Episode #184: Superman Comic Book Cover Dated March 1959: Action Comics #250!

Action Comics #250, March 1959, was published around January 29, 1959. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of a dime. Mort Weisinger was the editor, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Al Plastino. The 13 page story was titled The Eye Of Metropolis, written by Bill Finger, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. It has been reprinted in Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow Archives vol. II and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

After being named reporter of the year, Clark Kent was booked as a guest on the popular Metropolis TV show The Eye Of Metropolis, hosted by John Bates, by editor Perry White. When Perry informed Clark about his scheduled appearance, Kent was worried because Bates was a fair host but asked tricky questions. Clark hoped he wouldn't let his secret identity slip.

Perry and Lois watched the show together the next evening. Just before the show began, Clark used his x-ray vision to get an advance peek at the questions in Bates' notebook. Clark was shocked to discover that Bates' notebook had been lined with lead. That was all Clark needed to realize that Bates intended to ask questions in order to reveal his secret identity as Superman.

Sure enough, Bates asked Clark about his coverage of a volcanic eruption in Mexico the previous month. Clark had fallen into the volcano when the edge crumbled under his feet. Superman appeared and plugged the volcano, and Clark would later appear alive. Bates bluntly asked Clark if that was because he was the Man of Steel.

That infuriated Lois, but not for the reason you might expect. She wasn't mad because Superman's secret identity might be revealed. Lois was mad because another reporter was about to beat her to it. That's Lois for you, always putting her friends' welfare first.

Clark mentioned that his guide was unable to see Superman streak into the volcano at super speed. Bates conceded the point, but except for the fact that Superman's momentum would have plunged both of them deeper into the volcano. Clark countered that the Man of Steel could have spun fast enough to create a vortex that would have started a whirlpool effect so that the walls of lava would not have touched them. Then Superman could have emerged from underground away from the volcano.

Bates went to his next question. He showed Clark a picture of him being shot by an escaped convict, on a movie set. Then Bates showed Superman serving as a target for two police officers at a police firing range. Once again Bates accused Clark of being Superman, then went to commercial. After the commercial break, the weapon used in the crime was on the desk, provided by the police. Clark answered the question by picking up the gun and shooting himself in the chest. When Clark was uninjured, Bates assumed that was proof that Clark was the Man of Steel.

Clark asked Bates to check the bullets, and he discovered the gun had been loaded with blanks. Since the weapon came from the police, it hadn't been touched. Since the gun had been on a movie lot, then it was just a prop gun loaded with blanks for a scene.

In a couple of flashback panels, it was revealed that during the commercial break, Clark had left the set to stretch his legs. He changed into Superman, flew at super speed to the same movie set, got some blanks, and returned to the set where he reloaded the gun, again at super speed.

The third scene Bates questioned Clark about was when he covered a prison at Rock Island Prison. Clark had been assigned to the story, along with reporters from other Metropolis newspapers, but none of them had seen him. Superman showed up and saved the hostage by wrapping iron bars around his body and magnetized them by flying into a lightning storm. That way the convicts' weapons were drawn to the Super magnet. An approaching hurricane cut off phone lines to Metropolis, so reporters couldn't phone in their stories. Superman saved the day again by flying the reporters back to Metropolis in a boat, without Clark Kent.

But when the reporters got back to Metropolis, they learned that the Daily Planet had beaten them to the story with a special edition already on the streets. Bates challenged Clark, saying that the reason he hadn't been seen in the prison was that he was Superman.

Perry had to laugh at this. Clark explained that Perry had ordered him to signal him from Rock Island Prison's beacon somehow, because White had two headlines ready: one saying that the prisoners escaped, and the other that Superman stopped the jailbreak. As Superman, he used the boat to block the light from the beacon, so editor Perry White would know to run the correct story. There was no explanation about how White had written either story ahead of time, and Clark didn't divulge how he had been able to use the beacon as a signal since only the Warden had a key to it. Clark kept that a professional secret in case he had to use it again.

Bates wasn't satisfied, so he had Clark hooked up to a lie detector machine, and after a few preliminary questions, asked Clark if he had super powers. Clark answered that he did not, and the machine indicated he had given an honest answer. What Bates and the operator of the lie detector didn't know was that Clark had opened a secret compartment in his lead lined watch to expose himself to a tiny bit of kryptonite. It was enough to neutralize his powers and allow him to give an honest answer.

The host took the test a step further. He had lead shields placed over Clark's eyes and mouth, so that Kent could only answer by nodding or shaking his head. Even though Clark's hands shook, when Bates asked him if he was Superman, Clark shook his head , "No," and passed the lie detector test.

That was enough for Bates, who thanked Clark for being a good sport. What the host didn't know was that Clark's shaking hands were vibrating fast enough to create a super cold wind that briefly froze the interior parts of the lie detector machine, so the needle wouldn't indicate that he had lied. And so Clark Kent's secret identity was still safe.

Some notes on this story: It was another tale of wild uses of Superman's powers. I couldn't help but wonder if the lie detector machine operator would have felt the cold breeze, or noticed condensation on the outside of the machine as it thawed. Also, wouldn't Bates or another member of the crew, or even the lie detector expert, notice Clark opening the secret compartment of his watch?

Concerning Clark's "rescue" from the volcano: First of all, I would think that Superman could have adjusted his trajectory to avoid plunging deeper into the volcano. And as far as spinning fast enough to create a vortex that would create a whirlpool effect, and allow Superman and Clark to fly through the volcano untouched by the molten lava, wouldn't the air friction and the g forces be enough to injure or kill Clark, as much as the lava itself? Plus, plugging a volcano might work in Saturday morning cartoons, but not in a comic book. I'm talking about a sense of reality in a comic book about a man who can fly and is super strong.

The stunt with the gun was probably the most convincing scene, and the prison riot story wasn't far behind. Clark might want to consider a career in politics if his day job as reporter or secret life of a superhero doesn't pan out. He knew how to dissemble as well as any seasoned politician.

