694 – Lori Lemaris!

Wow March 1959 was a busy month for DC in terms of world-building! In Superman #129, “The Girl in Superman’s Past” describes Clark Kent in college where he falls in love with a student, Lori Lemaris. Love those L.Ls! Turns out Clark has really fallen for a telepathic mermaid from the sunken land of Atlantis […]

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693 – Rip Hunter, Time Master!

Showcase keeps cranking out characters, with Rip Hunter debuting in Showcase #20 (March 1959). Rip Hunter is a blonde, handsome, t-shirt-wearing, but sometimes shirtless scientist who invests a couple time spheres. With his companions Jeff, Bonnie and Corky they initiate a series of adventures across time. This first adventure lands them in the prehistoric days […]

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692 – Metallo

Although not as big news as Supergirl’s debut, Action Comics #252 (March 1959) also introduced another Superman villain in the main Superman feature: Metallo, created by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino. John Corben is a reporter with a secret: he’s really a criminal. On his way home one night, he gets into a fatal car […]

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691 – Supergirl, Finally!

Well, after years of stories which teased a female counterpart to Superman, and testing the concept in the previous year, DC finally pulled the trigger in Action Comics #252 (March 1959) with the introduction of Supergirl into the DC continuity. Supergirl is Kara, daughter of Zor-El and cousin of Kal-El (Superman). Her father’s city survived […]

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690 – Bat-Mite

Well we go from a nice little Silver Age moment to a cringe-worthy addition to the Batman mythos in Detective Comics #267 (March 1959) with the introduction of Bat-Mite. Like Mr. Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite came from another dimension, but unlike Mxy, Bat-Mite actually adored Batman and tried to help him. Always with disastrous consequences. Was never […]

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689 – Aquaman Origin

18 years after his debut, Aquaman’s origin gets a complete re-tooling in Adventure Comics #260 (March 1959). This seems like DC wanted to bring Aquaman into the Silver Age in a big way. Aquaman is forced to reveal his origin story to a submarine commander who is testing nuclear depth charges in the ocean. The […]

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688 – Wonder Girl!

In Wonder Woman #105 (Feb 1959), the writers revised the origin story of Wonder Woman and decided to start telling tales of Wonder Woman as a young teen, Wonder Girl. Much like Superboy, Wonder Girl started out as another famous-superhero-as-a-teen and then became popular enough that DC weaved that character into the mainstream timeline. The […]

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687 – Rebello

In Superboy #72 (Feb 1959), Clark creates an extremely life-like robot, one that is nearly indistinguishable from the real Superboy, complete with its own wants and desires. Unfortunately it turns out to have one flaw: the robot is left-handed. So naturally rather than fix that bug, Superboy decides to destroy the robot for fear of […]

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686 – Sgt. Rock

In Our Army At War #81 (Feb 1959), Easy Company and its leader Sgt. Rock are introduced. Called “The Rock of East Company” in the above panel, which must clearly be a mistake, he is a steelworker from Pittsburgh and was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert.

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685 – Superwoman as Revenge

Lois Lane’s solo comic is providing many more instances of Superman being petty and using his abilities frivolously. In Lois Lane #8 (Feb 1959), for her birthday – but really just to “teach her a lesson” – Superman decides to give Lois Lane his super-powers. Clark then proceeds to put her into a series of […]

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