Action Comics #182

Action Comics #182 (1953)
by William Woolfolk & Wayne Boring

This one is sometimes confused with Superman #141, which is both more influential and from 7 years later.
Easy mistake: that one is “Superman’s return to Krypton”, but this is “The return of Planet Krypton”… and it’s far more insane.

We begin with a new planet being discovered in Earth’s solar system.

And the new planet is identified as Krypton, SOMEHOW.
Despite the fact that nobody except Superman has ever seen it.

I sure hope that the planet “moving closer” refers to its orbit and not COMING TOWARDS EARTH, otherwise it’s amazing the front page wasn’t something else.

In this period, Krypton was sometimes described as being in the same solar system of Earth.

Kryptonite is a relatively recent introduction to the comics, but we’re already discussing whether Superman is susceptible to it when he’s not on Earth.
Also, we’re several years away from Superman’s powers being explicitly linked to Earth’s yellow sun.

Once Superman attempts a Wayne Boring Landing, he discovers that this looks EXACTLY like Krypton.

Superman’s powers are still linked ONLY to the difference in atmosphere and gravity between Earth and Krypton.

Don’t think too much about how Earth’s lower gravity allow him to fly faster than time, or how Earth’s thinner atmosphere allows him to breathe underwater.
In fact, don’t think too much when reading this story.

There’s nobody living here, but Superman eventually finds the weird crystal structure from the cover…

…only to discover that this isn’t his home planet, it’s Fake Krypton.
Frypton, if you will.

Turns out that Krypton was once at war with invaders from another galaxy…

…and they decided to build a new fake planet as a distraction.

AND THEY DID.
Which means that the Kryptonians had the technology to BUILD A WHOLE PLANET, but a few years later (decades AT MOST) they lacked the means to send more than one person into space.
Sounds legit.

You know I have the slight suspicion that those invaders are just bad at their job.

Krypton’s destruction blew Frypton out of the solar system, only to be later brought back by gravity.

These guys are the last people stationed on Frypton before it was launched into interstellar space.

I should point out that Frypton is not a space station disguised as a planet… they LITERALLY built a whole planet.
And they STILL couldn’t fix it!!!

After the Evil Three, we also have another trio of world-conquering Kryptonians.
Evil Kryptonians: 6
Good Kryptonians: 1

If Superman has no powers, how is he going to fight these villains?
WITH A TANK.

Not your proudest moment, Superman.

The villains are not bloodthirsty, though, and they want Superman to ask Earth to surrender.

WHICH HE DOES.

You might have thought that was a trick, but nope: Superman really DID send the message, and there’s no indication he wasn’t sincere.

But there’s a catch!

Well, of course, as we all know Einstein always said that other galaxies measure time with constellations.

The villains are NOT Kryptonians, but the galactic invaders!
Evil Kryptonians: 3
Good Kryptonians: 1

Their numbers have grown since the destruction of Krypton, all the way from 3 invaders to 3 invaders.
Wait… does he mean in their home galaxy? If they have enough troops, why go through all this trouble instead of invading Earth? They could fight a civilization that could BUILD ENTIRE PLANETS, surely they’re not THAT worried about Earth!!!

Superman defeats them by washing his face.

Wait, I stand corrected: they didn’t build a whole planet, they built a hollow planet with a gravity machine. That’s only SLIGHTLY less impressive.

This kills the three invaders (!!!)…

…but there were others ready.
Wait, does this mean that new invaders reached Frypton over the years, and instead of attempting to conquer Earth they just stayed there!?
Either that, or by “growing their numbers” they meant they were having children that grew into this army… which in return means that either there are women we don’t see or that they’re VERY alien.

The rest of the invading force attempts to escape Frypton, only to crash into it.
This is sort of the opposite of Superman’s origin, right? Instead of using a rocket to escape a doomed planet, a doomed rocket smashes into a perfectly fine planet.

Because yeah, Frypton is still there.

And so we close with Superman issuing a retraction.

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Historical significance: 0/10
To the best of my knowledge, the fake Krypton never shows up again.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Talk about playing loose with astronomy and physics!!!

Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
This is one of the most 50s stories I’ve read. It’s just lacking sexism and shoehorned patriotism, and then it has basically all the major tropes of the era.
That being said, provided that you change basically every technical detail… as a basic structure it’s not bad. It’s part of the long tradition of allowing Superman to save the day with his wits rather than with his powers, it has some action (despite the stiff Boring poses), and it has a mystery that ALMOST makes sense given the rules of its universe.
Not exactly high praise, I know, but a lot of Superman stories in the 50s are a slog to get through… and I do mean A LOT of them… while this one was fun.

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What else was in Action Comics #182 ?

Unsurprisingly, Congo Bill and Vigilante…

…plus a Tommy Tomorrow story with a guy who looks like an ancestor to the Time Trapper.

But that’s only the teaser page: no such being appears in the story, which is about superstition.