426 – Super Sucking
In Superman #60 (July 1949), the Man of Steel demonstrates, for the first time, his ability to suck all the air out of a room…. literally!
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419 – Fortress of Solitude!
Although Superman had built his “sanctuary” back in 1942, it was more or less a one-off story that was never explored. Superman #58 (March 1949) firmly establishes that Superman has a “fortress of solitude” and it is in the “polar wastes”. Interestingly it looks a lot like an artist’s depiction of an older European town. […]
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416 – Super Bachelor
In Superman #58 (March 1949), the writers of the Superman comic visit, for the first time, a story in which Lois Lane actively tries to break her Super-Crush on Superman. On the advice of a doctor, Lois Lane tries to break her obsession by transferring her love to Clark Kent, which apparently seems to work […]
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413 – Not the Phantom Zone
Luthor manages to create a teleporting device in Action Comics #131 (February 1949). While committing crimes with them, he manages to accidentally teleport Superman, and then decides to trap him in “the 4th dimension”. While Superman is trapped there, he is invisible to everyone but can still move and see things that are going on […]
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410 – Secret Caveman Fantasy?
In Action Comics #129 (December 1948), we get an odd story about Superman thawing out a caveman, and that caveman becoming sort of a celebrity. What’s odd is that the women in the comic seem to all be harboring secret fantasies of being treated poorly by their men, like being dragged about by their hair. […]
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402 – Luthor Ponders Secret Identities
In Action Comics #125 (August 1948), a gimmicky story about a Nostradamus-like hermit who discovers predictions in a cave turns into a slightly interesting moment where one of Luthor’s henchmen surfaces that idea that Superman’s secret identity might be Clark Kent. Of course Superman convinces them otherwise thanks to his super-speed.
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396 – Mr. Zrr Rocks
Timely (Marvel) decided to pay homage to Superman’s tenth anniversary by ripping off one of Supermans’ characters: Mr. Mxyzptlk. Captain America #67 (May 1948) features a short, cartoon-y, imp-ish character named Mr. Zrr from “Dimension Z” who travels through a mirror to Earth and then allows criminals to follow him back and wreak havoc. He […]
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395 – Super Angst Origin
For the tenth anniversary of Superman’s first appearance, DC re-told Superman’s origin in even greater detail in Superman #53 (May 1948) with a compelling splash page showing Superman’s sadness at losing two sets of parents. The first half of the story takes place on Krypton. In it, we see in greater detail how Jor-el tried […]
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391 – Super Mouth Breather
The Wayne Boring visual style of Superman continues to seep its way into DC publications. In World’s Finest Comics #34 (March 1948), we see a good example off the “slight rear angle with open mouth” pose – though he still doesn’t have consistent eyeballs. Have I mentioned before how much I hate Wayne Boring’s Superman? […]
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387 – Super Un-Flex
In Acton Comics #119 (February 1948), Superman gains a new power: Super-control of his muscles, allowing him to shrink them while playing Clark Kent in a Superman suit so that Lois doesn’t realize he looks identical to Superman.
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