Friday, July 4, 2008

Superboy #150

Superboy #150 (On Sale: July 4, 1968) has a cover by Neal Adams.

"The Stranger Who Stalks Smallville" is by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Jack Abel. During an intense storm, Superboy discovers that the nearby dam has been damaged. He repairs the dam using a strange indestructible parachute which he finds nearby. When he returns home he finds that a mysterious stranger has invaded the Kent home. The stranger is a robot who parachuted into Smallville and struck the dam. Calling himself Mr. Cipher, the robot orders the Kents to stay inside the house.

Superboy cannot act against him because his x-ray vision reveals a bomb inside the robot. Superboy quickly builds a bomb-proof room in the basement. He then lures Mr. Cipher downstairs, but the robot hits him with Kryptonite. The Boy of Steel only recovers when some chemicals accidentally combine to provide a temporary antidote.

Lana then stops by the house for dinner. The Kents quickly learn that another Cipher robot has invaded the Lang home.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

2 comments:

Dave said...

I acquired a beat-up copy of this issue sometime in the 70s. I remember thinking this story was really creepy and suspenseful.

-Keller said...

I don't remember it at all, but I think the book improved a lot when Frank Robbins took over the scripting.