New Adventure Comics 16 – Federal Men

The first feature in Adventure Comics to get a cover was Federal Men, with New Adventure Comics 16, June 1937. It also promoted the Junior Federal Men, a fan club.  Most issues included an ad for the group,

and many issues printed the names of the members.

The Federal Men story in this issue has nothing to do with the Junior Federal Men.  Unlike the implication of the cover, no young boy gets to act as a member of the Federal Men and hang with Steve Carson in this story, a sordid and racist drama of illegal asian immigration.

New Adventure Comics 12 – Federal Men and Jor-L

New Comics becomes New Adventure Comics, but only on the cover for now.  And boy does it look like a last minute addition.  The unusual shape of the “A” seems to come from a reluctance to move or alter the existing logo in any way.

This issue sees the debut of Jor-L in Federal Men.

Not a resident of Krypton or father of Superman, this Jor-L is a member of the Federal Men of the Future!

Steve and his superior consult a scientist about police methods in the future, and are treated to tale about the pursuit and capture of “bandit queen” Nira-Q.  Jor-L is the agent who apprehends her.

New Comics 10 – Federal Men

A giant robot destroys a city!  This is a job for Superman!  Oh, crap, he doesn’t exist yet!

By far my favourite single page from the entire run of Federal Men, New Comics 10 (Nov 36) has the amazing payoff to the Invisible Empire storyline.  Steve manages to take control of the killer robot, and sends it back to destroy the villain’s base.  They send out two more robots to battle it, but Steve’s robot wins and the bad guys apparently perish as their lab gets pulverized in the battle.

The following issue is a much more straightforward, one issue story, of a gangster on the run who tries to hide out by being an actor in a gangster movie, and Steve and Ralph head to Hollywood to track him down.

Federal Men would take one further leap into science-fiction with issue 12, but then settle down to more “realistic” adventures for the duration of its run.

New Comics 9 – Federal Men

In New Comics 9 (Oct 36) this Federal Men serial gets a name, The Invisible Empire.  Although it ran from issues 4 – 10, only this chapter gets a title.  The things we take for granted now were by no means a certainty then!

Steve infiltrates the underwater base, and the villains unleash giant killer robots!

Siegel and Shuster had been writing and drawing these kinds of stories since high school, but none of their previous published work had been allowed to venture into this territory.  Even Dr. Occult, running in More Fun Comics, never had anything on this kind of scale.  And the Superman concept they had been trying to sell was “too unbelievable” for comic books.

The Invisible Empire, although all but forgotten now, was almost as groundbreaking as Superman would be.

New Comics 8 – Federal Men

New Comics 8 (Sept 36) sees Steve finally get a partner, Ralph Ventnor.  Ralph will get occasional moments of glory, but for the most part is simply a sidekick and foil for Steve Carson.

Jean Dennis also debuts in this story, a strong-willed, no-nonsense reporter for the Tribune, and very much a foreshadowing of Lois Lane.

Plot-wise, Steve has discovered the the villains behind the attacks are operating out of a secret underwater base, and decides to infiltrate it in disguise.

New Comics 6 – Federal Men

New Comics 4 saw the start of this story in Federal Men, as Steve stops a foreign spy from infesting the reservoir with a bacteria, and moves on to a plot to torpedo the president’s yacht by submarine.

In New Comics 6 (July 36)  it starts to really kick into high gear as giant tanks invade Washington D.C. None of the other series have shown anything so wild or dynamic as these pages. Siegel and Shuster are taking this strip away from the world of the FBI and forcing it toward the superhero universe they are chomping at the bit to create.

In the following issue Steve takes down the villains manning the tanks with a radium-gas bomb, and his superiors think the case is over, but Steve correctly believes the masterminds have not been caught.

Federal Men

The third series Siegel and Shuster created for DC (following Dr. Occult and Henri Duval, both of which ran in More Fun Comics), Federal Men might more appropriately be called Federal Man, as Steve Carson is the one and only hero in this strip.

I am going to be covering this series differently than I have the serials.  With those I give them one entry, and grab shots of panels from throughout their run.  With Federal Men I will be treating it the way I will be treating the various superheroes when it comes time to cover their runs in Adventure.  An introductory entry, corresponding to their first appearance, and then later entries when something noteworthy happens.

Which means there isn’t a whole lot to say here about this strip.  Far too much expository dialogue on the first page, that’s for sure, but that does not happen again during the run of the series.  It’s worth noting the name of the kidnapper, Kate Lane.  This would not be the only foreshadowing of a Superman character in this strip!

The first few Federal Men stories are fairly prosaic, kidnappers and criminals of the everyday sort.  But the series would quickly take a turn for the more dynamic.

Federal Men debuted in New Comics 2, January 1936.