Finally, I couldn't help but realize that the creator of Wonder Woman, William Marston, also helped develop and publicize the lie detector machine. Her golden lasso incorporated the ability to force anyone bound by it to tell the truth.

Some of the ways Superman demonstrated his powers stretched my imagination beyond the breaking point. Normally, I would give a story like this a 2, but the situation of Clark having to protect his secret identity on live TV was intriguing. This story about a news TV show seemed to fit in today, in an era of 24 hour cable TV news channels. But the 1950's was an era known for its strong TV journalism, with iconic reporters such as Edward R. Murrow. I still have to knock my rating down a bit because of the crazy powers, so I give this story 3 Superman Capes out of 5.

Tommy Tomorrow starred in the issue's second story, The Boy Planeteer. The 7 page story was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney. It told the tale of a boy who joined the Planeteers, and had an uncanny ability to predict various space crises. By the end of the story it was revealed that he was from 5 centuries in the future.

Congo Bill starred as Congorilla once again in the issue's final story, The Dunce Of The Jungle! The 6 page story was drawn by Howard Sherman, and revealed how Congo Bill used his intellect while Congorilla to stop a safari from capturing the Golden Gorilla.

Elsewhere in DC Comics, 33 titles carried the March, or March/April 1959 cover date.

Next episode: The Superman Family Comic Book Cover Dated February, 1956: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #10!


In 2 weeks: Superman Comic Books Cover Dated April 1959: Superman #128 & Action Comics #251!


Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups or pages on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #183: Superman Comic Book Cover Dated January/February 1956: World's Finest Comics #80!

World's Finest Comics #80, January/February 1956, was published around November 29, 1955. It contained 32 pages and sold for a dime. The editor was Jack Schiff, and the cover was drawn by Win Mortimer. The Superman and Batman story was titled The Super Newspaper Of Gotham City. Edmond Hamilton wrote the 12 page Story, which was illustrated by the classic Batman art team of penciller Dick Sprang and inker Charles Paris.

The story began outside the Editor's office of a newspaper. We hear a familiar refrain, Great Caesar's Ghost! What kind of reporters are you two? Get out and bring me a real story! The door opened and reporters Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne leave the office of editor Lois Lane?!

In a flashback, we saw Gotham Gazette editor John Hall being informed that the company's board of directors would close the newspaper because it was running out of money. Hall was working on a crime expose which would boost circulation, and so he talked to Bruce Wayne, who was a board member, for help, but Bruce could only convince the Board to keep the paper open for another 30 days.

Bruce then changed to Batman, and he and Robin called on Superman to help. The Man of Steel agreed to help save the Gazette, with a little strategy.

The next day, Clark discussed the Gazette's financial problems with Lois, and referred to it as "that old sheet" within Perry White's hearing. That annoyed the Planet's Editor-In-Chief, because he once worked at the paper. He assigned both Clark and Lois to help save the Gazette, but not to bother returning if they fail.

When they got to the Gazette offices, they saw Hall being carried to the hospital due to exhaustion and overwork. That is how Lois Lane became editor. Bruce convinced Lois to hire him as a reporter. He planned to use the opportunity to search Hall's desk for clues to what the expose was about. But Lois shooed him out of the office before he had an opportunity.

Luckily Clark had used his x-ray vision and found a note in Hall's desk mentioning about a mole who threatened Gotham City. Clark and Bruce then left for their separate beats.

Clark covered the story of a ship that had been stuck in arctic ice and then returned to Gotham Harbor because of a super fast current. Unknown to them, they had Superman's secret help in order to protect Clark's secret identity.

Bruce was to cover the opening of a riverside park, but called Robin, and the two went into action as Batman and Robin. They performed acrobatics over the Gotham skyline to lure the overflow crowd out of the park.

Superman later returned to the Batcave, where Robin had found a clue. A criminal nicknamed the mole had tunneled out of prison and was still at large.

The Dynamic Duo teamed up with Superman to save an engineer and fireman from an out of control and about to explode train, and Bruce Wayne beat Clark to turn in the story. As they changed into Batman and Superman in a broom closet, Robin alerted Batman that he had found a clue about the Mole, but ran into trouble.

In a flashback, Robin was checking one of the last construction sites in Gotham for clues about the Mole. He became suspicious of the foreman who didn't have calloused hands. The foreman was suspicious of Robin and had his men capture him.

Superman carried Batman, and was able to spot tunnels leading from the same construction company to Gotham's banks. While Batman followed the gang in the tunnel, Superman burrowed underground to detour the gang to a Gotham City jail cell.

Bruce Wayne turned in the story, and Superman distributed copies at super speed. A rejuvenated John Hall thanked the three reporters for taking a rumor he had picked up from the underworld and breaking the story which saved the Gazette. Bruce was able to return to his polo, and Lois to brag to Perry how she had edited a major newspaper.

But don't worry, Perry brought her back to Earth. The next day, back at the Daily Planet offices, when she turned in her story he bellowed, You call this a story? Great Caesar's Ghost! Has playing editor gone to your head?


Working in the production department of a newspaper, I noticed that there was not a regular Gazette reporter on the story. While Hall may have gotten the tip, he would have assigned the story to one of his reporters, not worked on it himself. And a subordinate editor would have taken his place.But then we wouldn't have had the trio of Clark, Bruce and Lois working together. Hall and the employee who informed him of the Board's decision are the only members of the Gazette staff we saw, other than the Board members themselves. I doubt the paper's staff would have welcomed these outsiders who thought they could save their paper when they couldn't.

Clark came up with a clever way to save the ship and report on the story as Clark without exposing his secret identity.

Bruce showed himself as a quick learner when it came to being a reporter. We saw Robin as the Boy Hostage again.

Superman showed some of his wild super powers, as he sealed the jail floor at super speed so the gang couldn't escape.

All comments aside, it was a fun story to read Lois, Clark and Bruce catching the bad guys and saving a major newspaper, all in the same day. The peril of the Gazette certainly strikes close to home today, as the news industry adjusts to the digital era. So I give this story 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

Green Arrow starred in the second story of the issue, The Bewitched Bow. The six page story was drawn by George Papp.

