Superman is widely considered to have entered the Silver Age with Action Comics #241 (June 1958) and Superman #122 (July 1958). Unlike the Flash and Green Lantern (for example), Superman was published continuously from the Golden Age into the Silver Age. Whereas it's easy to differentiate the Golden Age Flash and Green Lantern from their Silver Age counterparts, what is it that sets Action comics #241 apart from #240 and Superman #122 from #121? What happened in 1958 which led to such a change? You probably know already, but I'm going to tell you anyway: the cancellation of the Adventures of Superman television show.
According to Mark Waid: "[Mort] Weisinger inherited the editorial mantle of the Superman books in the 1950s. At first, his goal was simply to ensure that the Man of steel's comic-book adventures were tonally consistent with the successful Adventures of Superman TV series. Once production on Adventures came to an end, however, Weisinger was given a little more latitude to make Superman's tales more fantastic and to play up the kind of science-fiction story elements and mythology that the budgetarily challenged TV series could never have pulled off. During the coming decade, Weisinger and his writers would examine and exploit Superman's world and his Kryptonian heritage in a hundred different exciting ways. They'd surround him with dozens of new props and toys, each rife with story possibilities. But, like all of us, before he started accumulating possessions, Superman would first need a place to... well... put his stuff."
All of which leads to "The Super-Key to Fort Superman" in...
ACTION COMICS #241:
The first thing you'll probably notice is that the key itself doesn't look anything at all like the one in the story, which was used for decades thereafter. Waid explains that, "while the interior stories were drawn by a variety of artists, the covers for all Weisinger's books were then and for many years drawn by a legend in the making named Curt Swan. Weisinger knew that Swan, who would eventually become the most prolific and familiar comic-book artist of all time, could always be counted on to see the well-deserving wonder and spectacle of Superman's world to any child eager to invest ten cents in exploration."
"THE SUPER-KEY TO FORT SUPERMAN"
I encountered this story for the first time in 1987 within the pages of The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told hardcover collection. the concept of a "Fortress of Solitude" was originally borrowed from Doc Savage, although I think it's safe to say that most people today associate it with Superman. It's the kind of story that can surprise you only the first time you read it, but it certainly introduces a classic element of Superman lore.
I don't have a particular goal in mind for this discussion (such as trying to justify the expense of an omnibus edition by reading it) and I don't know how much I'll have to say about these stories. Nor am I in any particular hurry to get through them, but I plan to maintain a modest pace of one comic each day, perhaps more if the mood strikes.
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Since Superman is invulnerable, so are all of the cells in his body.
See, that's exactly why I don't spend much time thinking about these "dream" stories. Because they are dreams, anything can happen.
ACTION COMICS #271:
"Around the world one day a strange craft from outer space is seen hovering silently, as if visiting Earth one a mysterious mission!" It travels the continent doing "good deeds" for random people. Clark and Lois are sent in the Daily Planet's "flying newsroom" to investigate. When Clark must change to Superman, he lands the helicopter and dresses a scarecrow up in his suit. Obviously remembering how Lois could not tell a pane of glass from a a mirror in the prvious issue, Superman concludes, "This scarecrow will look like 'Clark Kent' to Lois."
Eventually the spaceship arrives in Metropolis and an alien from "Dimension X' emerges, looking like one of those Las Vegas dancers who perform wearing a light suit. The alien explains that he performed the good deeds to prove his good intentions, then asks Superman for his help defeating a "super-menance" threatening his world. Superman agrees to help and boards the spaceship, which is little more than a hollow ball made of lead to protect Superman "from all outside radiations" during the interdimensional journey.
The whole thing is a hoax, of course, engineered by Luthor, who has found a way to escape prison by teleportation, replacing himself with a life-like robot he made of himself in the prison workshop. No sooner does Superman board the "spaceship" than it flies to Sahara Desert and embeds itself in the sand. But Superman knows he's stil on Earth because he can hear Big Ben chiming in London, as well as a train and a sawmill. The trap is equipped with an electronic signal box which will trigger a neutron bomb hidden in Metropolis should Superman exert any pressure against the interior wall of the trap.
Then Luthor sends Gypo, one of the lesser-known Marx Brothers, to Metropolis in a duplicate spaceship. Gypo has been surgically altered to look like Superman, and when he arrives he reports failure because the alien's homeworld orbits a red sun. But... if all the governments of Earth agree to turn over their entire stockpile of atomic bombs everything will be all right. Gypo makes his appeal to the United Nations and, because everyone thinks he's Superman, he succeeds.
Meanwhile, Lois Lane approaches "Superman" to thank him for his noble action. At this point I thought Lois was going to identify him as an imposter as soon as she kissed him, but no, she melts when Gypo responds to her kiss. "At last!" she thinks. "Maybe I will be his bride before long! Tra-la-la-la!" (yes, she actually thinks "tra-la-la-la.")
