Superman #214

Nobody would call this one a classic story; in fact it's pretty goofy. But it was very influential in getting me interested in chasing down back issues, and so I thought it would be a good one to mention.

The story opens with Superman 3000 feet underground, mining for "dilonthium crystals" needed by the Metropolis Geological Institute. While there, he encounters a spectral figure:

Later, another ghost menaces Lois:

And still later:

Eventually Superman realizes that someone must be responsible for these ghostly apparitions, and so he demands that person show himself. And sure enough:

See, Nador wanted to join this exclusive interplanetary club, but he's too nerdy-looking, so they set him an impossible task: Bring Superman to his knees. But Nador does even better:

So the story itself is rather insipid, but what jazzed me back in late 1968 when I read it were the flashbacks to earlier issues. Superman had this impressive array of foes I had never heard about? It helped greatly that I was able to obtain the Zha-Vam trilogy a couple of months later, and around the same time, DC reprinted the Metallo story.

The backup tale is a reprint, explaining how Clark Kent got his job at the Daily Planet; most of the Weisinger-edited mags had gone to this "half-original, half-reprint" format as an apparent cost-saving maneuver; the first 15 cent issue was just around the corner (#218).