Friday, November 2, 2007

Superman #203

Superman #203 (On Sale: November 2, 1967) features a cover by Curt Swan and George Klein.

Inside we have "Clark Kent's Biggest Day" by Leo Dorfman and Al Plastino. Reporter Diana Adair is assigned to follow Clark Kent for a day in the life story for Eye Magazine. Clark tracks down the Long-Hair Gang, but is forced to conceal his super powers with Diana nearby. The gang tries to murder Clark, making it more difficult to protect his secret identity.

Next is "Superman's Black Magic" by Jerry Siegel and Al Plastino and reprinted from Superman #138. Clark Kent attends a costume party at the Daily Planet in a devil costume. He has to leave suddenly when he spots two wanted criminals outside. To gather evidence against them, the Man of Steel uses his powers to pretend he is the devil.

And finally the cover story, "When Superman Killed His Friends" by E. Nelson Bridwell and Pete Costanza. After helping build canals on an alien world, Superman stops a giant meteor on a collision course with Earth. When he returns to the Daily Planet, his chest shield illuminates beneath his clothes, exposing his secret identity. Superman tries to get rid of the effect by bathing in the heart of the sun. He then returns to Earth, but his insignia fires deadly rays which kill his friends.

Superman learns that the rays came from a Doom Demon which he picked up during his demolition of the meteor. A space-hunter named Knarf has been hunting the demon, but is killed before he can tell Superman how to stop it. After Knarf's death, the demon tries to kill Superman too.

Superman then awakens on the alien world upon which he was building the canals. The aliens show him a chunk of Red Kryptonite that he was exposed to. Superman realizes that his encounter with the Doom Demon was only a dream. However, when he returns to Earth, he sees the same meteor on a collision course.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

2 comments:

Dave said...

"Clark tracks down the Long-Hair Gang . . ."

And Barry's been seeking revenge ever since!

-Keller said...

Actually it really points to how "un-hip" the DC writers were at this time and how clueless the editors were. I guess they figured that all the "long hairs" were over reading Marvels.