Back in the Sahara, Superman rolls himself into a ball and whirls at super-speed within the lead ball. The friction between his bady and the air creates heat, and the heated air softens the lead allowing it to expand like a balloon with out cracking open the hull and sending the electronic signal. "Old-time balloons used hot air to rise," Superman explains to himself. "Similarly, the heated air inside this expanded ball is making it soar up into the sky," where a lightning bolt disables the electronic signal box. (I thought the saying "It went over like a lead balloon" meant something quite different, but apparently such a balloon actually works.) After breaking out of the trap, it takes him exactly two panels to capture Luthor, disable the bomb, destroy the robot, and (presumably) return the atomic weapons. Back at the Planet, Lois is frustrated that it was Gypo "who kissed me so warmly and asked me for a date," while Clark winks through the fourth wall.
SUPERMAN #142:
"Lois Lane's Secret Helper!" (1st story): This is the final part of a "trilogy" of sorts in which first Supergirl, then Lori Lemaris, then Krypto in turn play matchmaker for Superman and Lois Lane. Don't believe me? Check out Deck Log #214, "Lois Lane's Three Super-Cupids."
"Superman Meets Al Capone!" (2nd story): As a favor to Perry White, Superman breaks the time barrier and flies to the prehistoric past in order to prove which is larger: Titano or the newly-discovered "Gigantosaur." Just before attempting to return to 1960, Superman is grazed by titano's Kryptonite-vision, whech temporarily strands him in 1920s-era Chicago (evidently before baby Superman landed on Earth). While there he meets a teenaged Perry White, working as a ahoeshine boy but eager for a scoop to land him a reporter job at the Chicago Journal.
As a precaution, Clark smears some shoe polish across his cheek so that "Perry of 1960 won't recall having seen an adult Clark Kent when he was young! Otherwise he'd figure out I'm superman who can travel through time!" I'm not sure that's how time travel works (even in the DC universe), but whatever. Ganster "Silky" Hale mistakes Clark for "Touch" Vincent, and introduces him to Al Capone.Capone puts him through a series of tests before letting him join the gang, which he passes by use of his super powers. Then a radio broadcast reveals that the real "Touch" Vincent was denied parole. Capone tries three times to kill the imposter but fails, giving him the nickname "Untouchable." Superman decides to let history deal with Capone, and leaves the "scoop" to Perry. By this time, Superman is able to return to the present, where he learns that "Untouchable Stranger Foils Capone Mob" was the story that earned Perry White his first job as a reporter.
"Flame Dragon from Krypton!" - (3rd story): the stpry begins with a pointless scene of Superman booby-trapping the Fortress of Solitude, which doesn't tie in to the main story at all. After that, Kryptonian Flame Dragon appears on Earth. ("Somehow it must have survived the explosion of the planet Krypton and wandered through space until it came to Earth!") Lois sees the dragon burn Clark just before Superman appears. Then Superman leads the dragon across the country, tricking it into using its flame toward beneficial ends. Finally, after the dragon has used up its flame for the time being, Superman freezes it and sends it to orbit the Sun beyond Pluto. Upon returning to Earth, he contacts Batman and supergirl to masquerade as a doctor and nurse in an ambulance and concocts a phony story of leaping into a ditch after being singed by the dragon. When he recovered, he flagged down a passing ambulance just before Lois returned to search for proof that Clark is Superman.
ACTION COMICS #272 - "Superman's Rival, Mental Man!"
After looking over the latest Daily Planet sales figures, Perry White assigns Lois the job of creating a comic strip to boost circulation. She creates "Mental Man" (and his girlfriend Laura Lovely). Soon, the strip is so popular it is circulated around the country. Once day, Mental Man himself shows up at the Daily Planet offices in person, having been brought into existance by "the concentration of millions of my fans thoughout the country [which] has materialized me into actuality," evediently using the formula R = bc² (belief multiplied by mass consciousness equals reality).
"I came to you, Lois Lane, to meet my creatior! But now curiousity has turned to... LOVE!" he explains. Just then Superman arrives due to writer's fiat for an interview. Lois still only has eyes for Superman but, true to form, she decides to use Mental Man to make Superman jealous. Mental Man's powers are basically telekinetic in nature, plus anything having to do with mental energy, really. Over the course of the next several days, he takes Lois on dates and performs many super-feats, including saving a sight-seeing excursion boat from a whale. Soon his is contacted by the racketeer "Ace" Ruggles, who offers to tell him how to defeat Superman if he'll help them pull an armored car job.
Later, Mental Man and Superman meet atop the Daily Planet building, where Mental Man turns the globe to Kryptonite, killing Superman. Pretending remorse, he flies down to street level, loads Superman aboard a barge, and swims to the nearest hospital with the barge in tow. Superman is pronounced dead, and Mental Man sets out to fulfil the terms of his agreement with "Ace" Ruggles. During the course of the robbery, Superman himself arrives and reveals that the entire plot was a hoax engineered to lure Ruggles out of hiding. He then explains how "Mental Man" faked all of the astounding feats he performed over the course of the last several days and reveals that Mental Man is actually... Aquaman!
