsical-yet-sinister toy gimmick proved flexible enough to be reinvented for nearly every subsequent era of Superman storytelling.
In "The Terrible Toyman!", Superman faces a villain whose twisted creativity turns innocent toys into deadly weapons, launching a series of robberies that escalate into a personal threat when he captures Lois Lane. Written by Don C. Cameron and illustrated by Sam Citron with inks by Don Komisarow, this 1943 classic blends childhood menace with superhero action, all captured in a striking cover by Citron and Komisarow.
In "The Terrible Toyman!" from Action Comics #64 (1943), the Toyman turns his twisted genius to crime, using deadly toys to pull off a string of robberies. When he kidnaps Lois Lane and threatens her with poisoned dolls, Superman must track him down to his hidden lair before it's too late.
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The lead story 'The Terrible Toyman!' was written by Don Cameron — a former crime reporter and pulp writer who had become one of DC's most prolific contract scripters by the early 1940s — and drawn by penciler Sam Citron with inks by Don Komisarow. Notably, the story was published under the pseudonymous credits of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, a common practice at the time for DC's Superman features; the corrected creative credits were only established through records introduced in Siegel and Shuster's 1947 lawsuit against National Comics Publications. Ed Dobrotka, who drew the cover and is widely credited as the visual co-creator of the character, appears to have had his interior pencil contribution conflated with Citron's in some secondary sources, a discrepancy traceable to those same disputed records. Whitney Ellsworth was the credited editor, though Grand Comics Database identifies Jack Schiff as the actual editing hand on the issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Toyman, Winslow Percival Schott, in the 12-page lead story 'The Terrible Toyman!' — his defining gimmick of deploying weaponized toys (knockout-gas soldiers, incendiary firetrucks, poisonous dolls) is fully established in this debut.
- Created by writer Don Cameron and artist Ed Dobrotka; interior pencils on the lead story are attributed by the Grand Comics Database to Sam Citron (inks by Don Komisarow), with credits corrected from the original Siegel/Shuster byline via evidence from the 1947 Siegel and Shutter v. National Comics Publications lawsuit.
- Don Cameron was one of the most consequential DC scripters of 1943: the same year he co-introduced Alfred Pennyworth in Batman #16, created Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and wrote the Cavalier's first appearance — making the Toyman's debut part of an extraordinarily productive twelve months.
- The issue is an anthology: backup stories feature the Vigilante (Greg Sanders) and Stuff, Congo Bill, Zatara, and the Americommando (Tex Thomson), plus a 4-page humor strip 'Jitters Jeep' by Jack Farr — typical of Action Comics' wartime format.
- Cover price was 10 cents for a 60-page package; the indicia lists the publisher as Detective Comics, Inc., with cover art by Ed Dobrotka.
- The Toyman proved durable enough to spawn two comics successors: Jack Nimball took the name in Action Comics #432 (1974), and Hiro Okamura adopted a heroic version of the identity in Superman vol. 2 #127 (2002).
- The lead story has been reprinted multiple times: in Superman in Action Comics (Abbeville Press, 1993), Superman: The Action Comics Archives Vol. 4 (DC, 2005), Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 3 (DC, 2016/2017), and Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman — The Deluxe Edition (DC, 2018).
- The Winslow Schott incarnation of the Toyman made his first animated appearance in Superman: The Animated Series in 1996 (voiced by Bud Cort), and the character has subsequently appeared in Smallville, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Supergirl (Arrowverse), and multiple DC video games and animated series.
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Reprinted in Superman in Action Comics #1 (1993), Superman: The Action Comics Archives #4 (2005), Superman in the Forties #[nn] (2005), Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus #3 (2017), Action Comics 80 Years of Superman: The Deluxe Edition #[nn] (2018)
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