TITLE: Superman vol. 1, issue 256
YEAR: September 1972
WRITTEN BY: Cary Bates
ART: Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson
EDITOR: Julie Schwartz
During the early ’70s, “Superman” still managed to maintain its family friendly storylines and quite often you received two stories for a wonderful price at 20 cents an issue.
But one thing that I’ve always loved about ’70s “Superman” is its artwork. Especially for the artwork of Curtis Swan, who is definitely known for his covers and art from the ’50s through ’80s but the artist known for creating the “Superman” that I grew up with and loved.
And definitely worthy of being one of the 50 in DC’s “Fifty Who Made DC Great”.
While the artwork was fantastic, the storylines were OK.
The early ’70s featured a Clark Kent who was a television reporter and his boss sends him to Bent Forks to investigate.
The first story is about an aeronautical engineer named Dr. John Novil who created a top secret cosmic ray aircraft known as “Sky-Dagger”. Unfortunately, due to the government feeling the project’s use of cosmic-ray propulsion was unstable and Bent Forks residents complaining about cosmic booms, Novil found a way to transfer his brain cells into intelligent electrical impulses but dies while he was doing it and now Sky-Dagger is being piloted by Novil’s consciousness (and showcasing his bad side).
Needless to say, Superman is trying to put a stop of this aircraft, but can Superman stop it?
The next story is about Clark Kent taking part in a “Brother for a Day” in which an adult serves as a brother to underpriviliged boys who need and older friend to look up to. Unfortunately, for this one boy, he gets Clark Kent, which the boy thinks immediately Clark is boring and a square.
Clark drives the boy to film the migration of rare yellow-speckled warblers (which bores the boy), but while driving, people froma nearby circus asks for help with Zeena, the Amazon Girl who was hypnotized ot being a tiger woman and she has now ran away.
Clark and the boy go to look for her but without revealing he is Superman, Clark must find a way to rescue Zeena, while being a “good brother for a day”.
Fun stories that I enjoyed as a kid but that was how DC Comics was back then and if you are discovering older comic books, for “Superman”, this is what many generations grew up reading. Nothing to deep, serious or dark. But storylines fitting for the Bronze Age of comic books.