So the Kents are alive now?

[superduperman]

Well, this is an interesting read:

https://www.newsarama.com/45575-wait...alive-now.html

There seem to be hints that the Kents are now alive again. My guess is, Doomsday Clock was supposed to address this but it's running so long that they just decided to move forward before it's finished. Bendis all but outright says this. We're also seeing hints of this with the JSA returning in JL. So what does this mean for current continuity? Assuming there even is a continuity anymore? Are we officially back to the pre-Flashpoint continuity now?

[Flash Gordon]

The Kents returning would be ridiculous. I don't get why Clark can't love his parents but have lost them? He's an adult, that is what happens.

[The World]

It's not really a deal breaker for me or anything but I think the thing that gets me is that Post-Crisis Superman is always played up as this Norman McRegular who just happens to have super powers yet the guy doesn't understand the simplest of human concepts. The guy has this hyper generic back story so as to make him "relatable" but he might as well have grown up on Mars with how

Say what you will about Pre-Crisis Superman being too alien or whatever but the guy understood simple things like the concept of life and death.

[daBronzeBomma]

Not going to be get too optimistic just yet, but if this turns out to be true, then Jonathan and Martha better get elevated to permanent Alfred Pennyworth status: too vital as supporting cast to ever be killed off or not used.

And this time around, less one-mind-in-two-bodies personalities, more opposing viewpoints (Pa worries that Clark is doing too much as Supes, Ma worries that Clark doesn't do enough as Supes, or vice versa).

They, not Lois, will always be Clark's deepest connection to humanity.

[Flash Gordon]

Not going to be get too optimistic just yet, but if this turns out to be true, then Jonathan and Martha better get elevated to permanent Alfred Pennyworth status: too vital as supporting cast to ever be killed off or not used.

And this time around, less one-mind-in-two-bodies personalities, more opposing viewpoints (Pa worries that Clark is doing too much as Supes, Ma worries that Clark doesn't do enough as Supes, or vice versa).

They, not Lois, will always be Clark's deepest connection to humanity.

So, just curious, what does that do for the story? Can Clark not meet new people in Metropolis (and abroad!) that can worry about him or share the spotlight in his stories? Does Lois have to be his only supporting cast member? Can't there be loads of people he's met on his many adventures?

I'm not undermining the importance of Ma and Pa Kent, but unfortunately losing your parents is a big part of life. As sad as that is to say.

[daBronzeBomma]

So, just curious, what does that do for the story? Can Clark not meet new people in Metropolis (and abroad!) that can worry about him or share the spotlight in his stories? Does Lois have to be his only supporting cast member? Can't there be loads of people he's met on his many adventures?

I dunno, having a god-like alien being who can destroy a planet but still has very human parents with whom he has a healthy relationship with in his adult life underlines the appeal of Superman myth to me: the utterly spectacular closely intertwined with the relatably mundane. Kinda why Marvel's Thor or Silver Surfer never really appealed to me.

To your other point: no, Clark cannot really meet new people with lasting influence in his tales. Because of corporate storytelling and its utter need to not compensate creators for their creations (Chuck Dixon's Bane contract is a high outlier). There's no tangible incentive to create fascinating characters in a corporate IP farm like DC. Thus, almost every new character created by one writer will be discarded by the next in favor of THEIR new pet character. And so on. Only the long-standing recognizable pre-existing supporting characters (like Supes himself) get revamped and reinterpreted over and over again.

I'm not undermining the importance of Ma and Pa Kent, but unfortunately losing your parents is a big part of life. As sad as that is to say.

It's a part of real life, where our IRL stories have a beginning and, more importantly, a definitive end. But Superman doesn't have that.

Part of the reason he stays with us is that his story never ends ... because it is constantly changing. And never progresses past a certain point. He'll never grow old. He'll never be replaced by his son or anyone else.

Supes needs more fleshed-out 3D characters in his supporting cast. Lois can't be the only one. Jimmy and Kara and Krypto and Perry are good, but do not bring the perspective of the two people who raised a god as a man.

Also, Kal already lost his parents once. And for those who say it doesn't count because her can't remember it, this is Superman we're talking about. With the demonstrated super- memory. Not a stretch at all if he can remember his time of Krypton and the deaths of Jor-El and Lara.

He already has had his tragedy.

[Clark_Kent]

I would be very happy to see them back, as I see no reason why Clark needs to have lost either one of them to learn some message about "you can't save everyone." Clark is smart, I'm pretty sure he can figure that out on his own (if we get technical, the first time a young Clark lost a pet he would learn this lesson, so we don't need to kill off the Kent's to teach it).

I know people complain about Post Crisis Clark running home too much every time he had a problem, but if you go back and actually read those stories they don't go the way you remember them. Most of the time, Clark already knew what course of action was needed, he just used his parents as a sounding board. Someone to tell his ideas to...in other words, he was written like an actual person instead of a cartoon character. We all need someone to listen to us vent, Clark should be no different in that regard. I think a lot of people mix up the comics from that time with the Lois & Clark television show, where Clark DID go home every week to whine and cry and ask for help. The first two seasons especially, Clark couldn't solve any problem without his parents telling him how to do it. But that's not how the comics were written, and I think the dude deals with enough alien invasions, 5th dimensional imps, and Doomsdays that he's earned getting to enjoy a living family that isn't his wife or son. Batman's the guy who's alone and surrounds himself with surrogate family...let Clark have this one.

