597 – Robot Clarks

In Adventure Comics #212, Superboy creates a Robot Clark to get him out of a secret identity jam – although this isn’t the first use of a “Clark bot“. The use of “super robots” was frequent throughout the Silver Age. In the grand scheme of things, the super-robots are kind of just a blip on […]

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596 – Superman Thinks of the Past

In Superman #97 (March 1955), Superman thinks about the past instead of the other way around. A crook gives Superman the heads up that something he did as Superboy on his last day in Smallville will net him $1M. Superman heads back to his old stomping grounds to reminisce on his adventures and try to […]

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595 – Superboy Thinks of the Future

In Adventure Comics #211 (February 1955), Superboy starts thinking heavily about a future in which he won’t have parents in which to confide in. He ends up dreaming about a future in which he is Superman. As an adult Clark, he works at a museum with Lana and decides to tell her his secret: Of […]

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592 – Comics Code Authority Arrives

In 1955, all DC and Marvel comics began having the “Approved by the Comics Code Authority” seal displayed prominently on the cover. The CCA was voluntarily put into effect by many players in the comics industry in response to Senate hearings around juvenile delinquency, championed by Dr. Wertham. This spells the end to EC comics, […]

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591 – Krypto, the Super-Dog!

In Adventure Comics #210 (January 1955), Superboy encounters a dog that has powers matching his own. Finding the rocket where the dog arrived on Earth, Superboy discovers this dog is actually his pet Krypto from when he was a baby on Krypton. Yay for more Krypton coincidences! A colorful scene with Jor-El, Lara, baby Clark […]

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590 – Speedy Origin

Although it borrows elements from the story of when Roy Harper met Oliver Queen 11 years earlier, the back-story to Speedy is given some retcon attention in the Green Arrow story in Adventure Comics #209 (Dec 1954). The new story is that Roy was orphaned when his scientist father blew up their cabin in the […]

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587 – Not Composite Superman

In World’s Finest #74 (Nov 1954), an alien with the abilities to shape-shift and absorb powers lands on Earth and causes a panic. Batman and Robin corner it and find out that the alien is good-natured and wants to be a hero, so takes Batman’s appearance. This leads to a confrontation with Superman. Which somehow […]

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586 – Goodbye Johnny Quick!

In Adventure Comics #207 (October 1954), Johnny Quick has his last adventure of the 1950s, making him the last Golden Age superhero DC retires in this tail end of the superhero decline. It’s a forgettable tale (other than force-feeding his sidekick Tubby Watts hamburgers to drown his heartache), but it does mean that DC will […]

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585 – The Worm Strikes Back

In the Tommy Tomorrow story “The Interplanetary Bank!” from Action Comics #199 (Oct 1954), Tommy needs to solve crimes and so is hired on as a bank employee. On their way to cross the solar system, they dive into a crater on an asteroid and are swallowed by a giant worm, much like the scene […]

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584 – Not Bizarro

In “The Phantom Superman!” from Action Comics #199 (October 1954), Luthor creates a living duplicate of Superman with a “three-dimensional materializer” and an “atomic transformer”. This duplicate is completely grey, lacking in color, but has all of Superman’s abilities for a few hours until the charge wears out. Luthor then sends the duplicate out into […]

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