The final, six page, story starred Tomahawk in, The Brave Of Fort Fearless, drawn by Fred Ray.

Elsewhere in DC Comics, 32 titles carried the January, or January/February 1956 cover date.

Next episode: The Superman Comic Book Cover Dated March 1959: Action Comics #250!


In 2 weeks" The Superman Family Comic Book Cover Dated February 1956: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #10!


Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups or pages on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #182: Superman Comic Books Cover Dated February 1959: Superman #127 & Action Comics #249!

Superman #127, February 1959, was published around December 18, 1958. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of a dime. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. All three stories  were reprinted in Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow Archives vol. II and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

When There Was No Clark Kent was written by Jerry Coleman, pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. The nine page story was the second to carry the subtitle, An Untold Tale of Superman. The first story with this subhead was Clark Kent's College Days in Superman #125, November 1958. It was featured in Episode # 176.


The story began as Clark and Lois covered an exhibit of primitive relics. When an ancient totem pole cracked and began to fall toward a building, Clark ran way, because, as he told Lois, a falling totem pole was bad luck. He changed into Superman, and used his super breath to blow the broken totem pole into space before it could damage the building. The Man of Steel then contemplated how a secret identity complicated his life. Superman then flashed back to a brief time when he decided to live without a secret identity.

It happened when he was covering the Famous Bottle Works, which made custom glassware. After interviewing the president of the factory, Clark explored the roof garden, which was enclosed in a giant bottle.The factory had closed, but stairs led from the roof to the ground, so Clark could exit that way when he was done. Unknown to Clark, a vat of chemicals had been left unattended, and exploded. The explosion destroyed the building, and ripped his suit off of Clark's body, revealing his Superman uniform.

While Superman thought about how he was going to explain how Clark survived the explosion, Lois Lane arrived and saw Clark's tattered clothes. She immediately assumed Clark had been killed in the explosion. Superman thought, Since Clark was only my other self, it's no great tragedy -- but I'll have to pretend he's dead.


A funeral was held for the late Clark Kent, but Lois was inconsolable. Superman decided to live just as one person, the Man of Steel. His decision took an unusual turn.

Superman asked Jimmy if he could move into his apartment. The Man of Steel explained that he used to secretly room with Clark, but since he was gone, Superman wanted to room with his Pal. Of course Jimmy said yes, but that decision had consequences for both of them.

Because they decided to go public with their living arrangements, Jimmy and Superman attracted a large crowd outside their building every day. Everyone from well meaning fans to souvenir hawkers and celebrity tour guides were drawn to their apartment building. The other tenants weren't happy about it, since their rent was raised, and the increased noise outside their building.

Members of the underworld were attracted to their building as well. One evening some crooks, led by the one who first noticed Superman's new residence, lowered a big kryptonite rock on a rope, as the Man of Steel emerged on the window ledge. Severely weakened by the kryptonite, the Man of Steel let go of the ledge after he heard a subway train traveling under the building. He crashed through the sidewalk and landed on top of a subway train, and was whisked away from the rock's lethal radiation. Superman planned to call the police to arrest the crooks.

The next day, Superman walked the docks near the destroyed Bottle Works building as he pondered his situation, missing the comfort of a secret identity. When he saw a bottle floating in the water, he was struck with an idea.

In the open ocean beyond Metropolis, a ship found a giant bottle floating, with Clark Kent inside. After being rescued,  Clark was able to convince everyone that he and the bottle had been blown clear of the building in the explosion, and had been floating in the ocean inside the bottle since then. And that's how he filed the story.

A few notes about the story: Two episodes ago, the Superman Museum in Metropolis had a display which stated that the Man of Steel could fly 1,000 times faster than the speed of light. I would think that he would be able to catch a falling totem pole in time. But then different writers scripted both stories, and might not have been aware of each other's stories.

In the bottom right corner of the last panel of page 2 of the story, are two examples of glass work. The one in the very corner looked a little like Mr. Mxyzptlk. To its left was a very non-politically correct African head in glass. While DC Comics, and comic books in general, has a long history of racist depictions of minorities, I wouldn't say in this instance that Curt Swan was racist. In Eddy Zeno's book, Curt Swan: A Life In Comics, Curt Swan told a story about he and a few other American G. I.'s standing up to other U. S. soldiers who objected to African-American soldiers dancing with white women. This was, however, a less enlightened time in the late 1950's.

Was Lois following Clark to the Bottle Works factory? Is that how she got there so quick, but unharmed?

This story made me think, why did Superman let out the secret that he had a secret identity to start with? When John Byrne relaunched Superman with the Man Of Steel mini-series, he had Superman act as if he was always Superman, and never had a secret identity.

There's just no two ways about it, Superman was willing to let his closest friends think that Clark Kent was dead. And poor Lois was almost inconsolable.

Finally, I couldn't help but wonder how a human being could survive both an explosion and impacting the water, especially inside a bottle, unharmed and the bottle unbroken. But, despite these reservations, it was a fun story about what life would be like for Superman without a secret identity, and I give it 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

The Make Believe Superman was written by Jerry Coleman, and the 8 page story was pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye.

Harry Winters was not looking forward to Father and Son Day at his son Tommy's school. while other dads dressed as deep sea divers or big game hunters, Tommy expected his Dad to dress up as Superman. Harry had worn a Superman costume to a costume party, and everyone thought he looked a lot like the Man of Steel. Tommy took that to mean that his Dad was the real Metropolis Marvel. Harry finally decided to wear the costume to Tommy's school, but didn't know how to break the disappointing news that he wasn't the real Superman.

Suddenly, a robot robbed a bank in the neighborhood. Clark Kent happened to be in the area, but before he could secretly change into Superman, he was captured by the gang that controlled the robot. Harry approached the robot and did his best to topple it onto a fountain. The robot and Winters were close enough to Clark so that he was able to kick the robot into the sky. The gang thought that Harry/Superman had knocked the robot away. They held Clark at gunpoint and blackmailed Harry into helping them find some loot the gang's deceased leader had hidden in a Hall of Planets science fiction display.