If this is true though, and his use of "Ma Kent says..." in the latest issue means they are alive, then I suppose that poster who said Bendis' books all take place post-Doomsday Clock deserves a Baldy!

[SiegePerilous02]

It's not really a deal breaker for me or anything but I think the thing that gets me is that Post-Crisis Superman is always played up as this Norman McRegular who just happens to have super powers yet the guy doesn't understand the simplest of human concepts. The guy has this hyper generic back story so as to make him "relatable" but he might as well have grown up on Mars with how

Say what you will about Pre-Crisis Superman being too alien or whatever but the guy understood simple things like the concept of life and death.

I would be very happy to see them back, as I see no reason why Clark needs to have lost either one of them to learn some message about "you can't save everyone." Clark is smart, I'm pretty sure he can figure that out on his own (if we get technical, the first time a young Clark lost a pet he would learn this lesson, so we don't need to kill off the Kent's to teach it).

I know people complain about Post Crisis Clark running home too much every time he had a problem, but if you go back and actually read those stories they don't go the way you remember them. Most of the time, Clark already knew what course of action was needed, he just used his parents as a sounding board. Someone to tell his ideas to...in other words, he was written like an actual person instead of a cartoon character. We all need someone to listen to us vent, Clark should be no different in that regard. I think a lot of people mix up the comics from that time with the Lois & Clark television show, where Clark DID go home every week to whine and cry and ask for help. The first two seasons especially, Clark couldn't solve any problem without his parents telling him how to do it. But that's not how the comics were written, and I think the dude deals with enough alien invasions, 5th dimensional imps, and Doomsdays that he's earned getting to enjoy a living family that isn't his wife or son. Batman's the guy who's alone and surrounds himself with surrogate family...let Clark have this one.

If this is true though, and his use of "Ma Kent says..." in the latest issue means they are alive, then I suppose that poster who said Bendis' books all take place post-Doomsday Clock deserves a Baldy!

I think there is a bit of truth in what both of you say, but I lean more towards the World.

Personally, I wouldn't mind Ma Kent being alive, but I think it's better for Jonathan to be dead. Something like his death in All Star #6 is pretty essential to Clark's development. The death of Jonathan/the Kents is when Superboy becomes Superman, and I think the only reason they were really around into adulthood post-Crisis is because we otherwise wouldn't see them without the Superboy stories.

I think their deaths, or at least Jonathan's death, gives Clark some relateable tragedy without going OTT with it. Yeah he/they died and it's sad and he learns the lesson that he cannot prevent everything with all his great power, but he still had all those years with them as loving, supporting parents that he uses as his foundation to get him through adulthood on his own. That's life, and it's an experience a lot of people have, and it doesn't make him Batman. The combination of having the Kents around and making Clark one of the most popular kids in town really makes his backstory way too easy going, and I don't think that's the best thing to give to the most powerful hero DC has who struggles with being seen as one-note and perfect.

[Vakanai]

The Kents returning would be ridiculous. I don't get why Clark can't love his parents but have lost them? He's an adult, that is what happens.

I'm an adult and both my parents are alive. It happens sometimes.

[Ascended]

Well, this is an interesting read:

https://www.newsarama.com/45575-wait...alive-now.html

There seem to be hints that the Kents are now alive again. My guess is, Doomsday Clock was supposed to address this but it's running so long that they just decided to move forward before it's finished. Bendis all but outright says this. We're also seeing hints of this with the JSA returning in JL. So what does this mean for current continuity? Assuming there even is a continuity anymore? Are we officially back to the pre-Flashpoint continuity now?

I've figured this was the endgame since Johns announced Superman would play a role in Doomsday Clock. Its just.....inevitable.....that Johns would gravitate back to this. I will always appreciate his effort to bring some pre-Crisis stuff back in Secret Origin (not that Loeb hadn't started that years before....) but Johns really does not get what made the Silver-Bronze Age Superman tick. The Kents being alive is......unnecessary, and I think they add more to Clark's story dead than alive.

But this was always going to be what we got once Johns decided to screw with continuity and include Clark in it.

As for going back to pre-Flashpoint continuity......no. I dont think we are. I think a lot of elements and chunks of pre-Flashpoint will return (most already have) but there's been too many developments since 2011 that DC will want to hold onto. So whatever continuity becomes once all the Manhattan/Perpetua crap is over.....it might look like post-Crisis' younger brother, but its not going to be post-Crisis the way we remember it.

[Vordan]

Which is a good thing. Does anyone want Grounded back in canon? There was a lot of junk that’s better just left behind.

[Ascended]

Which is a good thing. Does anyone want Grounded back in canon? There was a lot of junk that’s better just left behind.

I'd be quite happy to get the Superman Squadron back, but other than that and a very brief appearance by an interesting concept for Super-Chief......no, I'm happy to pretend that never happened. Though I'll be pretending that whether DC says its in continuity or not.

If it did happen, it happened very differently since now Clark was a father during that time. We're not going back to post-Crisis just the way it was, ever.

[Osiris-Rex]

Jonathan and Martha Kent were alive on the TV show Lois & Clark and that seemed to work out pretty well.