508 – Batman’s Identity Pin

In Detective Comics #185 (May 1952), Batman loses his utility belt which contains a pin that, when sprayed with a special chemical, will reveal Batman’s identity. Batman thinks this is a good idea because something might also happen to Robin. Ok, but isn’t it more likely that you’ll die and then reveal your and Robin’s […]

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507 – First Earthling on Krypton

In “The Man Who Went To Krypton!”, a story from Superman #77 (May 1952) written by Bill Finger, Superman discovers that a human had visited Krypton in the past. Thirty years ago, Professor William Enders intercepted radio signals from Krypton (which must have traveled through a time warp?) and learned how to communicate with Jor-El […]

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506 – Marvel-ous EC Flattery

In Atlas/Marvel’s Mystic Comics #10 (April 1952), it becomes pretty clear that someone over at Atlas (perhaps a Mr. Stan Lee?) is really jealous of the attention that E.C. Comics is getting. Each story features a little blurb that pays homage to an E.C. comic book: Cryptic Tales, Vault of Evil, Crypt of Shadows… I’m […]

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505 – Firefly!

In Detective Comics #184 (April 1952), a new Batman villain arises: The Firefly! The Firefly is Garfield Lynns, the world’s foremost lighting-effects genius, who is bitter at lack of recognition and becomes a criminal. After being chased by Batman and Robin, he is saved by a firefly distracting the dynamic duo and decides to take […]

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504 – Superboy/Jor-El retcon

Although it was made pretty clear in continuity that Superman only learns of Krypton in his adult-hood, three years later DC is ret-conning in Superboy #20 (April 1952). In this story, a scientist tries to swindle Smallville residents by having them chat with people from their past. Clark is caught off-guard with a discussion with […]

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503 – Clark-bot

Superman may have started using his robots recently, but “Mrs. Superman!”, a cute story in Superman #76, makes the debut of Superman using a robot to specifically trick Lois Lane who has the notion that Clark and Superman are one in the same.

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502 – The Mightiest Team

Although this isn’t the first or even second time that Superman and Batman meet in comics, Superman #76 (March 1952) is the first time the two heroes share an adventure together and learn each other’s secret identities. Written by Edmond Hamilton and drawn by Curt Swan, it’s a pretty cool story and it’s one of […]

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501 – Going My Way?

Speaking of riffing on ideas, Marvel Tales #107 (February 1952) has a tale called “Going My Way?” wherein a spooky ghost utters the phrase repeatedly to the driver of a car, who comes to realize he has died and this is an angel of death. The famous Twilight Zone episode “The Hitch-Hiker” also used this […]

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500 – Journey Into Mystery!

Wow, my 500th entry! It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this for almost two years! I’m happy to see that I’m well into what I am calling the “Early Silver Age”, where many of the horror and science fictions stories are interesting, even if superheroes themselves have faded down to just a few exceptions. […]

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499 – Who Mourns for Zeus?

In DC’s Strange Adventures #19 (February 1952), the Captain Comet story features a galaxy-wandering crew of 12 mortal heroes from Earth’s past: Zus, Merkry, Hurkles, Demeter, Dionsius and more. Zus has the idea to create a spaceship that will let them wander the galaxy searching for the secrets of immortality. Every fifty years, one of […]

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