DC Comics Presents #50

Superman and Clark Kent team up not only to take on the Atomic Skull, but to prevent planetary disaster, too, in "When You Wish Upon a Planetoid"!

An alien world is brought to ruin by the Controllers' latest invention, the Miracle Machine. During an attempt to shut the device down, the Miracle Machine vanishes. The Miracle Machine appears on a lifeless planetoid, one that Superman is pushing back into it's normal orbit, to avoid colliding with another planetary body. Superman ponders the difficulties of living a double life, idly wishing that he could live his life, as both Superman and Clark Kent, separately. The next day, Kent is covering the gala Superman Day celebration ceremony, at the United Nations, for the Daily Planet. Superman, however, never shows. The Man of Steel is, instead, half a continent away, fixing a burst dam. Kent writes an article heavily criticizing Superman for his absence, one that Perry White takes issue with, and asks to be rewritten. A news bulletin comes in over the teletype, detailing an attack on S.T.A.R. Labs, in Metropolis, by the Atomic Skull. White, still angry with Kent, sends Lois Lane to cover the story. Kent ducks into a nearby store room, and rips open his shirt. Then wonders just what it is he's doing. Superman confronts the Atomic Skull, at S.T.A.R. Labs. An upgrade in the Atomic Skull's technology catches Superman off guard, allowing the Atomic Skull to floor the Man of Steel. The Atomic Skull blasts a hole in the ceiling, revealing the Daily Planet news copter. The Atomic Skull blasts the helicopter, jeopardizing Lane's life. While Superman rescues Lane, the Atomic Skull escapes. Superman chastises Lane on her recklessness, warning that the next time he has to choose between taking down a dangerous super-villain or rescuing her, he may have to sacrifice her life for the greater good. After delivering Lane to the Daily Planet, Superman curtly brushes off Kent, White, Jimmy Olsen, and Lana Lang, as he departs. In the days that follow, Superman is seemingly everywhere, resolving crises across the entire world.

One such crisis delays the Man of Steel just long enough for the Atomic Skull to destroy another S.T.A.R. Labs facility. Analyzing the two attacks, Kent surmises where the Atomic Skull is most likely to strike next. Kent and Lane discuss the changes in Superman's personality. Kent comments that the changes seemed to occur after Superman returned from moving the planetoid. Almost immediately, Kent catches himself, and wonders how he could possibly know about that space mission. Investigating further, Kent pours over Superman articles he has written, but has no memory of covering. Kent receives a phone call from Bruce Wayne, the Batman, asking Kent to look after Gotham City for Wayne, in Wayne's absence. Kent is baffled by the call, failing to recognize Wayne's voice. Kent shelves his investigation into his strange link to Superman, to further pursue the Atomic Skull matter. Kent checks with the GBS affiliate in San Francisco. Sure enough, the Atomic Skull is causing trouble in that city. After Superman repairs the damage to the Golden Gate Bridge, he confronts the Atomic Skull at the S.T.A.R. Labs in San Francisco. After overpowering the Man of Steel, the Atomic Skull departs. Kent awakens from a powerful dream, one that replays Superman's space mission moving the planetoid. Kent suddenly notices that his vision is not actually impaired, nor that he needs glasses. Catching his face in the mirror, Kent sees himself, as Superman. Arriving at the Daily Planet, Kent forces Olsen to activate his Superman signal watch. Kent confronts the Man of Steel, revealing that Superman miscalculated when he placed the planetoid back into it's orbit, missing it's precise placement by several degrees. The planetoid's new orbit will carry it through another planet's moon, resulting in the deaths of untold millions.

Superman realizes that Kent is correct, and inquires as to how Kent could possibly have known. At which point, Kent reveals that he and Superman are the the same person, somehow split into separate beings. Olsen interrupts to inform Superman that the Atomic Skull has struck again, this time at a nuclear power plant. The Atomic Skull is threatening to trigger a melt down. Despite the threat, Superman, instead, travels back into space, to set right his mistake, before the planetoid collides with the moon. Before he goes, he drops Kent off in California, to deal with the Atomic Skull. Kent is left at S.T.A.R. Labs' Earthquake Research facility. The S.T.A.R. Labs nuclear plant the Atomic Skull is threatening, has an elaborate earthquake protection system in place, one Kent is counting on the Atomic Skull not having disabled. A tremor is triggered from the Earthquake Research facility to the nuclear plant. Once the plant's earthquake protection system is triggered, emergency coolant floods the reactor to cover the exposed core, while also dropping the control rods to shut down the reaction. Locking on the Atomic Skull's own radium powered brain, the system also activates a special expanding foam, designed to seal radioactive leaks. The Atomic Skull is incapacitated long enough for Superman to complete his mission in space, then take the villain into custody. Kent and Superman journey to Kent's boyhood home, in Smallville. Despite revealing the underground tunnel Superboy used, to come and go from the house unseen, as well as Superboy's basement laboratory, Superman feels no connection to Kent's life. To the point where Superman only even barely remembers Kent's parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent. At their graveside, however, Superman breaks down. The flood of memories reemerges Superman and Kent back into one man. Back in Metropolis, Kent resumes his double life, as Superman.

Notes:

• "To Celebrate Our 50th Golden Jubilee, DC Comics Presents Superman and His 65 (Count 'Em!) 65 Colossal Co-Stars" a two-page pin-up spread, by artists Alex Saviuk and Frank Giacola, depicting Superman with all of his DC Comics Presents co-stars.
• Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Perry White, Josh Coyle, Batman, Dr. Vale and Atomic Skull appear in the story. All other characters appear on the two page centerfold.
• Johnathan and Martha Kent cameo ghost appearance.
• The WGBS Flying Newsroom chopper appears.