[Superman Fan Club] Superman Hobo? Oh No! Superman Mini-Clone? Uh Oh! Y2 R2 6 26 21

[Superman Fan Club] and Supes Fans at large, welcome to the next curated reading of rare Silver and Bronze Age Superman and Family gems from our “sister” site DC Universe Infinite for us all to read and enjoy together! Plus…we also have two Listen Alongs a month on Wednesday evenings featuring the Adventures of Superman Radio Show of the 1940s! The next one is July 7th!

The curated selection this time around:
Action
#337 (1966)
Adventure Comics #306 (1963)
Daring Adventures of Supergirl #3 (1982)
SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN (1971) #135
SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE (1959) #11
(sorry, Lois, but you are the oldest comic in the room this time around)

Feel free to pick and choose what you like from the selection below this time around, or indulge by reading all five the next month (like vitamins, but one a week more or less)!!!

To join the [Superman Fan Club] (and enjoy the chic benefits of membership such as direct messaging for club members only and our once a month audio Discord [Superman Fan Club] chat), click here: Click Here to Join the Superman Fan Club

To stop by the Superman Fan Club Lounge Area , click here: Club Lounge Room Entrance

ACTION COMICS (1938-) #337 (released May 1966) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE

While the infant Marvel was first introducing the Silver Surfer, and Daredevil was battling Spider-man, DC dared to be different with the above: Hobo / Rich Guy Superman Mystery!

Nuff Said on that one, but if you crave that “Marvel Style” teen age angst storyline instead, Action Comics delivered that as well with the Supergirl backfeature:

Wait, “Ant Man?” uh, er….nothing happening here, Mr. and Ms. Marvel Lawyer sirs and ma’ams….

Adventure Comics #306 (released March 1963) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE

Superboy faces reality turned mad in Smallville, in black and white only though!

(if you like, read the fabulous early Legion story in the back of this issue (in color!) for extra credit concerning the Legion of Substitute Heroes)

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #3 (released 11/3/1982) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE

Part 3 of Supergirl’s battle with a weird cult in Chicago…I think?

And…a Lois Lane story continues in the back of the comic!!!

SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN (1954-) #135 (released January 1971) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE

“Evil Factory” The Jack Kirby 4th World Rollout of the early 1970’s in the pages of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen continues! This time: a tiny bit of cloning around with Jimmy and Supes!!! PS: you may be surprised how many clones you are actually seeing on this cover!!!

SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE (1958-1973) #11 (released June 1959) DC UNIVERSE INFINITE

THE LEOPARD GIRL OF THE JUNGLE! Lois decides to go “back to nature” before it was cool to do so!!

And…you’ll find it hard to resist reading this other additional Lois Lane story among many in this ancient issue!!!

ll 11 2

,

Please consider sampling some or all of these classic Silver and Bronze Age wares, and let us know your thoughts! Feel free always to post favorite panels / scenes etc from these exciting, entertaining and imaginative tales.

And again, be sure keep an eye out for our twice a month Wednesday evening Listen A Longs of the classic 1940’s Superman Radio Show adventures (in the Watchalong aisle).

Up Up and Away!!!

2 Likes

Wow!

1 Like

Hey Don-El, I’ve kinda lost track of time, is this a LAL week?

No it’s the always the first Wednesday of the month, then two weeks from then.

I am doing a Watch Along for a separate Club Thursday night that actually is related to this [Superman Fan Club]!

1 Like

Like I said, I got a bit confused in the dates this month, LOL!

1 Like

ACTION #337

SUPERMAN

Inside cover, is the Superman cartoon on in your area? It’s on in mine, but I won’t be born for another three years.

A comet from Krypton and a child’s counting rhyme come together to create this odd tale as Superman is forced to solve problems by adopting other occupations such as rich man, poor man and thief.

One of the occupations is “Indian Chief” and the word “r**skin” is uttered twice by criminals. Some of you may wish to skip this story.

Superman shoots that bow about as well as Ollie.

Also odd is that a fellow doctor asks if Superman is licensed to perform surgery and Lois mentions he is from a story in Lois Lane #12. Continuity!? In a Silver Age DC comic???

SUPERGIRL

She’s testing out a new space suit for Astronettes and gets lost in space. Is Tom King writing this too? No.

Green sun planet, no powers, golden nectar to heal you, singing crystals guarded by happy little dragons and evil tax collectors from an underground race of fire beaming thugs. Tom King isn’t born for another 12 years and I swear this is a setup for the next issue of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

I love it in the Silver Age when they use these little scientific plans to fix problems. Even if they really wouldn’t work in real life.

LETTER PAGE

One reader asks why certain things like red and gold kryptonite and Jimmy Olsen’s signal watch aren’t in the George Reeves TV show. (shown in reruns at the time) It’s explained that they hadn’t been invented by then, but will appear in the new Superman cartoon.

HISTORY

How popular was Superman in this era?

