Superman Goes Nova On Batman

Superman, losing his powers and adopting a new costumed identity?  Then, turning on Batman with a murderous rage?

Is this real?

No, even a little less than normal, as these two issues of World's Finest Comics contain an "imaginary story", a story with familiar casts, but willing to shake up the status quo....now, these are set on alternate Earths.

Let's take a look at how things change and progress here!

The Has-Been Superman!

This saga begins in World's Finest Comics #178 (September, 1968) by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Jack Abel, all under the stunning cover by Neal Adams with Superman taking on a new identity!


But, why is Superman taking on this new identity and what happened to his powers?


Superman, piloting a space ship into a dimensional rip in space caused by a super cobalt bomb, goes searching for lost aircraft there.  Finding an odd cavern, Superman finds alien machinery which coats his craft in a eerie white goo that shuts his systems down.

Not needing the ship to get around, Superman heads out and is covered with the goo as well.  Not feeling well, he heads back through the dimensional aperture, landing unconscious at a military base.  The doctors, checking on Superman find out he is fine, but now powerless, with no hope of regaining his super abilities.  Thankfully, they had called Batman in, as the shock of his loss drove Superman a little crazy for a time, and Batman slowed his friend down. 

Superman tries just living life as Clark Kent, reporter, but then, after covering an archery exhibition by Green Arrow and Speedy, gets the idea to create his own non-powered costumed hero identity. 

Batman and Robin respond to a prowler in the warehouse district, and Batman fights the green and purple costumed creeper, eventually knocking him out.  Removing his mask, Batman finds....Superman!  Clark had created the heroic identity of Nova, and was practicing his moves on the Gotham waterfront, when mistaken by security for a prowler.  Superman, as Nova, works with a special cape that allows him to glide and has special gadgets.  But, in encountering some thugs outside the Daily Planet, Nova finds his old Superman safety precautions of pulling his punches allows the thugs to capture him....and take him to the crime boss, Mr. Socrates (and into the next issue!).
 

Superman's Perfect Crime!

Continuing the imaginary story from issue #178 (#179 was a Giant, filled with fascinating reprints), World's Finest Comics #180 (November, 1968) has an even bigger shocker of a cover by Neal Adams, to reflect the shocks within the story by Cary Bates, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.


After a quick splash page and recap, the story gets down and dirty with Mr. Socrates revealing his plans for Superman's new heroic identity of Nova....to wipe out Batman!  Superman scoffs at Socrates' plans, but his thugs work Superman over again.  Batman, checking on Clark to find him not home, leaves him information on Horatio Socrates, and wonders where his now non-super friend could be. 

Nova, recovering from his surgery, is very happy to work with Socrates....as Mr. Socrates had a mind control device implanted in Nova's neck, allowing him to control the former Superman.  While Socrates' men take Nova back to Metropolis, the control breaks for a second while in a tunnel (with Nova fighting the henchman) until Socrates' computer takes back control. 

Batman and Robin are concerned about Socrates (a millionaire criminal computer expert, that had his eyesight damaged in a fight with Batman), when over the radio, the Dynamic Duo hear of a crime spree in Gotham by Nova!  

The pair head to a construction site where he was spotted, finding Nova in his Superman costume, planning to kill Batman until they take him down, and back to the Bat-Cave. 

While there, Superman is free from the control, but escapes in the Batmobile.  Batman and Robin follow, now knowing of the device in Superman's neck (while Mr. Socrates and his men use the tracker in the device to go to the Bat Cave).  Superman heads out to a rocket testing facility, while Socrates and his men break into the Bat Cave, preparing a bomb under their elevator to finish the Dynamic Duo, but, a now immune Superman, with Batman and Robin, show up, stop Socrates thugs, and Socrates, in trying to escape, kills himself in the bomb blast meant for Batman and Robin.  The radio signals at the rocket range messed up the control device, and with Batman's help, Superman made a lead collar to continually block the signal.  Planning on wiping the memory of the Bat Cave from the thugs memories with Green Lantern's help, the Dynamic Duo wonder if Superman can indeed make it as the non-powered Nova.

This wasn't quite the end for Nova, popping up in the Human Target feature in an issue of Action Comics Weekly (#641) as a movie hero (and person Christopher Chance had to save in the story), then being a mystery figure in the 52 series (with a slightly different costume, and new identity), a year long weekly series (in 2006/2007) dealing with the DC Universe (including a non-powered Clark Kent and Booster Gold).

 

Lois Lane Marries Lex Luthor

Lois Lane marries Lex Luthor?  Not a dream or a hoax, but an imaginary story!

Yes, circumstances conspire, in a world similar to the regular fictional universe that Superman, Lois and Luthor occupy, yet so different, wherein Lois Lane decides Lex Luthor is a better match for her than the Man of Steel!

How could this have happened?  Read on.....

The Wife Of Superman's Foe

This was explored in Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #34 (July, 1962) under a cover by Kurt Schaffenberger, who also drew the Jerry Siegel written story.

Luthor gets free of jail, kidnaps Lois Lane and takes her to another planet....where telepaths there turn him "good", at which point, he brings Lois back to Earth and turns himself in!  Luthor saves the governor's life, getting a pardon, then invents many items to make life easier for the people of Earth.  Then, after Superman fails to save Lois once, Luthor uses science to help her recover....after which she marries him, much to Superman's surprise.  Lex and Lois have a son, Larry, who eventually turns to crime after discovering Lex once fought Superman, and then accidentally kills his own father, with Superman pursuing the now evil lad into space.

