World's Finest #84 is an issue of the series World's Finest (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1956.
Synopsis for "The Super-Mystery of Metropolis"
When returning to Metropolis after a mission, Superman runs into Thad Linnis a man from the past who has an idea of Superman's secret identity. He tells Superman that he must leave Metropolis for two weeks or risk having his identity revealed. Knowing that Linnis is unlikely to be bluffing, Superman has no choice but to comply and so as Clark Kent he takes a leave of absence from the Daily Planet to go on vacation.
When Lois Lane witnesses a number of near disasters that are not averted by Superman, she begins to suspect that the Man of Steel has gone missing and has the story make front page news. Worried about Superman's whereabouts, Lois and Perry send out a call to Gotham City to bring Batman and Robin to Metropolis to investigate. When investigating a ship that somehow avoided sinking, Batman and Robin finds no evidence that it could have been saved on it's own an deduce that Superman must be helping the city in hiding. When a thunder storm rolls into the city, the Dynamic Duo notice that none of the lightning is striking the city and so they fly up in the Batplane to investigate. There they find Superman hiding in the clouds diverting the lightning bolts. Taking Superman just outside the city, they are shocked to learn that Superman has been hiding because a crook has threatened to reveal his identity if he didn't comply. Superman explains how this happened years ago when he was living in Smallville operating as Superboy...
Back then, Superboy began noticing that Thad Linnis was following him, and when Linnis discovered he was found out he would seemingly hire a young man to follow Superboy around and gather evidence to learn Superboy's secret identity. Superboy would soon find out and become aware of the boys mission. He would grow more concerned when the boy would succeed in charting down Superboy's flight path and have his home narrowed down to the neighborhood that the Kents lived in. After a number of encounters where Clark thinks he would have dissuaded any suspicion that he was really Superboy. Some time later when he was saving a house from a fire, Superboy would find to his dismay that his finger prints were lifted from the side of the home. Before he could do anything about it Linnis would tell Superboy that he has the finger prints in his possession and that he can expose him at any time, but tells him he will use it as a blackmailing tool sometime in the future.
With Superman's story explained, Batman tells the Man of Steel that the boy whom he thought Linnis hired was really a young Bruce Wayne. Batman explains to the shocked Superman that years ago his parents took him on a vacation near Smallville and he had decided to go there to see if he could use his detective skills to learn who Superboy really was. When Linnis approached him he refused to work with the man, however would compile enough evidence on his own to prove that Clark was really Superboy. When he had recovered the fingerprints agian young Bruce would be approached by Thad once more as he would try to obtain the prints. Not wishing to betray his favorite hero, Bruce would toss the evidence into a fire destroying it.
Realizing that Thad Linnis was bluffing the whole time, Superman would race to Metropolis where Thad was just now terrorizing the city with a super-tank. Superman easily smashes that tank and turns Thad and his accomplices over to the police. Later, Lois Lane thanks the Dynamic Duo for using their detective skills to bring Superman back to Metropolis. Overhearing this, Superman muses to himself how little Lois truly realizes how great a detective Batman was, even as a boy.
Appearing in "The Super-Mystery of Metropolis"
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- Thad Linnis
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- Superboy (Flashback only)
- Pa Kent (Flashback only)
- Ma Kent (Flashback only)
- Thomas Wayne (Flashback only)
- Martha Wayne]] (Flashback only)
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Synopsis for "The Mystery of 1,000 Masks"
Green Arrow and Speedy go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, seeking Birdie Andrews, a crook who has been at large so long that, the day after Mardi Gras, the statute of limitations will run out on his crime. Andrews has come back, disguised as one of the masked revelers, to recover a hidden stash of stolen money. Green Arrow is tricked by another person costumed as “Green Arrow” into getting his fingerprints on a rubber suction-tipped arrow, but deduces that the man is an FBI agent, checking the prints to see if GA is really Andrews, who has a similar build. Soon, Green Arrow, Speedy, and the agent flush Andrews out of hiding and capture him. GA says that he knew the FBI man would keep his identity secret when Andrews was captured.
Appearing in "The Mystery of 1,000 Masks"
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Synopsis for "The Frontier Braggart"
Appearing in "The Frontier Braggart"
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Notes
- The Super-Mystery of Metropolis is reprinted in World's Finest Comics Archives, Volume 1.
See Also
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