Superboy #37

From December 1954, this charming DC issue presents Superboy looking on with visible exasperation as a town fountain erupts with free strawberry soda, delighting a crowd of kids who rush in with bowls and cups. A well-dressed man — identified on the cover as "Thaddeus Lang, Genius!" — stands nearby, apparently the mastermind behind the sugary spectacle, while Superboy's speech bubble hints that the boy of steel finds himself repeatedly pressed into service. Curt Swan's cover pencils capture the era's warm, small-town optimism with playful energy, and with Otto Binder writing and Swan on art, this issue is a fine example of Silver Age Superboy storytelling at its most inventive.