Action Comics #30 for Sale - First Appearance of The Yellow Mask - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Action Comics (DC, 1938 series)
Issue: #30
Publication date: November 1940
Key date: 1940-11-00
On-sale date: 1940-09-20
Indicia publisher: Detective Comics Inc.
Price: $0.10; 0.15 CAD
Pages: 68

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of The Yellow Mask - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	-	cover	1	pencils: Joe Shuster; inks: Leo Nowak	Clark Kent, Superman
2	The Midsummer Snowstorm	comic story	13	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: Joe Shuster; inks: Joe Shuster	Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Superman, George Taylor
3	-	in-house column	1	script: ? [as Clark Kent]; letters: typeset
4	-	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5	pencils: Joe Shuster; inks: Wayne Boring
6	-	comic story	6	pencils: George Papp; inks: George Papp	Pep Morgan
8	-	comic story	1	pencils: Stan Asch; inks: Stan Asch	Danny Dubb
9	-	comic story	4	pencils: Sheldon Moldoff; inks: Sheldon Moldoff	The Black Pirate, Jon Valor
10	Elagabalus, Monkeys, Footprint, Toothpicks, Gentleman Jim	cartoon	1	script: George Papp; pencils: George Papp; inks: George Papp
11	"The Royal Road to Romance" by Richard Halliburton	text article	0.5	letters: typeset
13	-	comic story	5.9	script: Gardner Fox; pencils: Chad; inks: Chad	Fog Fortune, Gunner Bill, Whistler Will
15	-	comic story	8	script: Ken Fitch; pencils: Bernard Baily; inks: Bernard Baily; letters: Bernard Baily	Bob Daley, Tex Thomson
16	Tall Timber	text story	1.67	script: Bert London	Dick Mason
18	Death on the Set!	comic story	6	pencils: Geo Papp; inks: Geo Papp	Clip Carson
21	Mottled Death	comic story	11	script: Gardner Fox; pencils: Joseph Sulman; inks: Joseph Sulman	Zatara
22	All-Star Comics	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5	pencils: Howard Purcell; inks: Howard Purcell
23	Action Comics; Batman; Detective Comics; Superman	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.5

Plus 6.43 pages of advertisements and other matter across 10 sequences, as published.

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Superman: The Action Comics Archives #2 ISBN 1-56389-426-2	1998	On eBay ›
The Superman Chronicles #4 ISBN 978-1-4012-1658-0	2008	On eBay ›
Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus #1 ISBN 978-1-4012-4189-6	2013	On eBay ›
Superman in Action Comics #1 ISBN 1-55859-595-3	1993	On eBay ›
Superman: The Golden Age #2 ISBN 978-1-4012-6530-4	2017	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Golden-age paper is brittle. Ask about page suppleness and check edges for chips in the photos.
Check for trimmed edges, married covers, and clipped coupons - all common on books this old.
Confirm the indicia matches this plate; many golden-age titles changed names mid-run.

Series context

‹ #2930 of 866#31 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com