Indefensible Ink

The lead story of 1982's Superman #372 might look a little old-fashioned next to the cutting-edge superhero storytelling of Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, Miller's Daredevil, or the Wolfman-Perez New Teen Titans, but readers raved about the brain-bending plot twist in Cary Bates and Curt Swan's "Superman's History-Changing Mission!" What did comics fans see in this seemingly illogical Superman adventure? We're going back in time 40 years (and the Man of Steel is going back a bit further still) to investigate the curious charms of the Bronze Age Pre-Crisis Superman and the writer they called "Mr. Surprise"! Also covered in this episode: The perfect drink to compliment global blackmail, more uses for super-ventrioloquism, Superman's CIA contact, and humble advice to the head honchos at NASA. PLUS: Following up from the previous episode on LJN's Uncanny X-Men video game for the NES, Justin learns that the Sega Genesis had its own X-Men adventure with a counterintuitive secret to getting to the final level.