Showcase Presents: Superman Part 1

I recently picked up Showcase Presents: Superman at my local comic shop and thought I would share some of the wonderful stories with you. Showcase Presents is series that DC puts out which is a collection of older issues of their best characters. The first volume of Superman collects issues of Action and Superman comics from 1958-1959. I will be going through this book ever Tuesday (you know, Comics Tuesdays) for a while until I complete it. I hope you all enjoy it.

Now, this won't be like most comic blogs with scanned pictures posted throughout. Mostly because I don't have a scanner, but the stories should speak for themselves, but also because I want to go through the whole book in the next few weeks, and I want non-comics readers to enjoy the kookiness that us comics readers understand from the Silver Age. While I may mock these stories, I am not making anything up, this is all straight from the comics! While I may mock, I love these stories and the character of Superman. This is great stuff! The cover scans are from The Grand Comics Database.

Action Comics #241
The first story, "The Super-Key to Fort Superman" is all about the Fortress of Solitude. Actually, it is the introduction of the Fortress of Solitude. This is essentially where Superman stores all his junk, or "trophies" and souvenirs." He also has rooms devoted to Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Batman, and Clark Kent. These rooms have full size wax figures and all sorts of memorabilia related to his friends. It's kinda creepy.

This story is essentially a mystery. Someone breaks into the Fortress, which boggles Superman's mind as the key is too big for anyone to move and the door is too heavy for anyone to budge. One day when Superman heads to the FoS to perform some experiment there is writing on the wall taunting him to figure out who broke in and how.

After being very upset and coming and going multiple times we find out that Batman hollowed out part of the key and hid inside. He has been hiding in the FoS for at least two days and posed as his own wax statue when Superman was there. Why did the World's Greatest Detective break into Superman's private sanctuary? Obviously, it was a Birthday present! Nothing is better than a difficult mystery to solve, right? Please, no one break into my house for my birthday. I will not be happy.

Superman #122

There are three stories included in the collection, "The Secret of the Space Souvenirs," "Superman in the White House," and "The Super-Sergeant."

"The Secret of the Space Souvenirs." While working one day Superman all of a sudden falls into a trance and takes off into space to collect different objects (aka souvenirs) to put into a time capsule to be opened in the 50th century. He collects, from various planets and moons in the solar system: a musical mineral, six-legged horse fossil, giant snowflakes, flying saucer of Atlantis, a knotted tree, a martian statue, a rainbow flower, and a stone Superman head.

When you take the first letter of the locations that these objects came from, it spells Superman! Hurray! So, why did he collect these things? Well, obviously, it was the people of the 50th century compelling Superman to collect these things across time so that they could honor him in the future. Well, duh.

"Superman in the White House." Jimmy Olsen is assigned to write about famous presidents, so, while looking at a portrait of Superman, he gets knocked on the head and dreams of a Superman presidency. Jimmy's dream consists of Superman solving the country's problem with his super powers. Three assassins try to kill him at once: one with a knife, one with a gun, and one with a bomb. These must be the stupidest men in America.

Other feats of Presidency: He shakes the hands of a million people lined up outside the White House. He throws out the first ball of the opening game of baseball season, and he throws it so hard that the ball goes from Washington DC all the way to Tokyo. Also, to balance the $387 million budget deficit (so big!) he finds sunken treasure on boats to cover the shortfall. He also christens a warship and is then forced to push it out to sea because it is stuck in low tide (awkward for the Navy I guess). Finally, Jimmy wakes up and realizes that his dream could never come true because Superman is not a native-born American (sorry Arnold).

The last story, and the cover story is "The Super-Sergeant." No, Superman doesn't join the army (that happens later). Instead he is struck by lightning, which then hits a GI who gets a carbon copy of Superman's powers. Also, he doesn't notice. Lightning in the '50s must have been weak. Clark Kent then signs up for one week in the army to keep an eye on the poor guy. Superman has to fix the Super Sergeant's screw-ups, but will not work to get rid of his powers (apparently as easy as exposing him to Kyptonite).

We soon learn that Superman is actually trying to trick two spies who are on the army base into believing that the US army has created super soldiers. They run off to tell their superiors, which is all Superman cared about I guess. So, the Russians freak out and call off their attacks while the spies run free with bad intel. Superman then takes away the sergeant's powers with no warning. What a jerk.

I'll be back next week with more great and bizarre stories from Showcase Presents: Superman. Tune in tomorrow when we talk about some summer TV programming.