It’s "Nathan Warbow," of course.
Another book we received in that sci-fi book collection was this one, the Official Superman Quiz Book from 1978. You can indeed “test your Superman savvy” with the enormous amount of questions therein, though it primarily tests your pre-Crisis Superman knowledge. Some questions refer to aspects of Superman’s history that have pretty much remained unchanged over the years; for example: “How does Jimmy Olsen summon Superman’s help?”
But then again, how do you answer this today, given current Superman continuity? “True or False: Superboy and Lex Luthor were once best friends as youths growing up in Smallville.” Well, even if you read “Superboy” as “Clark Kent” (since the original concept of Superboy no longer exists in current continuity), I don’t know that DC is even clear on how that stands now. Post-Crisis Luthor went from being Perry White’s childhood friend during the depression to being within three or four years of being a contemporary of Clark’s in Smallville.
Some questions are very specific to ’70s Superman continuity, such as the variety of neighbors Clark had in his apartment building (at 344 Clinton, in case you were wondering):
“Which one of Clark’s neighbors is a pure-bred Apache Indian who works as an industrial engineer?”
And then there are the questions specific to that brief period of time when Clark Kent was a television reporter/newscaster:
“What is Clark’s familiar sign-off on his news broadcast?”
The answer to that one (according to this book…don’t remember it myself) at the end of this post.
Some questions are just kinda weird:
“True or False: Superman never cries.”
Some are fantastic:
“Recite the Bizarro Code.”
And this question just depressed me:
“What is the name of the overbearing sportscaster who delights in poking fun at Clark?”
…if only because it reminded me that, aside from a namedrop once or twice, Clark’s personal nemesis Steve Lombard has been missing from the Superman books for well over twenty years. I kinda miss him.
Speaking of depressing, from the TV show section:
“What ironic fate befell the actor who portrayed Superman?”
Gee, thanks a lot for throwing George Reeves’ suicide into my innocent Superman trivia book, Captain Bring-Down.
And what was it with DC putting all their black people on islands?
“What island was inhabited by [Krypton’s] highly-developed black race?”
Tyroc in the Legion of Super-Heroes was from future Earth’s Island of the Black People, too, you know.
And if you know this:
“At what precise time of day did the planet Krypton explode?”
…really, you need to get out more.
And sometimes, just sometimes, a question will remind you of the greatness of the Silver Age:
“What is the name of the weird jewel that transported Jimmy back in time and into the roles of his reincarnated selves of Marco Polo and Spartacus?”
I believe that would be the Totally Awesome Jewel, sir.
And now, Dan Rather with the answer to Clark’s TV newscast sign-off:
