Superman #181
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSuperman #181 is the debut of Klar Ken T5477 — the Superman of the year 2965 — a concept that established a hereditary dynasty of Supermen stretching a full thousand years into DC's future and asked, for the first time in the Silver Age, what the legacy of Clark Kent might look like across deep time. The story planted seeds that would grow through Action Comics #338–339 and World's Finest #166, and the 'Superman Dynasty' idea it introduced has been revisited as recently as the 1999 'Dominus Effect' arc and later works such as All-Star Superman and DC Future State: House of El. It also marks one of the relatively few instances where veteran science-fiction prose writer Edmond Hamilton — a founding architect of the space-opera subgenre — constructed an original multi-issue serial for DC rather than a standalone imaginary tale, giving the Superman line an unusually ambitious long-form genre-SF backbone for its era.
In "Part 1: The Super-Scoops of Morna Vine!", Superman of the 2965th century—Klar Ken T5477, the latest in a line of Kryptonian heirs—takes on a high-stakes assignment from the Federation of Planets, deputized with unlimited power to enforce interstellar law. Tasked with tracking down Muto, one of his most notorious foes, the legendary hero is drawn into a mystery that begins with a daring Neptunian bank heist. Written by Edmond Hamilton and illustrated with timeless precision by Curt Swan, with inks by George Klein, this issue features a cover by Swan and Klein that captures the grandeur of a far-future Superman on the case.
In "Part 1: The Super-Scoops of Morna Vine!", a young woman with an uncanny knack for breaking news stuns the press corps by outpacing even the most seasoned reporters. When her streak of revelations raises suspicion, Superman begins to wonder if she’s using more than just sharp instincts—especially after her latest scoop lands on the desk of Professor Morgan.
In the year 2965, Klar Ken T5477—descendant of the original Superman and the current guardian of the Federation of Planets—takes on his most dangerous assignment yet: tracking down Muto, one of the legendary Superman’s greatest foes, who’s been spotted robbing a Neptunian bank. With the help of his co-worker and girlfriend Lyra 3916, computer editor PW-5598, and the chief astronomer Than Quor, Klar must navigate a future where the legacy of Superman is both a burden and a beacon, even as the echoes of past wars still linger in the sea.
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The issue appeared under editor Mort Weisinger, who had a long-standing professional relationship with Hamilton dating back to the 1930s pulp-magazine world, where Weisinger had served as Hamilton's literary agent before moving to DC. The lead story, 'The Super-Scoops of Morna Vine!', was scripted by Leo Dorfman; the cover-featured backup, 'The Superman of 2965!', was written by Hamilton and labeled 'No. 1 of a New Series' in the indicia, signaling Weisinger's intent to run it as a recurring feature. Both stories were penciled by Curt Swan and inked by George Klein, the regular art team on the title. Like virtually all Superman stories of the Weisinger era, no creator credits appeared on the printed pages — attribution relies on the Grand Comics Database.
Trivia · 9 facts
- Cover date: November 1965 (on-sale date confirmed via World's Finest Comics #153 and copyright registration); published by DC Comics under editor Mort Weisinger.
- First appearance of Klar Ken T5477 (Superman XX), a direct descendant of Clark Kent who serves as the twentieth hereditary Superman in the year 2965, working as a reporter for the Daily Interplanetary News.
- First appearance of Muto, the primary villain of the 2965 Superman's adventures — a 'mutated genius menace' introduced here in a photograph, whose full confrontation with Klar Ken would unfold beginning in Action Comics #338 (June 1966).
- First appearances of Lyra 3916 (Klar Ken's love interest and colleague) and PW-5598 (a computer editor descended from Perry White's line), as catalogued by the Grand Comics Database.
- Klar Ken's Kryptonian descendants are immune to all forms of Kryptonite, but radioactive fallout from a past 'atomic war' has made seawater toxic and paralyzing to them — a deliberate inversion of the original Superman's weakness.
- The backup story is explicitly labeled a new series; it continued in Action Comics #338–339 and World's Finest #166, forming a complete multi-issue story arc across three DC titles.
- Lead story 'The Super-Scoops of Morna Vine!' was scripted by Leo Dorfman; the 'Superman of 2965!' backup was written by Edmond Hamilton — a science-fiction novelist recognized as one of the originators of the space-opera subgenre in the 1920s–30s pulps.
- The issue was reprinted as 'Superman of 2465' in Superman #244 (later reprints retconned the year from 2965 to 2465 to avoid contradiction with the established 30th-century Legion of Super-Heroes timeline); a one-page Super-Turtle strip by Henry Boltinoff also appeared in this issue as part of that character's regular Silver Age run.
- Cover art and interior pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein; 36 pages, full color.
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Reprinted in The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #91 (1965), Supermann #1/1966 (1966), Superman #6 (1966), Supermann #3/1966 (1966), Supermann #4/1966 (1966), Supermann #9/1966 (1966), Superman #12 (1966), Superman #12/1966 (1966), Stålmannen #14/1967 (1967), Superman #24/1967 (1967), Superman en Batman #1/1968 (1968), Superman #6/1968 (1968), Superman #7/1968 (1968), Superman #244 (1971), MV Comix #18/1972 (1972), Superman et Batman et Robin #54 (1973), Supermann #12/1974 (1974), Superman from the Thirties to the Eighties #[nn] (1983), Superman: Past and Future #[nn] (2009), سوبرمان [Subirman Kawmaks / Superman Comics] #100
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