536 – Sky Girl

Remember that time Lois Lane had super powers and became a super-powered heroine until Superman put her in her place? Or that time when Lana Lang thought she had developed super powers until Superboy per her in her place? Well yet another plot permutation around this concept happens in Adventure Comics #189 (April 1953). This […]

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533 – Wonderful Multiverse

In Wonder Woman #59 (March 1953), Diana meets a doppleganger who has identical appearance and powers. This is Princess “Tara Terruna”, which means “Wonder Woman” in their language. Wonder Woman deduces that she is on a parallel Earth that has doubles of everyone on Earth: We are still a long ways away from a true […]

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532 – Superboy in the Future

Although it has been well-established that Superboy can willingly travel through time, in Adventure Comics #187 (February 1953), Superboy is accidentally snatched into the 25th century and must spend some time there until the next “fortuitous planetary conjunction”. While in the 25th century, he learns that records of the 20th century have been wiped out […]

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531 – Not Man-Bat

While EC was producing some of the most thought-provoking stories of their time, I can’t say the same thing was happening over at DC. In Batman #76 (February 1953), the Penguin escapes and starts assaulting Gotham City with giant mythical birds that appear to have powers. Amidst basilisks, dragons, and rocs, the Penguin introduced a […]

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529 – Stretching Believability

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 […]

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526 – Time Loop Mystery

In the there-are-no-new-ideas department, House of Mystery #11 (December 1952) features a story in which a man discovers a way to manipulate time, but then accidentally becomes trapped on a single day. Deja vu? Sadly this is just the twist ending of the story, and they do not delve too deeply into what a time […]

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525 – Super-Fat Boy of Steel

The beginnings of putting Superman / Superboy in increasingly crazier situations starts in Superboy #24 (December 1952). In “The Super-Fat Boy of Steel!”, experimental rays from the college of agricultural has made all the teens of Smallville fat over night, including Superboy/Clark. Naturally it is undone as fast as it happened, and spoiler alert: Lana […]

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524 – Stranger Dimensions

While the Phantom Stranger has so far steered clear of actual paranormal activity, we get much closer in Phantom Stranger #4 (December 1952). A man experimenting with a book of spells has apparently summoned hairy demons and then has disappeared. The Phantom Stranger investigates and discovers strange hairy creatures. He captures one and convinces it […]

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523 – Superman’s Big Bro

Continuing the tradition of Jor-El super-coincidences in which Jor-El was involved with nearly every entity that Superman meets from space… In Superman #80 (November 1952), Superman discovers an alien has crash-landed on Earth and carries with him instructions from Jor-El mentioning his son. Superman assumes this means “Halk Kar’ is Superman’s older brother. Of course […]

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521 – Superman on TV

In October 1952, most of DC comics had a cross-promotion for a new TV show: The Adventures of Superman! Starring George Reeves as the titular character, this show would be a pretty big hit and was the first television show based on a comic book character. I remember watching some of these in rerun syndication […]

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