Random Happenstance

Two bucks a pop for reader-quality comics like I usually grab feels a bit steep, but I got a pretty good stack of some more-retro than usual books the other day. And of course grabbed one I already had, Action #457! Rrr, fine, we'll try this classic cover instead: from 1975, Action Comics #454, "Superman's Energy Crisis!" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Tex Blaisdell.

The new, "1975-Toyman" makes a daring daytime bank robbery and owns Superman in his escape, using centrifugal force against him...which, I'm not 100% would work. If Supes can negate gravity's effect on him to fly, should he be able to move against that force? WGBS got pretty good footage of the fight, but it's not enough to keep anchor Clark Kent interested, as he nods off during the commericial break! He's also starving at a fundraiser dinner later, and falls asleep there too; which might indicate something was siphoning his juice. After saving a burger place from a falling tree, he has to gorge himself on burgers, needing millions of calories to support his powers! Wait...a Big Mac is 563-590 calories or so--say 600. So he'd need upwards of 1667 burgers for a million calories, which sounds like a lot. Tip your servers!

Toyman's next robbery doesn't go as well for him: he launches Superman into the stratosphere with bubbles, but instead of weakened, Supes finds his powers returning as he gets further away from earth. The actual answer and solution are both dumb and Toyman's not behind it, so whatever. Also, I'm not sure why burger place "MacTavish's" seems to have a Joker-looking clown mascot! Also this issue: the ivy at, um, Ivy University goes bad, in an Atom story, "The Campus That Swallowed Itself!" Somehow, Poison Ivy was not implicated. (Written by Martin Pasko, art by Jose Delbo.)