Superman #38
Superman #38 holds a unique place in Golden Age publishing history as the home of 'The Battle of the Atoms!,' a story that the U.S. War Department actively suppressed because writer Don Cameron had independently conceived a Lex Luthor atomic-bomb plot at the very moment the Manhattan Project was America's most closely guarded secret. When the issue finally reached newsstands in late 1945—well after Hiroshima and Nagasaki—the opening splash page wore its censorship history as a badge of distinction, openly announcing to readers that wartime restrictions had kept the story from them. The issue also features an internally notable cover: Jack Burnley depicted Superman in a barber chair casually reading a copy of Batman #32, a rare, playful cross-promotion between DC's two flagship titles. Taken together, the issue is a snapshot of how the early comics industry intersected with wartime government power, and how superhero storytelling was beginning to grapple—however obliquely—with the nuclear age.
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The lead story, scripted by Don Cameron, was completed in time for Superman #34 (cover-dated May–June 1945) but was pulled when Army Intelligence visited DC Comics and demanded the story be withheld; editor Jack Schiff later recalled that FBI agents visited publisher Harry Donenfeld to press for the removal of the atomic-bomb elements. The story sat in a drawer until the Office of Censorship closed after V-J Day, finally publishing on October 29, 1945, with the January–February 1946 cover date. Interior art credits on the lead story were long listed to Sam Citron, but later scholarship by comics historian Martin O'Hearn, comparing the work to confirmed Citron samples, reassigned the pencils to Pete Riss, with inks by George Roussos throughout most of the book. The cover was penciled by Jack Burnley and inked by Roussos.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date January–February 1946; published on October 29, 1945 (DC's Superman Vol. 1 #38).
- The lead story, 'The Battle of the Atoms!' (script: Don Cameron; pencils: Pete Riss, long misattributed to Sam Citron; inks: George Roussos), was originally slated for Superman #34 but was suppressed by the U.S. War Department because its Lex Luthor atomic-bomb plot risked inadvertently signaling that America was researching nuclear weapons during World War II.
- The issue's opening splash page carried an in-story editorial note acknowledging the wartime censorship delay—a remarkably self-aware editorial gesture for a 1940s DC comic.
- Jack Burnley's cover shows Superman relaxing in a barber chair reading a copy of Batman #32, a cross-title in-universe promotional image that remains one of the more charming meta-covers of the Golden Age.
- The second story, 'The Bad Old Knights!' (script: Bill Finger; pencils: Pete Riss; inks: George Roussos), sends Superman to the court of Camelot in a dream sequence—a flight-of-fancy format common to the era.
- A reprinted Batman house-ad feature in the issue depicts Batman, Robin, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and The Cavalier (Mortimer Drake); The Cavalier had debuted two years earlier in Detective Comics #81 (November 1943), created by Don Cameron and Bob Kane.
- 'The Battle of the Atoms!' was later reprinted in Superman #243 (October 1971), confirming the story's recognized significance within DC's own archival reprint program.
- The issue's back-matter roster—including the recurring filler strips Daffy & Doodle and Volto from Mars (a Grape-Nuts Flakes promotional strip), plus Thom McAn shoe advertisements—offers a detailed snapshot of the mid-1940s DC anthology format, in which sponsored strips and house ads filled a standard 52-page, 10-cent package.
Cast · 16 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
First Luthor invents a machine that makes buildings melt. Then Luthor tries to kill Superman with an atomic bomb.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).