History:

(Adventure Comics I #306) -In the 5th Dimension Master Mxyzptlk and his rival Ququrlz were competing for top grades in practical joking, and were assigned to perform a joke outside of school as their final. Mxyzptlk knew he could play the best jokes on Earth, but that Superboy would try to foil him, so he went to Smallville and used his magic to make sure anyone saying their name backward would send them to the 5th Dimension for 90 days, not just him. Smallville celebrated the anniversary of Superboy’s first appearance in town with a giant birthday cake, and Mxy rearranged the letters to spell Yobrepus, but two naughty children ate the “S” so Superboy didn’t end up saying his name backwards, and he immediately suspected Mxy. Lana Lang questioned Superboy about why Clark Kent wasn’t at the celebration, so Superboy rushed home, changed into Clark, and told Lana he’d been kept busy with chores from the Kents. Lana decided to secretly follow him some more to prove he was Superboy. Mxy gave every machine in Smallville an electric brain and made them rebel against the public, causing belligerent cars and elevators to cause panic. Superboy flew to a mountaintop, and shouted his name backwards, causing Mxy to show up, but the imp was disappointed that his magic didn’t work, because Superboy hadn’t spoken his real name Kal-El backwards. Lana’d lost track of Clark a while back but caught up to Superboy on the mountain, and Mxy tricked her into saying her name backwards, telling Superboy he’d have to go to the 5th Dimension to save her. Krypto returned from a space jaunt, and Superboy feigned worrying that Mxy would give Krypto the power to speak and ruin his plan to save Lana. Mxy fell for the trick, and Superboy told Krypto to keep Smallville safe while Superboy traveled to the 5th Dimension. Before saying his name backwards Superboy told Krypto to do the same if Mxy came up with anything he couldn’t handle. In the 5th Dimension an adult told Superboy and Lana that because they were new to the dimension and minors they’d be assigned foster parents and have to start attending high school. Superboy used his powers to simulate magic, wowing the teachers with his practical jokes, while Lana kept getting sent to younger and younger classes because she possessed neither magic abilities nor superpowers, and Superboy hoped she’d learn a humbling lesson and stop snooping on him. Superboy got top grades in the school, surpassing Mxy and Ququrlz by carving a mountain into a replica of the school, making the teachers think school had been petrified. In Smallville Mxy gave everyone a Superboy costume and the delusion that they were Superboy, so Krypto knew it was time for Superboy to act. After hearing Krypto’s plea, Superboy fashioned a Mxy robot and had a teacher observe it playing hooky. The teacher activated the robotic dimensional truant officer to bring in Mxy, so it traveled to Smallville and brought him back. Superboy announced that trick as his final project, and was awarded top practical joking honors, infuriating Mxy, who happily sent him, Krypto and Lana back to Smallville. Superboy asked Lana if she’d learned her lesson, and she promised to stop hounding him, but kept her fingers crossed.

(Superman I #169) - Mr. Mxyzptlk was loitering outside the 5th Dimensional town hall when the mayor scolded him for his cruel pranks. The mayor tried to start his car, but it fell apart thanks to a spell by Mxy, who laughed so hard that he got lockjaw. Mxy thought it would be an excellent time to pester Superman because he couldn’t say his name backwards if he tried. Superman was in his fortress inspecting his latest gifts from other worlds, a singing plant and a telepathic device from the planet Brrym. He changed into Clark Kent and went to work at the Daily Planet, but Jimmy insisted he take a coffee break and watch television with him. A perfume commercial came on, and the woman in the commercial sprayed perfume through the TV into Jimmy’s eyes. The channel flipped to a western, and a gunfighter shot bullets through the TV that Jimmy was barely able to duck, and Superman knew that these hijinks had to be the work of Mr. Mxyzptlk. Superman caught up with Mxy at a baseball stadium where he replaced the helium in the balloons fans were holding with to super-helium, causing them to drift into the air until Superman saved them. Mxy then went to the Superman Museum, targeting a statue of Superman holding up the planet Krypton and changing Krypton into a giant pumpkin, infuriating Superman. Mxy used sign language to brag to Superman that he couldn’t say his name. Superman put on a charity performance at a circus, engaging with fierce animals, but Mxy made him a laughingstock by changing the lion he was facing into a kitten. Superman thought back to the last time he’d faced Mxy, when he’d put an alarm in his hat set to buzz when he started to say his name, and Superman beat him by frying the alarm making the overconfident Mxy an easy target for tricking into saying his name backwards. Superman had a brainstorm, and disguised himself as a haberdasher, offering Mxy a more stylish hat., Mxy tried it on, but saw through his trick. He signed out his name backwards, and was shocked when his hat spoke “Kltpzyxm” in his voice. Superman had putt the telepathic device he’d gotten from Brrym in the hat, and it had broadcasted Mxy’s thought, so he was sent back to the 5th Dimension.

