Super DC - The Uncollected Text Adventures : Super DC #4 "The Mole Men"

Super DC #4 starts off with part one of a rundown of the members of the Legion of Superheroes. Not sure how the young heroes were ordered in the list, but civilian names and brief bios are provided for Phantom Girl, Duo Damsel, Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, Invisible Kid, Shrinking Violet, Cosmic Boy, Chameleon Boy, Saturn Girl and Colossal Boy. Boy oh boy!

There's also a profile of comedian Marty Feldman, a two-page feature about animal rescue TV drama Daktari and a bio of Manchester City manager Joe Wade. In the letter column, Paul Newitch of Prestwich asks for tips on how to break into comics, gadget-happy Arthur Johnson of Kidderminster compares Batman's utility belt to the arsenals of James Bond and Maxwell Smart, and Robin Jones of Banstead describes a motorcycle stunt show they'd recently seen. Some fun!

In their text adventure, egg puns abound as Batman and Robin face tv villain Egghead. Bang! Pow! Oeuf!

For those of you who missed out on one of two transistor radios or 24 Airfix model kits, good news -- there's a new contest! This time around, the task is to create an all-new enemy for Batman and Robin. I'll be paying close attention to the results.

The following adventures are reprinted in Super DC #4:

The Man from the Phantom Zone! Action Comics #336 (April 1966)
Lois Lane -- Queen and Superman -- Commoner! Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #67 (August 1966)
The Mystery of the Menacing Mask! Detective Comics #327 (May 1964)
The Scoundel of Steel! Superboy #134 (December 1966)

This Issue's Text Adventure:

Superman confronts a race of subterranean Mole Men -- not to be confused with Superman and The Mole Men (1951) -- who are intent on raiding the surface world and conquering it for their own. 

The mole leader Gleero briefly recruits Superman's efforts on behalf of all moledom, and Lois Lane is surprisingly quick to believe the worst in the Man of Steel. I suppose things between them must have been a little rocky lately. At least good ol' Jimmy Olsen never loses his faith.

And now, The Mole Men ...

* * *

Superman hurtled towards the earth like a missile out of control. Even before he hit the ground, he was spinning at such a speed that he was like a blue blur. WHOOMPH! The impact set up an earth tremor that was recorded by the instruments at Metropolis Observatory. 

The Observatory director called the newsroom of the Metropolis Planet about the tremor. "I hope you will stress to your readers that there is no cause for alarm," he said.

Lois Lane, the pretty reporter who took the call, answered, "Our readers can't be blamed for getting alarmed, Dr. Peel. After all, this follows on the heels of those mysterious earth shocks which shook Metropolis last week."

The director hummed and hawed. For the violent rumblings from below ground just outside the city seemed to have no logical explanation. Which was why Superman had decided to investigate -- by burrowing his way below ground to the area of the shocks.

Cr-r-runch! His steel fists drove through a band of hard rock. Then shot out into air and he was standing upright in a tunnel. 

He dusted earth from his blue uniform with its yellow belt and red "S" emblem, and looked around.

The tunnel was dark but Superman could see clearly with his night vision.

"There are tunnels everywhere," he exclaimed. "And all newly made. But I never saw digging like this before!"

A soft pad of feet made him whirl. The tunnel behind him was full of black shapes moving with menace towards him. Superman could make out hairy shoulders and the curve of a black, pointed snout. "Moles!" he exclaimed to himself. "But they walk like man."

Aloud he said, "I am Superman. Who are you?"

The dark shapes were all around him. He could see that the creatures had glittering, intelligent eyes and carried strange weapons in their spade-like hands.

"We are Mole Men!" The speaker was standing close to Superman. The black, pointed snout was thrust close to his face, and he knew that the creatures must be short-sighted. "I am Gleerro, leader of this mission," went on the creature. "We have come from our land in the centre of the Earth to capture and colonise your world."

The leader raised his weapon but one of the other Mole Men cried out, 

"Wait, Gleerro. This is.no ordinary mortal. They cannot burrow with their hands as he does. We should make him our slave, to finish the heat ray machine."

Gleerro lowered his weapon, "You are right. Come, Superman. If you do well we shall spare your life."

They left the dark tunnel for others lit from an unseen light source. The extent of the Mole Men's diggings astonished Superman. There was a whole complex of highways and tunnels at different levels, linked by sloping feeder-roads. They entered a huge chamber, filled with a mass of machinery. In the centre was a glistening metal tube and above it hung a large reflector. Mole Men technicians scuttled around, working on the machinery and making adjustments.

Gleerro pointed with his weapon. "This is the heat ray machine by which we shall conquer the world above," he said. "This metal tube extends deep into the core of the Earth, which is so hot that all is molten iron and nickel."

The spade-like claw lifted to point at the reflector. "When we are ready, we shall bring that intense heat up the tube and reflect it as a super heat ray towards Earth's poles. As the ice caps melt, flood waters will deluge the continents."

Superman took a deep breath. "And what if something should happen to spoil your plans, Gleerro?"

The other's black eyes glittered. "If we should fail, the rest of the Mole army is ready to attack on a full scale," he said.

