Title: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: Great Rao on January 25, 2005, 04:15:45 PM What happens when SUPERBOY discovers the FORBIDDEN WEAPONS from KRYPTON?
Find out in "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" (https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/tales4/phantomsuperboy/) (https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/superboy-lives/tomorrows-lesson/chapters/images/zone.jpg) (https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/tales4/phantomsuperboy/) A tip-of-the-hat to Mark Alfred for sending in this one! :s: Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: TELLE on January 25, 2005, 07:52:39 PM That's a great story --it had everything including huge chunks of Smallville life mixed in with Krypton stuff. The highlights include the young Superboy unwittingly killing a giant lizard he creates: "a victim of his own savage ferocity" (talk about blaming the victim --sheesh!). And I love how SB says, "that fool robot" --like the robot can help it!
Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: The Starchild on January 25, 2005, 09:56:15 PM Also the first appearance of Zod and his plans to rule the planet; and the introduction of the PZ ray projector.
Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: Klar Ken T5477 on January 26, 2005, 08:04:08 AM And of course, fans of "Superman Versus Atom Man" will see the ending to this tale coming an "empty doom" away. :wink:
Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: NotSuper on January 27, 2005, 04:23:37 AM Cool story, Rao. I'd love to see more Phantom Zone related stories.
Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: Continental Op on February 03, 2005, 08:00:30 PM This is one of those stories I've been wanting to see for a long time but could never find. As usual, I'm very grateful that a site like this exists and give many thanks to Great Rao!
It's always fascinating to see the way that Weisinger is still "establishing the rules" in the stories from the late 50s/early 60s. In this story, for example, Superboy shouldn't be able to tear open the giant metal box, since it was made of kryptonian metal and should therefore be even tougher on Earth than his skin is. A few years later, it's likely that someone (probably E. Nelson Bridwell!) would have had to explain a way around this problem in the letter column. My theory? The metal the box was composed of actually fell to Krypton as a meteor from some other region of the galaxy, and Jor-El found it to use in his experiments. Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: TELLE on February 03, 2005, 10:44:20 PM Quote from: "Continental Op" My theory? The metal the box was composed of actually fell to Krypton as a meteor from some other region of the galaxy, and Jor-El found it to use in his experiments. And the no-prize goes to ..... the Continental Op! Great detective work, C.O.! :D Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: MatterEaterLad on February 08, 2005, 03:22:14 PM I'm not sure about this, I can see how its molecular substance would be denser, but does inanimate matter get powers from a yellow sun? And if Silver Age Superman can survive an exploding sun, wouldn't that make any kryptonian metal the strongest matter in the entire universe?
Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: Super Monkey on February 08, 2005, 09:01:18 PM Quote from: "TELLE" Quote from: "Continental Op" My theory? The metal the box was composed of actually fell to Krypton as a meteor from some other region of the galaxy, and Jor-El found it to use in his experiments. And the no-prize goes to ..... the Continental Op! Great detective work, C.O.! :D No-Prize.... hey that's Marvel talk! You are ban... ;) :P just kidding Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: TELLE on February 09, 2005, 06:48:10 PM The DC editors would often ridicule the no-prize notion, I know, but what was the response when they couldn't wriggle out of a goof-up?
Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: Continental Op on February 10, 2005, 10:17:24 PM In the Sixties, Weisinger didn't really feel the need to explain his way out, but he would take the opportunity to make some kind of pun... like if someone wrote in, "Superman was drawn with two noses on the last page of the story!" ,the answer might be something like "Obviously, one of those was Clark Kent's nose for news!--Ed."
In the Seventies, E. Nelson Bridwell and later Bob Rozakis took over writing the letter columns. They would usually try to work in a pun AND come up with an explanation for the "mistake". Something like "Chameleon Boy was impersonating Superman on the last page of the story but gave himself two noses. Because a Legionnaire NOSE two are better than one!--ENB". Ah, simpler (cornier) times. Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: Klar Ken T5477 on February 11, 2005, 12:22:47 AM And if the boo-boo was "legitimate", Mort & the gang would just "fess up" and mea culpa or plug a like minded story appearing elsewhere that month in the Superman family line o' mags.
Title: Re: "The PHANTOM SUPERBOY!" Post by: SuperThinnker on February 11, 2005, 06:29:16 AM After the Crisis and the MOS, DC Comic come up with "Baldy" to give to people--a postcard that has Post-Crisis Lex Luthor's ugly mug on it.
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