As a counterpoint...

Who is the least objectionable ... what a reputation I've built.

Yes, Dean Cain is best after George Reeves (and you). He looks right to me, and I like how he played the character.

I think his Clark is the best, but he always seemed uncomfortable as Superman. His arms are always folded and he seems stiff... I wonder if the suit made him feel awkward. When Reeves and Reeve wore it, it looked like they were in a second skin, no self-conscious at all.

Looks like Superman / Batman: Generations and Generations II will be collected into a single volume.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401268595/?tag=imwan-20

I went to a nearby dealer con today and scored so many great deals today.

I love low-grade dealers... some of these I’ve wanted for years. I was in a euphoric haze walking out of that place... can’t believe it.

Pay no attention to the price tags, in many cases, I paid 50% off or less... I’m over the moon.

That's a WANtastic haul. So many great issues.

I love that Superboy logo.

By the way, this is one of the most entertaining comics I've ever read. A true epic that should be up there with The Death of Superman (original), The Last Days of Superman, The Showdown Between Superman and Luthor, etc.

It starts off with Superman foiling another assassination attempt by Luthor, who then realizes he can't beat Supey alone. He finds Brainiac, who's in Superman's space prison (why he's not in the Phantom Zone, who knows) and then they hatch a near-perfect scheme -- there's only one thing they didn't count on... the Superman Emergency Squad!

There's something quintessentially "comic booky" about Silver Age comics. It's like they capture the pure essence of the genre... I really love Silver Age Superman comics in particular (along with Kirby and Ditko's Marvel covers) because there's this unrestrained and unashamed "we know this is nutty and silly and nonsensical -- but we don't care, we're here to have fun" quality to them.

It feels like so many comics and comic fans are concerned with the outside world knowing how "serious" and "deep" the stories and genre can be, and it seems like a massive inferiority complex. I'm more for the punk rock mentality of "yeah, they don't get it -- and they never will, but who cares... we're the cool kids, anyway".

To me, the world of the Silver Age Superman represents unbridled imagination and limitless possibilities.

Fun trivia fact about this story... it marks Cary Bates' first comic book work, sort of. Bates submitted the idea for the cover, and Mort Weisinger liked it enough to buy it, then he gave it to Edmond Hamilton to craft a story around. IIRC Bates sold several other cover ideas to Weisinger before he was able to make his first script sale. Kind of a fun way to create a story, working backwards from the cover. Weisinger considered the cover to be of primary importance. I remember an interview with Shooter where he talked about how Mort would yell at him "what's the cover?!" when they discussed script ideas.

This is too long for a signature or I'd quote you for the rest of the month.

Just the last line would do it for a signature.

I’ve read the same thing as well. Pretty interesting way to do it but Mort understood his audience. They are my favorite covers ever.

Yeah, Mort was a jerk, but he most definitely understood his audience. I remember when I was a kid reading Superman from the 30s to the 70s. Each section had a cover gallery that included a pile of covers from stories that were not included in the book. I remember looking at the covers from the 50s and 60s sections in particular and wishing I could read those stories so much. Years later when I started collecting back issues, one of the first things I did was try to track down all the stories that had been featured on those covers, so I could find out what happened.

Yeah, I don't really understand the shift away from that -- if you think of the cover as the equivalent of a trailer for a movie, it's your one attempt to entice a reader to consider buying your book.

Why wouldn't you want to create a scenario that communicates, "Whoa, what's going on here?" The only flaw for Weisinger is that some of the stories were kinda cop-outs -- they'd present some over-the-top shock scenario to entice you into the story, build it up like it's the real deal, but then the ending would be some ridiculous resolution that barely makes sense.

Jason, if you were going to build the ultimate "Best of the Weisinger Superman" book that would be collected in an omnibus style hardcover, which issues or stories would you choose? Let's set a limit of 20 comics' worth of stories.

