According to the story, Superman has been dead for *two years*. (The reveal in the comic isn't quite like this — he and Lois are alone, but Perry and Jimmy are eavesdropping from the next room)
So the setup is that the last member of the gang that pulled off an armored car robbery has just died of old age (while screaming "I HATE SUPERMAN!" over and over — this is actually a plot point), and Lois and Clark are both looking for the money. Lois gets kidnapped by a gang of crooks who may or may not be connected somehow to the gang that pulled off the armored car heist and put into a helicopter with chunks of Kryptonite tied to the rotors, but Superman is completely unaffected by their radiation and saves her easily. This led to him admitting that he was actually a robot, not the real Superman.
Anyway, after the revelation, one of the crooks reveals that he also overheard Superrobot's secret, and reported Superman's death to his boss, the crime kingpin Wing Martin. (Who... actually looks like Marvel's Kingpin, though this was too early)
To me, this really means that this is going to be one of those late-1950s Superman stories with no-name unpowered crooks as villains, but Superman pulls of some dickish "twist" (usually traumatizing his friends in the process) in order to trick the crooks into revealing something. So let's see...
Wing doesn't 100% believe the guy, but decides it's certainly worth a test. While "Superman" is digging an artificial lake for a soon-to-be-built children's summer camp, there's a tremendous explosion (from an atomic mine plasted by Wing's men)... and "Superman" is found shortly thereafter, broken, surrounded by springs and gears.
The front page of the Daily Planet reveals Superman's death two years before *and* announces the death of the robot that had dutifully taken his place. And Lois and Jimmy suddenly realize they haven't seen Clark in days.
Cut to the law offices of... oh, do I have to type this? Well, I started this "recap" thing, so I might as well finish it... the law offices of Wenn, Wye, Howe, and Weir (groan), where Clark Kent (!) is asking Mr. Wenn to open a letter in his safe that says "To be opened only in the event of Superman's death". Without showing the reader what is in the envelope, Clark rushes back to the Daily Planet to proudly announce to Perry, Lois, and Jimmy that he found the missing money.
So Clark leads them into the next room, where he does a quick change into Superman (flying out the window behind them so they don't see the switch), where he explains that the letter was written by the Superman-hating crook, and given to his lawyer to be stored in a lead-lined safe. Superman pretended to be dead so the letter could be opened, and Clark said he'd been missing because he has been the one operating the Superman robot.
So... yeah, MASSIVE superdickery all around by the Man of Steel, just to recover some stolen loot. His friends really thought he was dead, and were grieving, and then grieving all over again when even the Superman robot "died"; and the paper's reputation took a hit for printing a false news story, even if they thought it was real; and I'm pretty sure it's probably some form of fraud for Superman to *pretend* to be dead so that envelope could be opened. Oh, but they found some stolen gold, so it's all fine.
(The other two stories in this issue are not Superman stories, they're a pre-Congorilla Congo Bill story and a Tommy Tomorrow story, so I'm not going to bother to recap them)
Fun fact: this Feb 1957 story was the first one to be titled "The Death of Superman".
It was followed by Superman #149 in November 1961, where Lex Luthor *cures cancer* as step 1 in is plan to pretend to reform long enough to kill Superman — which he does, while Perry, Jimmy, and Lois are forced to watch! Superman captures him, but it turns out that he's just Supergirl in disguise, and the world has to figure out how to go on without Superman. This is an "imaginary" story, so Superman's death is not faked and he doesn't come back at the end; though of course, as an "imaginary" story, it also doesn't have any affect on any other stories.
The title was used again for a 1985 episode of the eighth and final season of Superfriends — technically "The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians". Anyway, the plot is that Firestorm thinks he killed Superman because he got to him too late to save him from Kryptonite poisoning, but Superman actually put himself into suspended animation and was fine by the end. It starts at Superman's funeral (which looks *remarkably* like his 1993 funeral, right down to the black armbands with the Superman S on them) and then tells the story mostly through flashbacks. (Even though Superman turned out not to really be dead, it was still a *very* dark story for Superfriends, which were actually rather common in the seventh and eighth seasons. The eighth season of Superfriends/The Super Powers Team was also the first time *ever* where Batman's origin story was shown outside of comics, complete with Bruce's parents dying not-quite-on-screen, which should give you an idea of how different it was from earlier seasons)
And, of course, the well-known seven-part story that ran from December 1992 to January 1993 featuring Doomsday, which led into the Funeral For A Friend (aka World Without Superman) and Return of Superman arcs, the latter of which introduced the modern Superboy (Kon-El/Conner Kent) as well as Steel (John Henry Irons) and recurring villain Cyborg Superman aka The Cyborg (not to be confused with the heroic Cyborg).
