Modified Covers

In another issue of the magazine, the Man of Steel is fettered to a chair, tubes running into the helmet that covers his head and into the bands that encircle his abs and forearms. A trio of lovelies (a redhead, a blonde, and a brunette, naturally) stand before him. The redhead informs their captive, "You couldn't defeat the Femizons, Superman, but don't worry. . . . soon you'll be a woman, too." The blonde tells him, "I've set the Gendertron for 'Buxom Brunette.'" The Man of Steel looks appropriately shocked and fearful. The story is called "The Birth of Superwoman!" (I guess now we know the origin of Superman's younger cousin, Supergirl.)

A third issue has Superman switch bodies with Lois Lane. Wearing an apron over his dress, the feminized version of the Man of Steel, looking, for all the world, like Lois Lane, stands (in high-heeled shoes), hands on hips, glaring at the thief who stole his body. "Lois, you thieving cunt! Give me back my body!" he demands. The female reporter, looking very masculine, indeed, in her stolen body, replies, "No chance, Super-tits!"

Superboy is also transformed into a girl in modified versions of Adventure Comics (Lex Luthor turns Clark Kent, Superboy's alter ego, into a transsexual girl, making him "The Laughingstock of Smallville," and Ma and Pa Kent encourage their son-become-a-daughter to accept his new identity in "The End of Superboy."

In a Transgender Secrets cover story, the narrative's tagline introduces its title: "Sometimes it can be tough on a boy to be the 'New Girl on the Block.'" The modified magazine includes the story.

Other periodicals parodied among the modified covers collection include military themes (Transgender Weapons of the Third Reich);, alien abductions (Alien Abductee Transformations); high school transsexuals (After-School Transvestite); the workaday world (Office Girl); romance (Turnabout Romance); sibling rivalry and college hazing (Boys Will Be Girls); slash fiction involving Nancy Drew (The Curse of the Maiden's Hollow), Flash Gordon (Fantastic Transformations), The X-Files, and others; and magic or witchcraft (Foreign Bodies' "Spellbound" and The Daughters of Circe).