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    Action Comics #95

    Action Comics » Action Comics #95 - The Laughing Stock of Metropolis released by DC Comics on April 1946.

    Short summary describing this issue.

    The Laughing Stock of Metropolis last edited by luphawk on 08/09/18 06:48AM View full history

    “THE LAUGHING STOCK OF METROPOLIS!” The Prankster arrives on the scene with a vow to rid Metropolis of Superman once and for all!

    Cover: The Man of Steel gets a pie in the puss thanks to the prankster (hope it isn't Kryptonite flavored)

    Superman: The story opens with the mayor of Metropolis unveiling a portrait of Superman to thank him for all his good deeds for the city over the years. The formal ceremony turns into a farce when the revealed portrait has a comic beard and moustache drawn on it.

    Backing up a few days, we find the Prankster meeting with some gangsters and promising to rid Metropolis of Superman if they will pay him $100,000. After enduring a number of practical jokes from him, they finally agree, and then Prankster reveals his plan. Although Superman is invulnerable to all forms of physical attack, Prankster plans to humiliate Superman by making all his deeds look stupid, hoping that eventually Superman will become such a laughing stock that he will abandon Metropolis.

    A series of embarrassments ensues, with Superman opening a bank's vault to release a trapped teller, only to be hit in the face by a custard pie, then rescuing a man falling from a balcony, only to discover that the 'man' is a dummy, and then leaping in to save a politician giving a speech from a bomb thrown by a bystander, only to discover that the 'bomb' was a rotten tomato.

    After the final humiliation of the portrait, Superman leaves Metropolis in disgust. After a crime wave envelops the city, however, Superman rethinks the incidents that made him leave and recognizes the mark of Prankster in all of them. He devises a plan to smoke out Prankster, by putting on a stage show disguised as 'Professor Hi Laryus', the funniest man on earth. Prankster becomes enraged that someone is claiming to be funnier than he is, and brags about his pranks on stage at the show. When Prankster starts describing his latest scheme to rid Metropolis of Superman, he names the gangsters who paid him to do it, and they try to shoot him to keep him quiet. At this point Hi Laryus reveals his true identity as Superman and apprehends the crooks.

    Contents

    1. The Laughing Stock of Metropolis (Superman)
    2. The Legal Eagle (Hayfoot Henry)
    3. The Burgling Bookman (Vigilante)
    4. Jasper
    5. New Fangled Hoosegow (two-page text story by V.V. Dreadaine)
    6. Upstream River Rats (Congo Bill)
    7. Willy
    8. Spotlight for Cinderella (Zatara)
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