Action Comics #169 (of 1000000)
Clark Kent, Caveman! / Spaceman by Proxy / The Pursuit of Congo Bill / The Phantom Sheriff
June 30th, 1952
1. Hop On the Welfare Wagon!: (public service message from Superman) A man tells Mr. Stanton that Superman is going to speak for their hospital fundraiser. He responds "Who needs a hospital in this town? I can take care of myself. I'm not giving a red cent, Superman or no Superman." Just then, Superman shows up saying he "has the wrong slant" and explaining that Americans have always helped each other when sickness and trouble came.
2. Caveman Clark Kent: (Superman) A seismograph at Metropolis University detects a huge tremor somewhere on Earth but can't narrow its center beyond a few thousand miles radius. Perry assigns Lois and a reporter named Bill Carter to hire a plane and find the source of the shock. Clark gets a report of a plane in trouble due to heavy fog at the airport. he flies there as Superman and uses a makeshift torch to guide the plane in but then finds he is worn out from the effort. figuring this can only be caused by Kryptonite, Clark decides he needs to accompany Lois on her search so he performs super acts where Bill will see him so he gets switched to that story and Clark takes his place.
As they search their plane is caught in a down draft and surrounded by Pterodactyls. After a crash landing, they find themselves in a strange valley with dinosaurs. Lois is attacked by one and Clark is about to reveal his secret to save her when a blond caveman named Ogo falls upon it and fights it off. The caveman takes them back to his tribe where Lois is told she can stay with a girl named Goada while Clarck stays with Lars the dreamer. Lars shows Clark a new device he made for hunting, a bow and arrow. Lars leaves to study the lights flashing in a storm, allowing Clark to change to Superman and search for the Kryptonite. He soon finds a large globe of it and while he is pondering how to dispose of it Lars shows up and explains that everything was dying until the rock came from the sky.
Later, he returns to the cave as Clark and sees Lars trying to win Goada's affection by showing off his latest invention, the wheel, but she isn't impressed. Superman fashions a chariot and catches a unicorn to pull it. Goada likes this until the unicorn runs wild and she needs to be saved by Ogo. returning to the meteor he finds pieces of it missing, and when he returns to the cave a man with white hair and beard named Zerrin notes Lars is now wearing glasses, causing Clark to wonder how he knew they were called glasses. they then find Lois taking notes in stone with a chisel and Zerrin slips up, mentioning the Daily Planet.
Later, Lars is talking about how he thinks he can make fire by striking certain stones together when Clark notices Zerrin going somewhere and follows him. He finds Zerrin loading the missing piece of the meteor on a raft but before he can follow him Lars needs help. He succeeded in starting a fire but it got out of control, causing a forest fire that scared the disclosures into stampeding in the direction of Lois and Goada. Superman fashions a giant bow and uses it to launch logs and form an improvised caral for the dinosaurs. Goada recognizes the bow as Lars’s invention and shows him affection.
As Lois tries to get his attention, Superman flies off to find out what Zerrin is doing with the Kryptonite. He finds him hiding it in a cave but when he approaches Zerrin tells him to stay back because he knows who he is and the effect Kryptonite has on him. He then tells Superman he was collecting it to throw it down a bottomless pit inside the cave and explains that some years ago he found a tunnel to the outside world but he didn’t like what he found there (war and greed) so he returned and told nobody. He then drills a deep hole and uses dinosaurs to move the meteor into it for burial before returning to Metropolis with Lois.
3. Little Pete: (gag strip by Henry Boltinoff)
4. Spaceman by Proxy: (Tommy Tomorrow) A young man named Jim Harrel has his dream of joining The Planeteers dashed when the physical exam reveals he has a heart condition that would cause the acceleration of takeoff to kill him. Tommy sets up a control room in his house so he can see everything happening on the ship and even control it remotely.
5. The Pursuit of Congo Bill: (Congo Bill) Bill is framed for the theft of the emerald eyes of a pricless statue.
6. Jerry Jitterbug: (gag strip by Henry Boltinoff)
7. Theat Hat On Your Head: (text story)
8. The Phantom Sheriff: (Vigilante)