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 o_O Ok, maybe it’s not the same Atlantis as Aquaman’s, since these Atlanteans have fish tales and telepathic means of communication. In fairness, Aquaman has not appeared in continuity with any other DC characters as of yet, and continuity has not really been established as a driving force for stories, so I guess it’s forgivable that there are two Atlantises.
Anyway, once every century, someone is picked to come up and learn about the surface dwellers, and this century it was Lori, so she can’t marry the broken-hearted Superman. Time for an iconic kiss.
The story is part of a series of “Untold Tales of Superman”, stories that seek to delve into the Superman mythos a bit and describe things you don’t normally see… like Clark Kent in college and contemplating giving up his career as Superman.