To put Jason C's theory to the test, I've tracked down which post-1958 stories were written by Edmond Hamilton and which were by Otto Binder, and have been reading them... for those interested:

Edmond Hamilton Silver Age Issues

Action Comics (1938)

#119 - 'Superman for a Day'
#135 - 'The Case of the Human Statues!'
#137 - 'The Man with the Charmed Life'
#138 - 'Superman Scoop Parade'
#147 - 'Superman Becomes Miss Lovelorn'
#148 - 'Superman, Indian Chief'
#151 - 'Superman's Super-Magic Show'
#167 - 'The Machines Of Crime'
#186 - 'Haunted Superman'
#189 - 'Clark Kent's New Mother And Father!'
#191 - 'Calling Doctor Superman'
#223 - 'The First Superman Of Krypton'
#229 - 'The Superman Satellite'
#234 - 'The Creature Of 1,000 Disguises'
#239 - 'Superman’s New Face'
#293 - "The Feud Between Superman and Clark Kent!"
#294 - 'The Kryptonite Killer!'
#300 - "Superman Under the Red Sun!"
#301 - "The Trial Of Superman"
#303 - "The Monster From Krypton!"
#309 - 'The Superman Super-Spectacular'
#314 - 'The Day Superman Became The Flash!'
#318 - 'The Death Of Luthor'
#319 - "The Condemned Superman"
#321 - 'Superman--Weakest Man in the World!'
#327 - 'The Three Generations Of Superman!'
#329 - 'The Ultimate Enemy!'
#330 - "The Strange 'S' Spell on Superman"
#336 - "The Man From The Phantom Zone!"
#338 - "Muto - Monarch Of Menace!"
#339 - "Muto Versus The Man Of Tomorrow!"

Adventure Comics (1938)

#240 - "The Super-Teacher From Krypton"
#301 - "Lex Luthor And Clark Kent: Cellmates!"
#306 - "The Legion Of Substitute Heroes!"
#307 - "The Secret Power Of The Mystery Super-Hero!"
#308 - "The Return Of Lightning Lad!"
#309 - "The Legion Of Super-Monsters!"
#310 - "The Doom Of The Super-Heroes!"
#311 - "The War Between The Substitute Heroes And The Legionnaires!"
#312 - "The Super-Sacrifice Of The Legionnaires!"
#313 - "The Condemned Legionnaires!" (Swan)
#314 - "The Super-Villains Of All Ages!"
#315 - "The Legionaire's Super-Contest!"
#316 - "The Renegade Super-Hero!" & "The Origins And Powers Of The Legion Of Super-Heroes" (Swan)
#317 - "The Menace Of Dream Girl!"
#318 - "The Mutiny Of The Legionnaires!"
#319 - "The Legion's Suicide Squad!"
#321 - "The Code Of The Legion!"
#322 - "Tales Of The Legion Of Superheroes"
#324 - "The Legion Of Super-Outlaws!"
#327 - "The Lone Wolf Legionnaire!"
#332 - "The Super-Moby Dick Of Space!"
#334 - "The Unknown Legionnaire!"
#335 - "Starfinger!"
#337 - "The Weddings That Wrecked The Legion!"
#339 - "Hunters Of The Super-Beasts!"
#342 - "The Legionnaire Who Killed!" (Swan)
#343 - "The Evil Hand Of The Luck Lords!" (Swan)
#344 - "The Super-Stalag Of Space!" (Swan)
#345 - "The Execution Of Matter-Eater Lad!" (Swan)

Superboy (1949)

#120 - "The Invulnerable Imp!"
#123 - "When Krypto Was Sold"

Superman (1939)