(DC Comics Presents #33, 34) - Mxyzptlk teamed with Earth-S villain Mr. Mind to conspire against Superman and Mind’s enemy Captain Marvel. Mxyzptlk found that his magical powers were much stronger on Earth-S, and wanted Superman there so he could enjoy toying with him even more. Mxyzptlk switched Superman and Captain Marvel’s costumes and powers, and Superman, as Mxyzptlk predicted, traveled to Earth-S to find the cause of the bedevilment. Mxyzptlk revealed himself to the heroes, and told Superman he’d cut him off from returning to his own Earth. Mxyzptlk teleported away, and bragged about his accomplishment to Mr. Mind. Mxyzptlk found that his magical powers were much stronger on Earth-S, and wanted Superman there so he could enjoy toying with him even more. Mxyzptlk switched Superman and Captain Marvel’s costumes and powers, and Superman, as Mxyzptlk predicted, traveled to Earth-S to find the cause of the bedevilment. Mxyzptlk revealed himself to the heroes, and told Superman he’d cut him off from returning to his own Earth. Mxyzptlk teleported away, and bragged about his accomplishment to Mr. Mind. Mind told him he shouldn’t get too excited about tormenting Superman, because he foresaw the death of both heroes in the near future. Mr. Mind had Mxyztplk construct a magic lightning rod to empower King Kull, another Captain Marvel foe, and the trio confronted the heroes. Kull and Mind wanted the heroes dead, and Mxyzptlk told them that wasn’t his agreement with them. He sent the heroes to Earth-S’s funny animal dimension to protect them, but Mr. Mind followed and attacked them in Robbitt, a giant robotic rabbit. Mxyztplk knew Mind would go too far, so he said his name backwards, returning to his own dimension and undoing the magic spells that had troubled Marvel and Superman. The heroes defeated Mr. Mind, and funny animal Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, and the rest of the Marvel Family aided them in bringing down King Kull.

(Superman I #299) - The alien Xviar planned to charge up Superman's powers until he became a superbomb and destroyed Earth. Toward this purpose he teleported several of Superman's deadliest foes, including Mxyztplk, into the apartment of Clark Kent, Superman's civilian identity. Superman responded, and Xviar teleported the villains across the globe, making Superman chase them. Superman faced Mxyztplk, Luthor, and Parasite in the Rocky Mountains, and defeated them by turning the villains against each other. Parasite got greedy absorbing Superman's energy, and the hero easily turned him against his compatriots, defeating the villains. As Superman approached critical mass he figured out Xviar's scheme, and foiled him by defeating his final adversary, Kryptonite Man, in his non-powered civilian identity.

(Action Comics I #574) - Mr. Mxyzptlk was so proud of the birth of his son Kytsbtn that he threw a party at the Daily Planet and decided to commemorate the decision by freezing time and keeping the day from ever ending. Clark Kent reminded him that if he froze time he would never have the pleasure of seeing his son growing up. Mxy saw the logic in this, set things right, and returned to the 5th Dimension.

Comments: Created by Bill Finger & Wayne Boring