Superman #141

SUPERMAN #141 (1960)
by Jerry Siegel & Wayne Boring

Something a little different: I’ve seen this story referenced SO many times that I’ve finally decided to actually review it.

We begin with Superman discovering a horrible monster orbiting Earth.

If you’re wondering what that creature is… we don’t find out: it flies away so fast that Superman breaks the time barrier when he tries to capture it (!!!!), but we’ll never see it again!

By sheer coincidence (????) Superman ends up on Krypton, where of course he’s going to lose his powers as soon as he lands.

Today we take for granted that Superman gets his powers from the Sun, but it was only revealed earlier that year in Action Comics #262 (in a Supergirl story, of all things!).

And that’s the plot of the story: Superman is stuck on Krypton without powers. That’s a great premise that holds up really well.
Him ending up as an extra in a Kryptonian movie… not so much.

The rocket used for the movie is actually a real one (????), but since it malfunctions the crew gets to enjoy some free time. And Superman gets to check out an actress.

He also hears about the news of his parents marrying. It might look strange, but according to other stories 99% of anything happening on Krypton involves Jor-El so no wonder he makes the news.

Here’s a bit of Superman trivia for you: Jor-El’s father was called Jor-El, and Lara’s mother was called Lara.
No wonder Kandor is full of lookalikes, I’m half convinced the planet is populated by clones!

Still, it’s pretty cool to see an alien marriage. There’s the slightest hint of worldbuilding by inventing weird (for us) traditions, even if there is no consistency whatsoever about these things in the Silver Age.

I have to admit that I’m kind of impressed by how much this comic manages to make Krypton feel like a real place, if a little goofy one. Not to mention that Superman’s alienation is very understated: there are very few panels where he’s speaking to anyone, most of the time he’s brooding by himself.

Superman decides that if he’s going to die on Krypton he might as well get to meet his parents, so he builds a gyroscope and presents it to Jor-El as a conversation piece.

Funny how a guy who keeps a secret identity reveals his real name so easily, but we can forgive him considering he’s talking to his dead parents.
Also note that at this point “Kal-El” is clearly considered Superman’s full name, and not “Kal” as a first name with “El” as a family name.

We even get to meet Krypto’s parents. I’m fairly certain this is their only appearance ever.

In a move that surely won’t break the space-time continuum, Superman ends up becoming a close friend of Jor-El.

And now we have reached the point of the story that will have a surprisingly long-lasting effect: Superman’s new love interest L.L.

It’s a unique case in Silver Age romance: they fall head over heels for each other, instead of just having a stalker and a victim.

Jor-El always gets the spotlight in any flashback about Superman’s parents, because he had the most exciting life and he’s instrumental in the origin. But this is one of those rare occasions where his mother also gets some deserved attention.

Which makes me wonder… is there an “imaginary story” or an Elseworld where Superman’s mom is the one who gets to Earth? That’s be a fun thing to explore.

But this is a 1960 story so of course she has to be used in the romance plot.

So of course:

You know what? I’m shipping these two. Sure we don’t know anything about her, but considering how awful all the other Superman relationships are in the Silver Age… why not?

Oh yeah, because Krypton is doomed to explode, that’s why not.

Despite the fact that Krypton won’t explode for years (remember Superman isn’t even born yet, and in the Silver Age he was a toddler when the explosion happened, not a newborn), Jor-El has already figured out everything.

And I mean EVERYTHING.

(also note that Superman’s adoptive mother will have a different maiden name later on).

Jor-El is a little too much interested into the lives of humans.

So… we’re never going to talk about the fact that Krypton had INTERSTELLAR SNIPER RIFLES ever again, I suppose?

For a moment I though that Superman was about to shoot the romantic rival of his foster father, but believe it or not it’s even more ridiculous than that.

This is also an extremely rare glimpse at the Kents before the Superboy era. We learn that:
1) Martha was quite the looker
2) Superman probably got his worst ideas about romance from her

“But wait”, you might wonder, “Didn’t the Silver Age make a big deal about the fact that history can’t be changed? This is Superman changing history, right?”.
You missed the detail from the previous scans, but Superman’s interstellar sniper rifle didn’t do anything since the statue was hit by a lightning bolt at the same time. (WTF!?)

