Action Comics #338 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1966.
Synopsis for Superman: "Muto -- Monarch of Menace!"
Muto returns with a plan to kill his greatest enemy, the Superman of 2966. Muto raids a planet containing the greatest weapons in the universe. Superman falls for a decoy which lures him away, allowing Muto to escape. Superman tracks Muto and spots him starting a flood. The rushing water endangers three children. Superman tries to rescue the children, only to discover that they are androids. The flood waters engulf Superman exposing him to his only weakness, atomic fallout in the sea water.
Appearing in Superman: "Muto -- Monarch of Menace!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Jay L-3388/Jay Senohl (future descendant of Jimmy Olsen)
- Lyra 3916 (future descendant of Lois Lane)
Antagonists:
- Muto (First appearance)
- Yann (Muto's lieutenant) (Single appearance)
- Thargo (Muto's lieutenant) (Single appearance)
- Von-Don (Muto's lieutenant) (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Three Android Children
- Superman (Cameo)
- Lois Lane (Cameo)
- Lex Luthor (Cameo)
- Superman IV (Flashback only)
- Superman V (in a film)
- Superman VII (Flashback only)
- Superman VII's son (Flashback only)
- Vyldan (in a film)
- Superman XX's father (Flashback only)
Locations:
- 30th Century
- Earth
- Weapons World
Items:
- Computer Newspaper Editor (Computer PW-5598)
- Micro-Reel Player
- Green Kryptonite
- Deadly Space Fungus
Vehicles:
- Suspended Mono-Rail Train
- Space transport (on which Muto was born) (Flashback only)
- Various futuristic vehicles
- Muto's escape rocket
Synopsis for Supergirl: "The Villain Who Married Supergirl!"
Supergirl is a guest in a pageant of circus artists held in Midvale. Unfortunately Supergirl catches the attention of a contestant named Raspor. Raspor claims to be an alien come to Earth to win her over, but she finds him repulsive. When he tries to harass her sexually, Kara tells him to stay away from her.
Later that night, Raspor's partner Viperie attempts and fails to murder Kara out of jealousy. When Kara points out how ridiculous is to regard her as a rival, Viperie replies Raspor's intuition is never wrong and she doesn't know his dark secret.
Her curiosity piqued, Supergirl trails Viperie. To her surprise, Raspor and Viperie are really aliens. She spies on Viperie as she boards her partner's ship, and learns Raspor and Viperie are inter-planetary criminals. Raspor is chronicling his crimes in an holographic autobiography, and at one point, he claims he gave the Kryptonian Science Council an ultimatum: surrendering to his leaders, the warlords of Gryyk, or dying. The Council refused, and he teleported a N-bomb in the Krypton's core which exploded one hundred years later.
Afterwards, Raspor enacts Supergirl marrying him, which according his intuition will soon happen, and gloats about discarding her after a few decades. When Viperie protests he should get married to her, Raspor hurts her with his Nightmare Vision.
All of sudden, Supergirl steps into the room and declares she has fallen for Raspor utterly. Viperie warns she must be lying, and Raspor gets mad and banishes Viperie into a nightmarish dimension. After getting rid of his partner Raspor wants to get married right away, but Kara insists on holding the ceremony on another planet. She also insists on towing his ship personally after fetching a few keepsakes.
Supergirl flies Raspor's ship to a faraway alien world only populated by plant life. Then she turns a monitor on, and a priest performs their wedding. Raspor is going to kiss Supergirl when she suddenly flies his ship away and suggests him to listen to a recording left in a deserted building. Raspor learns that planet was visited long ago by an emissary from planet Grykk, who planted a bomb in that planet.
Horrified, Raspor realizes Supergirl is avenging Krypton by stranding him there. He has plenty food but he doesn't know when the N-bomb will go off. Knowing she can still hear him, Raspor screams she can't kill her husband, and Supergirl replies with her super-ventriloquism that their wedding wasn't legal because the priest was an hologram. Raspor reminds her that murder is against her moral code and Supergirl retorts that, as far as she knows, the bomb will go off long after he is dead. Supergirl doesn't say she de-activated the bomb, and not wanting to listen to his pleas for mercy, she tunes Raspor out.
So, she never gets to hear him confessing his tale about visiting and blowing Krypton up was a lie he came up with to build his reputation up.
Appearing in Supergirl: "The Villain Who Married Supergirl!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Raspor (Single appearance)
- Viperie (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- The Great Gazarko
- Kryptonian Science Council (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth
- Earth's Moon
- Unnamed world in a different solar system
- Krypton (On a TV or computer screen)
- Gryyk
Items:
- Kryptonite (Mentioned only)
- Superman Symbol
Vehicles:
Notes
- "Muto -- Monarch of Menace!" was reprinted in Superman #247 and Superman: Past and Future.
- "The Villain Who Married Supergirl" was reprinted in Superman Family #173 and Supergirl: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2
Trivia
- The Superman of the future storyline would later be updated as one of the four realities that the post-Crisis Superman was cast into during the Dominus Effect storyline, with Superman (Volume 2) #136–Superman (Volume 2) #138 featuring the updated storyline.
- Later reprintings of this story place the time as 2496 rather than 2966, presumedly to avoid conflicts with the Legion of Super-Heroes who exist in 2966.
- Raspor wasn't the first or last villain to claim to be responsible for Krypton's destruction. Other such villains include: Klax-Ar[1], Black Zero[2], and Rogol Zaar.[3]