Superman 329: The Killer Kryptonoid!

Martin Pasko and Curt Swan crafted our favorite issue of Superman. We had this one back in 1978 – probably the Whitman version – and recently picked it up again. It’s still awesome! How do they do that? You can tell it’s going to be amazing right from the question mark layout on the first page.

Are you ready for the attack of the killer Kryptonoid? What the heck is a Kryptonoid? That’s what Superman needs to figure out before it’s too late. One touch from this shape-shifting, metal-controlling pink monstrosity and it’s all over for Supes! The sick, twisted tragedy of the Kryptonoid’s origin, once revealed, slays us every time. Plus, Clark Kent gets naked for Lana Lang… sort of. Believe us, if we were Superman, we’d fly around naked, too. Just because we could.

Our gallery includes a tribute page: a memorial to Mort Weisinger who died on May 7, 1978. The resolution should be high enough that you can read the full text by zooming in. Something we did not include from this issue: a back-up story about Mr. & Mrs. Superman, an alternate reality where Supes and Lois are married.

Collector’s Guide:
- From Superman #329; DC Comics, 1978.
- The first half of the story appeared in Superman #328. But don’t worry, Pasko’s 3-page opening recap gives you all the details you need!

Tandy Whiz Kids Save Metropolis with 1982 Computer Tech

Witness the glory of “Computer Masters of Metropolis!” in our gallery today. This free promotional comic book from Radio Shack perfectly captures the state of consumer computer tech in 1982. We know, because we were there. We got this book when it came out! Dad worked at Radio Shack back then, and he always brought home a copy of their comics for us. You might get a laugh now in 2013, but things like “a subscription to an information retieval service” were a big deal in those thrilling days of yesteryear.

So, try to imagine a primitive world before people born during the Clinton administration were old enough to legally buy beer! In this world, you loaded computer programs and video games from a cassette player. It made a high-pitched tortured mechanical scream the whole time, and the low-fi games were all written in BASIC. Alec and Shanna – the Tandy Whiz Kids, named for Radio Shack’s Tandy computers and TandyVision video games – use this ancient tech to save the day. They look up newspaper articles about Lex Luthor to help save Superman! What nerds!

The scene which most chills our blood shows young Alec working in silence for an hour as the computer gives him problem after problem at speeds faster than he ever could have imagined. NNAYARGH! That precisely describes several really awful temp jobs we had in the mid-1990s!

Compuserve was a big deal when these comics came out, and gets several mentions. Whatver happened to Compuserve? Hey, you can read all about them on the greatest “information retrieval service” to date: Wikipedia!

We haven’t reproduced the whole issue here, just some of the stunningly “old school” technology. The part about Superman is cheese-eriffic, but Wonder Woman makes a good electronics teacher!

Collector’s Guide:
- From Superman Radio Shack Giveaway #2; DC Comics, 1982.
Story by Paul Kupperberg; Art by Curt Swan and Frank Chiaramonte.
- The Whiz Kids also had their own title published by Archie in 1986. Whiz Kids afficionados can find it under Whiz Kids Radio Shack Giveaway.

Superman and the Giant Cyclops!

World’s Finest #147: The New Terrific Team!

1965: You could call it the Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am age of comics. In the brief 16 pages of the cover story from World’s Finest #147, we experience: an exploding tower of rocket fuel, giant mutant eagles, a car wreck, an invasion by giant robotic water beetles, a trip to another planet, telepathic aliens, and one %@$#-ing insane science experiment.

Whoa! No wonder we loved reading this as a kid. That, plus lots of youth rebellion. Yes! World’s Finest #147 was one of the treasures we discovered in Gramma’s garage of comic book utopia. It left a lasting impression on us. We share it with you today in all its rampaging Silver Age glory!

The story is called “The New Terrific Team!” Superman and Batman get put in their place when teenage sidekicks Robin and Jimmy Olsen decide to strike out on their own. But are the boys’ heroic deeds driven by a more sinister menace? Find out!

Collector’s Guide:
- From World’s Finest #147; DC Comics, 1965.
This issue also featured a story about Aquaman you can preview at the Aquaman Shrine. Enjoy!

The Flash & Superman Race to the End of Time!

Here’s the second half of the story we looked at yesterday, where Superman and the Flash get roped into racing to the end of time by some freaky aliens.

Once they get there, though, they have to travel all the way forward in time to get back to where they started. Why? Because time is a circle! Didn’t you learn anything from yesterday’s post? Anyway, Pasko and Garcia-Lopez give us all of human history in a single splash page!

It’s full-flavored Bronze Age DC goodness, Martians. Enjoy!

Collector’s Guide:
- From DC Comics Presents #1-2; 1978, DC Comics.
- Reprinted by Whitman, which might save you a few bucks, and in the collection Superman Vs. The Flash.
- Reprinted in Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents TPB, 2009.

DC Comics Presents – First Issue!

Superman and the Flash get roped into racing to the end of time by some freaky aliens. If that doesn’t sound like a premise for greatness, you may be at the wrong website! We’ve got Martin Pasko scripting. You Swamp Thing fans may recall he was on the book for the inception of the second volume. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez really hits the perfect look for this book; just the right balance of cartoon silly and sci-fi awesome.

But maybe we’re biased: We first read this as impressionable little Martians close to the time it came out in 1978. So impressionable, in fact, that Pasko’s explanation of time as a circle still seems completely reasonable to us. His aliens explain that if you went to the end of time, you would actually be at the beginning of time… Screw Stephen Hawking, we’re going with Pasko cosmology!

See a nice collection of Superman vs. Flash covers at Best Comic Covers.

Collector’s Guide:
- From DC Comics Presents #1-2; 1978, DC Comics.
- Reprinted by Whitman, which might save you a few bucks, and in the collection Superman Vs. The Flash.
- Reprinted in Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents TPB, 2009.

These Photos Prove that I, too, Came from the Planet Krypton!

In World’s Finest #146, Batman takes part in ‘five minutes of silence’ observed by Superman and every other surviving Kryptonian on the anniversay of Krypton’s destruction. The silent ceremony triggers a memory in Batman – a memory he could not possibly have unless he, too, was from Krypton! The ensuing drama and its resolution tug at our heart strings every time we read it.

Every so often, our local comic shop puts some well-worn silver age comics in the $5 bargain box. “Affordable Silver Age” says the sign. Ok – we’ll bite! Last time, we found this copy of World’s Finest #146. True, the science is completely goofy and the writing aims at a younger audience. But, this is one of those gems we read as youngsters in the amazing comic book stash in Gramma’s garage. If we haven’t bored you with that memoir before, jump over to our other favorite issue of World’s Finest: World’s Finest #147.

Even if you’re not a big Silver Age fan, we encourage you to check out this story. You may never think of Krypton in the same way ever again!

Collector’s Guide:
- From World’s Finest #146; DC Comics, 1964.
- Reprinted in Superman in the Sixties TPB.

Script by Edmond Hamilton, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Sheldon Moldoff.
This issue also includes a Superboy story.