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"Superman's Other Life": This story is reprinted from Superman #132.

Superman Annual #5 is an issue of the series Superman Annual (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1962. It was published on June 14, 1962.

Synopsis for "Superman's Other Life"

This story is reprinted from Superman #132.

Visiting Superman and his Fortress of Solitude, Batman and Robin have come presenting a gift to Superman for a previous rescue. Batman and Robin gift the Man of Steel with an impressive idea: Feed all known information info about Krypton into Superman's Univac Computer and see if it can predict what would have happened if Krypton was not destroyed.

The computer presents a possible history where Jor-El was wrong about Krypton's imminent destruction and stops young Kal-El from being launched into space. The young Kal-El is raised by his parents and enjoys time playing with his dog Krypto and his new robot companion: Robo, whom he built himself. Attending school, Kal-El takes an interest in the planet Earth, and while viewing the Kent family, saves them from a car accident. Superman also sees that they go on an adopt a girl from the Smallville Orphanage instead of their fated destiny to adopt Kal-El as a child. Later Jor-El and Lara give birth to a second son Zal-El.

Kal-El finishes school and begins his career as dispatcher for the Space Patrol with dreams of going on missions into space. He is mentored by the teacher who administered his test of the skill machine, Xan-Du. One day when Xan-Du is testing out a new Static-Ray device (Which has different effects on different creatures) Xan-Du and Krypto are accidentally bombarded with the devices rays, causing both to be given super-powers similar to that of Superman on Earth. Having to go to a costume party, Xan-Du takes on a costume similar to that of Superman's and calls himself Futuro.

At the costume party, (where Kal-El has dressed up as an Earth man and ironically dressed up as his real-life alter ego), the hovering building where the festivities are taking place begins to plummet to Krypton's surface, prompting Xan-Du to rescue everyone, and continue his Futuro guise and act as a super-hero on Krypton. When Kal-El discovers Krypto's super-powers, he has the dog pull him to Futuro's secret hide out and learns his true identity. Kal-El then becomes Futuro's sidekick promising to keep the hero's identity secret. During a mission in space, Kal-El's parents and brother are killed when their rocket ship crashes on a magnetic asteroid causing their ship to explode. Futuro builds a monument to the family on an chunk of the exploded asteroid in their memory.

Later a ship from Earth is caught in space, and Futuro saves the occupants and brings them back to Krypton. To everyone's surprise, Lois Lane is aboard the rocket having stowed away to get the scoop of the first moon walk. Lois is shown around Krypton by Kal-El, but similar to her real world counterpart she grows fond of Futuro because of his super powers. After a misadventure with a Kryptonian drilling device, leading to Futuro saving Lois and Kal-El, Futuro admits that he has fallen in love with Lois and asks her to marry him. Deciding to return with Lois to Earth, Futuro uses the Static Device on Kal-El, giving him super-powers as well and leaving him to defend Krypton, dubbing him Superman.

With this vision of a possible alternate course Superman's life could have been taken, the three heroes muse over how Kal-El was always fated to become Superman.

Appearing in "Superman's Other Life"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:


Other Characters:

  • Jimmy Olsen (In a photograph only)
  • Kryptonians
  • Kryptonians (Earth-132)
    • Balloonie (Earth-132)
    • Futuro (Xan-Du) (Single appearance)
    • Health Cabinet (Earth-132)
    • House of El (Earth-132) (Single appearance)
      • Jor-El (Earth-132) (Single appearance; dies)
      • Lara (Earth-132) (Single appearance; dies)
      • Superman (Kal-El) (Single appearance)
      • Zal-El (Earth-132) (Single appearance; dies)
    • Krypto the Superdog (Earth-132) (Single appearance)
    • Krypton Council (Earth-132) (Mentioned only)
    • Living Wheel (Earth-132)
    • Metal Eater (Earth-132)
    • Singing Flower (Earth-132)
    • Space Patrol (Earth-132)
      • Space Patrol Chief (Earth-132)
    • Zin-Da (Earth-132) (Voice)
  • Lois Lane (Earth-132) (Single appearance)
  • Ma Kent (Earth-132) (Single appearance)
  • Pa Kent (Earth-132) (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

