I particularly enjoyed the Superman stories that featured Lex Luthor’s time- and space-hopping super-science. They presented the criminal scientist as more of a match for Superman, and were just a lot of zany fun, swiftly setting up the wildest plots with a minimum of fuss.
For example, in Hercules in the 20th Century!, the imprisoned Luthor can recruit the ancient demigod by “…building a time machine with an alarm clock, a shaving mirror, aspirin and the picture of an eclipse,” noted the Comics Archeology web site.
Superman encountered or fought this ginger-headed, leopard-skinned Hercules on a number of occasions, most notably here in Action Comics 267-268.
“Hercules has a circular band around his hair, a feature of some Kryptonian men,” observed comics historian Michael E. Grost.
A couple of years later, Marvel Comics’ bearded, Steve Reeves-esque Hercules fought the Mighty Thor before joining the Avengers himself.
“When you need a superhero who doesn’t require much time and effort for development, but comes pre-equipped with excellent name recognition, and yet doesn’t require paying royalties, you can’t do much better than Hercules,” observed comics historian Don Markstein.
“By duping the legendary hero into believing that he has been wrongfully imprisoned by ‘an evil king’ who stole his gold and hid it underground, Luthor can trick Hercules into using his superhuman strength to break Luthor out of prison and help him loot Fort Knox,” recalled comics historian Michael L. Fleisher.
“Ultimately, however, Hercules discovers that he has been duped into helping Luthor commit crimes, and he seizes the evil scientist and turns him over to Superman.”
I loved this rare two-part story when I was 6 because it presented Superman with a colorful foe who could challenge him physically, not just some gangster in a fedora. That didn’t happen often enough in the late 1950s.
“This story incorporates Greek mythology into the Superman saga. Its plot anticipates that of Robert Bernstein’s Superboy’s Big Brother; The Secret of Mon-El (Superboy 89, June 1961), by showing how Hercules is provided with a secret identity on modern Earth,” noted Grost. “(Writer Otto) Binder had a fascination with such ancient heroes as Hercules and Samson, frequently comparing them with Superman in his stories. Hercules had shown up in his The First Two Supermen (Adventure 257, Feb. 1959).”
In both the Action and Adventure stories, Hercules was frustrated because, while he might rival Superman’s strength, the Man of Tomorrow’s numerous other superpowers left him in the dust.
Two of the most celebrated Superman artists were showcased in Action Comics 267 — Curt Swan on the cover and Wayne Boring inside.
“Action Comics 267 sports a great cover of a spurned Hercules lashing out at a poster of Superman,” noted the comics journalist Anj. “But the real draw is the Supergirl story when the Legion of Super-Heroes comes to the past to recruit her.”
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