1965 comic book sales
|1|Superman|DC|823,829|
|2|Superboy|DC|672,681|
|3|Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane|DC|556,091|
|4|Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen|DC|554,931|
|5|Action Comics|DC|525,254|
|6|Adventure Comics|DC|520,440|
|7|Archie|Archie|467,552|
|8|World’s Finest Comics|DC|465,842|
|9|Batman|DC|453,745|
|10|Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories|Gold Key|410,209|
|11|Justice League of America|DC|389,285|

He’s in 8 of the top 11 selling series.

In 1966 he had 8 of the top 10 with Batman moving to #1 in the middle of BatMania.

Amazing Spider-Man was the top Marvel comic in 1966 at #16.

SOURCE: comichron.com

1 Like

ADVENTURE#306

My copy is coverless. But it’s still worth the $2 I paid for it.

Can young Mr. Mxyzptlk really be outpranked? If you’ve read Silver Age Superman, you know your pranking game needs to be in top form at all times.

Lead cover on a giant cake? Should be OK, it’s only on there for a few minutes.

Machine revolt? Sure it’s funny in 1966, but they’re going to kick humans to the curb in about five years.

Krypto talks!

As it turns out, Superboy is the king of the pranksters in the 5th Dimension. That’s going to hurt ol’ Myx for a while.

Don’t worry substitute heroes, you do have a bright future ahead of you.

LETTER PAGE

Split verdict on the death of a Legionnaire in #304.

Someone asks who is the Legion artist. (it’s John Forte) Perhaps DC should start adding credits in their comics.

1 Like

Also on the bright side, your coverless copy of this Adventure Comics issue is in color, unlike the one we have here LOL.

1 Like

I agree, these early 60s Action Comics Supergirl stories have a hard edge to them that would have made Tom King proud.

The Supergirl series of the late sixties and the early 80s are a lot lighter overall… if you that is ignore that issue of Adventure where she’s got candidates for Superman that they feel is dead.

1 Like

JIMMY OLSEN #135

Well Kirby got it right that unlocking DNA would be a very big thing. But we still seems to be in the science can only do good part of the program. Just a few years later when I started following sci-fi, cloning wasn’t seen as quite a positive thing. Superman and Jimmy seem to be fine with it.

Darkseid is getting better. Yelling at pathetic flunkies and their response is “Darkseid is hard naked truth!”

Is the Kirby page explaining the Hairies in the digital copy? It does illustrate a bit what Kirby was going for with the “new humans.”

Kirby’s just bringing back his entire Golden Age cast isn’t he? Simon and Kirby’s #2 shield slinger is cloned for a new day.

Kirby’s art takes a step up in this issue I think. The action is terrific.

The big sour note is that Jimmy is becoming lost in his own book.

LETTER PAGE
Someone asks if Jack is only doing Jimmy Olsen and it is revealed that’s he’s got a bunch of new stuff coming up… FORVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE!

1 Like

LOIS LANE

“Leopard Girl of the Jungle”
Let me see if I get this straight. Lois goes through all that trouble even with her memory back just so she can help Lana get her book published? Is this Bizarro Lois?

“The Tricks of Lois Lane”
Shouldn’t all the stories be titled that? Superman knows her “secret identity gleam.” Ten bucks to turn on the sprinklers as a joke? Lois tips well at least. Thankfully, this club doesn’t have a rule that new members of the Superman Club have to wear a Superman costume under their clothes for a week.

YET

“Lois Lane’s Super Perfume”
Another inventive get rich scheme by the criminals comes to an end. Such a nice change from mass murder and galaxy killing in modern comics. The only thing I’d change is that Lois notices the criminal behavior and she’s the one tipping off Superman.

1 Like

The Kirby page explaining the Hairies is not in the digital copy, it also does not appear in my four volume Fourth World Omnibus that I was given as a Christmas gift by my wife about 10 or 12 years ago.

I feel like I’m sort of an embodiment of Statistics as you list these Top Eleven comics from 1965. By then I was in comics pretty deep and actually getting in trouble in school in 5th grade for bringing comics hidden in my notebook that I would perforate three holes in to put into my 3-ring binders (sort of like an Omnibus but with holes lol).

DC sent me back a response to some letter I had sent with really cool signed postcards showing Batman and Robin swinging classicly in the night sky. I received the No Prize a little later, an envelope with nothing in it, from Stan Lee / Marvel. And I had a button and a card for belonging to the Archie club.

I made two eclectic choices for comic book subscriptions to be mailed to me back then, Fantastic Four and Gold Key’s Space Family Robinson. As I recall, both came to me in the mail folded harshly in half.

Maybe part of the reason Marvel wasn’t in the Top Eleven back then was that DC was distributing the comics for them and wouldn’t let them publish more than a certain number of comics.

Yep when I see an occasional Lois Lane comic from this time in decent shape for a great price I tend to snatch them up, same for Jimmy’s stuff.

There is absolutely nothing like it being published today in my opinion. But when there’s something close, I make sure to read those too!