POPS GUSTAV: Bronze Beauties #8: Action Comics

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Bronze Beauties #8: Action Comics

I decided that to plug my five part series on Superman and Superman Returns on mtv.com, I'll pick a different Supes comic from the 70s each time a new piece goes live. For this week's installment, here are two of my favorite Action Comics covers from that decade.

Action #392 (Sept. 1970)was the second of a two part "imaginary story" (as Alan Moore pointed out, "aren't they all?") speculating on what the sons of Superman and Batman might be like. In the story, Superman's really a douchebag, bitching that his son isn't nearly the hero-in-training that Batboy is, treating him like crap, even using gold kryptonite to take away his powers after Superkid wrecks a bunch of stuff in the Fortress of Solitude! In part 2, Superman realizes the folly of his ways and, utlizing some convenient "cosmo-kinetic bracelets," transfers his super powers to his son. It's a supremely silly, head-shaking puzzler of a story, but it blew my mind as a kid. The campy cover is by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

In June of 1978, in Action #484, Superman married Lois Lane (for the first time). Actually, this was the Earth-2 Superman, the character that DC published in the so-called Golden Age. He was Kal-L instead of Kal-El, he worked for the Daily Star, not the Daily Planet and he wasn't nearly as strong as the character as he had evolved into the late 1950s. Sound confusing? Don't worry about it, he went away after Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 80s, only to be resurrected and killed off in DC's recent atrocity Infinite Crisis. Just look at the lovely cover by José Luis Garcia-Lopez and Dick Giordano and it'll all be okay. (As a side note, in 1992, I used this image on the RSVP card for my wedding).

POSTSCRIPT, JULY 2013:
I've begun going back and adding extra covers to the Bronze Beauties posts, because a mere two covers just ain't gonna cut it for most of these entries. So added to the roster are 17 more great covers spanning the Bronze Age (the first one below was one of my very first comic books, and thus the recipient of much love!). Up, up, and away!