I haven't read that story either; I'm guessing that Clark used one of his Superman, and that this is Clark's way of disproving (yet again) that he is Superman. Since it isn't generally known that he has robots, people would figure that the secret to the trick is that Superman actually agreed to pretend to be a puppet to help out his friend. (Maybe the show is part of a charity fund-raiser.)
If anyone has actually read the comic, how close did I get? Either way, it does look like a fun read. Thanks for sharing the cover.
Joy,
Lynn
