599 – Lois Marries Superman?

A panel from Action Comics #206, May 1955
A panel from Action Comics #206, May 1955

Forty-one years before DC comics had the balls to actually make it happen, Lois tells the story of how she married Superman in Action Comics #206 (May 1955). She relates the story to the reader, a rare departure for DC Comics in which they break the fourth wall.

Another panel from Action Comics #206, May 1955
Another panel from Action Comics #206, May 1955

Readers may have been scratching their heads as to how this can actually be happening, but of course seeing Clark at the wedding with Superman should have been a dead giveaway.

It was only a dream in Action Comics #206, May 1955
It was only a dream in Action Comics #206, May 1955

It was only a dream! And every kid who bought the magazine thought to themselves, what a rip-off!

DC got better at this over the years, realizing they needed to tell out-of-continuity stories to keep their readers interested. In later years, they would just tell the reader up-front that this is an “imaginary story”.