#106 - "Superman's First Exploit"
#148 - 'Mr. Mxyzptlk's Super-Mischief!'
#153 - 'The Town Of Supermen!'
#154 - 'The Underwater Pranks of Mr. Mxyzptlk!'
#155 - 'The Downfall Of Superman!'
#156 - 'The Last Days of Superman!'
#157 - "The Super-Revenge Of The Phantom Zone Prisoner!"
#158 - 'Superman In Kandor'
#159 - 'Lois Lane, The Super-Maid Of Krypton!'
#161 - 'Superman Goes To War!'
#163 - 'Wonder-Man, the New Hero of Metropolis!'
#164 - 'The Showdown Between Luthor And Superman!'
#166 - 'The Fantastic Story Of Superman's Sons!'
#167 - 'The Team Of Luthor And Brainiac!'
#168 - 'Luthor - - Super-Hero!'
#171 - 'The Nightmare Ordeal Of Superman'
#172 - 'The New Superman!'
#174 - 'Clark Kent's Incredible Delusion!'
#175 - 'Clark Kent's Brother!'
#181 - 'The Superman Of 2465!'
#227 - 'Featuring Special All Kryptonite Issue!'
#239 - 'Superman's Greatest Battles!'

World's Finest Comics (1941)

#73 - 'Batman And Superman, Swamis Inc!'
#74 - 'The Contest Of Heroes!'
#76 - 'When Gotham City Challenged Metropolis!'
#77 - 'The Super Bat-Man!'
#78 - 'When Superman's Identity Is Exposed!'
#79 - 'The Three Magicians Of Bagdad!'
#80 - 'The Super-Newspaper Of Gotham City!'
#81 - 'The True History Of Superman And Batman!'
#82 - 'The Three Super Musketeers!'
#84 - 'The Super Mystery Of Metropolis!'
#85 - 'The Super-Rivals!'
#88 - "Superman's And Batman's Greatest Foes!"
#89 - 'The Club Of Heroes!'
#90 - 'The Super - Batwoman'
#91 - 'The Three Super-Sleepers!'
#92 - 'The Boy From Outer Space!'
#94 - 'The Origin Of The Superman-Batman Team!'
#96 - 'The Super-Foes From Planet X!'
#141 - 'The Olsen-Robin Team Versus The 'Superman-Batman Team'!'
#142 - 'The Origin of the Composite Superman!'
#146 - 'Batman, Son of Krypton'
#159 - 'The Cape And Cowl Crooks!'
#179 (Special Reprint) - 'The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team'
#180 - 'Superman's Perfect Crime!'
#225 - 'Bow Before Satan's Children!'
#227 - 'Death Flaunts Its Golden Grin'

Otto Binder Silver Age Issues

Action Comics (1938)

