637 – Krypton Meets Superboy

Early one morning in Adventure Comics #232 (Nov 1956) – with a solid WHAMMMP! – another intact Kryptonian city lands on Earth, this time right next to Smallville…. ಠ_ಠ In terms of lazy writing, this one might just take the cake. The Kryptonian city chunk happens to contain the very house where Kal-el was born, […]

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628 – Charles King

A meteor destroys the Kents home just as they are prepping for a camping trip in Adventure Comics #229 (August 1956). Because there was an eyewitness, the Kents decide to start new identities as the “Kings” in Centerville, with Clark adopting the name Charles King. Typical minor plots like Charles meeting “Millie”, a Lana substitute […]

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617 – The First Metallo

Speaking of Kryptonian robots, Superboy #49 (April 1956) features another one that Superboy discovers while trapped on an asteroid that is surrounded by kryptonite dust, trapping him there. The robot has the name “Metallo”, which is later used for a series of Superman villains.

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609 – Krypto Caped Up

In November 1955, Krypto the Super-Dog returns from space to frolic in Adventure Comics #220. Superboy gives him a matching super-cape so they can perform together at a circus. Krypto is the first recurring character since Lana Lang and the Kents that expand on the Silver Age world-building in Smallville.

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606 – Superboy’s Double Parents

In Adventure Comics #217 (August 1955), Superboy gets a shock when his parents Jor-El and Lara seemingly return to Earth after spending years trying to find their son. Superboy seems to go along with it and plans to leave Earth, Lana, Smallville and his foster parents behind – and we are left on a nice […]

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604 – Jimmy as Superboy

In Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #8 (August 1955), Jimmy poses as Superboy alongside Superman to fake out a criminal who is threatening Superman’s secret identity. It seems like the character of Jimmy Olsen has really taken off by mid-1995 – giving readers that sense of escapism of being Superman-adjacent.

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602 – Krypton City

In Adventure Comics #216 (July 1955), Superboy discovers that a city from Krypton fell and crashed into a jungle on Earth years ago. Greedy explorers discover it while searching for diamonds along with a cache of kryptonite. Superboy has only one ally, a professor of archaeology, who helps Superboy by pretending he is Superman. Lucky […]

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601 – Super Hobbies

In Adventure Comics #215 (June 1955), Superboy decides to take up a “super-hobby” and collect rare and exotic minerals. To store them in, he hollows out a mountain. Later when explorers accidentally stumbles on his collection, Superboy decides to store them in a space platform orbiting Earth. It’s not quite the “Fortress of Solitude”, but […]

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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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