You Might Just Learn Something

Aside from Action Philosophers and books like The Cartoon Guide to Physics, today's comics have pretty much abandoned overt attempts at educating their readers. This was, of course, not always the case.

Seriously, every issue of Metamorpho or Metal Men is like some bizarre, highly dubious lesson on the various properties of calcium and bromine, both of which are apparently very effective at dealing with pint-sized death-ray-blasting galactic conquerors and shambling cheimcal monstrosities. Even in the pages of the standard Silver-Age super-hero adventure, stories were often built around obscure facts and tenuous scientific theorems.

Take, for example, the two-part "Showdown Between Luthor and Superman" from Superman #164, wherein Superman travels to a world where has no super-powers to have a fistfight with Lex Luthor on completely even terms--because really, what could possibly go wrong there?--where the readers of 1963 were left with three indisputable facts:

1. Robot Dogs Hate Superman.



And with good reason.

2. To survive the harsh environment of the desert, creatures will evolve what appear to be glass Kool-Aid™ pitchers on the sides of their heads.



Unfortunately, it does not explain how this actually helps them at all, since it's pretty hard to drink from a container permanently affixed to your skull. Although to be fair, they are always seen in pairs.

3: Lex Luthor is frigg'n ripped.



Seriously. Check out the two-pack on that guy.