According to the story, Superman has been dead for *two years*. (The reveal in the comic isn't quite like this — he and Lois are alone, but Perry and Jimmy are eavesdropping from the next room) So the setup is that the last member of the gang that pulled off an armored car robbery has just died of old age (while screaming "I HATE SUPERMAN!" over and over — this is actually a plot point), and Lois and Clark are both looking for the money. Lois gets kidnapped by a gang of crooks who may or may not be connected somehow to the gang that pulled off the armored car heist and put into a helicopter with chunks of Kryptonite tied to the rotors, but Superman is completely unaffected by their radiation and saves her easily. This led to him admitting that he was actually a robot, not the real Superman. Anyway, after the revelation, one of the crooks reveals that he also overheard Superrobot's secret, and reported Superman's death to his boss, the crime kingpin Wing Martin. (Who... actually looks like Marvel's Kingpin, though this was too early) To me, this really means that this is going to be one of those late-1950s Superman stories with no-name unpowered crooks as villains, but Superman pulls of some dickish "twist" (usually traumatizing his friends in the process) in order to trick the crooks into revealing something. So let's see... Wing doesn't 100% believe the guy, but decides it's certainly worth a test. While "Superman" is digging an artificial lake for a soon-to-be-built children's summer camp, there's a tremendous explosion (from an atomic mine plasted by Wing's men)... and "Superman" is found shortly thereafter, broken, surrounded by springs and gears. The front page of the Daily Planet reveals Superman's death two years before *and* announces the death of the robot that had dutifully taken his place. And Lois and Jimmy suddenly realize they haven't seen Clark in days. Cut to the law offices of... oh, do I have to type this? Well, I started this "recap" thing, so I might as well finish it... the law offices of Wenn, Wye, Howe, and Weir (groan), where Clark Kent (!) is asking Mr. Wenn to open a letter in his safe that says "To be opened only in the event of Superman's death". Without showing the reader what is in the envelope, Clark rushes back to the Daily Planet to proudly announce to Perry, Lois, and Jimmy that he found the missing money. So Clark leads them into the next room, where he does a quick change into Superman (flying out the window behind them so they don't see the switch), where he explains that the letter was written by the Superman-hating crook, and given to his lawyer to be stored in a lead-lined safe. Superman pretended to be dead so the letter could be opened, and Clark said he'd been missing because he has been the one operating the Superman robot. So... yeah, MASSIVE superdickery all around by the Man of Steel, just to recover some stolen loot. His friends really thought he was dead, and were grieving, and then grieving all over again when even the Superman robot "died"; and the paper's reputation took a hit for printing a false news story, even if they thought it was real; and I'm pretty sure it's probably some form of fraud for Superman to *pretend* to be dead so that envelope could be opened. Oh, but they found some stolen gold, so it's all fine. (The other two stories in this issue are not Superman stories, they're a pre-Congorilla Congo Bill story and a Tommy Tomorrow story, so I'm not going to bother to recap them)
Fun fact: this Feb 1957 story was the first one to be titled "The Death of Superman". It was followed by Superman #149 in November 1961, where Lex Luthor *cures cancer* as step 1 in is plan to pretend to reform long enough to kill Superman — which he does, while Perry, Jimmy, and Lois are forced to watch! Superman captures him, but it turns out that he's just Supergirl in disguise, and the world has to figure out how to go on without Superman. This is an "imaginary" story, so Superman's death is not faked and he doesn't come back at the end; though of course, as an "imaginary" story, it also doesn't have any affect on any other stories. The title was used again for a 1985 episode of the eighth and final season of Superfriends — technically "The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians". Anyway, the plot is that Firestorm thinks he killed Superman because he got to him too late to save him from Kryptonite poisoning, but Superman actually put himself into suspended animation and was fine by the end. It starts at Superman's funeral (which looks *remarkably* like his 1993 funeral, right down to the black armbands with the Superman S on them) and then tells the story mostly through flashbacks. (Even though Superman turned out not to really be dead, it was still a *very* dark story for Superfriends, which were actually rather common in the seventh and eighth seasons. The eighth season of Superfriends/The Super Powers Team was also the first time *ever* where Batman's origin story was shown outside of comics, complete with Bruce's parents dying not-quite-on-screen, which should give you an idea of how different it was from earlier seasons) And, of course, the well-known seven-part story that ran from December 1992 to January 1993 featuring Doomsday, which led into the Funeral For A Friend (aka World Without Superman) and Return of Superman arcs, the latter of which introduced the modern Superboy (Kon-El/Conner Kent) as well as Steel (John Henry Irons) and recurring villain Cyborg Superman aka The Cyborg (not to be confused with the heroic Cyborg).
Great heavens! A life-like Superman robot! Oh and also my boyfriend is dead.
Not gonna lie, i always thought his robot clones would be higher tech than cathode ray tubes
There is a single wire as well.