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"Lois Lane's Secret Helper!": Krypto and Supergirl join up to go and secretly patrol Metropolis while Superman is away. In their task, they stop by Lois Lane's apartment where she is crying ov

Superman #142 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 1961. It was published on November 3, 1960.

Synopsis for "Lois Lane's Secret Helper!"

Krypto and Supergirl join up to go and secretly patrol Metropolis while Superman is away. In their task, they stop by Lois Lane's apartment where she is crying over never winning over Superman. Supergirl feels sorry for her, but both she and Lori Lemaris have tried to get Superman to settle down. Krypto, decides that he will make another attempt, because he likes the idea of his master settling down, getting married, and having children that he can play with. Krypto gets an idea that a beautiful song could put Superman in the mood to propose, and so he gets some birds to twitter for Superman and Lois while they have a moment sitting on a park bench. This however is foiled by a bunch of stray cats ruin the mood when they attack the bird. For their infraction, Krypto chases them all into a nearby lake as punishment.

Coming up with the idea that perhaps he would fare better getting Lois to fall in love with Clark Kent, he waits until the two are sent off on a boat by Perry White when the trio are relaxing together. Krypto then secretly causes the ship to be washed up on a deserted island. Krypto orchestrates things to make it look as though Clark Kent isn't as meek as he appears, and resourceful as the two spend time on the island. However, this is once more filed when a hidden Kryptonite meteor is exposed and Clark is weakened. They are rescued by a helicopter shortly thereafter, and Krypto decides to plot anew.

Getting another idea from watching two couples, Krypto thinks that maybe if someone proposes to a loved one in front of Superman, it might prompt him to do the same thing. Things play out for him when Lois gets a new dog, named Beauty, and has Superman build a dog house for her new pet. Krypto decides to court Beauty, and when Superman notices the two dogs showing affection for one another, he is about to propose to Lois. However, fate once more steps in when strays caught by a local dog catcher get loose. Superman rounds up all the dogs, and the catcher takes leave, taking Beauty (who is a lost dog anyway) with him. Superman then leaves to go on patrol, earning the anger of both Superman and Krypto. Krypto decides to try and teach his master a lesson by becoming Lois Lane's pet, and Lois is more than happy to oblige. When the two are spotted by Superman, Lois and Krypto treat him coldly, because he will not settle down. When a local police officer happens on the scene, both Lois and Superman agree that Krypto is her pet, and she is given a ticket for not having him licensed.

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Synopsis for "Superman Meets Al Capone!"

Perry White asks Clark Kent to get Superman to travel back in time to help them write a story about Titano's height. Changing into Superman, Clark travels back in time to figure out Titano's exact height, on his way back to the present, Titano blasts Superman with his Kryptonite vision. Superman finds that the Kryptonite has affected his ability to travel through time, after incorrectly landing in 1871, and 1893, he decides to spend time in the 1920s until the Kryptonite wears off and he can make it safely back to his own era of 1960. Finding himself in Chicago, Superman learns that he has ended up in a year when Al Capone was still on the loose.

Coincidentally, he happens upon a young Perry White, who is a shoe shine boy who is trying to convince the owner of the Chicago Journal to hire him. The publisher agrees to give the boy a job if he can bring him a sensational scoop. Wanting to avoid the possibility that Perry may remember any potential meeting when he returns to the future, Superman decides to disguise himself by removing his glasses and making it appear as though he has a birth mark on his face. He is mistaken for "Touch" Vincent, a local thug who is in Capone's employ. Deciding to use the case of mistaken identity to stop both Capone and get Perry the story that will land him a job, "Touch" decides to join the recognizing thug in a meeting with Capone.

Capone wants to employ "Vincent" but want him to prove his value to his criminal empire, Superman obliges with a little help of his super-powers, using his super-hearing in order to crack a safe. Sent to go insure that a delivery of bootleg alcohol makes it's intended destination, Superman at first tries to go there in his costume, but remembers that he's in an era before he even arrived on Earth, and decides to operate more covertly. When the truck of illegal alcohol crashes and the drivers go to get something to haul it out of the swamp, Superman secretly steps in and flies it to Capone's hideout. However, not wishing the crook to profit from the contraband, he uses his x-ray vision to ferment it into vinegar. Capone is upset about the booze going bad, but commends "Vincent" anyway, since it couldn't have been his fault.

Later, "Vincent" is asked to kill a police officer that has been trying to foil Capone's schemes, however Superman uses his super-powers in order to make it look like the police officer is gunned down by using his x-ray vision to melt the bullets before they can hit the office and his super-breath to suck away any air so that the office temporarily passes out. Going back to Capone's place to "celebrate" they hear a radio report about how "Touch" Vincent is still in jail. Believing "Vincent" to be a spy for the FBI, Capone and his men try to kill Superman, who's invulnerability saves him from any harm. When they cannot kill him, Superman decides to leave and let the history run it's natural course -- so that Capone is arrested for tax evasion, as his fate is intended.

The effect of Titano's Kryptonite beams having worn off, Superman secretly leaves the story with young Perry, insuring that the young man will get a job, and Superman returns to the present. When Clark Kent turns in his story to the now adult Perry, Perry shows off his first headline, about a mysterious "Untouchable" man that foiled Capone's mobs.

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Synopsis for "Flame-Dragon From Krypton!"

While in his Fortress of Solitude, Superman realizes that if someone were to break in, they would learn not only his secret identity but those of Supergirl, and his associates Batman and Robin. He then rigs a special security system that would detonate the statues should someone break in. Later in his guise of Clark Kent, Superman is sent on assignment with Lois Lane to the Metropolis Space Exploration Convention where somebody has claimed to have captured a space beast. Sure enough, the story proves to be true, and Clark recognizes it as a Kryptonian flame dragon. The creature suddenly attacks, using it's flame breath on Clark Kent, burning off his civilian clothing and revealing his Superman costume underneath.

The dragon being a larger concern than his revealed identity, Superman goes after the beast. However, during his battle with it, the creature swallows a Red Kryptonite meteor. Knowing that it will eventually effect the fire-beast, and keeping his distance from it so as not to be effected by the Kryptonite himself, Superman leads the beast on a chase, utilizing it's flame breath to carry out good deeds. When the Red Kryptonite finally effects the fire-beast, stripping it of its powers, Superman shrouds the beast with a wave of water, freezes it with his super-breath, and throws it out into deep space. He then begins planning a scheme to once more fool Lois into doubting her belief that Superman is really Clark Kent.

When Lois returns to the scene of the fire-beasts attack to find proof that Kent is really Superman, she finds that Clark is being bandaged up by a doctor and a nurse. He feeds her a story about how he only suffered minor burns and flagged down an ambulance from Gotham City to give him medical treatment. Since nobody was looking when the flames struck Clark, Lois ends up believing this story and the doctors assessment that Clark will need to wear his bandages for a week and takes Clark home. Changing back to Superman, he returns to the scene and meets up with the "doctor" and the "nurse", who turn out to really be Batman and Supergirl, whom Superman had called (with an assist from Krypto) to cover for him once more.

Appearing in "Flame-Dragon From Krypton!"

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  • A Flame Dragon (First appearance of race)
  • "Plates" Finnegan (Single appearance)

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