Action Comics # 408 1972 VG-

Action Comics #408 is a Bronze Age installment published by DC Comics. While its cover date reads January 1972, the issue was released to newsstands in late 1971. It is an oversized anthology comic containing two unique Superman adventures and a backup superhero feature.

Lead Story: "The Hero Superman Doomed to Die!"

• The Premise: Superman is urgently called to the Houston Space Center to assist with a deep space emergency. An American astronaut, Colonel Carter, is stranded aboard the Argo 1 spacecraft with less than 8 hours of life-supporting oxygen remaining.
• The Conflict: Superman blasts off to execute a rescue, but every time he approaches the Argo 1, an invisible, crushing cosmic force violently repels him. Defeated and deeply shaken, Superman returns to Earth and publicly confesses that he is physically powerless to save the astronaut.
• The Subplot: Meanwhile, corporate media mogul Morgan Edge—secretly acting as an agent for the cosmic tyrant Darkseid—uses his massive Galaxy Broadcasting System media empire to aggressively smear Superman's reputation, framing the failed rescue attempt as a act of cowardice to turn humanity against its protector.

Secondary Story: "The Shocking Secret of Super-X!"

• The Premise: This shorter feature is a throwback tale exploring Superman's early college years.
• The Plot: To avoid accidentally contaminating Metropolis and the rest of the Earth with a highly volatile strain of experimental, artificial bacteria, Clark Kent is forced to briefly abandon his traditional costume. He creates a temporary, armored superhero alter-ego known as Super-X to safely complete his mission without exposing his real identity or spreading the biological pathogen.

Backup Story: "The Atom's Phantom Double!"

• The Premise: Written by legendary Silver Age writer Gardner Fox, this two-part backup features the subatomic hero The Atom (Ray Palmer).
• The Plot: A freak physics accident in Ray Palmer's laboratory manifests a malevolent, ghostly duplicate of the hero. This phantom twin possesses identical powers and actively plots to murder the real Atom so it can permanently usurp his life and identity