Posted By Dan Greenfield on Apr 25, 2016 | 1 comment

The architect of Superman’s Silver Age was born 101 years ago.

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Friends, Kryptonians, countrymen, lend me your eyes;

I come to bury Mort Weisinger, not to praise him.

Actually, that’s not true. I am here to praise Mort Weisinger even though there evidently was a Legion of Super-Colleagues who weren’t exactly fans of his management style.

So be it. That’s commentary for another time. Weisinger was born April 25, 1915, and so right now he’s due a 13 COVERS salute.

Weisinger’s legacy is nothing short of extraordinary — in comics in general and with Superman in particular. So much of what fans recognize today as part and parcel of the Man of Steel emerged under Weisinger’s tenure as editor of DC’s Superbooks in the ’50s and ’60s: Supergirl; a thriving backstory for Krypton, including Kandor, the Phantom Zone and the many varieties of Kryptonite; Krypto and the other Super-Pets; Brainiac and Bizarro; the Legion of Super-Heroes. That’s just for starters. He was also involved in a little TV show:

But back to the comics.

No matter what you say about Weisinger, he was a visionary. The comics below are emblematic of so much of what he brought to Metropolis. They may not have all been his ideas but they all emerged or became popular under his watch. (If there’s something you’d like to add, please do so in the comments below or in whichever social-media thread you found this.)

Weisinger died in 1978. His ideas never will.