Giant Superman Alien Invasion

Looking back, Superman faced many an alien invasion himself, all without help....

....and DC had dedicated an 80-Page Giant to that fact.

 
It was Superman vs. the aliens in 80 Page Giant Magazine #6 of January, 1965....

...and here are the menaces the Man of Steel faced!


 

Action Comics #234

"The Creature of 1,000 Disguises" is first up, from Action Comics #234 (November, 1957) by Edmond Hamilton, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye, under a cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.



Superman faces off against Gollo, an alien from the planet Zar who can shape change, and befriends a young boy named Johnny Miles.  Gollo finds Johnny, but become separated, as Superman returns the runaway Johnny to his family.  While searching for Johnny, Gollo comes to Metropolis and runs into Superman.  Superman realizes Gollo is also a young runaway, and reunites the lonely alien with his family, who shows them all of the new shapes he has learned, including that of Superman!

Adventure Comics #274

Stepping even further back in time, it's an adventure with Superboy (Superman as a boy) from Adventure Comics #274 (July, 1960), where the Boy of Steel faces "The Monster That Stalked Smallville" by Robert Bernstein and George Papp, and cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.

Superboy brings an alien into Smallville that starts turning its citizens to stone, even a couple that try to leave, for a total of ten people turned to stone.  This upsets the law in Smallville who question Superboy, finding out the alien, 6-3kx, was from Zaron, and assigned to find ten criminal alien scientists that nearly destroyed Zaron, who were hiding in Smallville.  The ten scientists were also telepathic, being able to read the minds of everyone but Superboy, thus the reason he didn't explain his actions.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #43

"Jimmy Olsen's Private Monster" came from Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #43 (March, 1960) by Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan and John Forte, with a cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.


Jimmy Olsen gets a new pal after the energy of an explosion and Jimmy's signal watch brings an alien from another dimension to Jimmy.  The monster appears twice and leaves, then, appears a third time with a deal for the young reporter...to come back to his dimension for a time, after which, the alien will leave Jimmy alone.  Jimmy agrees, and once on the alien's planet, finds out the alien wanted him for a horror movie, with Jimmy as the lead monster!  After filming, the alien returns Jimmy to Earth.

Action Comics #216

When this story by Bill Finger, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye (the last two doing the original cover) was featured in Action Comics #216 (May, 1956), it was called "The Super-Menace Of Metropolis", but was reprinted as "The Hyper-Menace From Krypton".


Alien machines attack on Earth, with Superman to stop them.  Tracing their path backwards, Superman finds that the machines were constructed by someone who had super powers.  While investigating leads on that (mostly other men who Lois Lane thought were Superman), Superman finds a rocket in the forest, with a robot in control of these machines.  The robot was made by Jor-El, Superman's father, to make machines to show Kryptonians the harshness of war.  Superman destroys the robot and machines to prevent them from menacing the people of Earth.

Action Comics #254

Bizarro wasn't an alien from another world when he first appeared in adult form thanks to Lex Luthor in Action Comics #254 (July, 1959) and Action Comics #255 (August, 1959) by Otto Binder and Al Plastino (under covesr by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye), but it still lead Superman to "The Battle With Bizarro" (combined with "The Bride Of Bizarro"). 

Bizarro wasn't even the first bizarre duplicate of Kal-El (there had been one earlier, when Superman was Superboy, but it was destroyed).  Bizarro had all of Superman's memories, though distorted, and was as powerful as Superman, without the weakness to green Kryptonite. 


This was only the first two tales of Bizarro (where the monster added a Bizarro Lois), but later tales established a world where many Bizarros lived (not on Earth), making a Bizarro family, so, Bizarro later became an alien from another world (the planet htraE), using Bizarro backward logic! 

Adventure Comics #245

Last, but not least, Superboy faced "The Mystery Of Monster X" in Adventure Comics #245 (February, 1958) by Otto Binder and Al Plastino (with the original cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye).



With a giant flying centipede being released from the Earth by a volcanic eruption, Superboy had to fight it to keep Smallville safe (even though the creature could manifest Kryptonite as well).  Realizing it was a mother looking for its egg, Superboy helped her find her young, and resettled them safely on another planet.

This collection of fantastic things and creatures is but one of 15 80 Page Giants, and not the only one to feature Superman...

....or a collection of aliens!