Earth-145

[johnreiter902]

I re-read Superman #145. I went ahead and isolated all the divergences which make that world different from the mainstream Earth-1 reality.

Perry White becomes a bizarro, but retains his mind
Superman is clumsier
Brainiac, Bizarro, and Luthor reformed and know Superman's true identity
Lana Lang sells ice cream instead of working as a tv reporter, and hates Superman
Lori Lemaris made herself human to pursue a romance with Superman
Kandor was destroyed
Supergirl went public earlier
Lois Lane loves Mxyzptlk
Krypto is an Earth dog empowered by x-kryptonite, and Streaky is from Krypton

I like laying it out this way, since it makes the world seem more plausible and less outrageous.

[redsycorax]

The story is entitled "The Night of March 31st" and takes place on April Fools Day. Superman 145's coverdate is May 1961.

[johnreiter902]

Dec 10, 2020 4:40:02 GMT redsycorax said:

The story is entitled "The Night of March 31st" and takes place on April Fools Day. Superman 145's coverdate is May 1961.

I know. I wanted to make it more of an "official" alternate world by specifying how it is different.

[redsycorax]

Oddly enough, that particular alternate Earth isn't listed in the Wikipedia DC Multiverse guide, although the more detailed Earth-388 is. I encountered Earth-388 before Earth-145, and it's more elaborated gonzo Earth than 145. Here, Superman has long hair and no secret identity as Clark Kent. He marries Lois in the course of the story. Jimmy Olsen is Green Lantern. Krypto has Streaky's colouration. Bizarro spoke perfect English, although Mxyzptlk didn't. Uranus was consumed by a giant space mould. Luthor had hair, Brainiac wore Mxyzptlk's outfit, cement-eating termites also exist, Lightning Lad has the Flashs insignia and Flash has his, as well as Hawkman's head wings. Superman and Supergirl were invulnerable to kryptonite but brussel sprouts, five day old garbage and chocolate syrup were deadly to both of them. Lois Lane had a parasol that enabled her to float, had hair that needed to be fed and a mirror that reflected Batgirl's image back to her.  Saturn Girl had a moon insignia on her chest, Cosmic Boy wore Colossal Boy's glove on his left hand, the Pacific Theatre of World War II was still going on and Sargant Rock was annoyed at Superman because this Lois had been his girlfriend. The Battle of Iwo Jima was being fought by Napoleon and Ulysses S. Grant and the Japanese were using silver bullets against the allies with the assistance of the eighteenth century US Revolutionary Army. Sargeant Rock had access to Wonder Woman's invisible plane. Batman wore the Atom's insignia on his cowl and chest and one ear protruded from his cowl. Perry White wore Jimmy Olsen's bowtie, while Olsen wore a regular tie to work. Skateboarders, tricycling children and four-limbed watermelons with fiippers could all fly. Couples played on seesaws on tall buildings and people used firefighters poles to cross from one floor to another in tall buildings. Finally, Earth-388's geography was 'tutti frutti'- the oceans were white, North America was pink, Central America was purple and South America was yellow, while Europe was green and Africa was red. 

I think I prefer this one to Earth-145 because of all the nice little surrealist touches- the Uranian spacemould, the  baroque vulnerabilities that Superman and Supergirl had, Lois Lane's Batgirl mirror and her floating parasol, the incongruous World War II setting and Sargant Rock's access to the invisible plane as well as the ensemble of combatants, the ubiquity of flight, the watermelons, seesaws and firefighters poles and its wonderful crazy quilt coloured surface.  Although the juxtapositions are truly bizarre, this gonzo Earth has more attributes than mere redistribution of insignia and outfits amongst its inhabitants than Earth-145.

Source: "Puzzle of the Wild World" Action Comics # 388 (May 1970): dc.fandom.com/wiki/Earth-388

[johnreiter902]

I actually did a similar list for all the differences on Earth-388, believe it or not, though I don't know if I got all the ones you did. Also, I tried to make things sound a little bit more rational, just because I like to think of these as real worlds that could be plausible. If it's too off the wall, it's hard to write a story for it.

A species of cement-eating termites existed
Aquaman looks like Alfred E. Neuman
Bizarro has perfectly sane and ordinary thought processes
Brainiac wore a costume resembling the Earth-One Mr. Mxyzptlk's.
Bruce Wayne is the Atom, and had a direct line to a major in the U.S. Army
Clark Kent is President of the United States
Cosmic Boy wore red gloves with stars on the edge
Green K, red-sun radiation, Q-energy, or magic did not effect kryptonians, but chocolate, Brussels sprouts, and certain earth bacteria were lethal.
instead of the space program, the usa was exploring the underground
It was common practice for people to throw uncooked spaghetti at newlyweds.
Jimmy Olsen was the Earth's Green Lantern, and the white parts of his costume are yellow. His ring is vulernabile to the colore white
Joker is a hero, and is running for president
Jor-El and Lara survived the destruction of Krypton
Krypto had the coloring of Streaky
Lex Luthor and Brainiac reformed years ago and were given presidential pardons
Lex Luthor dressed very casually, and instead of being bald, his hair grows every time he became overexcited.
Lightning Lad wore a lightning-bolt emblem similar to that of the Flash of Earth-One
Lois Lane is Batgirl
Lois Lane was belived to be incompetent and stupid, knew how to play the violin
Mr. Mxyzptlk wears a suit resembling his Earth-Two counterpart's and is dimwitted
Perry White had a direct phone line to Batman from the Daily Planet.
Perry White smoked a pipe instead of a cigar
Perry White wore a bowtie to work, while Jimmy Olsen wore a regular tie.
Saturn Girl wore a crescent-moon emblem on her chest and is called Moon Girl
Sergeant Frank Rock of Easy Company had a grudge against Superman for his engagement to Lois Lane, who was previously Rock's girlfriend.
Superman revealed his true identity and married Lois Lane
Superman's costume has red gloves with yellow trim
The Batmobile was colored red instead of dark-blue.
The Flash had two lightning-bolt emblems on his costume, in addition to overly exaggerated wings over his temples
The Legion of Super-Heroes are evil
The lettering adorning the globe atop the Daily Planet building was in all lower-case, and a firepole existed to get from one floor to another
Time-Bubbles are cube shaped
Uranus is being consumed by space mold
Wonder Woman never had a period where she lost her Amazon powers and became a plainclothes government agent.
Wonder Woman's Invisible jet is owned by the military
WW2 lasted until the present day, on and off
WW2 was the Empire of Japan, the French Empire, and the Confederate States of America vs. the United States of America, the German Empire, and the United Kingdom