Superman #235

Three dramatic panels stack the challenge plainly: a mysterious brown-suited figure races Superman stride for stride, then spirals around him, then lands a stunning blow — all while the cover dares to ask who is swifter, smarter, and stronger than the Man of Steel. Neal Adams and Dick Giordano's cover composition uses speed lines and bursts of energy to make every panel crackle with urgency, setting up the story "Sinister Scream of the Devil's Harp!" inside by Denny O'Neil, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson. For a 1971 DC reader, fifteen cents bought a genuinely unsettling question: what kind of opponent could actually outmatch Superman across the board?