Action 74 – Superman helps an impostor, and Americommando ends
As the cover of Action 74 (July 1944) makes clear, the Superman story in this issue sits firmly in the realm of romantic comedy. Ira Yarborough does show some criminal activity, but that’s not the core of the story.
A clever weakling, Arthur Dribble, lures Superman into a suspended rubber room, locking him in order to impersonate him, using a suit filled with helium. Superman is more intrigued than anything else, and discovers that Arthur is doing this in an attempt to win over the woman of his dreams, Bertha Bigge.
Bertha winds up captured by hoods, who think she is Superman’s girlfriend, so Superman must rescue her, instead of Lois Lane. Arthur’s attempts to solve a drought prove disastrous.
But everything reaches a happy ending, as the two men work together to stop the flood Arthur created. And Bertha is so pleased with the effort Arthur put into wooing her that she doesn’t care that he isn’t Superman.
Greene and Baily bring the Americommando series to an explosive finale in this issue, and the splash page does not lie in announcing a death.
Americommando is in disguise as Captain Brand, overseeing a bombing run aimed at the California coast. Before he can do anything to sabotage it, he is unmasked by Dr. Ito. He is brought aboard the plane, and strapped to the bomb.
Tex manages to get free and fight his way into the cockpit, taking control of the plane. Dr. Ito shoots him, but Tex releases the bomb doors, dropping Ito and the bombs into the ocean. Tex passes out, but wakes up as the plane approaches San Francisco.
Although this is the final appearance of Tex Thompson in this era, he appears as a member of the All-Star Squadron in a couple of stories set during 1942.
Tex is shown in the Justice Society Returns miniseries to be back behind enemy lines as a German officer before the end of the war, which is backed up by the events in The Golden Age miniseries. Although Golden Age is technically an Elseworlds, James Robinson considered it canonical during his run on Starman, and I tend to follow the train of thought that it is as well, meaning Tex makes his final appearance in its pages, captured and killed by the Ultra-Humanite.