Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #104

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #104 (On Sale: July 2, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson featuring Lois Lane's Greatest Scoops.

We begin with "The Super-Prisoner of Amazon Island" by Otto Binder, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye and reprinted from Action Comics #235. Lois and other members of her Super Sorority are shipwrecked on a small island. Superman comes to rescue them, but he has violated the laws of the native Amazons living there. He is declared a slave and his services are bid upon.

The queen, Elsha, wishes to make Superman her husband. When she loses in the auction, she abolishes the law and creates a new one. Superman must now perform a task for each woman, if he cannot he must marry them.

Superman agrees to the procedure in hopes of finding a cure for Kryptonite which he believes is on the island. Each woman takes her turn, but Superman completes each task. The final task is the queen’s. He destroys her crown to make her a commoner which was what she asked him to do. The Man of Steel is set free, but he realizes too late that the crown was the cure he sought. He and the sorority return home, leaving the Amazons behind.

Next is "The Monkey's Paw" drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger and reprinted from Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #42. Lois receives a box of strange curios from a recently deceased explorer. Inside is a monkey’s paw which legend claims will grant three wishes. Lois imagines possible wishes for herself, but she uses one to save an airplane and another to save Superman from Kryptonite. When she tells Lucy Lane and Jimmy Olsen about her wishes, they reveal that the wishes were not responsible for the rescues. Lois uses her final wish to give Clark Kent super powers. He fakes an illness, so Lois believes the wishes didn’t work. As a result, she throws the monkey’s paw away.

That is followed by "The Town of Supermen" by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan and George Klein and reprinted from Superman #153. Eight prisoners of the Phantom Zone escape and move to a ghost town, Drywood Gulch. They bring Lois to town and tell her that they are Kryptonian astronauts. Later, Lois returns with Jimmy and Perry to show them the town of Supermen, but the men pretend to be normal men. Finally, Lois convinces Jimmy of the truth and he summons Superman. The Man of Steel out duels the criminals and returns them to the Phantom Zone.

Next is "Lois Lane's Great Houdini Trick" by Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger and reprinted from Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #58. Lois receives a request to expose a phony spirit medium. When she visits the swamis parlor, she discovers that the medium is Voodoo Vickers, a notorious gangster wanted for murder. Lois attends a séance in disguise and uses the swami's own tricks to force Vickers into revealing the location of the murder victim. Superman then apprehends the swami.

That brings us to "The Reversed Super-Powers" by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger and reprinted from Action Comics #274. During an experiment to find an antidote for Kryptonite, Superman’s powers are transferred to Lois Lane. Without powers, Superman proposes to Lois, but she decides to think about it first. When she discovers that she has gained powers, she decides not to marry Superman for fear that her enemies would harm him. Superman then passes out. Another Superman arrives through the window and explains that it was only a Superman robot. The robot wanted to see if Lois loved Superman only because of his powers. The real Superman apologizes for his robot’s interference and returns it to the Fortress. Lois’s powers wear off restoring her to normal.

We end with "The Girl Who Destroyed Atlantis" drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger and reprinted from Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #42. While touring Atlantis with Lori Lemaris, Lois Lane is transported into the past by a time-travel belt. She arrives in ancient Atlantis and soon meets Roh-Tul, a dictator who resembles Luthor. Roh-Tul convinces Lois that he is benevolent and that his for Klar-Kan is evil. However, Lois soon learns that Roh-Tul is the tyrant and spurns his affections. Roh-Tul then detonates a bomb. Lois is sent back to the present believing she was responsible for the sinking of Atlantis. Lori explains that the bomb was not the cause of Atlantis’ demise, but another later explosion caused the city to sink

Edited by E. Nelson Bridwell.

Jon Adams covers Superboy 1

Original cover by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye; 1949 DC. Jon Adams's website is here.

Superman #217

Superman #217 (On Sale: April 8, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and the dreadful Vinny Colletta. featuring Famous Firsts!

We begin with "The Outlaws from Krypton" by Bill Finger, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye and reprinted from Action Comics #194.

Next is "The Girl in Superman's Past" also by Bill Finger, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye and reprinted from Superman #129. This is the first appearance of Lori Lemaris. Superman recalls an old romance from his college days. When he met Lori Lemaris, she was a college girl confined to a wheelchair. He began to date her as Clark after saving her from an accident. He found her mysterious because she always had to leave at a certain time of night.

Eventually, Lori told Clark that she must return to her homeland. Clark did not want to lose her, so he decided to give up being Superman and propose. Lori told him that she already knew his secret and could not marry him.

Clark investigated further and found a huge salt water tank instead of a bed in her bedroom, and he was able to guess her secret. Lori was a mermaid from Atlantis. She tells Clark the truth about herself, but she still must return to Atlantis forever.

