After a recent and still ongoing review, I've grown to love just about everything about Weisinger's Superman regime. I think they did get a little crowded with Kryptonians after a while, but other than that, the tropes in place were the best Superman has ever been. And the artists: Curt Swan; Wayne Boring; my favorite, Kurt Schaffenberger. Great looking stuff, always.

I recently began a run through every appearance of Kara Zor-El pre-crisis, which includes many non-Supergirl stories in the issues in question (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Action, Superman, and Adventure Comics mostly). Many, I've read before, but not in such succession. Seems like the contrivances and annoyances I have with regard to Silver Age DC is mostly due to the Legion of Super Heroes, which, having had the misfortune of bumping into a few of those tales in the mix, remain just terrible. Sure, there's contrived plots in the Superman books, but they're not completely illogical like in Legion, and they don't suck the fun out of it by being so utterly inane.

I do wish they'd kept Ma and Pa Kent alive though. That was the one thing about Byrne's reboot that I really enjoyed.

I read this story when I was a kid about 100 times. Reread it just yesterday and discovered a gaping plot hole.



At the end of the story, Superman unwraps a lead-covered piece of Red Kryptonite, because he'll need to be affected by it...then uses a shrinking ray to shrink himself so he can go back to the past in the Kandorian spaceship. Then he has to "wait for the Red K to wear off". I bet the shrinking ray was supposed to be removed. Fun, either way, but astonishing that I didn't notice that all the times I read it. Unless they took it out in my reprint?

I don't know why, but I find Superman as the man orphaned twice over to be more poignant. I like that he's alone in the world, left with a burden to rival Atlas, all on his own.

As crudely drawn as it was, there's something powerful to me about Clark swearing on his father's deathbed to use his power for good. I feel the Kent angle is pretty much only used for, "Golly, Pa, I'm not sure what to do!" And then Pa tells some farming anecdote that solves Superman's problem and eats rhubarb pie or whatever.

That cover reminds me of the Vandal Savage/future story from Justice League cartoon.

That's a fair point about the loneliness...except every time you turned around there were a couple of hundred new Kryptonians running around.

Reading the Superboy stories where the Kents are still alive, they aren't really used just for that, though. I think that's a modern take popularized by Jeph Loeb. In the Silver Age, they'd help him keep his identity secret, occasionally join in adventures, and discipline him. That last was admittedly a little funny/silly, because Pa forgot he was super and spanked young Superboy, hurting his hand...on two separate covers a few years apart. But I just like ma and pa Kent, can't help it. In the modern age, I especially liked the way PAD used them in his Supergirl run.

The Weisinger/Binder Superman family was the main comic book universe for my brothers and I.

We need a Superboy Showcase.

This is my favorite era for Superman.

I think that stuff's great for Superboy but unnecessary in a Superman book.

But honestly, I'm good either way. It's not a make it or break it thing, having the Kents around.

Isn't Otto Binder credited with the burst of surreal creativity of the Superman books at this time? He brought the wild, far-out fantasy of the Marvel Family over to Superman when Fawcett went under, right?

I want more Superman Man of Tomorrow Archives please. And the Lois Lane Archive was also a lot of fun.

Bump.

I own that issue. It's one of my all-time favorite Superman covers.

I wonder if that was the inspiration for the Justice Lords.

I'm not a proponent of a unified world government but, if we do go with one, I'm all for the Superman flag.

DITTO!

A different Kryptonite for almost every day of the week in the Weisinger era.

Mort Weisinger is remembered by those who knew him as a prick.
The website Superdickery displays comics covers that show Superman acting like a dick.
Most of those covers come from the Weisinger era.
Nothing more needs to be said.
Still,a lot of great comics were made because of him,or despite him.

When were the best Superman stories published, and who was in charge at the time? If it was in spite of Weisinger, why did Superman plummet in both quality and sales after he left?

John W. Campbell was a prick, too.

John W. Campbell?

Who dat, Trev?

Never mind, Google is my friend.
A most apt comparison!

Daily bump.