Clark secretly helped Harry mimic Superman's powers as he tore through the fictitious interplanetary animals to find the loot. When they got to the Krypton room, the gang wanted Superman to get into a pool of acid which contained Krypton's acid dwelling crocodile. There were no barriers or covers to keep someone from falling in. When Harry saw the green eyes of the fake Kryptonian Owl Beast, he said the eyes were really kryptonite, and they would have to be removed and placed in the lead fuse box, which would temporarily plunge at least that part of the building into darkness. As he pretended to faint, he was able to tell Clark he wasn't really Superman, and to run for it after the room became dark. Kent did just that, taking that moment to transform into the real Superman. He found that Harry had fainted a little too realistically and had knocked himself out when he hit the floor.

Superman threw a Superman mannequin into the acid to dissolve and placed Harry in the space the statue had occupied. After capturing the crooks, the Man of Steel revived Harry and revealed that the loot had indeed been in the crocodile.

The story ended with Superman making an appearance at Tommy's school and declaring that Harry was Superman For A Day, because of the quick thinking he used to keep Clark safe and help capture the robbers. And Tommy had more respect for his father than if he had possessed super powers.

Most Dads face having to have the conversation about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. Harry had to somehow break the news to Tommy that he really wasn't the Man of Steel.

While some of the ways that Clark helped Harry imitate seem silly today, it was a minor point next to Harry using his wits to keep Clark safe until he could find a way out of the predicament, and at the risk of his own life. So I can't help but to also give this story 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

The 8 page story, Titano The Super Ape, was written by Otto Binder, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. This story was also reprinted in Superman In The Fifties.

It began with Superman participating in a televised charity event hosted by Lois Lane. He squeezed a lump of coal into a diamond. The next act was Toto, the intelligent chimp. Toto was able to add up the coins in an over sized display and enter the correct amount, 16¢. The final act was two comedians who threw pies at each other. One pie was off target and hit Toto in the back of the head.

Lois felt sorry for the chimpanzee and cleaned him up. Toto's trainer told her that she had made a friend for life. He then gave her a big scoop: he would loan Toto to the Army, who would launch Toto in a space capsule the next day.

Lois covered the launch, but the rocket failed to ignite. Back in the era this story was published, in the early days of the space program, American rockets were known to blow up on the launch pad. Luckily for Toto, this didn't happen. Superman appeared, and threw the capsule into orbit.

During the satellite's orbit, a uranium meteor collided with a kryptonite meteor. While the satellite was close to the impact, it seemed undamaged. After the scheduled week in orbit, Toto returned safely to Earth. He seemed to emerged uninjured from his trip to space, but once he emerged from the capsule he grew into a giant ape.

Lois renamed him Toto. He recognized her and picked her up in his giant hand. Superman attempted to rescue her, but he was hit by Titano's kryptonite vision. The Man of Steel attempted to wrap Titano in a chain while wielding a lead shield. Titano burst out of the giant chains with the ease of Superman. He put her down when he attempted to unsuccessfully squeeze coal into diamonds, after apparently watching Superman do it at the TV special. He then played with an unmanned  dirigible and empty train cars like toys.

The Army had no choice but to kill the beast before it caused civilian casualties. Lois was a reluctant lure to attract Titano into the trap they had prepared for him. Once inside the cage that sprung out of the ground to surround him, Titano was to be electrocuted.

A despondent Lois quickly asked Superman to bring her two sets of identical props, one normal size and the other giant size. The Man of Steel quickly gathered the requested props. Lois was able to make Titano copy her as she played with a rattle, drum and ring before putting on a pair of glasses. Titano's had lead lenses, which protected Superman from Titano's kryptonite vision.

Superman then broke Titano out of his cage and hurled him with enough speed so that the giant ape was able to break the time barrier and land on Earth during the era of dinosaurs. The Man of Steel was able to use his telescopic vision to see through the time barrier and assure Lois that Titano led a happy life.

This was the first appearance of Titano, who appeared in 13 stories, the last being in Superman #325, July 1978. He would appear post Crisis in Superman Annual #1, published on May 19, 1987, but would have no further appearances.

Several chimps were launched into space in the early years of the American space program, and animals have been tested in space beginning in 1948 at White Sands, New Mexico.

It was cute seeing Lois bond with Toto and show a softer side of her personality. Where did Superman find giant props so quickly, or did he custom make them. I have to wonder if another of his powers was invulnerability, to be able to survive the speed it would take to break the time barrier, much less surviving falling back to Earth. If scientists ever find the skeleton of a giant ape buried with dinosaur fossils, we'll know the reason why. Or, just maybe Titano crashing into the Earth caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, and Superman was just lying to Lois to make her happy.

All kidding aside, this was a fun story and I give it 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

Action Comics #249, February 1959, was published around December 30, 1958. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of a dime. The editor was Mort Weisinger and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. The 13 page Superman story was titled, The Kryptonite Man, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Al Plastino. It was reprinted in The Man Of Tomorrow Archives vol. II and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

Lex Luthor showed his henchmen a green glowing monkey, which Luthor had injected with a kryptonite serum, so that the primate emitted kryptonite radiation deadly to Superman. He then drank another sample of the same serum.

He flew to Metropolis in a rocket and used the rocket's battering ram tip to destroy the city's Superman statue. After he landed, Superman confronted a hooded Luthor. When Lex removed his hood and robe, the Man of Steel was overcome by the kryptonite radiation, and barely escaped.

Luthor flew his rocket and chased Superman, until the Man of Steel burrowed underground to escape. Later in the story, Superman retrieved a lead suit from his Fortress of Solitude and returned to Metropolis. Luthor followed the Man of Steel with his telescope and launched a rocket. It carried a satellite. When the lead armored Superman confronted Luthor outside his cave,  Lex activated the satellite, which converted all the lead in the world to glass, including Superman's armor.

