SUPERMAN 122 (1958)
Writer: Otto Binder
Pencilers: Al Plastino (first story) & Wayne Boring (second story)
What if Superman was the President of the United States?
We begin with Perry White assigning articles about Washington and Lincoln to Clark Kent and Lois Lane (must be a slow news day).
I have no idea why Jimmy Olsen is included in the same conversation, and Perry seems to have pretty much the same idea.
This story is from 1958, when Eisenhower was the 34th president, so you might wonder who is being left out by Perry.
I’m more puzzled by the fact that the Daily Planet seems to have a room with pictures of all 34 presidents… and Superman.
Jimmy SOMEHOW manages to knock himself out by adjusting a framed picture.
That’s the framing device for this story: Jimmy is dreaming that Superman was elected President.
With Clark Kent as his vice-president because they’re friends.
If you think that is some questionable decision, it’s not even the worst one.
I’m pretty sure Supergirl isn’t, say, Secretary of State just because she won’t be introduced until 1959.
Not everybody is happy about Superman being President, but it’s pretty hard to do anything about it, because, you know. Superman.
This is kind of a problem for Clark Kent, who can’t think of anything useful to do as Vice President unless the President is assassinated.
Leaving aside the fact that the Vice President does other stuff… you thought about this only AFTER the election, Clark!?
The Secret Service also almost resigns, until Jimmy reminds them that Kryptonite exists.
Since in this period Kryptonite was absolutely everywhere in the DC universe, I’m kind of amazed that Superman managed to survive without the Secret Service.
Is this an actual tradition? Maybe in the old days, but I doubt this was still done in the 20th century.
There is a well-known tradition that is given a Superman twist, however.
What is that ball made of !?
Let’s not forget that this was made in 1958 by showing a panel that has not aged well, AT ALL.
Of course it’s not like all of America’s problems can be solved by having Superman as president, right?
A deficit of 387 millions? Now we know this is just a dream.
But don’t worry, it can all be paid off with a single treasure chest.
Sounds legit.
Jimmy finally wakes up from his dream, but Clark Kent has to crush his hopes of ever seeing Superman win the presidency.
The reason is pretty obvious to anyone who isn’t Silver Age Jimmy Olsen.
And that’s all for the story! But we have a bonus one.
No idea why Superman appears to be jogging instead of flying.
It’s not the only occasion: he’s doing it again when he’s testing an extremely goofy invention.
When all of a sudden Superman is struck by lightning, and that causes his powers to be “broadcasted”. It’s the Silver Age, just go with it.
Ever seen the show “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”? Superman being stuck by lightning and giving other people his powers happened multiple times.
I always thought it was a cheesy and nonsensical plot, but instead it turns out that it was a chessy and nonsensical plot from a 1958 comic book.
Still, like I said this was before Supergirl was introduced, so there aren’t many people with superpowers around, and no one on Superman’s level, so this soldier could prove useful.
Instead Jimmy’s FIRST idea is to kill this guy!!!
But Superman, in a surprising show of intelligence for the Silver Age, thinks this is a stupid idea.
Meanwhile, Superman is watching over some foreign spies who have infiltrated the base. I guess he doesn’t have enough proof to have them arrested, but instead of watching over THEM, he focuses on “Super-Soldier”.
Super-Soldier isn’t doing a bad job, but for some reason Superman is convinced that he’s bound to make some mistake.
You would think the army would find a way to use Super-Soldier for important stuff, but no, they use this as a publicity stunt to show how fast he can peel potatoes.
And how to sweep the barracks super-efficiently. Because the best way to clean your room is to summon a mini-tornado, I guess.
To be fair, the army slowly finds something useful for him to do.
Super-Soldier (now promoted to Super-Sergeant) does eventually make some mistakes, but instead of teaching him how to use his powers Superman fixes everything behind the scenes.
During all this, Superman has completely ignored the foreign spies. But the second they mention something tangentially related to his secret identity, suddenly they are a priority.
The best way to show that he isn’t Super-Sergeant is to waste ammunition.
This was all part of Superman’s plant to make sure the foreign spies gave false reports.
You might think this is clever, but if you pause for a minute… this is really stupid: it won’t take long before it becomes clear that there’s no secret weapon.
Oh but we’re not done with stupid!
WHY!?!?!?
It’s not like Super-Sergeant was misusing his powers! Sure he made some minor mistakes here and there, but Superman just decided that he didn’t deserve powers!
You’re just the worst, Superman.
Historical significance: 0/10
Not surprising for the first story since it was just a dream, and we’re still in the period where continuity was almost nonexistent.
Silver Age-ness
First story: 4/10
Second story: 6/10
Both are pretty tame for the time, but the second one has a bizarrely recurring type of easy superpowers.
Does it stand the test of time?
First story: 4/10
Almost entirely harmless fluff. You could easily do a serious “what if Superman became President” today, but everything else would need to be changed drastically. It’s a very, VERY naïve way to think about how the presidency works.
Second story: 2/10
The premise of “a soldier randomly gets Superman’s powers” is very easy to remake, but you’d have to actually DO something with it. And naturally the finale is completely unacceptable today.
Stupid Jimmy Olsen moment
First story: I can’t really fault him for anything happening in his dream, even if it probably tells us something about what Jimmy knows about the government. I’m going with “manages to knock himself out by adjusting a picture”, because who does that!?
Second story: only one choice, since Jimmy shows up exclusively to have a terrible idea… that later Superman copies: rid the world of the only other superpowered good guy.