Superman #219

Superman #219 (On Sale: June 17, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Neal Adams. I'm not quite sure how to express this, but Neal had a way of making Curt Swan's faces look even more Curt Swanish; he knew what to slightly exaggerate to get the most out of the facial expressions.

We begin with "Clark Kent, Hero... Superman, Public Enemy," a 17-page Superman story by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Jack Abel. Clark Kent wakes up one morning to find himself a celebrated hero. Like a Beatle, he has to escape of mob of adoring fans. When he changes into Superman, he discovers that he is now an outcast. The Superman Museum is vandalized, and charity events are cancelled. What he also discovers, is that  that a week has passed that he has no memory of.

Eventually Superman does regain his memory and recalls how aliens staged a mock invasion of Earth. They utilized hypnosis to create the myth that Clark Kent was a hero who thwarted the invasion and Superman was a coward.

Following the aliens back to their home planet, the Man of Steel discovers they are all three-foot-tall duplicates of Clark Kent. Superman is told of a cosmic cloud that passed their planet, turning their entire race into shapeless amoeba creatures. They built a machine that could mold them back into a humanoid form, and used Clark Kent as the model. Many of the aliens wanted Clark Kent to be seen as a hero, so they staged the invasion to build up Clark's image.

This is followed by "The Super Heat-Wave of Metropolis," a seven-pager by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and Joe Giella. As sunspots create a heat wave in Metropolis, Superman notices that the heat appears to have no effect on a blind beggar who is not sweating. Superman solves an immediate crisis, by refilling a dry lake and then returns to confront the beggar.

The beggar is actually Vor-Kil, a Phantom Zone criminal.  The intense sunspots opened up a rift in the Phantom Zone, allowing the criminal to escape. Superman and Vor-Kil battle above Metropolis until Superman  leads Vor-Kil into a trap. Jimmy Olsen appears with a Phantom Zone projector and sends Vor-Kil back to the Zone.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.