There was a moment's silence broken only by the whirring of the machine before them. Superman's brain was whirling. "This is awful," he thought. "If I use my super-power to smash the machine it will only lead the world into a dreadful attack from the Mole army. And how can anyone fight unseen aggressors coming from below ground?"

Superman made up his mind. "What do you want me to do?" he said. 

The Mole Men soon had him hard at work, carrying heavy loads of machine parts from the lower regions of the tunnel complex. There were two guards posted with heat ray guns, to keep watch upon the slave. At last Gleerro ordered all to rest.

Superman sat in the corridor outside the chamber, and pretended to doze. "I've got a plan that will hold up the work for a while," he pondered. "But I must create a diversion first."

Through the chamber entrance he could see a control board which was a mass of intricate wiring. "With my heat vision I can make quite a mess of that wiring!" he thought.

His eyes dilated to glowing orbs. Pouf! The control board exploded in a mass of flame. Superman's guards dropping their guns, rushed into the chamber to save their machine. The rest of the Mole Men followed. The Man of Steel crept away. His mighty fists punched a hole in the roof of the tunnel and he was boring his way to the surface.

Above ground, he took a deep breath of the clear air as he launched himself skywards. With his super-speed he quickly penetrated Earth's atmosphere and rocketed into Space. Flaming meteorites hurtled past him. "Just what I want!" he said aloud, and reaching out his mighty hands, he began to catch them.

With his arms piled with the iron fragments from Space, Superman made his descent to Earth. Placing the meteorites close beside the tunnel he had carved to the surface, he descended to the base of the Mole Men.

They were still scurrying around, fighting the fire. But the guards had discovered his absence and were searching the tunnels. 

Superman returned to the surface, snatched up one of the meteorites and fashioned it into a bowl. This he filled with water at a nearby lake and once more made his way below ground, shouting, "I've brought water to quell the fire!"

He had the fire out in seconds. The Mole Men nodded their furry heads in approval. "You have done well," Gleerro praised.

Superman pointed to the damaged machinery inside the chamber. "You will need metal to repair that. I spotted some on the surface. I'll show you."

He led the way to where he had left the meteorites. Eagerly the Mole Men began to carry them to their base. From behind a rock, on the shores of the lake not 50 ft. away, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen of the Planet, watched the scene with wide eyes. They had been sent to do an eyewitness story on the area in which the earth tremors had occurred. 

Before Lois could stop him, the cub reporter had dashed into the open shouting, "Hey, Superman!" In a few seconds the two reporters were surrounded by a ring of Mole Men. Jimmy stared in bewilderment. "Who are they, Superman?" he asked. "Are they hostile?"

Gleerro answered, "We have come to wipe out you Earthlings. Superman is helping us."

Lois turned a look of scorn upon her idol. "Traitor!" she said coldly. 

Superman turned away with a heavy heart. "If only I could explain that I am playing for time until I can see a way to get rid of the Mole Men with- out bringing a full-scale attack upon the world," he thought.

The captives were led below ground. Two guards stood near them. Superman joined the Mole Men as they worked to repair their machine. With his bare hands, he fashioned the meteorites into the metal parts they needed. To himself he said, "This iron is so radio-active that it will upset the whole balance of the machine. And that will give me time to find a plan."

It was not long after the machine had been repaired that the Mole Men noticed something wrong. They became agitated, scuttling around the chamber as they sought the reason for the flaw. Superman leapt towards his friends. "Quickly! I'll show you a way to the surface," he whispered.

They followed him out of the tunnel complex. Once in the open, Jimmy gasped, "Thanks, Superman! I knew you weren't really on their side."

"I can explain later," said Superman quietly. "But why did you come to this area?"

Jimmy answered. "Perry White got an idea the earth tremors might have something to do with the old mine workings," he said. "They're about half a mile from here, but they run in this direction. They've been abandoned for many years."

Superman patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks," he said. "You've given me an idea. Now you'd better get back to the Planet office." 

When he descended once more to the tunnel complex, Superman saw that the Mole Men were still engrossed in the problem of their machine. Hurling himself at the wall of the tunnel, he began to bore his way through the rock. His X-ray vision let him see where the abandoned mine workings were. As he broke through, he said with satisfaction, "Just as I thought! These old mine shafts are full of poisonous gases which have accumulated during the years."

Superman returned through the tunnel he had made and used his super-breath to draw the poisonous gases after him.

Gleerro was the first to feel their effects. He staggered and would have fallen but for Superman's supporting arm. "Why have I become so weak?" he choked. "What is this white mist?"

"Oh, that is the mist which penetrates our upper world," said Superman. "When you have colonised the Earth, you will find the mist comes often. We Earthlings breathe it deeply and feel strong enough to break rocks – like this!" Superman suited the action to the words by smashing a lump of rock with his hand.

Mole Men were staggering and falling all around him as they breathed the gas. Gleerro summoned all his strength and cried, "We must return to our inner world-quickly! We must never try to conquer Earth. These mists would kill us all."

Within a few minutes the tunnel complex was deserted. The Mole Men had fled downwards, back to their cities near the core of the Earth.

* * The End * *