#127 - 'Superman Takes The Consequences'
#128 - 'The Adventure of Little Red'
#129 - 'Lois Lane, Cavegirl'
#130 - 'Superman and the Mermaid'
#131 - 'The Scrambled Superman'
#132 - 'The Secret of the Kents'
#133 - 'The World's Most Perfect Girl'
#134 - 'Super Cowboy'
#135 - 'The Case of the Human Statues!'
#136 - 'Superman, Show-Off'
#137 - 'The Man with the Charmed Life'
#138 - 'Superman Scoop Parade'
#139 - 'Clark Kent, Daredevil'
#140 - 'Superman Becomes A Hermit'
#141 - 'Luthor's Secret Weapon'
#142 - 'The Conquest Of Superman'
#143 - 'The Bride Of Superman'
#144 - 'Clark Kent's Career'
#145 - 'Merton Gloop And His Magic Horseshoe'
#146 - 'The Statues That Came to Life'
#182 - 'The Return of Planet Krypton'
#195 - 'Lois Lane -- Wanted'
#200 - 'Tests of a Warrior'
#202 - 'Lois Lane’s X-Ray Vision'
#204 - 'The Man Who Could Make Superman Do Anything'
#205 - 'Sergeant Superman'
#206 - 'Superman Marries Lois Lane'
#207 - 'The Four Superman Medals'
#208 - 'The Magic of Mr. Mxyztplk'
#209 - 'The Man Who Was Mightier Than Superman'
#210 - 'Superman In Superman Land'
#211 - 'The Superman Spectaculars'
#212 - 'The Superman Calendar'
#213 - 'Paul Paxton Alias Superman'
#214 - 'Superman, Super-Destroyer'
#215 - 'The Superman of Tomorrow'
#216 - 'The Super-Menace From Krypton!'
#217 - 'The Amazing Super-Baby'
#218 - 'The Super-Ape from Krypton'
#219 - 'Superman’s Treasure Hoard'
#220 - 'The Interplanetary Olympics'
#221 - 'Superman’s New Super-Power'
#222 - 'The Duplicate Superman!'
#223 - 'The First Superman Of Krypton'
#224 - 'The Secret of Superman Island'
#225 - 'The Death of Superman'
#226 - 'The Invulnerable Enemy'
#227 - 'The Man with the Triple X-Ray Eyes'
#228 - 'Superman’s Super Skyscraper'
#229 - 'The Superman Satellite'
#230 - 'Superman Loses His Powers'
#231 - 'Sir Jimmy Olsen, Knight of Metropolis'
#232 - 'The Story Of Superman, Junior'
#233 - 'The Land Of A Million Supermen'
#234 - 'The Creature Of 1,000 Disguises'
#235 - 'The Super-Prisoner Of Amazon Island'
#236 - 'Superman's New Uniform!'
#237 - 'Superman’s Exposed Identity'
#238 - 'The Super-Gorilla From Krypton'
#239 - 'Superman’s New Face'
#240 - 'Secret of the Superman Sphinx'
#241 - 'The Super-Key To Fort Superman'
#242 - 'The Super-Duel in Space'
#243 - 'The Lady and the Lion'
#244 - 'The Super-Merman of the Sea'
#245 - 'The Shrinking Superman'
#246 - 'Krypton On Earth'
#247 - 'The Return of Superman's Lost Parents'
#248 - 'The Man No Prison Could Hold'
#249 - 'The Kryptonite Man'
#250 - 'The Eye of Metropolis'
#251 - "The Giant Amoeba of Space"
#252 - "The Supergirl From Krypton!"
#253 - "The Secret of the Super-Orphan"
#254 - "The Battle With Bizarro!"
#255 - 'The Bride of Bizarro!'
#256 - "The Superman of the Future"
#257 - "The Reporter Of Steel!"
#258 - "Supergirl's Farewell To Earth!"
#259 - "The Cave-Girl of Steel"
#260 - "Mighty Maid" & "The Girl Superbaby!"
#262 - "Supergirl's Greatest Victory!"
#263 - "The World of Bizarros" & "Supergirl's Darkest Day"
#264 - "The Superman Bizarro"
#265 - 'The Superman From Outer Space!'
#267 - 'Hercules In The 20th Century!'
#268 - 'Superman's Battle With Hercules!'
#270 - 'The Old Man of Metropolis!'
#271 - 'Voyage to Dimension X!'
#272 - "The Second Supergirl!"
#273 - 'The World Of Mr. Mxyzptlk!'
#317 - 'Superman's Rainbow Face!'
#320 - 'The Three Super-Enemies!'
#323 - "Clark Kent In The Big House!"
#326 - 'The Legion Of Super-Creatures!'
#331 - "Clark Kent's Masquerade as Superman"
#335 - "The Prize of Peril"
#336 - "The Forbidden Fortress Of Solitude!"
#337 - "The Green Sun Supergirl!"
#341 - 'Superman Versus Super Clark Kent!'
#342 - "The Day Supergirl Became an Amazon!"
#344 - 'Superman's Nightmare Dreams'
#347 - Reprints
#349 - "Supergirl's Black Deeds"
#350 - 'The Secret of the Stone-Age Superman!'
#351 - "Zha-Vam the Invincible!"
#352 - 'The Victory Of Zha-Vam!'
#353 - "The Battle Of The Gods!"
#357 - "Supergirl's Secret Marriage!"
#359 - 'The Case Of The People Against Superman!'
#361 - 'The Power of the Parasite!'
#362 - 'The Head Of Hate!'
#363 - 'The Leper From Krypton!'
#364 - 'The Untouchable of Metropolis'
#367 - 'Mysteries Of The Superman Awards!'
#368 - 'The Unemployed Superman!'
#369 - "Superman's Greatest Blunder"
#371 - 'The President of Steel'
#372 - 'The Grappler of Steel'
#374 - 'Alias Super-Thief!'
#375 - 'The Big Forget'
#376 - 'The Only Way to Kill Superman!'
#377 - 'The Cage Of Doom!'

