800 – Mon-El

Superboy #89 (April 1961), expands the Superboy/Superman/Legion mythos yet again by introducing another important character: Mon-El, also known as Lar Gand. After crash-landing on Earth, Superboy rescues the amnesiac young man who seems to have all the powers of a Kryptonian, carries a letter written in Kryptonese from Jor-El, and a locket expressing their love […]

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770 – White Kryptonite

A new form of kryptonite is introduced in Adventure Comics #279 (Oct 1960): Superboy is yet again thrust into the distant future and must prove he wasn’t just a myth, that he actually existed in the past. He finally convinces folks when he uses a piece of white kryptonite from a museum to kill all […]

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762 – Blue Kryptonite

Blue kryptonite makes its first appearance in Superman #140 (August 1960), when Superman and Supergirl take on the entire Bizarro world of imperfect Supermen and Lois Lanes. This time a seemingly human child is born to Bizarro No. 1 and sent to Earth, where Supergirl helps care for him. Supergirl falls into the path of […]

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756 – Kryptonite Kid

Superboy #83 (July 1960) introduces a new Super-villain in the form of Kryptonite Kid. known in the future as Kryptonite Man. He starts out as a juvenile delinquent on the planet Blor, volunteers for a space mission, and is given powers by having his rocket pass through a “strange space cloud”: the ability to project […]

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732 – Superboy Meets Lex

In Adventure Comics #271 (Feb 1960), Superboy meets a new kid in town: Lex Luthor. This is the first comic that uses his full name in the story (though it was mentioned in a previous letters column. Lex starts out as a really smart guy who is also a Superboy fan. He ends up saving […]

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711 – Green Arrow In Continuity

Another noteworthy event in Adventure Comics #266 (Sept 1959) was the establishment of Green Arrow and Speedy into the mainstream DC continuity. We already had an inconsequential story of Superboy meeting Oliver Queen as a boy, but this time we see not one, but two instances of DC weaving Green Arrow into their growing stable […]

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696 – Kryptonite Suit

Superman #130 (May 1959) gives us a tale on how kryptonite has affected Superman throughout his life, as he lays dying next to a chunk of kryptonite he was not able to melt or crawl away from. It includes the first time we see Superman’s kryptonite-shielded suit, including how television played a role in helping […]

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692 – Metallo

Although not as big news as Supergirl’s debut, Action Comics #252 (March 1959) also introduced another Superman villain in the main Superman feature: Metallo, created by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino. John Corben is a reporter with a secret: he’s really a criminal. On his way home one night, he gets into a fatal car […]

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679 – Titano

Another Superman villain is introduced in Superman #127 (Dec 1958): Titano! Yes, we clearly needed a “super-ape”. Chimp goes into a rocket / spaceship, is exposed to two meteors (uranium and kryptonite) and comes back grown to enormous size and sporting kryptonite vision. A “certain spin” sends Titano across the time barrier into the past […]

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619 – Luthor’s First Power Suit

In Superman #106 (May 1956), Luthor invents a metallic allow that absorbs the energy Superman generates within a 100-mile radius and tricks Superman into performing several impressive super-feats to charge up the suit. Luckily Superman gets wise and fishes out some kryptonite to drain himself, which somehow drains the battle-suit, foiling Luthor’s plans.

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