Editorial conference:

“I don’t get why there’s a punching bag right there.”

“It’s a sporting goods store. Nice gag – Superboy knocks them out with the punching bag.”

“There’s a punching bag . . . over the register.”

“Well, there has to be, because the robbers are holding the place up. You couldn’t have him doing it to two guys in the back of the store because he overheard them planning a robbery or saw they had guns with his X-ray eyes, so it has to be by the register.”

"Why couldn't we do that?"

"We could, but it would look like Superboy beating up two guys in a store and then you have the whole probable-cause thing. He could detain them and fly them to jail but he couldn't hit them. You need the open register and the guns or we get calls."

“Uh huh. What is his leg doing? Is he standing on the counter? Flying over it? Did he spring out of a box or something? His chest is parallel to the counter.”

"We have to see the S on his chest."

"Right, because without that a bunch of kids buying the comic for the 200th time will look at the guy in blue tights with red socks and a cape and wonder who the hell he is. Well, I don't care. Just add some stuff to let them know it’s a sporting goods store.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, skis. Golf balls. Sporting stuff."

No word was said about the cashier’s waist, which seemed perfectly normal to anyone who read comics.