After that, Lois Lane marries off Mental Man and Laura Lovely in her strip, interest drops off, and she resumes her job as a reporter.
"Somehow it must have survived the explosion of the planet Krypton and wandered through space until it came to Earth!"
Because everything from Krypton ends up on Earth.
Perry White assigns Lois the job of creating a comic strip to boost circulation.
Because that is exactly how newspapers work.
SUPERMAN #143:
"The Great Superman Hoax!" - (1st story): Receiving an anonymous tip that Superman is Professor Otto Juris, Perry White sends Clark Kent and Lois Lane to investigate. Juris coyly denies it, but does so in such a way as to convince them (Lois, anyway) that he actually is Superman. A news alert announces a coal mine cave-in upstate, and Juris quickly ushers the two reporters out of his lab. Outside, they see "Superman" seemingly fly off from behind the building. Actually, it is a helium balloon, but we've already seen Lois mistake a pane of glass for a mirror and a scarecrow for Clark Kent, so of course she's fooled.
Juris looks like Superman with a moustache and goatee. Back at the Planet, Lois asks the newspaper's "retouching expert" to remove the facial hair from a phote of the proffessor. Armed with this "proof," she returns to Juris's lab to confront him with it. While there, outside the window, a fire hydrant suddenly bursts. Lois expects him to change to Superman to deal with this "emergency," but the hydrant suddenly melts, as if by heat vision. she rushes back to the Planet to convince Perry that Juris is the Man of Steel, but clark uses his telescopic vision to learn that the hydrant had been rigged in advance.
Just then, the radio announces another crisis which calls for Superman to deal with. Lois rushes back to Juris's lab to catch him returning as Superman, but is disappointed to find that he is there, sitting at his microscope. But he hasn't budged in ten minutes, and Lois discovers that "juris" is actually a dummy. Snooping around his lab, she discovers "Superman's trophy room," including a shrine to her. Just hen, Juris returns and Lois throws herself into his arms, declaring, "Professor Juris! Darling! Superman! Why didn't you tell me before how much you cared? Oh, this is the happiest day of my life!"
After she leaves, Juris reveals to his henchmen that he himself sent the anonymous letter and that he has Perry White's office bugged to monitor the progress of his hoax. Perry has a piece of Red Kryptonite in his safe, and plans to offer it to Professor Juris just to see what happens. after being summoned to the office, Juris asks that the Red K be wrapped in lead, but just then superman himself steps out from behind the curtain. Superman has had Juris (who had himself surgically altererd to resemble Superman) under surveillance all along, and arrests him for destruction of public property (the fire hydrant).
There was little suspense to this story, other than trying to figure out exactly what Juris was up to.
"Lois Lane's Lucky Day!" - (2nd story): Perry assigns Clark and Lois to investigate reports of rigged games at the carnival. No sooner do they arrive than a woman wins a portable television set. Rather than suspecting that the woman is a shill (which she is), Lois accepts this as proof that the games are not rigged. Then Clark uses his powers to help Lois win all the prizes in the booth, further convincing her that the games are honest. They proceed from booth to booth, with Superman secretly arranging for Lois to win the crooked games. At the shooting gallery booth, "Clip" Carson, the man running the crooked booths, stands beside Lois and whispers, "She can't win this time! The bases of them ducks are so weighted with lead they can't be knocked over with a squirt of plain water!" and Superman learns how the game is rigged by reading Carson's lips! Eventually Superman reveals himself and the carnival owner is apprehended while trying to flee. Another story devoid of any suspense.
'Bizarro Meets Frankenstein!" - (3rd story): Bizarro attempts to prove that he is a more frightening monster than Frankenstein.*
*To DC's credit, a note from the editor explains: "In the original Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein was the name of the scientist who created the monster. Through misuse, the term 'Frankenstein' has grown to mean the monster itself!"
'Bizarro Meets Frankenstein!" - (3rd story): Bizarro attempts to prove that he is a more frightening monster than Frankenstein
I remember this story from the "Thirties to the Seventies" book.
Now that you mention it, the "Great 3-Part Novel" from Superman #140 was reprinted in that book, too, but I didn't recall either one because I had apparently repressed the memory of reading them.
ACTION COMICS #273 - "The World of Mr. Mxyzptlk!"
If there's one Silver Age Superman character I hate more than as much as Bizarro it's Mr. Mxyzptlk. In this one, Superman cause Mxyzptlk's skin to turn blue, masquerades as a doctor ("Dr. Sawbones") and writes a prescription for ""Kltpzyxm," then masquerades as a phamacist who has broken his glasses and asks Mxyzptlk to read the prescription aloud. Riveting stuff.
I'd like Mxyzptlk better if he could only appear every nine years instead of 90 days. That said, I did enjoy the World's Funnest book with him and Bat-Mite. As far as I'm concerned, that's the only story with either of them that needs to exist.
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