Superman #161 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1963.
Synopsis for "The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent!"
On a trip to visit Jonathan and Martha Kent's graves in Smallville, Superman remembers their last days.
Superman recalls how, when he was Superboy, he took his parents on a time-travel trip to the year 1717 to look for Blackbeard's treasure. After they returned to the 20th century, Ma and Pa got very sick. The doctor told Clark that it was "the fever plague", a disease from the past. Superboy researched a cure, but it failed. He tried projecting them into the Phantom Zone (as he had earlier done to save Mon-El), but that failed as well. Lana Lang (who had worked as a nurse's aide) tried to help them, and even a young Lex Luthor tried to cure them in return for a possible release from prison. But despite these efforts, they died. Superboy considered giving up his superhero career as a result, but then decided that his parents would want him to be a hero.
Appearing in "The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent!"
Featured Characters:
- Superman (as Superman, and as Superboy in flashback)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Lex Luthor
- Blackbeard
- his crew
- Pegleg Morgan
Locations:
Synopsis for "Superman Goes To War!"
Clark Kent, Perry White, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen are hired to act as extras in Invasion, a World War II epic movie being filmed in the Pacific. Unknown to the reporters and the movie-makers, a contingent of aliens from the planet Zhor have become marooned on Earth when their spacecraft is disabled by a meteor. When they see the "invading" fleet of ships from the movie, they assume they are being attacked, take over Japanese weaponry still left on the island, and try to repel the "invaders". Clark Kent, to cover for a supposed "injury" done him by a shell and to be able to operate with super-powers in public, summons Supergirl by ventriloquism. She fakes giving Clark temporary super-powers from a blood transfusion. The now openly-powerful Clark Kent defeats the Zhorians. When he hears their story, Superman repairs their ship and helps them take off again. Later, Clark pretends to have gained amnesia about recent events when the transfusion "wears off," and also pretends not to believe Jimmy and Lois's stories of his derring-do.
Appearing in "Superman Goes To War!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Other Characters:
- Zhorians
- Harold Haller
- movie cast and crew
Locations:
- Metropolis
- Pacific Island
Notes
- "The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent!" was reprinted in Superman in the Sixties.
Trivia
- The letters page includes 16-year-old Donald D. Markstein, later a famous comics historian.
See Also
Links and References