Lex gave Superman 24 hours to leave Earth. The Man of Steel flew into space to destroy the satellite, but found it had also been coated with kryptonite.

A dejected Superman wandered the moon, until he found a lead deposit. He forged another lead suit, and flew back to his Fortress undoer cover of darkness to retrieve some equipment. This suit of armor would have a camera, which would allow Superman to see where he was going. He returned to Earth. Luckily, the satellite emitted a directional signal aimed only at the Earth's surface, so Superman was able to approach from behind and kick the satellite into space, allowing the world's lead to return to normal.

Superman again confronted Luthor and burst his lead armor. The Man of Steel seemed unaffected by Luthor's kryptonite radiation, but was actually being held up by invisible wires connected to the Daily Planet Flying Newsroom and controlled by Jimmy Olsen. Superman tricked Luthor into drinking his antidote after making Lex think he had somehow become immune to kryptonite. Then the Man of Steel captured Luthor and took him to jail, where he and Jimmy told Lex how they had tricked him. The top headline of the next day;s Daily Planet read, Man Of Lead Defeats Kryptonite Man.

This was the first appearance of the Kryptonite Man. Another would make his first appearance in Superboy #83, September 1960, and would make his last appearance in the classic story, Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, which ended the classic run of Superman stories before John Byrne's relaunch.

This was Lex Luthor's greatest challenge to Superman in the silver age stories we've covered so far. It was strange to see him use his rocket as a battering ram to destroy the Superman statue, and later replace it with one to himself. Lex Luthor is nothing if not vain.

It was also odd to see Jimmy on top of the Flying Newsroom, under the helicopter blades, controlling the wires which held Superman up. It would make more sense to have the wires connected to controls inside the side door of the Flying Newsroom.

Once again Superman out thought Lex Luthor, or as the saying goes, brains beat brawn every time. I gave this story 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

Congo Bill starred in the second story of the issue,  The Man Ape's Mountain Mission, where he made his second appearance as Congorilla. The 6 page story was written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by Howard Sherman.

Tommy Tomorrow starred in the issue's final story, The Gambling Asteroid. The 6 page story was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney.

Elsewhere in DC Comics, 34 titles carried the February, or February/March 1959 cover date.

Next Episode: The Superman Family Comic Book Cover Dated January/February 1956: World's Finest Comics #80!


In 2 Weeks: The Superman Comic Book Cover Dated March 1959: Action Comics #250!


Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups or pages on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #181: Superman Family Comic Book Cover Dated December 1955: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #9!

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #9, December 1955, was published around October 18, 1955. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of 10¢. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. All three eight page stories were written by Otto Binder, pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Ray Burnley, and were reprinted in Showcase Presents: Superman Family vol. I.

Jimmy Olsen, Cub Inventor began with him working hard on his new hobby, inventor. But things weren't going well. Despite some earlier failures, Jimmy had hopes for his robot cat, which would catch mice at super speed. While he was tinkering on his mechanical feline he spilled a beaker labeled Atomic Fuel. (I hope it wasn't radioactive.) The building superintendent entered Jimmy's workshop and complained about the noise he was making. The super put his hand in the puddle of the atomic fuel and put his wet hand on the top of his bald head as he talked.

After his robot cat ran in circles and then crashed into the wall, shattering in pieces, Jimmy burned the formula for his failed atomic fuel.

Meanwhile, Superman freed a security guard at a jewelry store, who had been knocked out and tied up. Thieves had stolen $1 Million worth of jewels, but had not left any fingerprints nor other clues. In the next panel we learned that the thieves were the gang led by Ghost" Gordon, who celebrated their perfect crime.

The Man of Steel flew to Jimmy's home, just as Jimmy was tossing out his failed Detectoscope. it was supposed to be able to detect crooks using the infra-red spectrum. The building super appeared, this time with a full head of hair. Jimmy's failed atomic fuel worked fine as a hair growth formula. Unfortunately, Jimmy didn't remember the formula, and only had one more container of the solution.

Jimmy's success led Superman to encourage his Pal to keep working, since he had proved he had some talent. Olsen tinkered with his space radar, hoping to find scenes of other planets. Instead, he began to receive voices quoting some famous quotes from colonial America. When Superman showed up next, he encouraged Jimmy to try to tune in to a few days ago to possibly identify the jewel thieves. The Man of Steel promised to tell Clark Kent about Jimmy's invention.

In the next day's edition of the Daily Planet, Jimmy read Clark's report about Jimmy's time radio. Ghost Gordon read with interest the part of Jimmy using his invention to find the robbers. The gang put on rubber masks to disguise themselves and pose as possible investors.

Meanwhile, Superman had to leave Metropolis and keeping an eye on Jimmy in order to save a distant town from an erupting volcano.

Jimmy saw the men approach, and became suspicious when one of them dropped a gun. He barely had time to hide his time radio and find a disguise. The gang entered Jimmy's apartment and offered $1 Million for the rights to his time radio. A bearded and spectacled Jimmy claimed to be Roger Todd, and Jimmy lived five floors up. The gang didn't buy it and tried to pull the beard off Jimmy, but found it was real.

Before they could begin to search the apartment for Jimmy, Superman appeared and captured the gang. He revealed the whole time radio was fake, and used to lure the diamond thieves into the open. The voices were only the Man of Steel using his super ventriloquism to throw his voice. Superman kept Jimmy in the dark so that his pal wouldn't tip off the crooks by accident. Jimmy's building super arrived, bald once again. The hair growth formula was only temporary.

Even though he earned a front page story assisting Superman in capturing the diamond thieves, Jimmy swore off being an inventor.

This story captured the humor of a bumbling Jimmy Olsen, similar to Jack Larson's role in the 1950's Adventures Of Superman TV show. This tale was full of wild '50's science fiction inventions, as well as another use of Superman's super ventriloquism. This is one of those stories that it's hard to avoid reading with a modern perspective. It seemed to stretch believability beyond the stretching point because of the extreme of Superman's odd silver age superpowers. I can believe a man can fly, but not throwing his voice miles away. It was humorous to read how some of Jimmy's inventions worked, but not the way he intended. I did wonder if an editorial mistake snuck through. At the beginning of the story, the bald man was referred to as the building superintendent, but at the end was called the janitor.

