Superman Vol 1 154

"The Underwater Pranks of Mr. Mxyzptlk!"

Cover

The Underwater Pranks of Mr. Mxyzptlk!

Krypton's First Superman!

Inkers

George Klein

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Superman # 153	Superman # 155

Listen, you pest! I'm going to the moon and stay there till you go back to the Fifth Dimension! I never want to see your face again!

— Superman

Superman #154 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 1962.

Synopsis for "The Underwater Pranks of Mr. Mxyzptlk!"

In the 5th Dimension it's getting time for the Academy of Practical Joking to announce their annual Brxll Awards, to award the best practical joker in the dimension. With stiff competition, Mr. Mxyzptlk wishes to succeed as opposed to winning yet another Booby Prize. He thinks back to all the times that Superman has thwarted him in the past by tricking him into saying his name backwards and comes up with a solution: If he can't be made to say the word because there is no air, then he could go on playing pranks on Superman endlessly and surely win the Brxll award.

On Earth, Superman is called to an odd occurrence; somehow, sailing ships have been made to fly and airplanes to sail on the water. Suspecting his old foe Mr. Mxyzptlk, Superman locates him hanging out in the outskirts of Lori Lemaris' Atlantis. Lori commands sealife to spell Mxyzptlk's name backwards, but this fails as Mxyzptlk cannot speak while immersed in water. Mxyzptlk then mocks Superman by turning a submarine into a giant banana with Kltpzyxm written on it and purposely tries to read it to show that he cannot do so under water.

Mxyzptlk's next prank has all the grown-ups in Metropolis behaving like children. Superman attempts to thwart Mxyzptlk by having everyone sing a song that has the word Kltpzyxm in the lyrics. This once more fails as Mxyzptlk is under a fountain and it's water prevents him from talking.

For his next trick, Mxyzptlk makes all the animals on Earth able to speak English, which most people dismiss as hoaxes. Superman finds Mxyzptlk in a pond and once more tries to get him to say his name backwards. When this fails, Superman says that he's fed up and retreats to the Moon where he vows to stay until Mr. Mxyzptlk goes back to his home dimension. Not finished mocking the Man of Steel, Mxyzptlk travels to the Moon where he mocks Superman further by trying to say his name backwards in the airless void. Superman finally gains the upper hand when he uses his x-ray vision to free some oxygen trapped in the Moons rock that creates enough of an atmosphere that when Mxyzptlk says his name backwards again it is actually heard and he is shunted back to the 5th Dimension.

Adding insult to injury, when Mxyzptlk arrives home, he is not awarded a Bxrll award, but the hated Booby Prize for the fourth time in a row.

Appearing in "The Underwater Pranks of Mr. Mxyzptlk!"

Featured Characters:

Superman

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Mr. Mxyzptlk

Other Characters:

Dog Fanciers
Metropolis Fire Department
Metropolis Police Department
Rocket Scientists
Streaky
Zrfffians
- Hytlwmf

Locations:

Earth
- Atlantic Ocean
  - Atlantis
- Earth's Moon
- Metropolis
  - Daily Planet
  - The Docks
  - Metropolis Airport
  - Metropolis Zoo
Fifth Dimension
- Zrfff

Items:

Booby Prize
Brxll Statuette

Vehicles:

Boeing 707 Airliner
"Queen Margaret" Ocean Liner
Submarine/ Banana Boat

Concepts:

Sign Language

Synopsis for "Krypton's First Superman!"

When Perry White, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen award Superman with a plaque in thanks for his assistance in helping the paper get scoops, Superman shocks them all when he suddenly destroys the Daily Planet's printing press. Superman snaps out of his destructive mood as suddenly as it came on and he quickly repairs the damage before shamefully departing.

Spotting a bank robbery, Superman initially goes to capture the criminals, but suddenly helps them escape. Back to normal, Superman checks to see if it's his old foe Lex Luthor manipulating him, but finds that Luthor is still in his prison cell. The Man of Steel then suddenly feels the urge to wreck the Temple of Ilena, a Mermaid goddess that is worshiped by the Atlanteans led by Lori Lemaris. Lori summons Supergirl who stops Superman's rampage and repairs the damage. When Superman returns to normal, he agrees to wait on a deserted island while Supergirl investigates what has happened.

Going to the Fortress of Solitude, Supergirl learns that there is no trace of Red Kryptonite in the area that could have affected Superman. Suddenly she is shrunk down in size and transported into the Bottle City of Kandor. There she is met by Lon-Es. Lon-Es explains to Supergirl that he has figured out what is causing Superman to go on his rampages.

Years ago on planet Krypton, there was a lab assistant that worked with Lon-Es and Jor-El named Ral-En. An explosion in the lab appeared to give Ral-En super-powers. Ral-En would be hailed as a hero after saving Krypton from invaders, however he would soon become a tyrannical dictator who would take over Krypton and force all to pay tribute to him.

Everyone followed blindly except for Jor-El, who would reveal that Ral-En was not super-powered but used a method of mass hypnosis to make everyone think he was. Easily dethroned, Ral-En was then banished to the Phantom Zone. Ral-En's father Mag-En vowed revenge against Jor-El for his son's banishment. Sometime later Lon-Es would spot Mag-En putting a post-hypnotic suggestion into the mind of young Kal-El, so that he would perform ten evil deeds discrediting his father, when he saw a particular blue comet.

In panic, Lon-Es fell and concussed himself; losing the memory of the events. He only remembered, when he saw that Superman had been behaving strangely. Supergirl is then returned to the outside of the city and she prevents Superman from destroying the Earth, and then seeks out an alien comet-eater and brings it to consume the comet that has caused him to act out in such a violent way.

Appearing in "Krypton's First Superman!"