Conner Kent/Kon-El/Superboy Appreciation 2023

[walk]

I was wondering how did you all find Kon written under Bendis's YJ? Personally I actually liked it as he was shown to have matured (what he did on Gemworld, Kudos), and while he did fall into despair at point he still had a belief and trust in his friends. I really enjoyed the focus he and Bart's friendship got.

Plus it made me like T-Shirt Kon:
Attachment 128216

Like most of Bendis's YJ his take on Conner was very underwhelming and middle of the road and often times his actual personality lost in Bendis Speak i.e everyone on the team sounding the same, it certainly all shines better now in retrospect that we've suffered through Fitzmartin but I wouldn't say it's great just not egregiously bad like DCYJ.

It's biggest sin is that while it occasionally plays with some interesting idea's about Conner initially feeling listless in Smallville, becoming a father figure and then devasted in this new reality where he no longer has a past it never follows through with any of it and the whole run is just treading water the whole time, they're are several issues where characters stand in one spot talking the entire time and make no progress.

The leather jacket with the black t-shirt is a good look though.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

Like most of Bendis's YJ his take on Conner was very underwhelming and middle of the road and often times his actual personality lost in Bendis Speak i.e everyone on the team sounding the same, it certainly all shines better now in retrospect that we've suffered through Fitzmartin but I wouldn't say it's great just not egregiously bad like DCYJ.

It's biggest sin is that while it occasionally plays with some interesting idea's about Conner initially feeling listless in Smallville, becoming a father figure and then devasted in this new reality where he no longer has a past it never follows through with any of it and the whole run is just treading water the whole time, they're are several issues where characters stand in one spot talking the entire time and make no progress.

The leather jacket with the black t-shirt is a good look though.

Come to think of it that it just maybe hindsight and retrospective coloring my view now but even when I read it the first time back then I was still touched by Kon having faith in his friends and using that to not go all emo when told he didn't have a past by the evil doc and felt it was a genuine good character moment that (or maybe I was just okay with finally having Kon back I would have accepted anything at the time).

But yeah the plot went no where in the end and became just filler.

What gets me though is you could've just done a simple coming out story in Dark Crisis with Tim and his teammates where he admits to Conner to having a crush in the past and after some initial awkwardness they're able to work through it, reaffirm that they're still friends and move on but instead she does a bunch of blatant queerbaiting while never directly addressing it just so she can string along Timkon fans even though she knows full well it's not going to happen, it's so skeevy.

Outside of her relationship with Traci 13 all Natasha previous relationships were with men so she's likely bi and from what I've seen bi fans would probably appreciate a story that acknowledges Nat attraction to both men and women instead just writing her as simply gay.

Funny you mentioned Cassandra Cain because it was the same thing back in the day, writers wanted to make them an official thing but the Bat Office shut it down because they don't want any of the Batfamily involved with superpowered people, even if when where at a point when they're to having queer relationships both Bat and Super offices are going to want ones that they have complete creative control over and are not having to collaborate with each other over i.e Tim/Bernard, Jon/Jay.

I mean she did the same in the Tim pride special with the handholding thing and is still doing in his solo with Tim being referred to as "Superboy's biggest fan". The lack of an actual resolution pretty much confirms she'll be stringing people along as much as she can............

Oh right. And they never did confirm where Natasha leans so the door is open on her being bi.

Bateditorial sounds really petty sometimes....oh who am I kidding they are. They gave us Nightwing annual.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

Anyway Bendis brought back Bart and Kon's BROTP and I'll never fault it for that. Hope we continue to see it:

bart kon hug.jpg

bart kon hug 2.jpg

bart kon.jpg

[SuperX]

A wild Chris Kent fanart appears, it's like seeing a unicorn it's just that rare

I have to say I agree with the fan artists that a preferable Superfamily should've started with Kara, Conner and kid Jon. It's a nice classic trio dynamic, Kara as the more mature responsible one(Superego), Conner as the more reckless free-spirted one (Id) and Jon as an impressionable child being influenced by both while also acting as the mediator between the two (Ego). Though for the life of me I don't how it'd work now with Teen Jon as being a being a kid was Jon's main gimmick and his older self personality is pretty unremarkable, where beforehand you could've worked a student/duo mentor angle between them now it's less obvious which is probably why they've had next to no interaction.