The most I can give this story is 2 Superman Capes out of 5.

The second story of the issue was The Million Dollar Question! It began as Jimmy received a phone call from Barton Black, who promised Jimmy a scoop if he would go to Black's penthouse. The next panel revealed that Barton Black was actually "Blacky" Barton, gang leader. Barton was watching the game show Millionaire Jackpot, where he had planted his entire gang in the audience until one of them got picked as a contestant. Gangster Leonard Lake finally picked.

The game show was so popular, even Clark Kent was watching.

When Jimmy entered the penthouse, he learned he had walked into a trap. Barton forced Olsen to provide answers to the topic questions, which were on Superman. Lake wore a ring that contained a miniature radio receiver. Black would radio the answers to Lake.

Jimmy provided the following answers:

The hottest temperature Superman endured was 11,000˚, when he brought back some stellar matter for a scientist to study.

The three trophies on stage were from three of Superman's greatest enemies. Luthor had used the Superman alarm to serve as an early warning system to allow Luthor and his gang time to escape. Superman invented his own alarm to drown out Luthor's and allow the Man of Steel to capture Lex.

Toyman booby trapped a life sized boy doll with a bomb to allow him to escape capture. Instead, Superman blew the doll into the sky with his super breath, captured Toyman and threw the bomb high above them to explode harmlessly in the sky. The Man of Steel left the doll with Toyman in prison to keep him company.

The over sized jack in the box was used by the Prankster to hide from the police, but was captured by Superman.

Jimmy made the headline, Jimmy Olsen Saves Superman At Sea, come true when he saved the Man of Steel form a trap at sea. A boat of some crooks had lured Superman into a kryptonite trap when they broadcast a fake S. O. S. They tied him to the kryptonite rock and threw him overboard. Jimmy had been following the story in the Daily Planet's Flying Newsroom, and was close enough to dive into the water and cut Superman free from the kryptonite, at a depth of 28 feet.

That alarmed Clark because that was a fact only he and Jimmy knew. After transforming into Superman, he used his x-ray vision to discover Lake's radio ring, and began searching Metropolis for Jimmy.

At this point, Lake received the $1 Million Question: What Was Superman Doing In The Slide? It appeared to show the Man of Steel flying to Mars. Jimmy shared that Superman was actually saving the audience from an out of control planetary display at a planetarium.

Before Barton could radio the answer to Lake, Superman burst through the wall, which is always the cool way for a superhero to enter a villain's home. Lake was unable to answer the question, so he lost all of the money he had earned in the game.

Jimmy revealed that he had hoped to tip off Superman by adding the fact that Superman had been at the depth of 28 feet. Lucky for Jimmy, it worked.

This was a great story, with no weird powers, mostly. Jimmy was in peril, and Superman was unaware of his pal's danger. Superman's super alarm against Luthor was weird, and his super breath would seem to be close to hurricane force to blow something high enough in the air, I would think. But it was a clever way Jimmy found to alert Superman to the situation, and I give this story 4 Capes out of 5.

During the 1950's a number of TV game shows of the era were exposed for giving answers to some of their contestants, and the genre almost disappeared from the medium. The scandal was portrayed in the 1994 film, Quiz Show which is still available on DVD. The movie starred John Turturro and Rob Morrow, who got his break starring in the 1990's TV show Northern Exposure.

The Missile Of Steel began when an astronomical observatory discovered a wandering planet was heading for Earth. Superman planned to respond to the threat, but also needed to cover Metropolis for the rumored move to the city by the Brown gang. He flew to Jimmy's apartment, and spotted a boomerang from another planet. It was composed from a super strong but lightweight metal, and rested on a block of the same metal.

Superman molded the block of alien metal into a Superman robot and used the electronics of a remote control device souvenir to control it. Jimmy would use the robot to patrol Metropolis while the real Superman dealt with the emergency in space.

It was a good thing that the Man of Steel had anticipated things, because Brown had indeed planned a crime spree while Superman was gone. And he had an "insurance policy" against the Man of Steel. Brown's en robbed a jewelry store, but were stopped by the robot Superman. Jimmy was able to watch the robot in action on the remote control device's video screen.

Superman was able to throw the planet into the sun and return to Metropolis faster than expected because the planet was lighter than anticipated. He let Jimmy continue patrolling Metropolis because he seemed to be having fun, but Superman was able to switch places with the robot by creating a smoke screen.

The Man of Steel's plans backfired when he attempted to arrest the Brown gang. Brown revealed that his "insurance policy" was a piece of kryptonite. Jimmy saved Superman by throwing the alien boomerang out of his window and aiming it miles away using the remote control device. It knocked the kryptonite out of Brown's hand, out of range of Superman enough so that the Man of Steel was able to use the boomerang to puncture the gas tank of the gang's get away car.

After Superman took the gang to prison, he returned the robot and boomerang to Jimmy and his collection.

My first question is where were the cameras all around Metropolis that Jimmy used to follow the Superman robot? Or was it one camera that followed the robot? There was no explanation given how the remote control video screen worked. It didn't make sense that the remote control could guide the boomerang. It wasn't the fact that the boomerang was composed of the same metal as the robot that allowed Jimmy to guide the robot, it was the electronics Superman had placed in the robot that made it work. I did think it was clever for Superman to use a robot to protect Metropolis while he was in space. But it wasn't enough to give this story more than 2 Capes out of 5.

By far, The Million Dollar Question was the best story of the issue.

Elsewhere in DC Comics, 29 titles carried the December 1955 or December 1955/January 1956 cover date.

Next Episode: Superman Comic Books Cover Dated February 1959: Superman #127 & Action Comics #249!


In 2 Weeks: Superman Family Comic Book Cover Dated January/February 1956: World's Finest Comics #80!


Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups or pages on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #180: Superman Comic Books Cover Dated January 1959: Superman #126 & Action Comics #248!

