250's for America's 250 · Day 4: Superman #250

Publishing: Sunday, June 14, 2026 · DC Comics · Cover date: April 1972

Cover art by Neal Adams

See full issue details on the Grand Comics Database →

We jump from the Silver Age into the Bronze Age and a knockout Neal Adams cover — reason enough for collectors to chase this one.

The issue

In "Have Horse, Will Fly!," the space-cowboy villain Terra-Man busts out of jail and hits Superman with a weapon that artificially ages him, while a strange parallel mystery has a neighbor draining the color green right out of paper money. Superman has to shake off the aging effect and untangle both threats at once. A vintage backup, "The Superman Time Capsule" (freshened with a new Curt Swan/Murphy Anderson splash), rounds out the issue with two crooks trying to trick Superman into transmuting lead into gold.

Who's in it

• Superman / Clark Kent — racing against a bizarre aging weapon while chasing down a second, unrelated mystery in Metropolis.
• Terra-Man (Tobias Manning) — an Old West outlaw transplanted to the modern day with alien technology and a flying horse, one of the stranger recurring villains in the Superman rogues' gallery.
• Nova — Terra-Man's genetically enhanced winged horse and constant companion.
• Lois Lane — Daily Planet reporter and Clark's colleague, appearing in the vintage backup story.
• Perry White — the Planet's editor-in-chief, also featured in the backup.

Behind the book (creators)

• Cover: Neal Adams
• Lead story: Cary Bates (writer), Curt Swan (pencils), Murphy Anderson (inks)
• Backup: Jerry Coleman (writer), Win Mortimer (art), with a new splash by Swan
• Editor: Julius Schwartz

Meet the creators

Neal Adams is one of the most influential artists in mainstream comics history. Breaking in during the late 1960s, he brought a dynamic, anatomically grounded, almost photorealistic style that helped drag superhero art out of its more static Silver Age conventions — his runs on Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, and X-Men are still studied by artists today. Beyond the drawing board, Adams was a tireless advocate for creators' rights, playing a key role in the 1970s campaign that won Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster financial compensation and a creator credit from DC after decades of being frozen out.

Cary Bates broke into comics as a teenager in the early 1960s and went on to become one of the most prolific Superman and Flash writers of the Silver and Bronze Ages, scripting hundreds of issues across both titles through the 1970s and into the '80s. He later moved into television, serving as a story editor and writer on the 1988 Superboy TV series.

What it's worth

The desirable Neal Adams cover and early Terra-Man drive demand. Raw VF/NM copies generally run $30–$80. Graded, a CGC 9.4 has been offered around $120, and scarce CGC 9.8 copies typically command roughly $300–$600+ (estimate — confirm a recent sale before quoting).

Where to read it (collected edition)

A modern trade or omnibus reprinting this specific issue could not be confirmed; Terra-Man material from this era hasn't been comprehensively collected. Treat it as likely uncollected pending a check of DC's Bronze Age Superman volumes.

Part of "250's for America's 250" — counting 24 milestone #250 comics down to the U.S. 250th on July 4, 2026.