Action Comics #420

Something genuinely unsettling is afoot on Nick Cardy's cover for Action Comics #420 (January 1973): a masked villain playing bagpipes conjures swirling, musical energy that has somehow produced a towering, oversized Superman — fists raised and looming above the normal-sized Man of Steel standing calmly to the side, labeled "Superman of Earth." The boastful speech bubble — "I did it! — created a bigger and better Superman!" — hints at a deliciously strange threat in Elliot S! Maggin's story, brought to life inside by the art team of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. Rounding out the package is a backup feature starring the Human Target, making this a solid double dose of early-'70s DC storytelling.