Superman #126, January 1959, was published around November 6, 1958. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of a dime. The editor was Mort Weisinger and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kay. All three stories in this issue were reprinted in Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow Archives vol. I and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

The first story of the issue was the ten page tale, Superman's Hunt For Clark Kent, written by Otto Binder, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye.

Clark Kent went on vacation, but Superman is never on vacation. He went to his Fortress of Solitude, experimenting on a kryptonite antidote after a recent close call with a kryptonite trap.

He took the vat of the chemical outside the Fortress so that the fumes would not damage any equipment. After heating the solution with his x-ray vision, the formula exploded, bombarding the Man of Steel with kryptonite fragments. Superman physically recovered, but had a case of amnesia.

The Man of Steel was attacked by a polar bear, and discovered that he was invulnerable when the bear's claws broke on his skin. Later he slid off the edge of a glacier and discovered he could fly. So he decided to fly back to civilization to find people who could help him recover his memory.

Instinctively, Superman flew to none other than the city of Metropolis, and discovered that his name was Superman from the pedestrians who watched him fly overhead. He found a Superman museum, and was able to learn more about himself. Searching the files of newspaper clippings, the Man of Steel discovered he had a secret identity.

At Clark Kent's apartment, his landlord hired painters to repaint his apartment as a surprise. She instructed the painters to make sure they painted all of the closets. Clark had a secret closet filled with Superman artifacts.

Superman walked the streets of Metropolis trying to figure out a temporary secret identity until he could recover his memory. By chance he met a British tourist who gave him a suitcase of clothes that no longer fit him since he had gained weight during his American tour. The clothes fit the Man of Steel, and he powdered his hair to disguise himself and decided to call himself Clarence Kelvin. Superman even adopted a British accent.

Again on instinct, he went to the Daily Planet building and was hired by Perry White as a reporter. Kelvin was even temporarily assigned to Clark Kent's desk while Clark was on vacation, and was introduced to Planet staffers Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.

One of the painters seemed to have found a hollow part of the wall, and wondered if there was a secret closet behind the wall.

Using his x-ray vision, Kelvin discovered that a rowboat was endangered by a whale chasing fish. To cover himself he took his tea time and rescued the rowboat as the Man of Steel. When he wrote a report on Superman's rescue after his return to the Daily Planet, Lois began to suspect that he was the Man of Steel.

Later, Superman consulted some scientists about his amnesia. They attempted several experiments to jar his memory, from electrocution, exploding bomb, firing out of a cannon and liquid hydrogen. Nothing seemed to work.

Back at Clark Kent's apartment, the curious painter had discovered the edge of a secret closet, but was unable to open it so far.

After consulting the Superman Museum one more time, he got an idea how he could discover his true secret identity. He created a giant lens and, adjusting his distance from Earth, was able to see scenes from several days ago in Metropolis. Superman was able to see himself change from Clark Kent to Superman. He recognized Clark's picture from his desk at the Daily Planet.

Memory restored, Superman flew back to Metropolis just in time to disable the switch to the secret closet in Clark Kent's apartment. He was able to prevent the curious painter from accidentally discovering his secret identity.

The Man of Steel returned to the Daily Planet as Clarence Kelvin, and purposely revealed his secret identity to Lois by typing at super speed. He tempered her joy at finally discovering his secret identity by reminding her that all he had to do was adopt a new secret identity.

This is at least the second vacation Clark Kent has taken since we began exploring the silver age Superman stories in order of publication. It was an interesting story which almost treated Clark and Superman as two different people.

It was quite a coincidence that Superman returned to Metropolis and the Daily Planet on instinct, with his memory loss. He also took a different secret identity using his real initials. I'm curious if the same thing has happened to real amnesia victims.

The story had the double jeopardy of the Man of Steel's memory loss and the threat of his secret identity being revealed. It effectively increased the tension in the story.

While it seemed improbable that Superman could use a crude telescopic lens to see past events in Metropolis, this was a fun and interesting story. What I liked most about it was that it gave Superman a different adversary, his own mind, and I give it 4 Superman Capes out of 5.

The eight page story The Spell Of The Shandu Clock was written by Jerry Coleman, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. It began as Superman exposed the magician Shandu as a fraud. Shandu promised to haunt the Man of Steel after his death.

A few days later Perry White informed Superman that Shandu had died at sea. The Man of Steel gave Lois and Jimmy a lift to Shandu's home to cover the story. At Shandu's address they found a huge clock sitting on the front lawn. A Superman replica came out of the clock and rang the gong. When that happened, the Man of Steel went into a trance and flew far away and did something odd.

Each time the Shandy clock rang on the hour, Superman went into a trance for twenty minutes and did something odd each time. The Metropolis Police Commissioner and the Daily Planet staff were concerned. They had heard rumors that the Fallon gang had some type of weapon to commit crimes with, and would use the situation to spring into action while Superman was gone.

Everyone had reason to be nervous, because the Fallon gang timed their plan to Shandu's clock. When they saw Superman fly away under another trap, they used their Sonic Vibrator to break into a bank. The metallic Superman from Shandu's clock approached from the air, and the gang hit it with a blast from their weapon. To their surprise, the metallic figure shattered to reveal the real Superman. He made short work of the gang.

The Man of Steel revealed the entire plan to Lois. It had been the Police Commissioner's idea, in order to draw the Fallon gang in the open while the Man of Steel was in town.. Superman had been in the clock the whole time, disguised as the clock figure. The Superman everyone saw fly away was a robot the Man of Steel controlled from inside the giant clock. It turned out that Shandu was alive after all. He had faked his death as part of the Commissioner's plan.

Reading this story a second time, I liked it a little better than the first time. The whole scheme was a little too outlandish, with the giant clock, although it was a clever way to manipulate the gang to spring their plan. My main question was if it was a robot that carried Lois and Jimmy to Shandu's house at the beginning of the story. This story was full of crazy silver age comic book plot devices, and I give it 3 Superman Shields out of 5.

