Confessed Casual Reader Asks: Wait, what? The whole world knows Superman is Clark Kent?!?!?

[WheresMySuperman]

Dear Forum,

I will start with a confession. I am not big into comic books. I know! I know! Don't hate me! Many here may proudly call themselves Comic Book Geeks. I probably don't come anywhere near having the necessary knowledge and understanding to don such a title. And I sincerely and humbly hope that this community will forgive me for that.

That being said, my whole life I have always had a real soft spot for Superman. It likely started with watching him lead the Justice League in Saturday morning cartoons, but really blossomed growing up watching the wonderful Christopher Reeve (R.I.P.) brilliantly portray the dual role of the powerful Kal-el from planet Krypton and his humble, meek counterpart Clark Kent the newspaper reporter. I could go on further about my obsession with Superman, but that could take a while. Hell, I'm typing this in my Superman pajamas for crying out loud. That's really all you need to know. I confess, however, that I have always only been a casual reader of the comics and hadn't picked up any issue of the New 52 since a few months into its launch.

Recently, my girlfriend surprised me by buying me a subscription to Action Comics Superman. She remembered me telling her that that title was (originally) the original Superman storyline. The first issue arrived yesterday. Action Comics #41 of the New 52. i just finished reading it and well...I'm in total shock. Apparently the whole world knows that reporter Clark Kent (now unemployed???) is Superman!?! How can this be? Why would they do this?

In my mind, this completely undermines a key (not to mention iconic) element of the character. It almost seems like a cop-out on the part of the writers, as if it's just easier to assume what people have been saying for years; that it's just impossible for this guy to disguise himself with glasses and not be recognized, etc. so just forget it. Kill the idea. It worked for 75 years, but meh. Whatevs. I'm having trouble accepting that.

I need help understanding this and I'm hoping you, as the comic book reading community, can help me.

Thanks.

-WheresMySuperman?

[dangleo61288]

Dear Forum,

I will start with a confession. I am not big into comic books. I know! I know! Don't hate me! Many here may proudly call themselves Comic Book Geeks. I probably don't come anywhere near having the necessary knowledge and understanding to don such a title. And I sincerely and humbly hope that this community will forgive me for that.

That being said, my whole life I have always had a real soft spot for Superman. It likely started with watching him lead the Justice League in Saturday morning cartoons, but really blossomed growing up watching the wonderful Christopher Reeve (R.I.P.) brilliantly portray the dual role of the powerful Kal-el from planet Krypton and his humble, meek counterpart Clark Kent the newspaper reporter. I could go on further about my obsession with Superman, but that could take a while. Hell, I'm typing this in my Superman pajamas for crying out loud. That's really all you need to know. I confess, however, that I have always only been a casual reader of the comics and hadn't picked up any issue of the New 52 since a few months into its launch.

Recently, my girlfriend surprised me by buying me a subscription to Action Comics Superman. She remembered me telling her that that title was (originally) the original Superman storyline. The first issue arrived yesterday. Action Comics #41 of the New 52. i just finished reading it and well...I'm in total shock. Apparently the whole world knows that reporter Clark Kent (now unemployed???) is Superman!?! How can this be? Why would they do this?

In my mind, this completely undermines a key (not to mention iconic) element of the character. It almost seems like a cop-out on the part of the writers, as if it's just easier to assume what people have been saying for years; that it's just impossible for this guy to disguise himself with glasses and not be recognized, etc. so just forget it. Kill the idea. It worked for 75 years, but meh. Whatevs. I'm having trouble accepting that.

I need help understanding this and I'm hoping you, as the comic book reading community, can help me.

Thanks.

-WheresMySuperman?

Here is what happen so far:
Superman loses most of his powers due to some unknown reason and is now about what he was during he 40's. Lois finds out Clark is Superman and tells the world for reasons unknown. She claims it was to help.

To me it sounds like they are trying to deconstruct Superman and kill Lois's character.

[WheresMySuperman]

Kill Lois? She's the second most important character in Superman's story. WTF?

[Loose Threads]

Kill Lois? She's the second most important character in Superman's story. WTF?

DC are presently bigging up Wonder Woman as his love interest. Lois is'nt the only long-term love interest in DC to be thrown under the bus. Even Carol Ferris and Mera are being subjected to questionable character choices by the writers. About the only one safe seems to be Catwoman, and that's probably because she has her own book.

[WheresMySuperman]

DC are presently bigging up Wonder Woman as his love interest. Lois is'nt the only long-term love interest in DC to be thrown under the bus

Unacceptable.

[Loose Threads]

Unacceptable.

