Superman vs. THE DEVIL'S HARP!

Okay, back to the "new" Superman:

Reader gummboote remarked that we are in a period where DC Comics was trying to make Superman more like a Marvel hero.  I hadn't thought of that, but I think she's right.  And while I'm sure it's going to implode on me, I can't help but see the merit to it.  A hero is only as good as his villain, so I applaud that there is at least an effort to give Supes a challenge beyond yet another giant robot piloted by Lex Luthor.

Who is this guy?  Well, he has a magic harp.

Yeah, it works like this:

It's changing my luck!  I've got horns growing out of my head and cloven hooves where my feet should be!  Lucky, lucky, lucky me!

Well, if you're going after a bunch of women who primp themselves all day so they can hang out at the beach, you probably aren't going to have much luck.  I realize it isn't easy meeting women (after all, I haven't had to worry about it since Beloved lowered her standards and became Mrs. Beloved a quarter of a century ago), but I don't see a guy named Ferlin Nyxly (no relation to Mr. Mxyzptlk, although I wondered) turning too many heads among the bikini girls.

Anyway, this happens after Ferlin (correctly) decides that the way to a woman's heart is gobs of money and he robs an armored car:

I'm not sure what happens when one takes a bullet to the back and then becomes invulnerable, but it seemed to work out for him.  So, for reasons I forget, he decides to have a showdown with Superman.  It probably had something to do with his desire to impress those bikini babes.  Because beating up Superman is really the only thing keeping him from impressing a self-absorbed young woman.

Okay, did you see that he asked the harp for super-strength?  It didn't occur to Superman right away.  Hey, if you want a detective, go read a Batman story.

Anyway, Superman figures it out after we see once again that Superman is no good at hand-to-hand combat unless he has a huge power advantage:

It's a shame I don't have some sort of destructive force like heat vision that I could send from my eyes to vaporize this thing!

Anyway, Superman cheats or something.  I don't remember.  It's been a couple of weeks since I actually read the comic.  But I do recall that this happened:

So, the harp is damaged and we're never going to know what it was, how it worked, why it worked or whatever.  It just did. That will be 15 cents, kid.

See you tomorrow!