Superman Puts a Scar on his Face & Meets Scarface
Superman Meets Al Capone! starts out pretty silly then becomes fairly routine. It opens with Perry White, asking Clark Kent to have Superman investigate whether or not the newly discovered fossilized footprint of a 'Gigantosaur' is of a creature that was bigger than Titano the Super Ape, or not (why this is important to know, I have no idea). So Clark turns into Superman, flies through the time barrier to the distant past where he measures one of Titano's footprints. But then Titano himself shows up and hits a fleeing Superman with his Kryptonite vision which weakens Superman so that he can't make it all the way back to 1960, and instead has to spend time in 1920s Chicago recovering. How's that for a ridiculous setup?
In gangland Chicago, he encounters a young Perry White, and to prevent him from remembering a fully adult Clark Kent in the 1920s (and thus suspect Clark Kent of being Superman), he disguises himself by removing his Clark Kent glasses and making a scar on his cheek with shoe polish (hey, I didn't say all the ridiculousness left with Titano). Mistaken for a mobster, Superman decides to go undercover in the Capone organization to help young White land his first scoop. To that end, he has to pull off a bunch of mock crimes to ingratiate himself to Capone.
Really there's nothing to recommend this story over any other Superman story except the art - which doesn't look like the regular art by Curt Swan. Whoever the artist is, his art is much more complex in background detail, if a little less distinguished when it comes to the characters. Particularly notable, is the rendering of early 20th century vehicles which is really well done.
In gangland Chicago, he encounters a young Perry White, and to prevent him from remembering a fully adult Clark Kent in the 1920s (and thus suspect Clark Kent of being Superman), he disguises himself by removing his Clark Kent glasses and making a scar on his cheek with shoe polish (hey, I didn't say all the ridiculousness left with Titano). Mistaken for a mobster, Superman decides to go undercover in the Capone organization to help young White land his first scoop. To that end, he has to pull off a bunch of mock crimes to ingratiate himself to Capone.
Really there's nothing to recommend this story over any other Superman story except the art - which doesn't look like the regular art by Curt Swan. Whoever the artist is, his art is much more complex in background detail, if a little less distinguished when it comes to the characters. Particularly notable, is the rendering of early 20th century vehicles which is really well done.