"The Super-Duel in Space" is by Otto Binder and Al Plastino and is reprinted from Action Comics #242 and features the first appearance of the bottled city of Kandor. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are aboard an experimental rocket ship to cover the story for the media. The ship is attacked by a flying saucer. Clark exits the ship and arrives as Superman. Inside the saucer, an alien called Brainiac uses a shrink ray to steal Earth cities and place them in bottles. Superman is prevented from reaching Brainiac by a force field that surrounded the ship.

Superman returns to Metropolis where the rocket has landed. As expected, Brainiac shrinks Metropolis next and takes the tiny city aboard his ship. A tiny Superman escapes the bottle and tries to restore the captured cities to normal. He is forced to hide momentarily as Brainiac’s monkey attacks him.

Superman hides inside another bottle. The bottle contains a Kryptonian city called Kandor, taken from before Krypton’s destruction. Superman is powerless inside Kandor, so he seeks out a scientist, Kimda. Kimda has studied Brainiac’s machines and knows how to free everyone. Superman uses a rocket to escape the bottle.

Outside the bottle, Superman’s powers return. He reverses the controls to restore the Earth cities. There is only enough energy for one more use of the machine. He decides to restore Kandor rather than himself, but Kimda flies a rocket out of Kandor and presses the control which restores Superman. Kandor is stuck in it’s tiny form. Superman takes the city back to his Fortress of Solitude for safekeeping. Brainiac, who is now in suspended animation is sent into space.

Next we have "The First Supergirl" by Otto Binder, Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye and reprinted from Superman #123. Jimmy receives a magically totem which grants three wishes to him. The first wish brings into existence a Super-Girl, who Jimmy wishes to be the perfect mate for Superman. Unfortunately, the female heroine gets in Superman’s way and becomes a nuisance. She realizes her existence is becoming a problem, so she sacrifices her life to make the Man of Steel happy.

Crooks steal the totem and use the second wish to remove Superman’s powers. Jimmy and Superman then spend the day faking his powers to convince the crooks that the spell failed. After being tricked, the crooks allow the spell to be removed, restoring Superman’s powers.

For the final wish, Jimmy wishes for Superman to meet his parents. However, he has decided to type the wish and a typo causes Superman to "Mate" his parents. As a result, Superman travels back to Krypton and meets young Jor-El and Lara. They are working as undercover agents with Kryptonian Intelligence. With Superman’s aid, they stop a criminal, Kil-Lor, and the Man of Steel plays cupid, setting up his own parents, before returning to Earth.

We end with "The Menace of Metallo" by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino and reprinted from Action Comics #252. Reporter John Corben is involved in a near fatal car accident. He is found by Professor Vale who rushes Corben to his lab. In order to save the injured man’s life, Vale gives Corben a metal body powered by uranium. After completing the operation the professor suffers a stroke.

Corben begins a criminal career as Metallo. He begins stealing uranium from secure places with his super strength that the robot body provides him. He also joins the staff at the Daily Planet.

When the professor recovers from his stroke, Corben learns that Kryptonite can also power his body. Corben is given a piece of Kryptonite by the professor, but he uses it on Superman who has been trying to capture him. He replaces his own Kryptonite with a sample from a display. The display Kryptonite was fake, so without power, Corben dies from heart failure..

Edited by Mort Weisinger and E. Nelson Bridwell.

Superman #215

Superman #215 (On Sale: February 6, 1969) and has another beautiful Neal Adams' cover. Wonderful drama, gorgeous coloring; who could resist this one?

"Lois Lane... Dead... Yet Alive" is by Otto Binder, Curt Swan and Jack Abel. In this imaginary story, Superman has married Lois Lane and has a super-powered daughter named Laney. One of his foes, the Dimension Master, tries to kill Superman, but instead succeeds in murdering Lois. Superman is heartbroken and is unable to forget Lois.

More than a year after Lois's death, Laney is playing in the Fortress of Solitude and accidentally exposes herself to Red Kryptonite. Superman watches as his daughter disappears. The Man of Steel deduces that she was transported to a parallel world and follows her.

On the parallel Earth Superman locates his missing daughter. Before returning to his own world, Superman learns that the Lois of this world is still alive. He impulsively proposes, and she accepts. However the Superman of this world is still around. The two Men of Steel agree to swap Earths. Laney and Superman remain with the new Lois as a happy family while the parallel Superman moves to the other Earth. Reprinted in Best of DC #19.

The back-up tale, "Superman's First Exploit," is reprinted from Superman #106 and is the work of Edmond Hamilton, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye. Dr. Reese Kearns, a discredited scientist, approaches Superman with questions regarding his journey to Earth as a baby. Superman suspects the scientist of trying to discover his secret identity, so he refuses to answer the questions. Kearns then convinces Perry White to start a contest designed to learn Superman's earliest exploit. Though he opposes the contest, Superman must allow it to go on.