If it makes you happier, DC just got done with a multiverse story where the Superman of the previous long-term continuity had a child with Lois and they saved all of reality off-panel and lived happily ever after.

[manofsteel1979]

Kill Lois? She's the second most important character in Superman's story. WTF?

Hey...calm down a bit...Lois is not being killed. yes she was the one to unveil his identity , but we don't know exactly why yet, but in the new Superman/Batman issue the dialogue indicates that the reason she did it may have been to protect Clark from something else. The answer will start unfolding over the next three issues of the SUPERMAN title, starting with issue #41.

As for the rest, don't worry. This current storyline is just one in a long line of "status quo altering" story lines that eventually reverts back to the status quo. Over the 25 years i've been reading Superman comics, hes died and returned ( with a mullet!) , had his powers taken and returned numerous times, seem Metropolis raized to the ground by Lex Luthor only to see it rebuilt via magic, and even had his powers and costume completely altered for a year. In comic books nothing remains static. I would just enjoy the ride. Who knows...you may end up enjoying Yourself!

Oh and welcome to the forums!

[WheresMySuperman]

Hey...calm down a bit...Lois is not being killed. yes she was the one to unveil his identity , but we don't know exactly why yet, but in the new Superman/Batman issue the dialogue indicates that the reason she did it may have been to protect Clark from something else. The answer will start unfolding over the next three issues of the SUPERMAN title, starting with issue #41.

As for the rest, don't worry. This current storyline is jist one in a long line of "status quo altering" story lines that eventually reverts back to the status quo. Over the 25 years i've been reading Superman comics, hes died and returned ( with a mullet!) , had his powers taken and returned numerous times, seem Metropolis raized to the ground by Lex Luthor only to see it rebuilt via magic, and even had his powers and costume completely altered for a year. In comic books nothing remains static. I would just enjoy the ride. Who knows...you may end up enjoying Yourself!

Oh and welcome to the forums!

Hey, thanks for the welcome.

Another thing that confuses the casual reader: The storyline/title/universe crossovers. Part of me wishes all the characters had separate storylines where only they exist, a la Dark Knight movie trilogy. I mean sure, put them all together for Justice League, Avengers, Batman/Superman, but sometimes you want to enjoy the idea of them all being the lone superhero.

As for the dying and returning with a mullet: Yeah, I remember it all too well. I couldn't even look at a Superman cover for years after that. At one point i remember seeing the mullet/T-shirt and jeans action figure in a store and nearly broke down.

[Loose Threads]

Mullet Superman lasted 'till 1996, what I remember best from that was Clark having a fruity little ponytail as a result as part of the disguise.

[Lorendiac]

As for the rest, don't worry. This current storyline is just one in a long line of "status quo altering" story lines that eventually reverts back to the status quo. Over the 25 years i've been reading Superman comics, hes died and returned ( with a mullet!) , had his powers taken and returned numerous times, seem Metropolis raized to the ground by Lex Luthor only to see it rebuilt via magic, and even had his powers and costume completely altered for a year. In comic books nothing remains static. I would just enjoy the ride. Who knows...you may end up enjoying Yourself!

Oh and welcome to the forums!

I agree with the basic sentiments I just quoted. I regard such things as "Hey! Everybody and his brother now knows Superman's secret identity!" as fitting into the category of stories that I call "Temporary Stunts" or "Temporary Changes." It looks very weird and shocking to diehard fans of "the traditional approach" to a popular superhero . . . and in a few months or a few years, everybody in the comic books will seem to have forgotten all about it, thanks to whatever excuse a writer sees fit to use to "turn back the clock" and restore the Sacred Status Quo!

To add to the examples already provided by manofsteel1979, some other dramatic things that have happened to Superman in the last few decades (without really mattering in the long run) have included:

1. A great deal of fanfare about the long-awaited marriage of Lois Lane and Clark Kent . . . when it finally happened in the mid-1990s . . . followed by many years' worth of stories showing them as a happy couple (usually) . . . and then, a few years ago, their entire marriage was "erased from history" when Superman got thoroughly rebooted for "the New 52."

2. Superman not doing anything to warn the American people that "I know for a fact that Lex Luthor is an evil man" when Lex was running for President of the United States in comics published in 2000, with the result that Lex was elected to that job in the DCU, and gleefully moved into the Oval Office for the next few years! Naturally, you never hear anything about that in the comics any more. (Even before the "New 52" reboot, I don't think it got mentioned very often.)

