Adekis
Superman Emergency Squad
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Posts: 58
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« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2011, 12:01:44 AM » |
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This is tough... um... there's one where a guy named Harry Winters is dressed like Superman and does Super-feats with Clark Kent's help while making sure crooks are convinced that he is, in fact, Superman, but I think that was late 50s, not that I think it's fair to call the Silver Age a single decade... So how about this: 1) How Luthor Met Superboy! - This is one of my favorite Luthor stories. I always prefer a mildly heroic Luthor vs. a Superman whom he view as a villain. I could be wrong, but I do think this is the first real example of that. Its only real flaw, from my point of view, is that during the Silver Age, Luthor had brown hair instead of red. Oh well.
2) The Showdown Between Luthor and Superman! - And if the last story was the first heroic Luthor, I think this is certainly the best heroic Luthor. He gives up the chance to defeat Superman and be a hero for it, his dearest ambition, in order to help people. Superman and Luthor both get what they want.
3) The COMPLETE SAGA of SUPERMAN and JIMMY OLSEN as NIGHTWING and FLAMEBIRD - this was the FIRST SUPERMAN COMIC I EVER READ. It was reprinted in a Giant-Sized Jimmy Olsen, and while I knew who Superman was, this new kid Jimmy was a surprise, and he seemed to be the second coolest guy in the universe, after Superman himself. It was my first real introduction into Superman's world. I read it when I was six or seven, at my Grandpa's house. It sat in a pile of comics Grandpa had bought my Dad and his brothers and sisters when they were kids, and I tore into it. Everything was there, and it was all cool. They had everything! Spider-Man! Batman! Superman! A JLA/JSA crossover!
But the first one I read was the Jimmy Olsen special. The kid didn't interest me much until he started shape-shifting into werewolves and Elastic Lad and the like. But the stories that really captured my imagination were the ones that took place in Kandor. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what happened to that comic. If I ever find it, I'm scanning every page and reprinting all of it.
While I don't remember all the mysteries and mayhem the two got into, I remember a series of panels that will probably stay with me for as long as I love Superman - Superman walks through the door of a Kandorian scientist's lab. He's a fairly prominent recurring character. Superman believes he sees his parents for a split second saying something to the effect of "-gulp- Jor-El and Lara- my parents! But that's impossible!" before realizing that it's merely a hologram, set up in honor of them by the scientist, who was a friend of theirs. Doubtless a long talk would have occurred on the subject, but there was no time. Superman and Jimmy had crime to fight, and duty had to take priority.
The second panel I remember had Nightwing and Flamebird trying their jet-packs out in an aerial fight for the first time. Jimmy was thinking how fast and slick they operated, how cool it felt to be able to fly! Superman was thinking how awkward and clumsy they were compared to his normal flight, and how he wished he was faster, in order to more easily defeat the Kandorian criminals.
That is easily the most important memory I have of the Silver Age.
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