Superman #172 (1964)

Every year when I go to the San Diego Comic-Con, I enjoy picking up old Silver and Golden Age books. Usually I have a list of about 5 books that I really would like to purchase. However sometimes I cannot find all of them, so I use the extra money to purchase old Superman comics. I usually pick these books based solely on their covers. I tend to look for Superman books that have alternate versions of Superman - fat, skinny, old, etc.

With Superman #172, I found a book that had a blond Superman on the cover. After reading the story, I found that the new Superman (Ar-Val) was summoned from the Bottle City of Kandor to replace Superman (Clark Kent) after he lost his powers while deflecteding a green kryptonite meteor, which was coming a little to close to Earth. The story resolves with Superman (Clark Kent) getting his powers back and Superman (Ar-Val) turning to stone. I found this story to be very fun and entertaining, a great example Silver Age story telling. I also felt that a revival of this Superman (Ar-Val) would make a great modern day story, maybe someone at DC could look into this, or better yet maybe no one will and sometime in the future I will get a chance to write that story myself. It is always nice to have a dream.

take care,

dennmann