  • Anti-Atomic Ray (Earth-132)
  • Master Space Viewer (Earth-132)
  • Microbe Ray (Earth-132)
  • Power Ray (Earth-132)
    • Heat Ray (Earth-132)
  • Project Dummy (Earth-132)
  • Robo (Earth-132)
  • Signal-Watch (Earth-132)
  • Skill Machine (Earth-132)
  • Space Telescope (Earth-132)
  • Suboscope (Earth-132)
  • Super-Static Machine (Earth-132)
    • Super-Static Ray (Earth-132)
  • Super Univac
  • Talent-Machine (Earth-132)
  • Telepathy Helmets (Earth-132)

Vehicles:


Synopsis for "The Man Who Destroyed Krypton"

This story is reprinted from Superboy #67.

Klax-Ar, a renegade scientist exiled from Krypton in years past by Jor-El, claims responsibility for the destruction of Superboy's homeworld (falsely) and, his powers on the wane thanks to exposure to atron-rays, puts into motion a scheme to sap the powers from Superboy and infuse them into his own body.

Appearing in "The Man Who Destroyed Krypton"

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Synopsis for "The Invasion of Krypton!"

This story is reprinted from Superboy #83.

Superboy once again uses his Total Recall and mind-prober ray to remember another episode of his childhood on Krypton. This time, he remembers how, when he and Krypto were treated with Jor-El's anti-gravity ray, they used their resultant powers to defeat an alien invasion force.

Appearing in "The Invasion of Krypton!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Alien invaders (Flashback only)

Other Characters:

  • Kryptonian Firefly

Locations:

Items:

  • Anti-Gravity Ray
  • Atomic Ray Weapon
  • Green Kryptonite
  • Healing Cabinet
  • Jumping Boots
  • Mind Proper Ray
  • Vaxxium (Destroyed)

Vehicles:

  • Flying Saucer

Synopsis for "How Jimmy Olsen First Met Superman!"

This story is reprinted from Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #36.

Years ago Jimmy Olsen had traveled to Metropolis to start a new life, excited to live in the same town as his idol, Superman. While job hunting Jimmy visited Professor Crane, a scientist looking for a lab assistant. Taking the job, Jimmy was asked to test out his time machine. Figuring that it will be a failure, Jimmy agrees to test it out. The Professor warns Jimmy that since the universe is constantly moving, the time machine might materialize him on another world.

The time machine surprisingly worked, and Jimmy found himself transported back in time, to the planet Krypton, some 20 years in the past. Causing some traffic troubles, Jimmy was chased by the Kryptonian police, but he managed to lose them by hiding out at an exhibit of Earth culture. After securing some Kryptonian clothing and an anti-gravity belt, Jimmy went exploring around the home world of Superman. To his surprise, he found the lab of Jor-El and overheard his wife Lara complaining about how their work is hampered due to their obligation to keep young Kal-El out of trouble. Jimmy appeared and offered to baby sit young Kal-El, while Jor-El and Lara worked on their rocket project.

As Jor-El tested his prototype rocket with the family pet Krypto, Jimmy took young Kal-El to the Kryptonian aquarium. Later when they went for food, young Kal-El pushed all the buttons on the food dispenser, causing all sorts of food to fly out, prompting Jimmy to spank young Kal-El.

Taking Kal-El back to Jor-El, they prepare to put the child in his rocket to send him away from Krypton before the planet would explode. However as Jor-El was preparing the rocket, Kal-El crawled away. Jimmy and Krypto went out looking for the boy, and they also had to prevent the Kryptonian police from arresting Jor-El for his "false" doomsday predictions. Jimmy turned Kal-El over to Jor-El, who launched the boy off in the fated rocket that would send him to Earth.

Jimmy managed to escape to his time ship and return to the present, just as Krypton was exploding. Back in his own time, Jimmy had no memory of what had happened and Professor Crane considered his invention a failure. Unemployed again, Jimmy began looking for work, when he was confronted by Superman, who offered Jimmy his friendship and a job at the Daily Planet, in thanks for looking after him as a child.

