Notice this story is apparently in celebration of Hawaii becoming the 50th state. …but the first story has mermaid Lois Lane meeting Aquaman, so let’s start with that. The cover promises something interesting… “Lois Lane Loves Clark Kent!” by Robert Bernstein & Al Plastino “The Girl Atlas!” by Robert Bernstein & Kurt Shaffenberger It’s not that much of a surprise, but a decent enough tale.“The Mermaid from Metropolis!” by Robert Bernstein & Kurt Shaffenberger The end of the story reveals to the reader that Superboy had spent the day helping Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Lois Lane. He helps a toddler, saves the briefcase of a reporter, and comes to the assistance of a girl stuck in a mask at a party. The vision over, she subjects a mystified Superman to a jealous tirade.īinder and Plastino share the final story in the issue, another Untold Tale of a day in Superboy’s life.Ĭlark has, in his mind, a fairly uneventful day. Lois watches all this with increasing jealousy of the unknown woman, who might well be her. She wants to see who Superman will marry, and is treated to a series of scenes of his married life, but the woman can never be clearly identified. She visits an enchanted cottage, where a chair will give her a vision of the future. The cover story has some very nice art by Kurt Schaffenberger, but Robert Bernstein’s story does Lois no favours. This works, although only because of the scientific basis for the transfer. So Superman has a tape of Mxyzptlk speaking rigged to play his name backwards.

The imp has a warning alarm in his hat in this tale, preventing Superman’s usual tricks from working on him.

This story gives a very scientific reason for the backwards speaking to send Mxyzptlk back to his home turf. The story does not treat him as a new character, Superman knows exactly who he is, and even has a number of flashbacks, though not to real stories.

But by accident or design, the name was altered from Mxyztplk to Mxyzptlk, just at the right time for this to count as the first appearance of the Earth-1 Mr. The lead story of the issue, by Coleman and Plastino, is the first time a 5th dimensional imp has plagued Superman in over three years. Gee, it’s so hard to figure out who is being implied as Superman’s wife on the cover of issue 131 (Aug.

Superman by Robert Bernstein