Action Comics #327 (1965)
by Ed Hamilton & Curt Swan
Let’s pause the Lexor saga to take a look at what I feel like is a case study in everything that could possibly go wrong with Superman’s imaginary stories.
As seen on the cover, this is a future where Superman grows so old that he leaves his spot to his secret clone son.
As I’ve mentioned several times, DC goes back and forth whether Superman ages under a yellow sun or if he’s functionally immortal. In this story the problem isn’t aging itself, but the fact that he’s been exposed so much to Kryptonite over the years that he’s too weak.
We are also very firmly in the era where Clark Kent was just a disguise, because Superman just ditched it as soon as he defeated crime itself.
This aspect of the Silver Age never made much sense to me: he GREW UP as Clark Kent, and the Superboy stories are pretty consistent in showing how much his human life mattered to him… but once he grows up as Superman, he doesn’t care anymore.
Old Superman doesn’t even seem to take much credit for ending crime. I guess that as time went on, it just kind of stopped.
Sounds legit.
That kid is way too familiar with this game considering he JUST learned what criminals are.
Did Lex Luthor write this story?
Superman Junior flies off into space for his secret affair an important mission, leaving behind his unnamed wife.
Take a moment to appreciate Curt Swan’s craft: SOMEHOW he manages to make Superman Junior look very distinct form both the regular Superman and from Superboy!
In a better story, this would be the perfect occasion to highlight the importance of the Clark Kent identity: even when he was Superbaby he was still expected to fit into society, but his grandson doesn’t have this upbringing and becomes a brat.
Obviously we won’t have ANYTHING to that level of depth here.
And sure enough, the kid comes across what he interprets as a crime.
And he might be right!
This looks like a job for someone younger.
He eventually needs to be rescued by his grandson.
Turns out that this is just an elaborate alien invasion…
…that is defeated VERY quickly.
You guys suck so much that I’m betting the invasion would have failed even without superpowers.
No thanks to Superman Junior, who proves to be like his father: Just. The. Worst.
In my headcanon, Old Superman lives the rest of his days in a retirement home in the Phantom Zone.
Historical significance: 0/10
I don’t think this is ever brought up again.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
When else could you do this without being an explicit parody?
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
I have mentioned before that the blight of the Imaginary Stories are those issues that bend over backwards to recreate the status quo. This is not one of those, but it belongs to another genre of Imaginary Stories that ruined the very concept for decades.
The “this was a complete waste of time for everyone involved” kind.
What else was in Action Comics #327?
A Supergirl story where she’s framed for murder.
I skipped it in the Supergirl retrospective because, while it’s OBVIOUSLY so much better than the Superman story, she’s already in a pretty bad period for her series.
The story does include this gem of a space monster, however… although it plays no part.
Perhaps it’s unfair to single out a particularly bad issue, but consider that this wasn’t even the worst Superman book: the same month there were Lois Lane #59 and World’s Finest #151.
At least these two are hilarious to read.
To give you an idea of when this is when compared to my other retrospectives: both Adventure Comics #335 and Doom Patrol #97 have the same cover date of Action Comics #327, and I believe there’s little argument that they are VASTLY superior books at this point.
Heck Metal Men #14 was the month before, and I would argue that even THAT was better than the Superman books since Kanigher had yet to go off the deep end.
And what was Marvel doing with a cover date of August 1965?
Competing in a completely different weigh class.
