Superman No. 299
DC Comics
Creators: Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Curt Swan, Bob Oksner and Julius Schwartz
Cover date: May 1976
Who knew? Multi-part stories are nothing new! (Actually I did, but I didn't realize they were quite so prevalent this far back.)
While he isn't one of my top three favorite characters, I've always had a fondness for Superman.
Even before I'd read many comics, he was one of the "Super Friends" on television every Saturday morning during almost all of my cartoon-watching years (OK, so I still watch a lot of cartoons, but they are no longer confined to Saturday mornings and the odd 30-minute weekday program after school.). I came along too late for the "Superman/Aquaman" show that preceded it, but the "Super Friends" in one iteration or another were as regular on Saturday mornings as "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" during those days. And the Man of Steel was one of only five regular heroes on most episodes of the "Super Friends." Superman was even my very first Mego action figure as a kid. So, I was definitely aware of him as a child.
Making the Kryptonian even more a central figure in my young mind were monthly (or so) trips to the barbershop. The barbershop my mom most often took me to when I was a child had two large baskets of magazines — mostly sports or hunting mags — placed on either end of a row of chairs where people would sit and wait their turn in the cutting chair. Scattered among the other magazines, there were almost always two or three coverless comic books. Sometimes you'd dig through those magazines and find a comic you'd read on a previous visit, which was usually fun to re-read because back then they were all great reads, even if you'd already read them before. Once in a while, you'd come across one that hadn't been there the last time. But always, every single issue, featured Superman, sometimes Superboy or sometimes alongside the Legion of Super-Heroes. Once or twice maybe alongside Batman. But Superman was always in those barbershop comics.
I developed a fondness for late 1960s and 1970s Superman comics that way. That led me to recently indulge when I came across an online auction selling several early Bronze age Superman comics, some of which I've finally had time to begin reading.
If you had asked me before this purchase, I'd have told you with almost certainty that one hallmark of Superman books from the time was that they were almost always self-contained stories. Done in one. Very few "to be continued"s to be found. That assumption is based on the many Superman books I read at that barbershop. After reading about a dozen of the books I recently purchased, however, I've found that is not the case. At least not with this batch.
Superman No. 254 sets up a situation where the Man of Steel must transfer his powers and abilities into the body of a crippled boy, only summoning each power back to himself one at a time as he needs them. An immediate problem gets resolved in this fashion, but at the end of the story, all of Superman's powers still reside in the boy's body. Did the writers just forget to resolve that plot point? No, they call attention to it at the end of the story with a note saying that plot point will be resolved in a future issue. Not the next issue, but an unnamed future issue at an unspecified time. That would drive fans crazy these days.
So what's all that got to do with Superman No. 299, the comic pictured above? That comic is part of a really long story arc, as you'll soon see.
Superman No. 296 begins by explaining that it was going to tell a tale of Superman that couldn't be contained in a single issue. It then gives a brief two-panel recap of how baby Kal-El came to Earth and was found by the Kents. The rest of the page is devoted to scenes of a second craft from the stars landing on Earth at the same time, but far from Smallville, Kansas. This craft dislodges a far more deadly occupant. The next page gives a glimpse of Superman's early career as Superboy and the second alien watching the young Kryptonian until he receives orders to go to Metropolis and wait for the boy to grow into Superman. The following pages of that issue reveal that this second alien has been sent to destroy Earth, using Superman to do it. The alien, named Xviar, sets his plan in motion by sabotaging the Man of Steel's powers — making it so that when he is dressed in his familiar red-and-blue costume, Superman is mighty as ever, but when dressed in his Clark Kent clothes, Superman is human, losing all of his Kryptonian abilities.
Superman, not knowing Xviar's plan, believes that the change is brought about by the stress of his having lived a double life for so long. He decides he must choose between being Superman full time and saying goodbye to his Clark Kent identity, or the opposite, forsaking his powers forever to live only as a human. Superman No. 297, which I do not own and have never read, apparently details the next week as Clark tries living only as a normal human. Flashbacks in the next issue show he is saddened by — but begins to accept — the tragedies he can no longer do anything about. Instead, he begins to actively pursue Lois Lane and stand up to the constant harassment of bullies like Morgan Edge and Steve Lombard. Then in Superman No. 298 — which I do have and read — Superman goes back into action full time, forgetting about Clark Kent for a week. The Man of Steel is able to prevent a great many disasters and crimes, but never taking off the costume means never having any downtime, something which begins to take a toll.
All of that culminates in Superman No. 299, which interrupts Superman's difficult decision by introducing nine of the Man of Steel's most infamous rogue's gallery members, brings about the final part of Xviar's plan to use Superman to destroy Earth and brings the plot to a satisfying conclusion. Why satisfying? Superman uses his brains just as much, if not moreso, than his brawn to defeat Luthor, Brainiac, the Prankster, Toyman, Parasite, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Terra-Man, Amalak and the Kryptonite Man. Plus, when Superman tumbles to Xviar's plan and manages to thwart it, it is only because of his strong sense of what is right and his sense of honor. I like that the entire plot revolves around Superman being so good that he has to do the right thing, even if it's difficult for him personally, and that is exactly what leads him to figure Xviar's plan out.
Who knew I was going to come across a four-part epic in what I expected to be a collection of fun, standalone stories? And this really is a pretty complete tale in these four issues. But that's really not the end of the story. It is never explained in these four issues what race or planet Xviar belongs to or why they wanted to use Superman to destroy Earth, a plan set in motion before baby Kal-El even arrived on Earth. A teaser at the end of Superman No. 299 again promises that story at another time in a future issue.
And the beginnings of the story stretch back further than Superman No. 296, too. More than three years earlier, in Superman No. 258, the book's main feature has Superman facing a hulking bruiser named the Galactic Golem for the second time. In a backup "Private Life of Clark Kent" story, Clark decides to play amateur detective. He has a neighbor about whom the Man of Steel and his other fellow tenants at 344 Clinton Avenue know nothing. The man keeps to himself, is rarely seen outside his apartment and just presents a bit of a mystery. The only thing anyone knows about him is the name on his mailbox, Mr. Xavier. I don't know if the mysterious Mr. Xavier had appeared before Superman No. 258 or if he ever appeared again between then and No. 296, but the name and the appearance lead me to believe he has to be the same character. Now that's a long wait for a plot thread to pay off!
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