The Zabra Collection-PRIMARY SET
Action Comics 112

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Action Comics #112 Universal
Grade: 9.4
Page Quality: OFF-WHITE TO WHITE
Pedigree: Ohio
Certification #: 1129570012
Owner: Zabra

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: The Zabra Collection-PRIMARY SET
Date Added: 5/4/2016
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

ACTION COMICS # 112 CGC 9.4 -OHIO PEDIGREE

THIS IS THE FIRST AND ONLY ACTION COMICS COVER WITH A CHESS THEME IN THIS SET.

This is my THIRD book from the OHIO PEDIGREE and it is the HIGHEST GRADED PEDIGREE COPY of Action Comics # 112. It took me years to track down this amazing book and add it to my collection. It reunites with it's siblings namely Action Comics #110 and 113. Emerging from Akron, Ohio, this monster collection required two brokers and six years to bring out every issue. Dealer Nelson Dodds was ultimately responsible for introducing the Ohio collection to the comic market in 1994, but even he did not realize its size and quality until years later. Known for having great pages (ranking in the top 10) and easily identifiable distributor codes on the covers, Ohio books have been sought after by major pedigree collectors for over a decade. Though stocked with many high grade Silver Age issues, it's the Golden Age copies that made the Ohio collection famous.

Action Comics #112 Ohio pedigree (DC, 1947) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages. King takes pawn on this chess-themed Mr. Mxyztplk cover, with an accompanying interior story. Wayne Boring Superman cover. Stan Kaye and George Roussos art. A dazzling copy of an early Action!

The approximate on sale date for this issue was July 16th, 1947 with a cover price of 10 cents. It had 48 pages. The Editor was Jack Schiff.

This book had five stories namely:

1. Superman: "The Cross-Country Chess Crimes."
2. Congo Bill: "The Knife Thrower."
3. Zatara: "Photo of a Phoney."
4. Hayfoot Henry: " The Practical Jokers."
5. Vigilante: " The Vigilante's Double."

Cover art by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye. The Cross-Country Chess Crimes starring Superman and Mr. Mxyztplk, art by John Sikela. The Knife Thrower starring Congo Bill, art by Ed Smalle. Photo of a Phoney starring Zatara, script by Joe Samachson, art by W. F. White. The Practical Jokers starring Hayfoot Henry, script by Al Schwartz, art by Stan Kaye. The Vigilante's Double, art by George Roussos. 52 pgs. $0.10. Cover price $0.10.

Leaping over skyscrapers, running faster than an express train, springing great distances and heights, lifting and smashing tremendous weights, possessing an impenetrable skin-these are the amazing attributes which Superman, savior of the helpless and oppressed, avails himself of as he battles the forces of evil and injustice. In this issue Superman battles the magical imp Mr. Mxyzptlk who plays a goofy game with Superman in The Cross-Country Chess Crimes.

Throughout his career, Superman accumulated a veritable rogues gallery of archenemies. Chief among them, of course, was the bald scientist Lex Luthor, whose criminal brain was nearly a match for Superman's brawn. Superman also had his hands full with the likes of the Prankster and the Toyman, who used wicked and deadly versions of classic pranks and playthings to wreak havoc in Metropolis. Neither one, however, was nearly as exasperating as MR. MXYZPTLK, the mischievous magical imp from THE FIFTH DIMENSION who tormented the Man of Steel with sorcerous stunts.

Mr. Mxyzptlk was created to appear in the Superman #30 (Sept. 1944) story "The Mysterious Mr. Mxyztplk", by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Ira Yarborough. But due to publishing lag time, the character saw print first in the Superman daily comic strip by writer Whitney Ellsworth and artist Wayne Boring.The FIRST appearance of Mr Myxzptlk was on the cover of Action Comics # 80 in January 1945 followed by the cover of Action Comics # 102 in November 1946. The THIRD appearance was on the cover of Action Comics # 112 in September 1947. The FOURTH appearance was on the cover of Action Comics # 151. Mr. Mxyztlk made his FIFTH appearance on the cover of Action Comics # 208 in September 1955. He then made his SIXTH appearance after a gap of 6 years on the cover of Action Comics # 273 in February 1961 featuring Superman in The World of Mr. Myxzptlk.

Mr Myxzptlk is usually presented as a trickster, in the classical mythological sense, in that he enjoys tormenting Superman. In most of his appearances in DC Comics, he can be stopped only by tricking him into saying or spelling his own name backwards (Kltpzyxm - "kel-tip-zix-um"), which will return him to his home in the 5th dimension and keep him there for a minimum of ninety days. However, this specific limitation of the character has been eliminated since the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, upon which the character leaves only when he willingly agrees to do so after meeting some conditions he sets, such as having Superman succeed in getting him to paint his own face blue.

THE FIFTH DIMENSION

Earth and its environs exist in three dimensions. However the plane of reality Mr Mxyzptlk calls home is a five dimensional topsy-turvy world that boggles the brain! Since humans cannot perceive 5-D constructs, Mxyzptlk employs an illusory gnome-like body when he enters Earthly space, an easy feat for a being whose super-science can animate inaminate material or create matter from nothingness! The mischievous Mr. Mxyzptlk comes from the Fifth-Dimensional realm of Zrfff, and he travels to Earth nearly every 90 days just to play elaborate pranks upon the Man of Steel. Mr. Mxyxptlk will only return to Zrfff if Superman outwits him at his own games, including tricking the trickster into speaking or writing his name backward. And since Mr Mxyzptlk hates to lose, the Man of Steel can always count on his inevitable impish return! Strangely enough, death is an unknown concept in the Fifth-Dimension. And despite Clark Kent and Lois Lane's best attempts to explain mortality to Mr. Mxyzptlk, the imp was unable to grasp its implications. That is, until Mr Mxyzptlk re-created Doomsday and died beneath the rampaging creature's overabundance of bony protrusions. However, death did not become the pint-sized prankster, and the reports of Mr. Mxyzptlk's demise were greatly exaggerated.







 
Image #1
Enlarge  

To follow or send a message to this user,
please log in