But yes I still believe DC should've formed a more solid basis between the actual blood relatives first before expanding outwards despite quite liking Kenan and Natasha. The large roster PKJ starting with wouldn't be too bad if that previous legwork had already been done but now you're having establish relationships that never existed while juggling a 10+ cast while also needing space for an actual plot to happen as well? Again it's a lot to achieve in a monthly title in just 22 pages.

DC are really good at missing opportunities.I know this fan would have loved to see kid Jon,with older kon ,and Kara.potential is alwsys left on the floor with them

[SuperX]

Him going to Titans Academy would've been fun. I don't mind if he goes to school again but there needs to be a twist. Like a supervillian is trying a kidnap a student so Conner goes undercover to stop them.

Maybe tracking a villain kid,a villain teacher,or a kid who could be a lot of trouble and is a ticking time bomb and only kon can stop them and help them

[SuperX]

I mean DC YJ and how it derailed and regressed Kon for the sake of Timkon drama made it plainly clear it would not benefit Kon at all and yeah it is all about Tim




Isn't Natasha a lesbian now?

And for WOC options there is still Cass Cain........

Blackfire, Ms martian ,and Tana are your triple WOC,can't say he don't have good taste

[SuperX]

I was wondering how did you all find Kon written under Bendis's YJ? Personally I actually liked it as he was shown to have matured (what he did on Gemworld, Kudos), and while he did fall into despair at point he still had a belief and trust in his friends. I really enjoyed the focus he and Bart's friendship got.

Plus it made me like T-Shirt Kon:
Attachment 128216

Him being back was great,him still being mature was a nice surprise,didn't think they would keep him like thst,thought they would do what they are doing in AC and regressing him.

[SuperX]

Also Kon's Tactile Telekinesis looks better when it's red and not blue.

N E V E R,blue 4 life. The red clashes with his heat vision ,and the red he wears.new 52 kon was cool and had cool scenes of him using his TK,but the blue screams SB,and it was the color for a good decade when it was his only power,and showed here and there in Teen Titans and blackest night

[SuperX]

Black leather jacket with the black t-shirt with the red and black S shield is imo the future stabilizing look for him,I'm waiting for DC to just pull the switch on it and make it happen

[NOCTPHOENIX]

N E V E R,blue 4 life. The red clashes with his heat vision ,and the red he wears.new 52 kon was cool and had cool scenes of him using his TK,but the blue screams SB,and it was the color for a good decade when it was his only power,and showed here and there in Teen Titans and blackest night

Yeah but red looks cooler.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

Do you think it should be addressed how Knockout was a grown woman and Kon was a teenager and she more or less groomed him?

[13th Superman]

Do you think it should be addressed how Knockout was a grown woman and Kon was a teenager and she more or less groomed him?

I don't know if I'd revisit it. That was a different time and you're filtering it with a modern mindset. In the 90s, Hawaii's age of consent was 14. It changed to 16 in 2001. Kon is a clone yes so that's definitely a grey area but that means he can't get into any relationship until he's chronologically of age which would suck. In the 90s book his implanted knowledge was filled with information matched to his body's biological age so he'd grow up as normal as possible. So Kon was mentally, emotionally, and physically 16. While yes still problematic but not illegal.

[SuperX]

I don't know if I'd revisit it. That was a different time and you're filtering it with a modern mindset. In the 90s, Hawaii's age of consent was 14. It changed to 16 in 2001. Kon is a clone yes so that's definitely a grey area but that means he can't get into any relationship until he's chronologically of age which would suck. In the 90s book his implanted knowledge was filled with information matched to his body's biological age so he'd grow up as normal as possible. So Kon was mentally, emotionally, and physically 16. While yes still problematic but not illegal.

OK what about relationships that are in the present, like blackfire and mggan?

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Maybe tracking a villain kid,a villain teacher,or a kid who could be a lot of trouble and is a ticking time bomb and only kon can stop them and help them

Yeah that works.

[SuperX]

Yeah that works.

Do you remember when he went undercover at school,to.find Risk ?