Early Addiction Story from July 1969!
For all the historic talk of drugs in comics, this issue of Action Comics from July 1969 seems to have slipped in a drug addiction tale with little complaint or fanfare! And ironically, there is a letter to the editor that specifically asks what the purpose of the Comics Code Authority is. In answer to that the DC editors give a flattering answer as if they are hoping to appease the CCA while publishing a drug tale! In the "Tales of The Legion of Super-Heroes" story Timber Wolf is given super addictive fruit (one dose!) which normally only grows in a far off galaxy. He has been hurt while stopping an armored truck heist and an unnamed evil-doer slips him "medication" which is the juice of the fruit. The evil guy eventually shows up again and lets Timber Wolf know that the "strange longing" he feels is due to the fruit. He promises him more if he will share it with the other Legionnaires! Sound familiar?? He even meets him down a dark alley at one point! There is a reference to the Lotus Eaters of Homer's Odyssey who can think of nothing but getting more of the Lotus. So while some addiction stories met with resistance and much attention, this story flies through the CCA with no apparent problems.