Adventure Comics (1938)

#211 - "Superboy's Most Amazing Dream!"
#242 - "The Kid From Krypton"
#245 - "The Mystery Of Monster X"
#247 - "The Legion of Super-Heroes"
#251 - "Superboy's Last Day!"
#255 - "The Splitting Of Superboy"
#256 - "The Dragnet For Superboy"
#257 - "The First Two Supermen!"
#259 - "The Blind Boy Of Steel!"
#261 - "Superboy Meets Lois Lane!"
#262 - "The Colossal Superdog!"
#263 - "The Great Superboy Doublecross!"
#264 - "The Helpless Hero!"
#265 - "The First Superman Robot!"
#268 - "The Week That Clark Kent Lost His Memory!"
#278 - "Supergirl In Smallville!"
#279 - "Superboy Visits The 50th Century!"
#282 - "Lana Lang And The Legion Of Super-Heroes!"
#289 - "Clark Kent's Super-Father"
#320 - "The Revenge Of The Knave From Krypton!"
#355 - "The Six-Legged Legionnaire!"

Superboy (1949)

#122 - "Clark Kent's Butler"
#124 - "The Insect Queen of Smallville"
#125 - "The Bald Boy of Steel"
#126 - "The Wild Teen-Agers" & "Krypto's Family Tree!"
#130 - "Superbaby's Search For A Pet"
#132 - 'The Youth Who Was Braver Than Superboy!'
#133 - "Superbaby's First Foster-Parents!"
#136 - "Decoy Of The Doom Statues!"
#140 - "Beware the Mad Dog of Steel!"
#145 - "The Fantastic Faces!"

Superman (1939)

#97 - "The Big Game Hunt Of Metropolis!"
#111 - "The Non-Super Superman"
#122 - "The Secret of the Space Souvenirs"
#123 - 'The Girl Of Steel'
#124 - "Mrs. Superman" & "The Steeplejack of Steel"
#126 - "Superman's Hunt for Clark Kent"
#127 - "Titano The Super-Ape!"
#129 - "Clark Kent Fireman Of Steel!"
#130 - 'The Town That Hated Superman!'
#131 - 'Superman's Future Wife'
#132 - 'Superman's Other Life/Future, Super-Hero of Krypton!/The Superman of Two Worlds!'
#133 - 'The Super-Luck Of Badge 77'
#134 - ' The Super-Outlaw From Krypton'
#138 - 'Titano The Super-Ape'
#139 - 'The New Life of Super-Merman!'
#140 - 'The Son Of Bizarro!'
#142 - 'Lois Lane's Secret Helper!'
#143 - "Bizarro Meets Frankenstein!"
#146 - 'The Story of Superman's Life!'
#173 - 'The Triumph of Luthor and Brainiac!'
#176 - 'Superman's Day of Truth!'
#177 - 'The Menace Called It!'
#179 - 'The Outlaw Fort Knox!'
#184 - 'The Demon Under The Red Sun!'
#186 - 'The Two Ghosts Of Superman!'
#188 - 'The School For Superman Assassins!'
#189 - 'Krypton Lives Again!'
#192 - 'Clark Kent's Super-Son!'
#194 - 'The Death Of Lois Lane!'
#196 - 'The Star Of Steel!'
#205 - 'The Man Who Destroyed Krypton!'
#215 - 'Lois Lane... Dead... Yet Alive'
#239 - 'Superman's Greatest Battles!'
#242 - 'The Ultimate Battle!'

