"How would you spank an invulnerable child?" is the question DC kept asking, over and over again. From
Superman #192 (Jan. 1967), cover art by Curt Swan and George Klein. Something about the way Lois is inked reminds
us very much of Murphy Anderson, but Superman's figure is clearly not Anderson's work. The effect is probably due to the
sheer completeness of Swan's pencils. © DC Comics, Inc.
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Evidently it was, and it seems Clark Kent didn't learn anything from these experiences either, judging
by this scene in which he makes the exact same bonehead mistake his father did years earlier. Well,
they say the apple doesn't fall
far from the tree! In this typical example of the Mort Weisinger silliness that generally
reigned during the 60's in the "Superman Family" books, Clark has married Lois Lane, lost his
super-powers, and fathered a super-powered brat. (Weisinger was the editor in charge
of the Superman books during these years, and strangely enough was considered indispensible by the
publisher). We should mention that this was an example of an "imaginary tale", which means the
writer and editor couldn't think of anything more to do with the characters that month, so they
resorted to the trick of presenting a story outside the regular continuity. This dodge allowed
them to do stories that otherwise couldn't have been done, and in fact shouldn't have been
done - like this one. Then next month, everything would be back to normal, although with DC,
"normal" was a relative term at best.
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