When it is time for Superman to verify the winner, Kearns forces Superman to tell everyone about his trip to Earth. During the trip, baby Kal-El diverted a meteor headed to Earth. Kearns was discredited because he predicted the meteor would strike Earth. Superman's recollections of his first super-feat restore Kearns' reputation as a scientist.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Action Comics #373

Action Comics #373 (On Sale: January 7, 1969), AKA 80pg Giant #G-57 has a cover by Curt Swan and Neal Adams in a special Supergirl issue. With this issue the 80-Page Giant is no more and the age of the 64-Page giant began.

We begin with "The Battle of the Super-Pets," from Action Comics #277 and created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. Krypto helps Supergirl protect herself from being adopted which wins her favor. Streaky is jealous of the canine and when he regains his powers begins fighting with the Dog of Steel. Superman and Supergirl arrange a competition between the two animals.

They take the rivalry to an alien planetoid and compete in a series of events. Krypto and Supergirl fall in a hole and land near some Kryptonite. Before Streaky can rescue them, the cat loses his powers, however a wish from Supergirl makes the Kryptonite harmless. They soon discover that the planetoid is a playground for Mr. Mxyzptlk. The hole was really a wishing well, which allows Supergirl’s wish to come true. Streaky and Krypto become friends, but the arrival of Super-Monkey starts a new rivalry.

Next is "The Bride of Mr. Mxyzptlk," from Action Comics #291 and also the work of Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. Mxyzptlk returns to Earth to plague Supergirl. First, he changes everyone in New York into a Bizarro, then he falls in love with Supergirl. To make her happy, the imp brings Zor-El and Alura back with his magic. Kara now has two sets of parents who fight over her.

Zor-El agrees to allow Mxyzptlk to marry his daughter, but instead slips him Kryptonian Truth Serum, forcing the imp to say his name backwards. When Mxyzptlk disappears back to the 5th dimension, Zor-El and Alura disappear as well since they existed only with the power of Mxyzptlk’s magic. The world forgets the events that happened while under Mxyzptlk’s influence, but Supergirl remembers that her parents were briefly restored to life.

"Supergirl's Farewell to Earth" from Action Comics #258 and created by Otto Binder and Jim Mooney is next. While saving two children from a falling tree, Supergirl spots Krypto. She introduces herself to the super-dog and plays with him. Superman arrives and is upset that Supergirl revealed her existence to his dog. He exiles her to an asteroid for a year.

From the asteroid, Supergirl keeps an eye on Earth and even puts out a forest fire. Krypto arrives a week later and warns Supergirl of a kryptonite cloud approaching. She is allowed to return to Earth for one day.

Her absence as Linda Lee has caused people to look for her. She gets her clothes dirty and pretends to have been lost in a swamp. Amazed by the girl’s ability to survive, a reporter checks her for mosquito bites. When he finds none, he guesses that she is a super-girl. Linda removes her disguise and reveals herself to the reporter. Then she tells the reporter that he is Superman. The reporter was Clark Kent.

The whole exile was a test by Superman to see if Supergirl could protect her secret. He wanted to see if she was worthy to learn his secret identity. She found out by herself which proved her ability to Superman.

Next is "The War Between Supergirl and the Supermen Emergency Squad" from Action Comics #276 and drawn by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye. Clark Kent grants a dying man’s wish and reveals his secret identity of Superman. However, the dying man was faking his death. He is secretly the leader of the Anti-Superman Gang, John Kiley.

With knowledge of Clark’s secret, the gang traps him in a mine with a Kryptonite meteor. The gang also uses a device which disables Superman’s robots. Instead, the Man of Steel summons the Superman Emergency Squad and Supergirl for help.

They free Clark from the mine and then trick the gang into believing the drug Kiley used to fake his death gave him hallucinations. With Superman’s secret safe again, the crooks are sent to jail.

Lastly we have "Supergirl's Greatest Challenge." from Action Comics #287 and created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. The Legion of Super-Heroes summons Supergirl to defeat the Positive Man, a once-human changed into a massive destructive force by the explosion of his home planet. As they watch from their spaceship, the Maid of Might lures a Negative Creature, created by the same explosion, toward the Positive Man, and the resulting explosion causes both to vanish.

Upon returning to Earth, the Legionnaires learn that this explosion has also erased their powers. Supergirl decides to stay with them, and, working behind the scenes with Whizzy, the telepathic descendant of Streaky (aka Super-Cat), helps the Legion deceive criminals into thinking that they still possess their abilities.

However, the real reason that the Legionnaires are powerless is that they are actually members of an alien chameleon-like race who, in the aftermath of the positive-negative explosion, imprisoned the real Super-Heroes and took their places. Having fooled Supergirl and Whizzy, they project them into the Phantom Zone.

From here, the phantom heroes mentally command a scientist at an android factory to construct a bogus chameleon man, who infiltrates the Legion impostors and releases Supergirl and Whizzy from the Zone. Supergirl captures the aliens and rescues the real Legion.

Edited by Mort Weisinger (E. Nelson Bridwell).