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (1958)

#1 - "Lois Lane, Super Chef"
#2 - "Lois Lane In Hollywood"
#3 - "The Rainbow Superman"
#4 - "The Super-Courtship of Lois Lane" & "Lois Lane, Working Girl"
#5 - "The Fattest Girl In Metropolis"
#14 - "Three Nights In The Fortress Of Solitude!"
#17 - 'Lana Lang, Superwoman!'
#19 - 'Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Superman) Kent!'
#23 - "The 10 Feats Of Elastic Lass!"
#27 - "The Last Days Of Lois Lane!"
#56 - "Lois Lane Super-Telepath!"
#58 - 'The Captive Princess'
#60 - 'Get Lost, Superman!'
#61 - 'Superman's Marriage Money!'
#81 - 'No Witnesses In Outer Space!'

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954)

#1 - "The Boy of 100 Faces!" & "Case of the Lumberjack Jinx!"
#2 - All Stories
#3 - All Stories
#4 - All Stories
#5 - All Stories
#6 - All Stories
#7 - All Stories
#8 - All Stories
#9 - All Stories
#10 - All Stories
#11 - All Stories
#12 - All Stories
#13 - All Stories
#14 - All Stories
#15 - All Stories
#16 - All Stories
#17 - All Stories
#18 - All Stories
#19 - All Stories
#20 - All Stories
#21 - All Stories
#22 - All Stories
#23 - All Stories
#24 - All Stories
#25 - All Stories
#26 - All Stories
#27 - All Stories
#28 - All Stories
#29 - All Stories
#30 - All Stories
#31 - All Stories
#32 - All Stories
#33 - All Stories
#34 - All Stories
#35 - All Stories
#36 - All Stories
#37 - "The Jimmy Olsen Signal-Watch!" & "The Elastic Lad of Metropolis!"
#39 - All Stories
#40 - "The Invisible Life of Jimmy Olsen!" & "Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl's Pal!"
#41 - "The Robot Reporter!" & "Jimmy Olsen, The Boy Swordsman!"
#44 - "The Wolf-Man of Metropolis!"
#51 - "The Girl With Green Hair!"
#89 - 'Olsen's Super-Survival Kit!'
#90 - 'The Brain-Washing of Big Jimmy!'
#112 - 'The Murderous Magnaman!'
#118 - 'Hippie-Olsen's Hate-In!'

World's Finest Comics (1941)

#105 - 'The Alien Superman!'
#181 - 'The Hunter and the Hunted!'
#185 - 'The Galactic Gamblers'

This is Bronze Age, but it is one of my favorite Superman stories.

Superman needing a flying car that punches people is so beyond dumb, that it is awesome.

I suspect that story was written deliberately to promote the Supermobile toy that was manufactured by Corgi, which coincidentally hit the market around the same time this issue was published.

I just chose 20 stories rather than 20 comics' worth of stories because figuring out the page counts was more work than I felt like doing. Some of these stories were full-issue, some were just 8-pagers:

1. Superman's New Power- Superman 125- by Jerry Coleman: Superman loses all his powers but gains the ability to project a miniature super-powered version of himself who is able to act in his stead to stop crimes and rescue people. He then proceeds to get jealous of this mini me, and starts plotting ways to make it die "accidentally." Weird psychological stuff like this was a hallmark of the Weisinger era, and this one was a childhood favorite I had in a book-and-record set.

2. The Girl in Superman's Past- Superman 129- Bill Finger: The first Lori Lemaris story. A wistful story about first love that's extremely well-crafted.

