From 1978, Superman Family #190, "The Museum of Eternity" Story idea by Tom DeFalco and E. Nelson Bridwell; written by DeFalco, Bridwell, Gerry Conway, Bob Toomey, Paul Kupperberg, and Jack C. Harris; with art by Jack Abel, Ken Landgraf, Juan Ortiz, Win Mortimer, Kurt Schaffenberger, and more.
This was the last 80-pager for this title, and they went out with a "full-length Superman family novel!" that ran through all the usual features: Krypto, Nightwing and Flamebird, Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane. Oh, and Superman too. Although King Cougar's gang just tried to wack him at the Daily Planet, Jimmy has a bigger story drop in his lap when a call from his dad drops off: his entire hometown of Hartsdale has disappeared! Not due to an entire generation leaving rural America for the promise of better paying jobs and social opportunities in urban areas, literally disappeared. Jimmy suspected Brainiac, but knew he was in "space prison!" Still, after seeing a rabbit hop through a dimensional rip, Jimmy watches an armed alien come through, and can 'hear' him telepathically. The alien takes a shot at him, and Jimmy responds with a pretty impressive kick to the face. Helping himself to the alien's clothes, he investigates the rip and discovers an alien museum, with dozens of habitats stolen from earth. After he overhears the aliens planning a Kryptonian exhibit, Jimmy decides maybe it's time to call in Superman, but is discovered and jumped by the returning first alien. Desperate, Jimmy activates his signal watch, and throws it through the rip.
Meanwhile, Superman watches Lois Lane wave from Kandor: wearing special "gravity boots" to survive the Kryptonian conditions, she was visiting to get an interview with "Golden Age great" TNT. (Looking it up, post-Crisis TNT died in WWII. Possibly several different times...) Hearing Jimmy's watch, Supes investigates the empty site of Hartsdale, finds Jimmy's watch, and wrestles open a shrinking dimensional rip; which takes him to a methane-filled environment filled with angry green locals. Following more rips to different earth settings, Superman starts to wonder if he's being led, as he's weakened by an orange sun habitat. One of the aliens, calling himself "an apprentice curator of the preservers" takes a shot at him; to lure Superman into charging with him into a red sun area--and Superman recognizes the buildings there, from Kandor!
With Kandor enlarged, Lois is by Superman's side shortly, with Nightwing and Flamebird arriving shortly thereafter. But the curators send in a "purifier" robot, for Lois, since she doesn't belong in the Kryptonian exhibit. While the guys get clobbered, Lois figures out how to work her gravity boots like the Atom's weight controls, and is kicking the robot's ass, until it dissolves her boots and she can't even stand up in the higher gravity. Lois gets thrown into a cell next to Jimmy, with a robot getting ready to dissect them both; but Lois fakes being knocked out and kicks out the robot's optics. Chased by the purifier, Lois throws it into a generator, destroying it. Jimmy has information gleaned from the aliens' minds: the captives are exhibits in a cosmic museum, prevented from breaking out by a telepathic mental block. While they try to reach Kandor on a stolen hovercraft, the aliens threaten to retaliate against earth...in forty minutes or so, I guess.
Meanwhile, Krypto has also been captured, and is sent to the Kandor exhibit in a laser cage; which begs the question why cage him inside a bigger cage? Nightwing and Flamebird use their science to get Krypto out, and gear him up: the mental block doesn't affect him, so he can go from exhibit to exhibit. While he can't find the big machine to smash and get everyone out, he does find Jimmy and Lois, who want him to take them back to Kandor. But, in case there weren't enough problems, the Phantom Zone criminals have also been released in Kandor! Flamebird had actually spent some time 'inside,' so his old cellmates are thrilled to see him. While none of them have powers now, the Phantom Zoners want out pretty bad, but unlike Ver-Na, a wanted separatist leader, they don't seem to realize they've left one cage for another. Ver-Na considers it worse than the bottle, and agrees to help. Flamebird faces off against Jax-Ur in single combat to decide it, and while beating him explains how they're stuck.
By now, Superman has realized the aliens have taken all of the survivors of Krypton, except three: Supergirl and her parents, who were returning to the Fortress of Solitude. (Supergirl's mom mentions returning to Kandor, how they could enlarge to come and go I don't know.) Getting a message from a Jimmy Carter-resembling president, Supergirl heads to the Hartsdale site, and re-opens the dimensional rip and enters. Krypto, Lois, and Jimmy stop her just before she enters the Kandor habitat and gets trapped. Still, since there was an opening (to lure her in) Krypto is able to go in and bring Superman over to it. They try to form a chain, but they're only able to pull Superman out. But, with his powers back, Superman is able to help Supergirl bring more over; including some of the criminals. The aliens are no match for multiple powered Kryptonians, and are beaten soundly.
Supergirl points out they can't return cities stolen from the past to the present; there would be massive culture shock, as well as there may be other cities in their place now. Finding an uninhabited earthlike world, she suggests they settle it with the former exhibits, placing them all far enough apart they won't interact right away. And then the recall button (or whatever) is pressed, and everyone is back where they belong: Hartsdale, Kandor, the Phantom Zoners, even Krypto.
I may have to check out the next issue here soon, since I remember the cover for it from a house ad. I don't remember if it was hyping the intro of a Superboy feature, or because the page count was dropping to 64.
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