I've read this one and no, it's not great. If memory serves, this was reprinted in one of those black and white paperbacks from the 70s.
Anyway, the gist is that Superboy finds Jor-El and Lara floating in space as you see them on the cover. In the end, he's unable to wake them anyway as it will result in their immediate deaths. :roll:
I remember the art was by Bob Brown with maybe Wally Wood on inks, so at least it looked nice. Story maybe by Frank Robbins? Anyway, I tend to file it with such "revelations" as Bruce Wayne's forgotten brother and Clark Kent's hypnotic glasses. Apocrypha.
Well the hypnotic glasses were to adress the problem of why if somebody had pictures of Clark Kent and Superman side by side they did not see the simularities. Thanks to the reference I know that this story was told in in Superboy #158 (July 1969). But there are some practical problems here - had it not been established by that time that green K did not work on non-superpower Krytonians? So simple have one of the many robot he had take the ship to a red sunned planet and open it up there.
Of course when it came to common sence solutions there were times when Superman/boy could be Stupidman/boy.
For example you just built a lab for your friend filled with toxic chemicals which is now ablaze. Do you:
a) use your superbreath and blow out the flame and risk hitting your firend with what ever is in the lab?
b) use your superspeed and wrap your invulnrable cape around them to prevent them from being further hurt by the fumes?
You are flying around and see some bank roobers Do you:
a) Rush in sure your superpowers can deal with them only to find out that one of them has a lead box with Green K in it?
b) use your vision powers to see that one fo them has a lead box and ue your heat vision to weld the thing such and then go in and take card of the?
If You were the Silver-Bronze age Supermboy/man option a) was usially the first and only choice. I love the character but too many time writers turned Superman in to a Superidiot.