World's Finest Comics #195

World's Finest Comics #195 (On Sale: June 11, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Superman and Batman in "Dig Now, Die Later" by Bob Haney, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Continuing from last issue, Superman and Batman have gone undercover to gather evidence against the mob. However, a head injury suffered by Batman causes him to believe that he really is mob leader Karl Lukaz. He exposes Superman's undercover identity to the gang and uses Kryptonite to weaken his friend. To escape the situation, Superman feigns memory loss of his own. Batman, as Lukaz, then plans to use Superman against his own friends Jimmy Olsen and Robin. 

Superman lures Robin and Jimmy to a junkyard and forces them to dig their own graves. Robin makes an appeal for mercy to Batman which snaps his mind back to normal. This appears to end the threat, but the real Lukaz suddenly appears. Superman convinces him that he is still working for the criminals by killing Robin and Jimmy with his heat vision. He then hands over evidence of their deaths to Lukaz.

Superman then grabs Batman and carries him away. Then the heroes wait. Lukaz takes the evidence to his secret vault. Superman planted transmitters which lead him there. The vault contains the evidence needed to convict Lukaz and his associates. Lukaz tries to stop the heroes, but Robin and Jimmy provide a timely assist to catch the crooks. Superman didn't kill them. He swapped them out for wax figures to fool Lukaz. With the evidence in hand and the crooks apprehended, Superman and Batman have successfully shut down the mob operation. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB and Showcase Presents: World's Finest Vol. 4 TPB.

The back-up features Congo Bill in "The Riddle of the Super-Zoo" by Jack Miller and Howard Sherman, reprinted from Action Comics #247. This was my first exposure to Congo Bill or Howard Sherman. Congo Bill was a long-running DC adventure strip, reminiscent of Alex Raymond's Jungle Jim newspaper strip. Debuting in More Fun Comics #56, the strip was a moderate success and ran there until issue #67, afterwards moving to Action Comics with issue #37. Action Comics #191 added Janu the Jungle Boy, a young boy brought up in the jungle after his father had been killed by a tiger. In 1954, DC published seven issues of Congo Bill. Congo Bill encountered the legendary golden gorilla in Action Comics #224 and was transformed into Congorilla and the title of the strip was likewise changed. The Congorilla series ran in Action Comics and Adventure Comics from 1959 to 1961.

Howard Sherman began his career doing pulp illustrations and cover paintings and moved to DC Comics in 1940, co-crating Dr. Fate with Gardner Fox. He would stay on Dr. Fate for the next three years. He also drew Slam Brady for nine years (1940-1949), the Wyoming Kid (1949 to 1960) and Congo Bill (1956-1961). He pulled stints on the Justice Society of America, Vigilante, Kit Carson, Batman, Tomahawk and many others before leaving comics in 1961 to enter the advertising field.

This story revolves around "Jungle Joe" scamming some rich Americans on safari into paying exorbitant fees to purchase supposedly smart animals. The animal acts are all frauds and when the buyers find out, Congo Bill and Janu scam Joe back with a meteor that supposedly makes animals smart in order to get the people's money back. 

Edited by Mort Weisinger.