Scenes from an Amatuer Comic Collector's Life (5)

Last Saturday I went back to Time Machine and bought two Jack Kirby Thors (141 and 143), a Batman 80 page Giant (no. 203) , a Superboy 80 page giant (No. 10) and a Magnus Robot Fighter. I remember buying that Batman when I was 9. Batman was on TV with Adam West and this comic was a collection of Secrets of the Batcave. The cover is a spectacular Neal Adams with Batman going over blueprints of the Batcave with Robin.

The Superboy had an interesting exchange between the Boy of Steel and a youth from Titan, a moon of Saturn. Kral, the Titanian kid is about to kill some crooks with his heat vision. Superboy intercedes and says, "No, Kral! Stop! On Earth we give all criminals a fair trial. Men become criminals because they're mentally sick! The job of our prison doctors is to try to help them become good citizens." All of sudden Superboy is a psychologist. In another weird story, Superboy splits into two beings--himself and Clark Kent. To disguise himself, Superboy poses as the son of a Native American. The gentleman says, "Me say you are my son, Flying Spirit. Me got so many kids nobody know the difference." How offensive! The Smallville census taker wouldn't even notice a teenager suddenly showing up? Well, it's another Native American, he would probably think. And so Superboy goes to school in "Indian" dress complete with bow and arrow. "It's part of our tribal law," the thought balloon says. (The cover at left has nothing to do with the comic I bought, but it is so cool!)