But hey, why not give it a try anyway?

Thanks to the help of some super-strong robots, Jor-El is able to build an ark that is supposed to bring THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF KRYPTON to Earth!!!

And it would’ve worked too, except SUDDEN BRAINIAC!

Yep! The ark, the super-fuel AND the only scientist who had the formula for the fuel were ALL in Kandor at the same exact moment Brainiac stole the city.
Don’t even try to make this fit with Brainiac’s continuity, there is no consistency whatsoever about how old Superman was when Kandor was stolen… sometimes he was a baby, sometimes (like this one) he wasn’t even born then.

But enough about nonexistent continuity, wasn’t this a romance?

At this point Superman has exhausted all options to escape the destruction of Krypton, so f#ck it let’s just get married.

Also is turns out that Superman’s real name is Kal-El because he inspired his parents to name him after himself. Wait, what?

We basically don’t know anything about Lyla, but the comic really does a good job to make us care for the relationship.

This comic isn’t done with the additions to the lore: we also have the first mention of the Fire Falls, an often mentioned landmark.

There’s also the less famous Gold Volcano (which actually debuted in an earlier story).

Remember how all this started with a movie? We’re finally back to it. There’s no clear indication of how much time passed but it must’ve been months ago.

Get this: they use a fire-breathing animal for one of the scenes, but it ends up trapping Superman inside the “rocket-chamber”…

…and shoot so much fire that it cause the rocket to go into orbit. (!!!!)

And that’s how Superman’s love story with Lyla ends!

Seriously! This panel is the last time we see her (excluding flashbacks, dream sequences and “imaginary stories”).

And that’s the end! The rocket flies away from Krypton’s red sun, so once Superman gets his powers back he decides to return to the present.

Not that Superman seems too heartbroken about it. We’re still a few years before he becomes officially The Worst, but this is still weird.

Too bad Jor-El didn’t have time to warn him about the psycho who visited him from the future to replace his mother. Just in case you forgot Lois Lane #59 exists.

That story ALSO has Brainiac stealing Kandor and it’s set before this one… continuity was just a polite suggestion in the Silver Age.

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Historical significance: 10/10
Many additions to the lore, mostly small stuff that won’t have big consequences but will be referenced a lot. At the same time, while Superman’s relationship with Lyla doesn’t really get explored much, she’s nearly always included in the list of the “L.L. romances”.

Silver Age-ness: 5/10
In the Silver Age, stuff just happens. And here… Superman just happens to meet a monster that just happens to cause him to get to the past, where he just happens to land on Krypton.
At the same time, however… he doesn’t just happen to run into his parents, he actively seeks them out. He doesn’t just happen to become their friend, he makes an active effort. He doesn’t just happen to run into a way to get to Earth, he makes a whole plan about it.
But on the other hand we have the interstellar sniper rifle, an unbelievably forced Smallville coincidence, movies that use real space rockets that just happen to fly because there’s a fire-breathing zoo animal…
To make things short (too late, I know!) this has several tropes that are peak Silver Age but also it seems to make an effort to give them some sense. It might be a cop-out, but I’m settling on a perfectly average score.

 Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
I can be quite harsh on the Silver Age, but it’s all in good fun: there are stories from this era that are still great. And this is definitely, definitely one of them.
But remember this category is NOT the same thing of a quality score, this is about how much of this can be done in a modern story.
In terms of atmosphere and characterization, this is extremely solid. Superman, his parents and to a much lesser extent Lyla are all well written and act in a believable way, and their dialogue isn’t too dated considering this is a 60 year old story.
Really the only sticking points are the way Superman gets to Krypton and how he leaves, plus that stupid interstellar sniper rifle. Get rid of that idiocy and the forced reference to Smallville, and as long as you figure out ANY other way to get Superman to the planet and back… and you can keep most of the rest intact.
Maybe I’m being too generous, but I don’t get the chance to review good DC Silver Age comics very often. And sincerely, this was a good one.