The Man of Steel: Superman vs. Mr. Mxyzptlk

By Steve Korté and Tim Levins

The Daily Planet reporter CLARK KENT is having a bad day. Unfortunately, so is the rest of METROPOLIS. The evil imp MISTER MXYZPLTLK is on the loose and causing magical mayhem throughout the city. To stop him, the MAN OF STEEL will need a few tricks of his own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781434263773

Steve Korté

Steve Korte is a freelance writer. At DC Comics he edited over 500 books. Among the titles he edited are "75 Years of DC Comics", winner of the 2011 Eisner Award, and "Jack Cole and Plastic Man", winner of the 2002 Harvey Award. He lives in New York City with his own super-cat Duke.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

AN UNINVITED GUEST

RINNNNNNNNNG!

It was 7:30 in the morning in Metropolis when Clark Kent’s alarm clock awoke him. Clark groaned. There was an important meeting scheduled for 8:00 this morning at the Daily Planet newspaper where Clark worked as a reporter, and his boss Perry White had warned him not to be late.

But getting ready quickly for work was no problem, because Clark Kent was secretly Superman, the world’s most powerful hero.

Clark jumped out of bed. Using his super-speed, he brushed his teeth, combed his hair, showered, and gobbled down his breakfast within thirty seconds. That gave Clark almost half an hour to walk to the Daily Planet Building.

Clark was also excited because tonight was the opening night of the Metropolis Carnival. Clark loved to go to the fair and ride the rides. Even though he had amazing superpowers and could fly, he still enjoyed all the thrilling carnival rides in his civilian identity as Clark Kent.

In fact, after the meeting today, he was going to ask Perry if he could write a story about the opening of the carnival.

As soon as Clark entered the editorial offices, he heard the booming voice of his boss yelling at him.

Kent! Perry yelled. What did I tell you about being on time for the meeting? It ended two hours ago!

Clark was confused. He had left his apartment in plenty of time. He looked up at a clock and was shocked to see that it was noon. Clark then took a quick look at his watch, and it also said 12:00 p.m.

Sorry, Chief, he mumbled. My alarm clock and watch were both, um . . . wrong. Or something. Clark’s face was bright red with embarrassment as he sat down at his desk and shuffled some papers, attempting to hide from the grins on his coworkers faces.

It took Clark a few minutes to work up his courage to go to Perry’s office and ask permission to write a story about the carnival. Clark closed the door behind him.

At the desk next to Clark’s sat his coworker and fellow reporter, Lois Lane. She looked up and saw Clark in Perry’s office. She couldn’t hear Clark’s side of the