World's Finest Comics #191

World's Finest Comics #191 (On Sale: December 11, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Jack Abel.

We begin with Superman and Batman in "Execution on Krypton" by Cary Bates, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. On their way to see General Hill concerning a top secret project, Superman and Batman see Jor-El and Lara, who, when approached, disappears. However, before disappearing Jor-El mentions their "greatest crime" they were about to commit.

They decide to find the meaning of Jor-El's words when they are done with the General, but when they arrive they find the General recovering from a accident, so they decide to take a trip through time to investigate the strange appearance of Superman's parents. When they arrive back on Krypton in the past before Superman was even born, they stop a student protest (oy!) and meet Jor-El. They explain that they are hunters from another galaxy and Jor-El invites them to stay at their place.

Being the cordial hosts they are, Jor-El and Lara sneak away from their home, leaving two unknown aliens to roam it at will, to lead a secret crime school meeting. Superman and Batman follow them and learn that some unknown force transported Superman's parents' away, but they have no memory of where they went or what they saw.

Our two heroes are captured and placed in a glass cage where they will either die or prove they are worthy to join the crime school. This is exactly the image presented on the cover. They manage to escape and join the school, proving to be excellent students. Jor-El tells Superman and Batman that they are being sent to the island of Bokos to streal the pertrified body of Calox, an ancient explorer who was thought to be a god to stone-age Kryptonians.

Superman and Batman successfully snatch the body, bringing the body to Jor-El who discovers that Calox is not dead; he  is in suspended animation. While examining the body, Superman and Batman suddenly disappear, only to reappear back on Earth. General Hill, recovered from his wounds, explains that the army has created a time vortex. Jor-El and Lara were brought to Earth temporarily, but returned after twenty minutes. The heroes, who have also been brought to Earth via the vortex will return to Krypton too. Hill destroys the machine in order to keep Superman and Batman from being returned to Krypton.

The back-up Robin story is "Stone-Deaf Robin" reprinted from Star Spangled Comics #130 and is by David Reed and Jim Mooney. When Batman is away for a few days, a hand grenade is tossed at Dick Grayson by a thug "Fixer" O'Bannon, he loses his hearing. A deaf Robin must use all his cunning to capture "Fixer" even though he cannot hear. A few days later both Batman and Dick's hearing return.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.