Lois Lane's Outlaw Son

Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schffenberger provide the follow up to the previous story in Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #46 (January, 1964).

Larry Luthor, now evil, takes up the name of Black Luthor, while Superman (who had married Lana Lang and given super powers), had their own daughter, and she fights crime as Joan Superman.  Lois, who had been the only recipient of an immortality serum from Lex, is horrified to see that Larry has become an interstellar criminal, but Joan Superman has fallen for him.  Joan tries to reform Larry, with no success, but, after one of Lex's henchmen, Ironclaws, tries to kill Lois, Larry stops him and decides to give up his life of crime.  Larry stops an invasion of Earth, then marries Joan.

Crazy, right?   But, events transpired in the regular DC Universe, with Lois and Lex getting close once.....and, in an alternate reality, Lois and Lex did get married, and the results of that union were an important part of the Crisis On Infinite Earths!

The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue

"The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue" first appeared in Superman #162 (July, 1963), by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Klein (and cover by Kurt Schaffenberger)....and it was a doozy!  Superman decides he has too much to do, so makes a machine that will increase his intelligence (powered by the many colors of Kryptonite), and does increase his intelligence (but also permanently splits Superman into two equal beings, one Superman-Blue, the other, Superman-Red).  With two Supermen, he is able to cure all the world's ails, reform the villains, even marry Lois and Lana (and start a family and retire).

Pretty good for an imaginary story, right?


But, this wasn't the end of the story....

Reprints

It's worth noting that this story was indeed a very good story, as shown by the number of times it has been reprinted.  First in the 100-Page Super-Spectacular DC-18 (July, 1973, with a cover by Nick Cardy), in the Best of DC #19 (December, 1981, with a cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano)...

...in the Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told from 1987 (both hardcover and softcover versions), and in DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories #1 under a Brian Bolland cover from 2005 (and soon after, the "imaginary story" was classified to Earth-168, putting it as a part of DC Continuity, though removed a bit....with a brief appearance in the Kingdom #2 and in Infinite Crisis #5)

Return

Superman-Red and Superman-Blue returned as a part of the usual DC Universe in an unnumbered Superman Spectacular in 1982, with "The Startling Saga Of Superman-Red And Superman-Blue" by Bob Rozakis, Paul Kupperberg, Adrian Gonzales and Vince Colletta (with Gonzales providing the cover).  Superman foe, the space cowboy on the flying horse, Terra-Man, finds some Red Kryptonite, and working with Lex Luthor, expose Superman to it (causing the Man of Steel to split into Superman-Red and Superman-Blue), with the duo capturing Terra-Man, but not Luthor, who then learns magic to threaten Lois Lane, while the two Supermen re-merge, then beat Luthor and save Lois.

Electric

For a time, Superman's powers changed from the Kryptonian powerhouse that he was to a more electric based hero, starting with Superman #123 (May, 1997) by Dan Jurgens, Ron Frenz and Joe Rubenstein.  This lasted for a while (from "Superman Triangle Numbers" #19 of 1997 to #21 of 1998, including a Superman Red/Superman Blue special, with the dueling electrical Supermen in February of 1998, with triangle #6 of 1998, where the Superman Red premiered in), and the two had re-merged into a "classic" Superman in Superman Forever #1 (June, 1998) after defeating the Millennium Giants. 

Rebirth

With the death of the New 52 Superman, an earlier Superman returned to be the "new" Man of Steel, and very recently, Superman #18, Action Comics #975, Superman #19 (revealing the older Superman to have a "blue" energy, and the newer, deceased one to have released his "red" energy" and Action Comics #976 (all 2017, Superman #18 and #19 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Mick Grey, the Action Comics by Dan Jurgens, Doug Mahnke and Jaime Mendoza)...

...give the saga of Superman Red/Superman Blue new life for the new Millennium, seeing Superman Reborn!

Superman and Batman...Brothers?

It's hard to imagine two more different characters than Superman and Batman...

...one, the last son of doomed planet Krypton, rocketed to Earth to be bright, shining symbol of hope for the city of Metropolis...

...the other, the son of wealthy parents, taken from him in a horrible crime, dedicating himself to a war against all criminals in his home city of Gotham.

Superman and Batman - Brothers

In World's Finest Comics #172 (December, 1967, by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan), readers were given an odd look at Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne's lives if they had intersected earlier...when Clark was Superboy and Bruce just lost his parents (in what they called, in the Silver Age, an "imaginary story", which was one which had significant differences than the normal continuity of monthly comics...and later could be said to have taken place on "Earth-172", as all stories fit somewhere...or maybe they are all imaginary stories?).

The Kents took in young billionaire Bruce Wayne to care for him (and Superboy thought Bruce on his way to becoming a criminal...until he learned the truth...as Bruce had become...Batboy!).

Superboy and Batboy continued their partnership through adulthood (and Bruce getting full control over his parents' fortune and Wayne Manor).  Bruce and Clark moved to Gotham (with Clark becoming a reporter for the Gotham Gazette)...at least until they cross paths with Lex Luthor...and he kills the Kents!

This pushes Batman over the edge..

....with Batman barely able to not kill Luthor! 

For the good of the world, Superman takes Batman to the 30th Century to work with the adult Legion of Super-Heroes, while Superman stays behind to protect 20th Century Gotham and run the Wayne Foundation!

This little gem can be found in DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories Volume 1, and (in black and white) in Showcase Presents: World's Finest Comics Volume 3, and above all else, it teaches us to appreciate the family we have, and to be willing to accept the family that finds us...a central theme, common to both Superman and Batman!