Gardening with Superman

Vegetable Villainy!

During the course of his storied career, Superman has fought all manner of dangerous foes - from the insidious evil of Lex Luthor to the brutal buffoonery of Bizarro.

But in "Puzzle of the Wild World," (Action Comics #388, May, 1970), Superman faces the strangest menace ever: he returns from a mission in space only to find Earth's continents turned tutti-frutti colours. Worse yet, Superman discovers that he's married to a wild-haired, hippie Lois Lane, and his weaknesses are chocolate, Brussels sprouts, and five-day-old garbage. (Superman learns this from a jealous Sgt. Rock of Easy Company, despite the fact that Rock exists in World War II and this story takes place in 1970.)

Never fear, there's an explanation:

That makes everything so much clearer.

I love the "Your President Loves to Point" poster at lower left.

This is a job for...uh, what the hell?

Needless to say, the duplicate duplicator, when switched on, sets matters to right, pulling the real Earth out of limbo and sending the bogus Earth into another dimension, where its inhabitants presumably enjoy their wacky alternate lives to this day.

Superman had a tough job. Imagine living on a world in which random good-natured geniuses ("Professer Nurd?" I mean, really) can cause globe-spanning catastrophes without intending any harm. And on top of that, you have people like the Toyman creating deadly hula hoops, giant gorillas with a wide range of super-powers and sociopathic tendencies, as well as the hassle of maintaining a secret identity. It's a wonder Superman isn't in the loony bin.