Superman #259

A young boy on crutches firing some kind of energy weapon that strikes Superman dead in the chest — that's the striking scene Nick Cardy puts front and center on this December 1972 issue. The burst of crackling golden energy radiates outward from the impact point as the Man of Steel reels backward, while a second, smaller Superman figure soars in the background above the bold title logo. With a story called "The Kid Who Knocked Out Superman!" and Cary Bates writing alongside the art team of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, this is a genuinely intriguing slice of early-'70s DC storytelling.