Source: Superboy #61 (1957)
Type: Hoax
When Superboy opens a school for boys who want to learn super-powers, Clark Kent joins up immediately. So yeah, it's a hoax, but since the school doesn't seem to have an entry fee, what are the crooks behind it doing it for? The answer will, as usual, surprise you.
Clark and a bunch of other kids get Superboy costumes with "Student" written across the front, and they watch the actor playing Superboy demonstrate feats of strength. Clark knows, of course, that it's all papier maché, thanks to his trust x-ray vision. At one point, he embarrasses the teacher by hardening a fake wall with his heat vision:
And then immediately covers the incident with a kryptonite cloud justification to keep the hoax going. Superboy trained to be a super-dick very early indeed. As class continues, "Superboy" unveils a strength-giving machine one student is plugged into before being shuffled off to a weight-lifting room. All but according to x-ray vision, one weight is cardboard, so Clark avoids it so as not to reveal his identity. Later, they give a kid "super-voice", and through trickery make him believe his blew up a mountain:
Clark hasn't figured out the hoax yet, so he wants to keep it going, but he can't help himself! He fuses the sound amplifier's wires so that the next kid's voice is really faint instead of amplified. And again covers it with that kryptonite cloud story. The next course involves blowing cannonballs with super-breath. And again, x-ray vision reveals there's one real ball and the rest are fakes that can be pushed by a special effects man with a compressed air hose. After class, Clark sticks around and hides inside a boulder (yes, inside it) and spies on the crooks:
So that's the hoax. They've created a useless alloy that, when exposed to x-ray vision (and x-ray vision alone, not actual x-rays), turns into platinum! They knew he would join the class undercover, and that he would check everything with his super-senses. He's been making them richer each time. Not sure how much of a crime it is, but Clark doesn't arrest them until the next day (and gives their platinum to charity). Instead, he riddles their desk with a blast of metal particles, making it so brittle it breaks under "Superboy"'s angry fist (you know actors and their tantrums). They quickly discover the real Superboy's trick, but the actor thinks he's somehow gotten powers and rams himself unconscious into a wall the next day.
Don't worry. X-ray vision shows he didn't break anything important.
Type: Hoax
When Superboy opens a school for boys who want to learn super-powers, Clark Kent joins up immediately. So yeah, it's a hoax, but since the school doesn't seem to have an entry fee, what are the crooks behind it doing it for? The answer will, as usual, surprise you.Clark and a bunch of other kids get Superboy costumes with "Student" written across the front, and they watch the actor playing Superboy demonstrate feats of strength. Clark knows, of course, that it's all papier maché, thanks to his trust x-ray vision. At one point, he embarrasses the teacher by hardening a fake wall with his heat vision:
And then immediately covers the incident with a kryptonite cloud justification to keep the hoax going. Superboy trained to be a super-dick very early indeed. As class continues, "Superboy" unveils a strength-giving machine one student is plugged into before being shuffled off to a weight-lifting room. All but according to x-ray vision, one weight is cardboard, so Clark avoids it so as not to reveal his identity. Later, they give a kid "super-voice", and through trickery make him believe his blew up a mountain:
Clark hasn't figured out the hoax yet, so he wants to keep it going, but he can't help himself! He fuses the sound amplifier's wires so that the next kid's voice is really faint instead of amplified. And again covers it with that kryptonite cloud story. The next course involves blowing cannonballs with super-breath. And again, x-ray vision reveals there's one real ball and the rest are fakes that can be pushed by a special effects man with a compressed air hose. After class, Clark sticks around and hides inside a boulder (yes, inside it) and spies on the crooks:
So that's the hoax. They've created a useless alloy that, when exposed to x-ray vision (and x-ray vision alone, not actual x-rays), turns into platinum! They knew he would join the class undercover, and that he would check everything with his super-senses. He's been making them richer each time. Not sure how much of a crime it is, but Clark doesn't arrest them until the next day (and gives their platinum to charity). Instead, he riddles their desk with a blast of metal particles, making it so brittle it breaks under "Superboy"'s angry fist (you know actors and their tantrums). They quickly discover the real Superboy's trick, but the actor thinks he's somehow gotten powers and rams himself unconscious into a wall the next day.Don't worry. X-ray vision shows he didn't break anything important.
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