Moon

Revision as of 20:08, 27 June 2006

A planetoid located about 256,000 miles away, the moon is the only known natural satellite of the Earth.

In February 1950, Lex Luthor fuses “a couple of handfuls of dust from the dark side of the moon” with several other “strange materials” in order to produce the first known sample of synthetic Kryptonite (Act No. 141: “Luthor’s Secret Weapon”).

In September-October 1950, when Superman believes he is dying of kryptonite poisoning, he engraves a gigantic message on the surface of the moon in hopes of bequeathing mankind a farewell “guiding principle.”“Do good unto others,” reads the message in mile-high letters, “and every man can be a Superman! [signed Superman (Clark Kent)].” A short while later, however, after having learned that he is not dying after all, Superman returns to the moon and erases the name “Clark Kent” from his message just as the moon is about to appear from behind a cloud and expose his secret identity to the entire world (S No. 66/2: “The Last Days of Superman!”). In another telling, when Superman believes he is dying of exposure to Virus X, he uses his heat vision to inscribe this message -- later Krypto and Supergirl use their vision to erase it (S No. 156, Oct 1962: "The Last Days of Superman!").

In January-February 1953, when Professor Wilson divides the formula for his “four-dimensional projector” into seven parts and hides them in seven inaccessible places, one of the hiding places he chooses is the moon’s largest crater (WF No. 62: “The Seven Secrets of Superman”).

In January 1956, when a Metropolis multimillionaire offers a reward of $100,000 to the first man to land on the moon, Superman flies to the moon, inscribes a gigantic message (“Superman was here”) on the surface to prove he has been there, and then returns to Earth to collect his reward, which he distributes among the stockholders of the Superman Stock Company (S No. 102/1: “Superman for Sale”).

A text for August 1956 recounts the events surrounding Superman’s battle with Drago, a renegade scientist of the thirtieth century C.E. After escaping from prison on the moon, Drago and his gang of fellow convicts transform the moon into a jetpropelled spaceship and propel it out of its orbit, using it as their headquarters in an attempt to devastate and conquer the Earth. The villains are apprehended and the moon is restored to its rightful orbit, however, through the heroic efforts of Superman, whose presence in this future era is the result of his exposure, in August 1956, to the terrible radiation of a defective atomic pile, which caused him to lapse into a sleeplike coma from which he only awakens a thousand years later (S No. 107/3: “Rip Van Superman!”).

In March 1957, Superman helps lift the spirits of crippled youngster Tommy Snead by taking Tommy on a brief journey to the moon (S No. 112/1: “Superman’s Neighbors”).

In June 1957, Superman flies to the moon and, with the super-friction of his hands, polishes a mammoth chunk of moon rock into a gigantic mirror so that he can reflect beams of bright light toward Earth to halt a stampede of charging elephants. Later, Superman smashes a moon mountain into boulder-sized chunks and hurls them toward Earth in order to dam up a flash flood somewhere in the Swiss Alps (Act No. 229: “The Superman Satellite”).

In July 1957, after Superman’s super-powers have been temporarily multiplied “a thousandfold” by a weird undersea phenomenon, Superman only narrowly misses crashing into the moon and smashing it to fragments when he leaps high into the air in an unsuccessful effort to apprehend Bart Wellins (Act No. 230: “Superman Loses His Powers”).

Batman, Robin and Superman apprehend the villain Rohtul on the moon during a visit to the world of 2957 A.D. (WF No. 91, Nov/Dec 1957: “The Three Super-Sleepers!”).

In December 1958, an astronaut named Rogers becomes the pilot of the “first manned rocket” to the moon when he circles the moon in a spacecraft that is hurled into moon orbit by Superman. Returning to Earth, however, Rogers soon achieves infamy as the Moonman (WF No. 98: “The Menace of the Moonman!”).

In February 1959, Superman uses lead ore that he mines on the moon to construct an elaborate “leaden suit”, impervious to kryptonite radiation, to wear in his forthcoming battle with Lex Luthor (Act No. 249: “The Kryptonite Man!”).

In April 1959, Superman visits the moon for the purpose of “collecting samples of the moon’s ore for the Metropolis Observatory!” (S No. 128/2: ‘The Sleeping Beauty from Krypton!”).

In October 1959, Superman dispatches one of his Superman Robots into outer space to carry out a scientific exploration of the dark side of the moon. Inside an air-filled crater there, the robot discovers the “ruins of a dead civilization” and swiftly rebuilds them “into an Earthlike city,” so that, one day, in the age of space travel, earthmen will be able to “live in this moon metropolis!” (Act No. 257: “The Reporter of Steel!”).

In September 1960, after Hercules has used his mighty Olympus powers to make the waters of a large gulf vanish into thin air, Superman pushes the moon out of its orbit and positions it directly over the gulf. “Now to push the moon down to Earth and over that dry gulf!” thinks Superman. “The moon’s gravitational pull is what causes tides on Earth! At this close range, the moon’s pull [has] created a big tidal wave from the ocean that is spilling into the open end of the dry gulf! It will fill up rapidly to save the dying fish and float the stranded ships!” Moments later, the mammoth task completed, Superman hurls the moon “back into its former orbit!” (Adv No. 268: “Superman’s Battle with Hercules!”).

In February 1961, the mischievous Mr. Mxyzptlk uses his extraordinary extra dimensional powers to transform the moon into a gigantic globe of green cheese, and then, moments later, back into the moon again (Act No. 273: “The World of Mr. Mxyzptlk!”).

In May 1961, Superman deliberately shoves the moon in front of the sun, thereby creating an artificial eclipse and temporarily cutting off all of Earth’s sunlight, in order to defeat an extraterrestrial “cactus creature” that draws its powers from the light and heat of the sun. Soon afterward, with the alien creature now helpless, Superman restores the moon to its appropriate orbit (S No. 145/2: “The Interplanetary Circus!”).

In October 1969, Superboy, in a complex plot involving the ressurected body of Cleopatra, the ancient Queen of Egypt now disguised as a visiting student from modern Egypt named Cleop Amahdi, is deceived into believing that he has accidently killed a fellow student at Smallville Highschool. He sentences himself to eternal exile on a red sun planet, where his "powers will be lost forever." While leaving Earth, he pauses on Earth's Moon. There, he spends much time in deliberation, first thinking, "Just exiling myself isn't enough! I--I'm guilty of destroying a human life!" However, he then begins to doubt that he actually killed anyone and so returns to Earth to discover that Cleop couldn't have been killed by him because she had already been killed thousands of years ago by an asp in ancient Egypt. (SB No. 160: "I Chose Eternal Exile!")

In July 1976, Superman strands the Solomon Grundy of Earth-2 on the Moon, reasoning that since Grundy is not really alive, Earth's satellite is the safest place to imprison the rampaging monster (S No. 301: "Solomon Grundy Wins on Monday").