872 – Luthor, Space Pirate

The last time we saw Luthor, he was trapped on Roxar, a planet ruled by a sentient race of robots called the Automs. In Action Comics #294 (Sep 1962) we catch up with Luthor, who has decided to make himself useful so that he can escape his prison. I appreciate the attempt at continuity here. […]

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858 – Luthor, Anti-Hero in Space

In Action Comics #292 (July 1962), Luthor is given center stage in a Superman story. He pretends he’s gone insane, and then tricks a guard to escape from prison. He then blasts off from Earth using a rocket with “radium powered motors” to escape into space. When did he figure all this out? His star […]

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836 – Supergirl Goes Public!

DC finally bites the bullet and makes a big, story-altering change to Supergirl by having Superman reveal her to the world in Action Comics #285 (Dec 1961). First, she reveals her identity to the Danvers, and then Superman reveals her hero persona to the world using a special television broadcast. She gets a big warm […]

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833 – Mon-El Again

In Action Comics #284 (Nov 1961), a ghostly hand leaves Clark Kent a message. Using red kryptonite, Superman shrinks himself down to toddler-size for the amusement of the reader. Of course there is a reason he does this, and we just have to be patient and watch random humans refuse to believe the toddler is […]

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832 – Supergirl Restored

Action Comics #284 (November 1961) wraps up the long-running Supergirl serial of stories that began in early 1961 with a carryover of the last three effects of red kryptonite from the previous issue, one of which is to turn her into a mermaid. Jerro takes this opportunity to propose, which leaves Supergirl briefly speechless. The […]

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827 – Supergirl Power Debugging

Action Comics #282 (Sept 1961) carries on with Part 5 of the continuing saga of Lesla-Lar v Supergirl, which is kind of just all over the place. Superman continues the “debugging” session of why Supergirl’s powers are missing in the present but have resurfaced in the past. He builds her a time machine to visit […]

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825 – Luthor Victorious

In Superman #149 (Sept 1961), a memorable “imaginary tale” was published: “The Death of Superman”. It starts out kookily enough: Luthor suddenly seems to repent, synthesizing a serum to cure cancer from a meteorite he finds in a prison rockpile. Despite this, the justice system is skeptical of his reformation, and rightfully so, until Superman […]

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821 – Lesla-Lar Timely Scheming

In Action Comics #281 (Aug 1961), the fourth installment in the long-running, multi-month story arc continues as Lesla-Lar masquerades as a recently-re-powered Supergirl. She goes with Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, while the de-powered Supergirl continues to live out her best life with amnesia in the bottled city of Kandor. While there, Krypto sniffs […]

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817 – Lesla-Lar’s Evil Plot Thickens

Speaking of Machiavellianism, the long-running Supergirl story arc continues, as a de-powered Linda Lee, having recently been adopted by the Danvers, goes on a school field trip to visit Metropolis’ Daily Planet. There, she meets up with her cousin Clark Kent – I really like the way they depict Clark here, very casual without a […]

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809 – Legion of Super-Villains and Luthor

No less than 7 months earlier, DC foreshadowed the Legion of Super-Villains and now we get their first appearance of the LSV in Superman #147 (June 1961). In prison, Luthor offers to repair other inmate’s radios, cobbling together a super-scientific device that can project his voice into the future for this hypothesized evil Legion to […]

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