And so this is how Jimmy Olsen and Superman became best pals, how Jimmy was rewarded with a signal watch and began collecting Superman souvenirs. As Superman departs later, he jests about how spanking him as a child was a "fine way" to treat a pal.

Appearing in "How Jimmy Olsen First Met Superman!"

Featured Characters:

  • Jimmy Olsen (First appearance as Jim-My) (Flashback and main story)

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Vehicles:

  • Kryptonian Aerial Motorcycle (Flashback only)
  • Kryptonian Anti-Gravity Flying Belts (Flashback only)
  • Kryptonian Rocket (Flashback only)
  • Crane's Time Machine (Flashback only)

Concepts:

Synopsis for "The Super-Monkey from Krypton!"

This story is reprinted from Superboy #76.

While visiting a zoo, Clark Kent is reminded of how, when he was a toddler, an experimental monkey of Jor-El's had stowed away aboard his rocket, escaping before it exploded, gaining super-powers on Earth, taking Clark's Kryptonian playsuit for himself, causing trouble for baby Clark, and eventually fleeing to outer space. Clark wonders when he will see Super-Monkey again.

Appearing in "The Super-Monkey from Krypton!"

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Synopsis for "The Sleeping Beauty from Krypton!"

This story is reprinted from Superman #128.

Lois Lane is a contestant on the show "Bid the Price" and correctly appraises the value of a giant gong Superman once used on a Kryptonite robot constructed by Lex Luthor. As the winning contestant, Lois is gifted with props from the film "The Krypton Story" including a replica of the ship that brought Superman to Earth, a Kryptonian woman's outfit, a Kryptonian camera and slides with images from the film.

Lois gets the idea to try and use these items to trick Superman into revealing his secret identity. Putting on the costume and a blond wig, Lois tracks down Superman and convinces him that she's really Rama, his apparent babysitter from Krypton. Explaining that she was put in suspended animation and launched from Krypton before it exploded by his father, she explains that she passed through a cloud of Kryptonite dust that temporarily nullified her powers. Using the props that she won on the game show, Lois manages to fool Superman, who reveals his secret identity of Clark Kent. However, returning home, Superman realizes that he's been tricked because there would have been no way "Rama" would have learned that her powers were temporarily lost from Kryptonite if she was in suspended animation the whole time.

Learning that it was really Lois Lane hoaxing him, Superman then comes up with a way to "disprove" that he's really Clark Kent. The next day, Superman appears before Lois and tells her that he's in love with Rama and intends to marry her. Lois reveals to him that she is really Rama and that she knows his secret identity. When Clark Kent suddenly appears before both Lois and Superman, Lois is still not convinced. Believing that Clark is really one of Superman's robots, she has him stand in front of an x-ray, which proves that he's really a human. Next, convinced that Superman is truly the robot, she has the Man of Steel exposed to electromagnets, which yield no results. Once more convinced that Clark Kent and Superman are two different people, the flustered Lois realizes that it was all a hoax and that Superman trying to teach her a lesson. When Lois leaves, "Clark Kent" unmasks himself, and is revealed to be Superman's friend Bruce Wayne (AKA, Batman) who was called in to cover for him.

Appearing in "The Sleeping Beauty from Krypton!"

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Supporting Characters:

  • Lois Lane (First appearance as Rama) (Flashback and main story)

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Synopsis for "The Super-Teacher from Krypton"

This story is reprinted from Adventure Comics #240.

A robot teacher programmed by Jor-El to teach Kal-El survives the explosion of Krypton, comes to Earth, and puts Superboy through a series of super-power examinations. Superboy gets no feedback from the machine until he is finished as it informs him he has failed and must give up being Superboy. Superboy is crestfallen, but agrees to abide by the decision the machine has rendered, upon which the teacher congratulates him and tells him he just passed the final test to see if he would willingly refrain from exercising his power. Superboy has passed all the tests with flying colors.

Appearing in "The Super-Teacher from Krypton"

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Items:

  • None

Vehicles:

  • None

Notes

  • This issue features a bonus depicting the flag of Krypton.



See Also


Links and References

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