Superman #144 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1961.
Synopsis for "The Super-Weapon!"
Lex Luthor hires a bunch of men to operate for him outside of prison and build his latest weapon against Superman: Weapon X, a device which draws it's power whenever Superman does super-feats. Bert, one of Luthor's most trusted men, disguises himself as Amos Dexter and offers to make a donation to charity if Superman performs a super-feat which he has never previously done, Superman complies by helping bring down a condemned building, little knowing that he is charging a weapon the crooks hope will spell Superman's doom.
Later when they rob an armored car and Superman tries to intervene, he is blasted with Weapon X and it sends him flying into the sun. Returning to Metropolis he finds the villains have fled without a trace. And so the cycle continues, "Amos Dexter" happens to be by, asking Superman to do another unusual feat in exchange for money to a charity, followed by another heist by Luthor's crew who manage to repel Superman with Weapon X. Eventually, Superman gets wise to the situation and learns of "Dexter's" true identity. With the help of Jimmy Olsen and a fake obelisk, Superman puts on a fake super-feat, having Jimmy on hand to expose Superman to Kryptonite at enough of a distance to only sap Superman of his super powers. The over confident crooks believe they are stealing more of his super strength are really not.
When Superman tries to catch them later, they are shocked to find that Weapon X is out of energy, Superman easily takes the device and destroys it before turning the criminals over to the police. In jail, they are scolded for their failure by Luthor.
Appearing in "The Super-Weapon!"
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Synopsis for "Superboy's First Public Appearance!"
For the Daily Planet's Centennial, Superman is asked to fly around the world and take pictures of the various Daily Planet offices around the world, he is recognized by everyone and it causes Superman to reflect back on the first day he introduced himself to the world as Superboy:
It all started one day while working in Ma and Pa Kent's grocery store when his x-ray vision spots trouble, Pa Kent decides it's time for Clark to go into action as Superboy for the first time. After putting off Lana Lang with an act of cowardice, Clark changes into Superboy and stops a bunch of scuba-gear wearing crooks and their boss. Revealing himself to the police chief and the mayor of Smallville, Superboy reveals himself and proves that he has super-powers.
When the news goes out that a Superboy exists he soon becomes the center of media attention and asked to aid various government, military, and charity organizations. Superboy soon becomes so inundated with requests that he has to turn them down, opting to patrol the world and put his talents to good use as needed.
With his recollection over, Superman changes back to Clark Kent and meets up with his old high school flame, Lana Lang. The two go over their old class yearbook, and Lana has to laugh when Clark's yearbook profile states that he was the most likely to become famous. Clark finds this funny too, because he has become famous, only as Superman.
Appearing in "Superboy's First Public Appearance!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- various criminals
Other Characters:
- Gregg Peterson
- Mayor Courtney
- The President of U.S.A.
Synopsis for "The Orphans of Space!"
Superman, Supergirl, and Krypto are all at the Fortress of Solitude, where Superman is reporting to the people of the bottle city of Kandor of his latest efforts to restore it to normal size. Just then the warning alarm alerts Superman to the fact that an airplane flown by map makers are in the area and are at risk of discovering his Fortress of Solitude. Using everyone's capes, Superman makes "danger" flags to detour the pilots flight path.
Returning to the Fortress, Superman shows Supergirl and Krypto a device he found in deep space and decides to get it working to see what it does. In doing so, Superman causes the entire Earth to explode, leaving the three Kryptonians the sole survivors. Mortified that they are once more orphans of space, the trio are forced to flee when Earth's destruction creates "Earthanite" that is also harmful to them. They are then captured by the Cosmic Police who have come to arrest them for the destruction of Earth.
They are put on trial and found guilty, stripped of their powers and left to live their live on a primordial planet populated by giant lizards. Superman goes out to forage for food when he hears the cries of Supergirl. Rushing to her aid, he arrives just in time to see a lightning breathing lizard kill both her and Krypto.
Suddenly, things get hazy and Superman finds himself back in the Fortress of Solitude, Earth is well and it was all some strange hallucination. He's told by the people of Kandor that they were victims of Red Kryptonite, that a cloud of the substance was in the air when Superman put the flags out and it had gotten on their capes, and infected the trio when Superman retrieved the capes and brought them back into the Fortress of Solitude.
Appearing in "The Orphans of Space!"
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Other Characters:
- Citizens of Kandor
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Notes
- "Superboy's First Public Appearance!" is reprinted in Superman: From the 30's to the 70's.
- "The Super Weapon" is reprinted under the title "The Super Gun" in DC Super-Stars #9.
Trivia
- In the letters page, Don Glut discusses an inaccuracy regarding a dinosaur shown in Superman #142.
See Also