The Silver Age didn't have many of the multi-issue crossover epics that have become the standard for superhero comics today. Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? felt positively epic across two parts. So the five part saga that ran through Action Comics from April to August of 1968 was always going to feel like a big deal. Doubly so when the story it was telling involved the apparent death of Superman, and this time without the involvement of anybody called Murder Man. It does, however, involve the equally preposterous character of Ventor, an criminal ventriloquist who aims to get revenge on Superman for imprisoning him. How does he do that? By hypnotising Clark Kent into murdering his best friend! Not realising that Superman and Clark are one and the same, Ventor is condemning both to death when the Man Of Steel purposefully infects himself with the deadly Kryptonian Virus X. He only survives when his cremation in the sun burns the virus off.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
