ADVENTURE COMICS 216 (1955)
by Bill Finger & Curt Swan
The cover teases a team-up between Superboy and Superman, but the actual story is far crazier.
A meteor is going to crash in Africa, which naturally means that our story begins in the “modest but efficient” Smallville museum.
What could possibly go wrong, besides everything?
This is pretty important because the professor is actually the father of Jimmy Olsen, who meets Clark Kent for the very first time!
I’m pretty sure this is the only pre-Crisis appearance of Jimmy’s nameless mother.
Of course this is completely at odds with what we learn about Jimmy’s father in Jimmy Olsen 123-124 and Jimmy Olsen 128.
He was described as a professor of archeology, not of natural history, he didn’t live in Smallville, and he looked NOTHING like he does in this story.
Normally I would cut a 1955 story some slack, since continuity was scarce at best at the time… but Jimmy Olsen #128 specifically points back to this story, so there you go.
Once Superboy gets to Africa to look for the meteor, he finds one of the most baffling and random things I’ve seen in a long time. And that’s QUITE an accomplishment.
Sounds legit.
Jimmy’s dad is not only an archeologist and a professor of natural history, but apparently he’s also an explorer.
All of this just because the knights have to introduce us to the concept of Wizard City.
Which we find literally next page. That was easy!
Or not.
To recap: the village of medieval knights in the middle of Africa is right next to an alien city.
Speaking of which, this panel depicting the explosion of Krypton looks incredibly cool.
So… get this: in addition to the rocket that brought Superman to Earth, Krypton’s explosion also sent AN ENTIRE CITY THROUGH SPACE.
That’s in addition to Supergirl’s Argo City!!! But this one happens to crash land on Earth.
And Krypton’s explosion didn’t turn the entire city into Kryptonite because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
While the city is still completely intact it does contain some Kryptonite (HOW!?), and that’s enough to either kill Superboy or… trigger a growth spur???
Sounds legit.
Because it’s actually a trick that Superboy is playing on the professor’s assistant! “Superman” is actually Jimmy’s father with a truly remarkable disguise.
That’s already ridiculous enough, but check out how Superboy helps the impostor fake his superpowers.
The assistant get captured, allowing Superboy the chance to fully explore the remnants of Krypton’s civilization and possibly expand Earth’s scientific knowledge.
Or he could just burn it all down.
“At least I’ll have the satisfaction to know I’ve destroyed what little of Krypton is left!”.
And so we end with the prophecy of a young monster that will haunt Superboy’s future and do everything he can to ruin his life.
Historical significance: 6/10
This was published three years before the first appearance of Kandor and four years before Supergirl made her debut! I wonder if either of them were at least somewhat inspired by this story.
As we have seen Jimmy’s father will return… but if it wasn’t for the shout-out on Jimmy Olsen #128, I would’ve bet anything that this was not set in the same continuity because Professor Olsen is utterly unrecognizable.
Believe it or not, Wizard City will actually be seen again in 1985, in one of the very last pre-Crisis stories (and also the last appearance of Professor Olsen).
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Truly, truly peak Silver Age at its finest.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Honestly? It’s not as bad as I feared! This could really benefit a less condensed format… just stretch this as a four or six part adventure, with every issue in a new place, with one mystery leading into the other. As it is, it feels like we’re randomly jumping from one story to another.