Tuesday, January 2, 2018

The Best Cover You've Never Seen--Superman #185 (1966)

OK, probably not the greatest cover...

...but it's so damned emblematic of Silver Age DC, it sort of serves as an ur-cover, a perfect encapsulation of the nuttiness.

And note the caption:

What do you mean "finally"??? Were you rooting for him to have a mortal weakness? And I would have thought that Superman already had a mortal weakness or two--kryptonite and magic!!

Speaking of kryptonite, unlike many of it's Silver Age ilk, this cover is 100% accurate! Exposure to that pesky red kryptonite has left Kal-El with one vulnerable spot on his body. He tells everybody about it, and wears a steal box to cover it. But a Metropolis gang believes that Superman is fibbing, because there's no way he would reveal his vulnerability--he must be trying to distract attention for his *real* vulnerable area! So they spend the story shooting various parts of Superman's body with poison arrows!

Yeah, that's Silver Age.

Anyway, dear readers, let's make this an end of holidays/back to work prizeless contest. Where do you think Superman's vulnerable body part is?!?

Answer tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. Well, given DC's consistent love of "irony" during this period, I'd say Superman's Achilles Heel was... his heel?

    (And yes, I know what irony is. DC's Silver Age writers and editors didn't, though.)

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