The third and final story of the issue was The Two Faces Of Superman. The eight page story was written by Jerry Coleman and drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger.

It began when Lois Lane was caught in a jam, which was nothing new. She had promised to go on a date with a friend of a mutual friend. The problem was that she pad also planned to go on a date with Superman later that same evening.

To solve her problem, Lois made herself as unattractive as possible, with a frizzy hairdo and ugly dress and glasses. Her date was so embarrassed at the dance club they went to that he ended the date early. Clark was also there, unseen by Lois (especially with those glasses of hers) and didn't like how she treated her date. So he decided to teach her a lesson.

When he picked her up as Superman and took her to an amusement park, he proposed to her in the Tunnel Of Love. Lois accepted, and mentioned that she was looking forward to finally learning his secret identity. The Man of Steel obliged by taking her to his apartment. In a thought balloon we learned that it wasn't his Clark Kent apartment, but one he had rented just that day. He showed her a number of Superman masks, and took his off, to reveal a buck toothed, freckle faced man who resembled Mad Magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Newman..

Lois was as embarrassed at the same dance club her first date had taken her to, and realized how he must have felt. Lois found Superman's new face so repulsive, she could only kiss him by closing her eyes and thinking of him as she always thought he looked like.

Their evening in the park was interrupted by a crook's getaway car. Lois noticed that Superman covered his face when the gunman shot at him. He captured the crook, but Lois thought something was strange.

In bed later that evening, she realized that the ugly Superman was only a mask The next day she told the Man of Steel she wanted to get married at noon. When Lois parked in front of the Justice of the Peace, Superman welded her car door with his x-ray vision. After noon passed Superman approached and told her that since she hadn't met the noon deadline, she must have had second thoughts and called off the wedding. Lois called him on his trick and said that she had learned her lesson about treating her first date the day before. The story ended with Lois wondering if Superman would ever propose for real.

This story could just as well have been titled The Two Faces Of Lois Lane, for how she snubbed her first date in favor of Superman. Lois did need to learn a lesson, but neither she nor the Man of Steel were very sympathetic to others in this tale. Also, today it would not be a good idea to allow a total stranger pick a woman up at her house for a date. With the number of Superman pictures on her walls, Lois is as obsessive of a friend of Superman as Jimmy is. Also, at the end, we only saw Superman fuse the door on one side of her car.   Unless he fused the doors on both sides of her car, Lois could have just gotten out of her car on the other side. But then we wouldn't have had the same ending, and Superman would have had to find another way to stall for time. To some extent I want to rate this story a 4, with the clever way Superman found to play the same trick on Lois that she did on her first date, but both of them went a little far in playing tricks on others. So I have to drop my rating to 3 Capes out of 5.

Action Comics #248, January 1959, was published around November 27, 1958. It contained 32 pages for the cover price of 10¢. The editor was Mort Weisinger, and the cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye.

The Superman story of the issue was the 12 page tale, The Man No Prison Could Hold, written by Bill Finger, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. It was also reprinted in Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow Archives vol. I and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I.

It began when Superman discovered a small satellite orbiting Earth. He followed the radio waves to an uncharted island, where he found slaves who were the crew of a ship that had been reported as sunk. Superman also discovered that the slaves were being held prisoner by Von Kamp, a former Nazi scientist. The Man of Steel decided to learn what Von Kamp was up to as Clark Kent.

He rented a small boat and sailed to the island, allowing himself to be captured on purpose. What he didn't know was that Jimmy Olsen had snuck aboard the boat to be part of whatever story Clark was covering. Both of them were captured and joined the slave labor work force. Clark secretly saved Jimmy a few times, but also kept him from escaping the island. Unfortunately, Jimmy was discovered by a prison guard, and Olsen would be executed the next day for attempting to escape.

Clark was able to sneak away and burrow underground to find a lodestone, which he pushed up, just underneath the firing squad. The rifles fell to the ground, attracted by the magnetism of the lodestone. That didn't stop Von Kamp. He had Jimmy placed in the first stage of his rocket. This was what Superman was looking for. Von Kamp had built a satellite which he planned to use to study routes of police cars and armored cars in order to plan robberies. After the rocket launched, Superman saved Jimmy just before the first stage exploded. Then the Man of Steel captured Von Kamp and his gang.

This story was published about a year after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. Bill Finger hinted at one of the most common uses of satellites, not just for spying but photographing the ground. Also, Nazi war criminals were still being searched for in the 1950's. When Jimmy was rescued, it showed that not everyone was familiar with the upper atmosphere. The panels showed Jimmy being rescued in outer space, beyond Earth's atmosphere, without a space suit. One thing I failed to notice when I recorded this episode was how Superman missed the rocket, unless it had not yet been rolled out to the launch pad. That still wouldn't have stopped him from using his x-ray vision, unless Von Kamp had used lead in his assembly building. Otherwise it was a great story of Superman stopping a Nazi. I give this story 4 Capes out of 5.

The second story of the issue starred Congo Bill in the seven page tale, The Amazing Congorilla, written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by Howard Sherman. It told how Congo Bill first became Congorilla, when he received a ring from a dying medicine man he rescued. It allowed Congo Bill to switch minds with the tribe's god, the Golden Gorilla.

The final six page story of the issue starred Tommy Tomorrow in The Graveyard Of Space, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney.

Elsewhere in DC Comics, 32 titles carried the January or January/February 1959 cover date.

Next Episode: Superman Family Comic Book Cover Dated December 1955: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #9!


In 2 weeks: Superman Comic Books Cover Dated February 1959: Superman #127 & Action Comics #249!


Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups or pages on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/, and is now a proud member of the Superman WebRing of websites, and the Superman Podcast Network at http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/supermanpodcastnetwork. Check it out to discover other fine Superman podcasts.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

The theme of this podcast is Plans In Motion, composed by Kevin MacLeod, and part of the royalty free music library at http://incompetech.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics. Any cover art displayed with the show notes is done for entertainment and educational purposes only. I post these episodes to share my enjoyment of Superman comics and do not earn any money from this podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.