527 – Ghastly Graham

The Haunt of Fear #17 (December 1952) continues to showcase Ghastly Graham Ingels‘ artwork with a truly twisted tale called “Horror We? How’s Bayou?”. In this twisted tale, a creepy Sidney, living in the Bayou, lures strangers out to his lonely home so that his insane brother Everett can murder them and dis-member them. After […]

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526 – Time Loop Mystery

In the there-are-no-new-ideas department, House of Mystery #11 (December 1952) features a story in which a man discovers a way to manipulate time, but then accidentally becomes trapped on a single day. Deja vu? Sadly this is just the twist ending of the story, and they do not delve too deeply into what a time […]

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525 – Super-Fat Boy of Steel

The beginnings of putting Superman / Superboy in increasingly crazier situations starts in Superboy #24 (December 1952). In “The Super-Fat Boy of Steel!”, experimental rays from the college of agricultural has made all the teens of Smallville fat over night, including Superboy/Clark. Naturally it is undone as fast as it happened, and spoiler alert: Lana […]

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524 – Stranger Dimensions

While the Phantom Stranger has so far steered clear of actual paranormal activity, we get much closer in Phantom Stranger #4 (December 1952). A man experimenting with a book of spells has apparently summoned hairy demons and then has disappeared. The Phantom Stranger investigates and discovers strange hairy creatures. He captures one and convinces it […]

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523 – Superman’s Big Bro

Continuing the tradition of Jor-El super-coincidences in which Jor-El was involved with nearly every entity that Superman meets from space… In Superman #80 (November 1952), Superman discovers an alien has crash-landed on Earth and carries with him instructions from Jor-El mentioning his son. Superman assumes this means “Halk Kar’ is Superman’s older brother. Of course […]

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522 – Ray Bradbury Credits

Apparently EC comics had a bad habit of plagiarizing Ray Bradbury‘s short stories for their comic books. This resulted in the writer sending a letter to EC comics, who decided to credit Ray Bradbury on nearly every cover starting in October 1952. Above is a panel from a 1948 short story called “The Long Years!” […]

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521 – Superman on TV

In October 1952, most of DC comics had a cross-promotion for a new TV show: The Adventures of Superman! Starring George Reeves as the titular character, this show would be a pretty big hit and was the first television show based on a comic book character. I remember watching some of these in rerun syndication […]

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520 – Superman in the Sun

In “Superman’s Blackout!”, a story in World’s Finest #61 (Sept 1952), a kryptonite meteor affects Earth’s sun, causing it to rob Superman of all his powers when exposed to direct sunlight. This eventually fades, but not before Superman has to cleverly use his powers to foil some bad guys and pull the wool over Lois […]

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519 – Wonder Woman at the Movies

In Wonder Woman #56 (Sept 1952), Steve Trevor takes Wonder Woman out on a date to see a movie. What movie? Superman and the Mole Men of course! Wonder Woman would not see a theatrical release for another 65 years!

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518 – Joanie Swift!

We have had speedster heroes and speedster villains, but Adventure Comics #181 (August 1952) marks the first appearance of a female speedster. While taking dictation for a college professor, Joanie Swift accidentally recites the formula that gives Johnny Quick his powers and the two team up to battle crime. The team-up does not last long, […]

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