Superman #210

The cover of Superman #210 (1968) promises a delightfully tangled scheme, as the bold banner "Clark Kent's Phoney Death!" sets the stage perfectly. Neal Adams's cover art captures a dramatic harbor scene: Superman swims beneath the surface while above, a distressed Lois Lane reads a note from a boat, and Jimmy Olsen looks on — the dialogue bubbles making clear that Superman himself has orchestrated the ruse to make Lois believe Clark Kent drowned because of her. It's a wonderfully melodramatic Silver Age setup, with Leo Dorfman writing and Curt Swan and Mike Esposito handling interior art, making this a thoroughly entertaining snapshot of the era's storytelling at its most inventive.