Batman, Son Of Krypton

Here's a great World's Finest piece from the same era as when Julie Schwartz & Carmine Infantino were bringing Batman into his 'New Look' period, and wiping away all that Zebra Batman / Bat Hound / Batman on alien worlds nonsense.
Just a year or so earlier, the idea that The Caped Crusader might actually have come from Krypton would've been explained away by Red Kryptonite, or a practical joke Supes was playing on his pal for no apparent reason, and in fact, you read this whole story on tenterhooks waiting for just that to happen.
But no. In line with the comparative seriousness going on in Bats' own book at the time, writer Edmond Hamilton plays this one dead straight, and the rage Supes feels at the 'truth' of Krypton's destruction is genuine.
I always knew Curt Swan was great of course, but just now discovering how great Hamilton was too.

Must There Be A Superman?

Well, must there? Loads of writers have tackled the issue of whether or not humanity could start taking Superman for granted, and not actually progress as a species as a consequence.
But I think Elliot S. Maggin was the first to actually ask the question in print, in this issue where those pesky know-it-all's The Guardians Of The Universe decide we can get along perfectly fine without outside help.
Which is a bit rich, considering they're the ones providing us with a Green Lantern.
Regardless, this is a great story, without an easy answer, and actually isn't about Superman at all, but about mankind, and how much responsibility we might be prepared to take for ourselves.

Superman & Batman: The Super-Foes From Planet X

Back to the Silver Age now, for one of those super silly World's Finest stories where Bats, Supes & Robin fight aliens. Y'know, one of those tales everybody says they hate, and that ruined the Darknight Detective for years, but that always raise a smile and that we all like really.
My personal Bronze Age was still full of reprints like this, and I had no problem slotting them right alongside more 'serious' fare, and enjoying them in the spirit they were intended.
After all, I didn't know the Silver Age was over and we were now in the Bronze Age. Nobody told me.
This one, The Super-Foes From Planet X, has always stuck with me, if only for the scene with the matchbox and the genius way Batman escapes the trap the alien's put them all into.
Go on, smile. You know you want to.

Superman, Bodyguard or Assassin?

Here's yet another great Superman story from Cary Bates and the Swanderson team, that everyone this side of the pond will remember from the DC Christmas annuals.
Not quite sure why it needs to be an imaginary story set in the future but there you go. Was there ever a sequel to this, does anyone know? I have a memory of a Supes story where a white or blonde haired villainess was escaping in a private jet on the last page, and she had the exact same button in her thumbnail that General Trevis and the secretary have in this tale. Or am I getting stories mixed up?