Issue Description

Front cover by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.Back cover by Rich Buckler and Vince Colletta.Spash page penciled and inked by Kurt Schaffenberger."The Incredible Shrinking Town!" (Superboy) written by Tom DeFalco, penciled and inked by Joe Staton, colored by Gene D'Angelo and lettered by Clem Robins. Superboy must find out what is causing everyone all around the world, aside from himself, to shrink."The Quest for the Guardian" (Jimmy Olsen) written by Tom DeFalco, penciled by Kurt Schaffenberger, inked by Tex Blaisdell, colored by Jerry Serpe and lettered by Jean Simek. As Jimmy Olsen is bringing home a date, Jimmy finds the Newsboy Legion at his apartment in order to enlist his help in their search for Jim Harper (aka, The Guardian)."The Hunters!" (Krypto) written by Bob Toomey, penciled and inked by Juan Ortiz, colored by Jerry Serpe and lettered by Jean Simek. Detective Ed Lacy and Krypto the Superdog run into rush hour traffic as they pursue Lacy's nephew, who is fleeing from a murder charge. Krypto must use his powers to keep up the chase."A Matter of Gravity" (Supergirl) written by Gerry Conway, penciled by Arvell Jones, inked by Romeo Tanghal, colored by Gene D'Angelo and lettered by Shelly Leferman. Linda Danvers (aka Supergirl) hears troubling news about Professor Rudi Clement, an old colleague from her days at school, as Clement's home was destroyed, and according to the news, Clement with it. Meanwhile in London, the Doom Patrol encounter a man in armor and armed with a deadly gun he calls the Gravitronic Ray. How are Rudi Clement and the man the Doom Patrol are facing in London related? That's what Supergirl and the Doom Patrol aim to find out."The Most Precious Plunder" (Lois Lane) written by Tom DeFalco, penciled by Win Mortimer, inked by John Celardo, colored by Jerry Serpe and lettered by Milt Snapinn. A baby has been kidnapped! It is up to investigative reporter Lois Lane to find out who has taken this baby, as well as several other babies."The Super-Hero Money Can't Buy!" (Superman) written by Gerry Conway, penciled by Kurt Schaffenberger, inked by Tex Blaisdell, colored by Jerry Serpe and lettered by Shelly Leferman. Clark Kent has been invited over to his rich Uncle Kendall's mansion so that Kendall can determine whether to leave all his money to Clark or to Clark's cousin, Jillian Kent. Meanwhile, Kendall seems to be having several suspicious, near-death accidents. Superman must protect his uncle while he tries to find a way to convince Kendall that Jillian should inherit the money."Sealed Room" (Nightwing and Flamebird) written by Paul Kupperberg, penciled by Ken Landgraf, inked by Romeo Tanghal, colored by Jerry Serpe and lettered by Shelly Leferman. In the bottled city of Kandor, a scientist has somehow been murdered while on a popular TV show. It is up to Nightwing and Flamebird to determine how the scientist, inventor of the new thought-transfer helmet, was murdered.

Notes:

This issue has a front and back cover artwork.This issue has no ads.

The Superman Family

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

The Superman Family was a DC Comics comic book series which ran from 1974 to 1982 featuring primarily stories starring the supporting characters in the Superman comics. The term is often used to refer to the extended cast of characters (especially super-powered ones) of comics books associated with Superman.

The title was an amalgamation of the titles Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and the first series of Supergirl, therefore immediately becoming DC's flagship title with the highest sales for the remainder. The first issue, #164, took its numbering from the Jimmy Olsen title, which had reached issue #163 and thus had the most issues published (the Lois Lane series ended at issue #137, while the newly-launched Supergirl volume 1 series had only made it to #10). The three leads rotated new stories in each issue with reprints as a backup feature for other the characters (Issues #164-181). The Superman Family started as a 100-page format from issues #164-169. The quantity of pages dropped to 64-pages with issue #170 and dropped to 48-pages with issue #178. In 1976 (#182), The Superman Family became the first DC Comics to feature the 80-page Dollar Comics format. The new 80-page format featured all new stories for all the characters. Later the page quantity dropped to 64-pages starting with issue #191 and finally to 48-pages starting with issue #205. The series briefly featured a "no ads" and a wraparound cover format from issues #191-196. The series was published on a bi-monthly schedule until 1981, when the series was published on a monthly schedule starting with issue #207.

Other featured series in addition to:

* Lois Lane (166,169,172,175,178,181-222)

* Supergirl (165,168,171,174,177,180,182-222)

* Jimmy Olsen (164,167,170,173,176,179,182-222)

* "Superboy" (182,191-198) — The adventures of the Earth-One Superman as a teenage super-hero. This series continued from Adventure Comics #458 and led to the feature leaving the title for its own in 1980, The New Adventures of Superboy.

* "The Private Life of Clark Kent" (195-197, 199-215) — The adventures of Clark Kent in which he used his powers and skills without becoming Superman. This feature had moved over from Superman after #328.

* "Mr. and Mrs. Superman" (195-196, 198-222) — The adventures of the Earth-Two Superman and his wife, Lois. This feature had moved from Superman after #329. #200 of this series also had a story that dealt with a married Lois and Clark, but as part of an issue-long Imaginary Story set on Earth-1 at the turn of the millennium.

* "Krypto" (182-192) — The adventures of Superman's dog.

* " Nightwing and Flamebird" (182-194) — The adventures of the second Nightwing and Flamebird team of heroes (Van-Zee and Ak-Var) in the Bottled City of Kandor.

* "The Misadventures of Superbaby" (216) — A one-shot story featuring Superbaby.

DC published several other "Family" titles concurrent with The Superman Family: Batman Family (1975-78), Super-Team Family (1975-1978) and Tarzan Family (1975-76). As a rule, DC's "Family" titles contained mostly reprints, and featured a higher page count (and higher price) than DC's normal books. (In 2004, Marvel Comics paid homage to DC's "Family" titles with Spider-Man Family.)

In 1982, with issue #222, The Superman Family series was cancelled to make room for the Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, which briefly featured a Lois Lane back-up series. The Doom Patrol appeared alongside Supergirl in issues of both series.

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