Superman (1939) #127

Superman #127

Originally released in 1959

Written by Jerry Coleman and Otto Binder

Art by Curt Swan and Wayne Boring

I hadn't read a Silver Age Superman comic, so I decided to start out with the first appearance of Titano the Super-Ape.  This issue was divided into three stories, which was seemingly commonplace at the time - "When There Was No Clark Kent", "The Make-Believe Superman", and "Titano the Super-Ape".

The idea comes up every now and then that Clark is being selfish if he takes time out of his day to pose as an ordinary reporter while people around the world are suffering, I find it amusing that this was addressed over sixty years ago.  After reflecting on how his secret identity can create a lot of hassles in his life, Superman recalls a time where Clark Kent was believed to be dead, and he tried living a life without a secret identity.

Also, I find it amusing that his only possible solution to stopping a totem pole from crashing into a museum is to launch the totem pole into space.  This story reminded me a bit of "The Late Mr. Kent" from Superman: The Animated Series in the DC Animated Universe, though considerably less serious in tone.  The DCAU version played out like a film noir detective story, while the version in this comic has Superman deciding to become Jimmy Olsen's roommate and make his address public, causing all sorts of problems. (I'm not sure if the Fortress of Solitude existed at this point)

The apparent death of Clark Kent happens because of an explosion at, of all things, an empty glass bottle factory.  Superman decides to try life without a secret identity for a while, but he has no time to himself.  It sort of reminds me of the problems that Peter Parker faces as Spider-Man - pulled in so many different directions that aspects of his life tend to suffer - though it doesn't get as much focus due to the shorter length of the story.  Ultimately, a group of criminals put a large chunk of Kryptonite near Jimmy Olsen's window in order to try and kill Superman, forcing Superman to come up with a way to explain that Clark Kent had miraculously survived.

It shows why Superman needs to be Clark Kent, and why he can't just be Superman all the time, though it seems like a lot of the problems could have been avoided if he didn't feel the need to tell seemingly everyone in Metropolis where he lived. (I was a little surprised that nobody kidnapped Jimmy Olsen at any point in the story, though I'm guessing that him being Superman's Pal was already known by now anyway)

The second story has a class of kids taking their fathers to school, with the fathers having to dress up in a costume that they wore when they did something heroic. (this seems like it would put a LOT of pressure on the fathers, since it's not like every single person did something heroic in their lives, but without it, there wouldn't be a story)  One of the fathers, Harry, doesn't have anything to work with for this assignment, so he wears a Superman costume that he wore to a costume party.  Through a series of events, a group of crooks capture Clark Kent and believe that Harry is actually Superman, using Clark as a hostage to force him to find a hidden treasure in a museum.

The ruse is helped by Clark secretly using his superpowers to keep up the charade - if this fake Superman fails and the crooks shoot Clark, they'll find out that Clark is bulletproof and discover his secret identity.  The crooks, Clark, and Harry travel through several different rooms based on other planets in our solar system, where Harry tries to come up with a way to accomplish whatever tasks are required of him without having Superman's powers, and Superman gives him a little nudge to help.

Harry's plan falls apart when they reach the Krypton exhibit, where he has to wade through the inexplicable acid-dwelling crocodile exhibit.  Why a museum would use real acid for this, and not even put a fence or ropes around the exhibit, I have no idea. (especially when the crocodile is only a model)  It's an entertaining story, even if the leaps in logic to get us there boggle the mind at points.

The last story involves Titano, a chimp that Lois befriends who is launched into space.  Once in orbit, the chimp's space capsule passes by a collision between two meteors - one filled with uranium, and one filled with Kryptonite.  Naturally, this causes the chimp to grow to a massive size and gives him the ability to shoot Kryptonite laser beams from his eyes.

After trying to capture Titano and failing, Superman jumps almost immediately to saying that Titano needs to die.  However, he manages to come up with a solution that doesn't involve gratuitous monkey murder - throwing Titano back in time, to the age of the dinosaurs. (after Lois tricks Titano into putting on giant glasses with lead lenses, to block the Kryptonite lasers)  I find it funny that Superman's "one solution" to the various problems that he faces is absolutely ridiculous when there are several other possible ways around the problem in question. (in this case, Superman could have taken Titano to another planet)

I'm not sure if the creators had intended for Titano to be a one-off character, but I'm curious about how Titano returned for future stories. (does Superman go back in time to the age of the dinosaurs, only for Titano to grab on to Superman's cape during the return trip?  Does Titano gain the ability to travel in time thanks to the radiation he was exposed to?  Does Lex Luthor travel back in time upon discovering cave paintings of a giant monkey that can shoot green lasers from his eyes in order to use that monkey as a weapon against Superman?  The possibilities are endless)  This whole thing was about as goofy as what I expected from a Silver Age Superman story, and I preferred it over the Silver Age Flash story that I read earlier, though I still prefer Marvel's Silver Age output.