Adventure Comics # 292, January, 1962

The teenage Lex Luthor returns to mess up more continuity with the adult Superman stories. 

DC continues to embrace its past with these annuals reprinting older material--not too much older, however, so they don't run afoul of the Comics Code on every single reprint. .

Adventure Comics # 291, December, 1961

This issue is important in that it debuts the final thing that I, personally, think makes something Silver Age--the price. After months of reassuring us with "Still Ten Cents" all over the place, DC simply couldn't hold the price down any longer and two cents was added to the nearly three-decade old dime price. Note that the SUPERBOY ad shows a blank price point as though twelve cents had yet to be firmly decided on. Almost immediately it became the industry standard which it would remain until the very end of the decade.

Adventure Comics # 290, November, 1961

Although not really all that special, both of this issue's stories have been reprinted several times in the decades since. Superboy meets Legionnaire Sun Boy for the first time here...even though  the evil character here turns out to be a fake Sun Boy. The real one appears briefly at the end along with yet another Legion cameo.

According to GCD, the PSA below--as well as several in recent issues--is the work of Bernard Baily, a longtime fixture of the early years of ADVENTURE with his work on HOUR MAN and THE SPECTRE.

This issue debuts BITS OF BIZARRO BUSINESS, a fun reader-participation section in which fans send in their ideas on backwards concepts from the Bizarro World. 

Finally, here's The Atom, the latest Silver Age revitalization of a Golden Age character. To be fair, this was more a revival of Quality's Doll Man, a character that DC did, in fact, have the rights to by that point. The only thing the Ray Palmer Atom had in common with the Al Pratt Atom was the name. 

Adventure Comics # 289, October, 1961

Well, Pa's got super powers yet again...only this time it turns out to be that pesky villain from the recently introduced Phantom Zone, Jax-Ur. Disguised, of course.

As they waited for the Superboy TV show to begin--which it never would--, DC continued to tout the stations still rerunning the late George Reeves in THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN.

This ish, Bizarro # 1 meets Titano the Super Ape...for all of four panels besides this impressive splash. 

Adventure Comics # 288, September, 1961

This issue features a fun cover and part two of the classic "Knave From Krypton" story as well as the letters page announcement of Johnny Rockwell's casting as Superboy (below) in the supposed upcoming ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY TV series. Unfortunately all that was ever made was the pilot and, although widely available since the seventies, it never actually aired.

Adventure Comics # 287, August, 1961

This story introduces Dev-Em, a juvenile delinquent from Krypton. When this story was reprinted later in the sixties, it creeped me out! He's SO mean! And he's back next time! In later years, he was actually reformed! 

This issu features not one but two of the ubiquitous early sixties war games ads.

And finally, we continue with the regular cast turning up on the Bizarro World, this time it being Jimmy Olsen.

Adventure Comics # 286, July, 1961

Interesting things to note this issue--All the ads for reprint Giants which are the same size regular issues used to be! Also note the gushing praise for the Bizarro series in the letters column, even though the previous issue that had featured the first installment wouldn't have even hit the stands yet when this one was put together. Notable also is the ad for the first Adult Legion story...even though it is the Legion of Super Villains, not Heroes! Finally, with Jerry Siegel once again writing, John Forte is introduced as what will become the major artist on the series.