In “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Superman”, a story from Superman #81 (January 1953), the writers get even crazier with Superman’s costume. Earth passes through a kryptonite dust cloud, meaning all of Earth’s air has become lethal (or is it just weakening?) to Superman for one day. He retreats under the water and solves crimes in goofy ways while trapped there.
A criminal sabotages Metropolis’ power plant and plunges the city into darkness. Superman steals air from a sub (?) and inflates his costume to 1000 times its size (?) and then rubs “phosphorescent mollusc shells” over it (?) and suspends it over Metropolis (?). WTAF!
“It – It’s – I – I can’t believe it – a gigantic, luminous Superman floating in the air!”
An unnamed criminal in “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Superman” – oh and also every reader of that story.