Superman’s Kryptonian past continued to catch up with him in The Lost Secrets of Krypton (Superman 74, Jan. 1952).
“Krypton would play its biggest role in the Superman saga during the Silver Age of the 1950s and 1960s, rather than in the Golden Age of comics of the 1930s and 1940s,” observed comics historian Michael Grost.
“In general, the basic paradigm for Golden Age comics was the detective story, in which a hero, super-powered or not, used his skills to track down and capture criminals; while the paradigm for Silver Age stories in the comics was the science fiction tale. This is a generalization, with many exceptions, and it is undoubtedly too broad and oversimplified. Yet there is a core of truth to it. Krypton was a key factor in the science fictionalization of comic books during the Silver Age. It allowed the Superman saga to be the basis for an immense number of complex science fiction tales.”
In Lost Secrets, Luthor’s magnetic ray pulls from the sky not kryptonite, as he’d hoped, but a huge vault in which Jor-El stored his greatest inventions.
Luthor gives Superman and Metropolis a rough time, turning people to stone with Jor-El’s petrifying ray and making objects fall upward with his levitation bombs. Protected by Jor-El’s invisibility spray, Luthor and his henchmen can also cause havoc with the Kryptonian scientist’s super-artificial lightning projector.
Writer Edmond Hamilton and artist Wayne Boring gave us this satisfying tale in which Luthor is finally defeated by Superman and by his father’s understanding of psychology.
Superman goads the criminal scientist into using an invention which Jor-El warned should only be activated by those who desire power over everyone else. When triggered, the device emits a gas that renders Luthor unconscious.
“I, Jor-El, do not intend that my secrets shall ever be used by power-lusting plotters to dominate their brothers!” declares a recording. “So I included this machine as a safeguard against ambitious plotters like you! And this gas from it will make you helpless to work evil!”
Unable to bring himself to destroy his father’s dangerous inventions, Superman hurls them back into space, hoping that wiser beings may someday discover them.
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