822 – Jax-Ur

In Adventure Comics #289 (Aug 1961), Superboy is amazed when Pa Kent seemingly acquires super-powers. After several mis-adventures where Super-Pa becomes increasingly evil, he unmasks “Pa Kent” as a Kryptonian criminal, Jax-Ur (making his first appearance). Superboy spares little time in sending Jax-Ur back into the Phantom Zone. The epilogue of the story explains that […]

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821 – Lesla-Lar Timely Scheming

In Action Comics #281 (Aug 1961), the fourth installment in the long-running, multi-month story arc continues as Lesla-Lar masquerades as a recently-re-powered Supergirl. She goes with Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, while the de-powered Supergirl continues to live out her best life with amnesia in the bottled city of Kandor. While there, Krypto sniffs […]

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820 – Marvel Monsters: July 1961

Marvel brings us some more wacky monsters in July 1961: Monsteroso, The Glob, Bruttu, the Abominable Snowman, and Fin Fang Foom, an alien that resembled a dragon. Like Groot before it, Fin Fang Foom is later ret-conned into the Marvel superhero universe as a minor villain.

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819 – Atomic Knights vs Atlantis

The Atomic Knights return in Strange Adventures #132, July 1961. The story picks up where the previous one ended: the Atomic Knights have rescued seeds and fruits from the now-sunken, time-displaced island of Atlantis after their cobalt bomb went off in present-day 1990. Got all that? The scientists in Atlantis learn they have been displaced […]

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818 – Green Lantern in the Future

Green Lantern is whisked away into the year 5700AD to help the “Solarians” with some menace in Green Lantern #8 (July 1961). They do this by swapping his 20th century memories out and hypnotizing Hal Jordan into believe he is Pol Manning, famed asteroid explorer of the 58th century. It’s a neat little trick that […]

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817 – Lesla-Lar’s Evil Plot Thickens

Speaking of Machiavellianism, the long-running Supergirl story arc continues, as a de-powered Linda Lee, having recently been adopted by the Danvers, goes on a school field trip to visit Metropolis’ Daily Planet. There, she meets up with her cousin Clark Kent – I really like the way they depict Clark here, very casual without a […]

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816 – Dev-Em’s Revenge

We first met the super-brat Dev-Em last month and Adventure #288 (July 1961) is the conclusion to this tale. Having arrived on Earth, Dev-Em lures Superboy into his suspended animation vehicle where he imprisons Superboy in the Phantom Zone. Dev-Em then crafts a mask to resemble Superboy and goes about committing horrific deeds, like destroying […]

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815 – The Silver Age Atom

Though DC just introduced the concept of the multiverse, Gardner Fox didn’t stop reinterpreting Golden Age characters in the Silver Age: The Atom debuts in Showcase #34 (July 1961). Ray Palmer is a graduate student and fellowship physicist who seeks to shrink matter via using white dwarf star material. He has a girlfriend named Jean […]

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814 – Flash of Two Worlds

Flash Comics #123 (July 1961) has the official birth of the DC multiverse in the landmark story “Flash of Two Worlds”. After super-speed vibrating during a show for charity, Barry Allen’s Silver Age Flash finds himself in a similar-but-different world, where Central City is replaced by Keystone City. Remembering that Jay Garrick, the “fictional” inspiration […]

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