3. The Son of Bizarro- Superman 140- Otto Binder: Have to have at least one Bizarro story here. In this one, Bizarro Lois gives birth to a son who is "normal" and the kid heads for Earth after being rejected by Bizarro society.

4. Superman's Return to Krypton- Superman 141- Jerry Siegel: Superman travels to the past and visits pre-explosion Krypton, meeting his parents and falling in love with Lyla Lerol. A tear-jerker of the sort Siegel specialized in.

5. The Story of Superman's Life- Superman 146- Binder: The definitive silver-age retelling of Superman's origin and history.

6. The Death of Superman- Superman 149- Siegel: A classic Imaginary Story and another Siegel tear jerker. Luthor goes to the trouble of curing cancer simply as a ruse to gain Superman's trust so he can then kill him... now THAT's hatred. Alan Moore obviously loved this story.

7. Last Days of Superman- Superman 156- Edmond Hamilton: The flipside of the previous story... this one is not imaginary but Superman almost dies anyway.

8. Superman in Kandor- Superman 158- Hamilton: The expanded universe of the Weisinger era was a huge part of its appeal. Here's a great Kandor story in which Superman and Jimmy become Nightwing and Flamebird, the Dynamic Duo of Kandor.

9. Superman Red Superman Blue- Superman 162- Leo Dorfman: If Death of Superman is the ultimate downer Imaginary Story, this is the opposite. Superman duplicates himself and solves every single problem in his life and in the world, and manages to make everyone happy.

10. The Sweetheart the Superman Forgot- Superman 165- Siegel: A weird little story that reads more like a romance comic than a Superman story. Superman loses his memory and falls in love. It illustrates the classic romantic conflict in the series... Superman wants to be loved for who he is rather than what he can do, and ultimately doesn't trust that Lois truly loves him.

11. The Showdown Between Luthor and Superman- Superman 164- Hamilton: Luthor and Superman end up on a planet where Luthor is hailed as a hero and Superman is seen as the villain.

12. The Team of Luthor and Brainiac- Superman 167- Hamilton (based on a concept by Cary Bates): Covered upthread.

13. If Luthor Were Superman's Father- Superman 170- Siegel: Another imaginary story that is pretty f**ked up psychologically. Luthor travels back in time to Krypton, with a plan to seduce Lara and get her to marry him instead of Jor-El. His reasoning is that he will then be Superman's father, and when he returns to his own time he will be able to commit crimes with impunity because Superman will be unwilling to arrest his own father. As shown by this and The Death of Superman, Siegel's Luthor is all about the long game.

14. Clark Kent's Incredible Delusion- Superman 174- Hamilton: Clark finds out his belief that he is Superman is just a delusion.

15. The Real Clark Kent- Superman 198- Cary Bates- The real Clark Kent shows up and reveals Superman has been keeping him prisoner for years and masquerading as him.

16. Superman's Race with the Flash- Superman 199- Jim Shooter: Shooter was a kid himself, so he knew the sort of stories us kids would want to read.

17 The Supergirl From Krypton- Action 252- Binder: The debut of Supergirl. I haven't included a lot of milestone stories on my list, but this one deserves to be here for its overall importance to the expanded universe of Superman.

18. Superman Under the Red Sun- Action 300- Hamilton: Possibly my favorite Hamilton story. Superman is trapped and de-powered in the distant future, and must rely on his wits. A great example of the creative ways the writers put Superman into dramatic situations despite his abilities.

19. The Power of the Parasite- Action 340- Shooter: Shooter deliberately created the Parasite so he could write a Marvel-style story in which Superman has to fight with his fists, something that rarely happened in the Weisinger era. An interesting change of pace.

20. Puzzle of the Wild World- Action 388- Bates: Perhaps the epitome of getting the readers' attention with a cover. A bizarre story that's not imaginary.

That was fun. What would be on your list?

(See pages 70 and 71 of this thread.)