Where's Zatanna When You Need Her?!?

Young Mxyzptlk is tired of Superboy tricking him into saying his name backwards. Like it's Superboy's fault, you dim imp.

Anyway, Mxyzptlk decides to use the legal system to create a huge loophole in the "say my name backwards" rule:

But how does that help? Even with a new name, you can still be fooled into saying it in reverse, right?

Wha...?!?!

Of course, you could have just renamed yourself  "Bob" with the same results, Mxy...

[SPOILER ALERT: Superboy uses the rare element "amnesium" to make Mxy forget that he changed his name and...oh, never mind, just say "Silver Age"]

From Superboy #120 (1965)

Superboy--Capitalist Tool!!

Young Mxyzptlk has come to Smallville to be the town's "fairy godfather":

Well, honestly, it's no surprise what everyone wishes for...

So predictable!

Well, the Smallville 1% can't let this go on!

Of course, Superboy is a tool of the already-rich in their attempt to keep down the peons:

Smallville has an economy?!?

And so Superboy keeps unlimited riches out of the hands of the unwashed masses. We can't upset the natural order, after all!! I mean, if the everyone is wealthy, how will the rich be able to tell that they're superior??

From Superboy #120 (1965)

Thief, Or Interdimensional Imp?

In this week's Thief of Thieves #29, someone has been arrested:

Oh, come on now, she can escape easily! All she has to do is say her name backwards, and she returns to her home dimension!!

Yes, I'm an idiot.

Manic Monday Bonus--Damn, That Imp Is Annoying!!

If it's possible for Mxyzptlk to be even more annoying...

...this house ad manages that feat.

Seriously, you expect me to read all of that? I'm old, dammit!

And the subscription deal?

10 issues for a dollar?!? That's even better than the Quarter Bin!!

Here's the list of titles available for subscription...

I think that's actually a partial list of failed nu52 titles and potential replacements. So what replaces Infinity Man and The Forever People when it's cancelled in 8 months? My money is on Fox & Crow...

Ad appeared in Superman #184 (1966)

Manic Monday Bonus--Why Metropolis Has The Highest Precetage Of Cable TV Customers In The DC Universe!

Superman, under the influence of Mxyzptlk, has become a super-jerk!

And the most heinous of his offenses?

SCIENCE!!

So wait...wouldn't this happen every time Superman took to the skies of Metropolis, not just when he was feeling mischievous?

Of course, this would have been during the 1960 Winter Olympics, so perhaps he was doing evertyone a favor...

From Superman #135 (1960), as reprinted in Superman #207 (1968)

Manic Monday Triple Overtime: Irrefutable Proof That Riverdale Is In The DC Universe!

Hell yes!!

I've finally found the Rosetta Stone that proves the unprovable: that Riverdale is actually in the DC Universe!!

We start here, as Archie has a hot date with Betty. Except there's one big problem:

"Wait!!" you protest. "What the hell does this have to do with Riverdale being in the DC Universe?"

You interrupted one panel too early, young padawan. Observe:

"Grxtplxz"?? GRXTPLXZ?!?!?!

Clearly Betty's father is from the 5th dimension!! Why else would he say Grxtplxz (let alone know how to pronounce it?)?

And Betty would know that "It's not good whenever Daddy says 'GRXTPLXZ!'" Obviously, he's a refugee, hiding on Earth...but saying his true fifth-dimensional name summons up his "magical" powers, and now he shall bedevil Archie. At least until Archie can trick him into saying "zxlptxrg."

Go ahead--prove that any of that isn't true!!

From Archie #66 (1954)

Kcid A Si Kltpzyxm

It's time for fun at the circus!!

Great...whose gonna pay for the lifetime of therapy the kid will need now, Mxy??

Hey, by the way: why haven't we ever had a story with Zatanna and Mxyzptlk?? She could try a spell to get him to say his name backwards, but she'd have to say it backwards backwards, which is forwards, so it wouldn't work, and...Seriously, why has this story never been done?

From Superman #351 (1980)

Manic Hair Day #1--The Origin Of The Dread Super-Mullet!!

For some reason, there's been a lot of discussion online of late regarding the "mullet" Superman wore back in the 90s.

Well, most of you don't realize that his hairstyle had a secret origin...back in the 1960s!!

Young Lex Luthor has found a scientific way to duplicate young Mxyzptlk's powers, and he sets out to bedevil Superboy:

Oh, yeah!! Accidental super-mullet!!

Fortunately, Superboy is one hero you can't stop by having hair in his eyes:

And young Kal-El adapts nicely to his dilemma...and looks rather smashing doing it:

...and from their on the hair is gone as Superboy is made to undergo a few more transformations.

But obviously, the memory of this event somehow echoed through the fabric of the post-Crisis DC Universe, and subtly influenced the recovery of Superman's body during his "death." Obviously.

Oh, here's a bonus panel for you:

Superboy, transformed into a jackass, using heat vision to carve KLTPYXM into the sidewalk. [SPOILER ALERT: It didn't work]

From Superboy #131 (1966)

Manic Monday Bonus--Least Necessary Expanation EVER!

Some things really, really don't need a scientific explanation:

Oh, come on, guys, is this the Handbook Of The Marvel Universe, or what?

Plus, if this interpretation were true, why wouldn't Superman just keep a tape recording of Mxyzptlk around to play whenever the imp shows up? In this story, for example, he uses a film of a prior visit from Mxy with the soundtrack "backwards," and that was enough to banish the imp. Why wouldn't that work EVERY time, if this "scientific" explanation is correct?

Kal-El would make that his ringtone, right? Give everybody in Metropolis an MP3 of that? Change the sound on Jimmy's signal watch?? Every 90 days flood the local media with the clip?

I'm just sayin'...

From Superman #131 (1959), as reprinted in Superman #206 (1968)