Superman got a high priority rating last week: the Navy Department ruled that Superman comic books should be included among essential supplies destined for the Marine garrison at Midway Islands. For the tough Marines, as for all U.S. Armed Forces, the Man of Steel is still super-favorite reading.
But Superman is now in a really tough spot that even he can't get out of. His patriotism is above reproach. As the mightiest, fightingest American, he ought to join up. But he just can't. In the combat services he would lick the Japs and Nazis in a wink, and the war isn't going to end that soon. On the other hand, he can't afford to lose the respect of millions by failing to do his bit or by letting the war drag on.
To save Superman from this dilemma, plump, 27-year-old Superscriptman Jerry Siegel patched up a makeshift solution after Pearl Harbor. Superman, rejected for enlistment when his X-ray eyes inadvertently read the chart in the next room, set out to serve his country as No. 1 spycatcher. "Of course," says Ideaman Siegel, who admits that Superman frightens even him sometimes, "if a sub comes to our shores and shells the U.S. we might have him take time out and administer the proper punishment."
Meanwhile, three Superman comic books have a circulation of about 1,530,000 monthly, with an estimated readership of about 12,000,000. Daily and Sunday newspaper strips (in 285 papers) add about 25,000,000 readers. Superman radio programs (85 stations) are tops for moppets. Superman movies show in the majority of some 17,000 movie houses.