3. Various "Supergirl" characters coming and going, without rhyme or reason, and sometimes never being mentioned again after they'd been "kicked offstage and swept under the rug," as it were. (I once made a bit of a name for myself on Superman-themed discussion boards by compiling a master list of all of the "Supergirl" and "Superwoman" characters who had ever been "canonical" at one time or another. It was a ridiculously long list! )

4. A story, back around 1999 or thereabouts, in which we were led to believe that Superman and Wonder Woman spent 1000 years fighting side by side in Asgard, then were transported back to "here and now" in the modern DCU, and then Superman just shrugged it off and went right back to business as usual as a superhero. He hadn't been perceptibly changed in any way by the fact that he was now a solid thousand years older than he used to be! (Pretty soon, everybody at DC just forgot all about that silly story -- or at least they hoped we had forgotten it, which amounts to the same thing.)

If you just repeat to yourself that "This is a Temporary Stunt and a few years from now it will be like it never happened in the first place!" then it becomes ever so much easier on your nerves when you see something happening in a DC comic book that goes directly against what you think that character "is all about!" (Trust me, I speak from personal experience, and plenty of it! )

[Jim Kelly]

I agree with the basic sentiments I just quoted. I regard such things as "Hey! Everybody and his brother now knows Superman's secret identity!" as fitting into the category of stories that I call "Temporary Stunts" or "Temporary Changes." It looks very weird and shocking to diehard fans of "the traditional approach" to a popular superhero . . . and in a few months or a few years, everybody in the comic books will seem to have forgotten all about it, thanks to whatever excuse a writer sees fit to use to "turn back the clock" and restore the Sacred Status Quo!

I might've had this reaction back in 1987, but actually these stunts look a lot like what I remember from the old days. It's just the presentation that's changed. Classic comics had these same stunts which fit into either one of two categories:

1. imaginary story/dream/alternate reality or
2. hoax/temporary change/mass delusion.

Initially--back in the '30s and '40s, these were resolved within one story--often only 13 pages or less. There were other featured comics like ALL-FLASH where a story could play out over 33 pages, but I don't know of any published Superman stories that went on for that long back then. The K-Metal story was supposed to be book-length, but it was never published--I wonder what the upshot of that story would have been--would it have changed the status quo for Superman or would it eventually be some kind of hoax, dream or otherwise invalidated later? In the daily strips, there were stories that went on for a very long time. There was one where Clark and Lois did get married and it was supposed to be for real, until the writer was told to turn it into an imaginary story.

By the '60s, these kind of stories could go on for more than one issue. The Virus-X story was continued over the space of five issues. In the '70s, the Sand Superman Saga dominated for about nine months. Subsequent to this, to avoid confusion, the Julie Schwartz books would often have a note explaining that the events in this story take place after the events in other Superman (or Batman or other) stories in other titles.

The difference from now and then was that we knew everything would go back to normal. Or we had a pretty good assumption that order would be restored. There were some stories where I was shocked and thought a change might hold. And sometimes things happened that did affect continuity from then on. Supergirl was revealed to the world, Dick Grayson graduated from high school, Roy Harper was a drug addict, the JLA did shift their HQ to a satellite above the Earth. Ra's al Ghul was brought to justice, Clark Kent did stay at WGBS.

The details of the "Truth" story remind me most of

• "When there was no Clark Kent," SUPERMAN 127 (February '59); story: Jerry Coleman; art: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.
• "Who Took the Super Out of Supeman," et al, SUPERMAN 296 (February '76) - 299 (May '76); story: Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin; art: Curt Swan and Bob Oksner.

The big difference for us now is that we know DC can easily throw out continuity and change their universe. So the game is a little different. The kinds of devices a writer had to use before to restore the status quo aren't necessary now. And the reader has no expectation that continuity must right itself or all is lost.

But the writers, consciously or unconsciously, seem to be harvesting a lot of old material for their "new" stories. I feel so strongly about the debt that modern stories owe to past stories and past creators that I believe every comic should have a page at the back, where past creators and their work are acknowledged. It doesn't seem right that work can be passed off as "new" when it really would not exist if not for what was already created before.

[JackDaw]

4. A story, back around 1999 or thereabouts, in which we were led to believe that Superman and Wonder Woman spent 1000 years fighting side by side in Asgard, then were transported back to "here and now" in the modern DCU, and then Superman just shrugged it off and went right back to business as usual as a superhero. He hadn't been perceptibly changed in any way by the fact that he was now a solid thousand years older than he used to be! (Pretty soon, everybody at DC just forgot all about that silly story -- or at least they hoped we had forgotten it, which amounts to the same thing.)

Still regard the fact that he didn't bonk her once in a thousand years as complete proof that Superman has stronger will power than Hal Jordan. This is one of the feats that should be in top 10 super feats of all time.

[Auguste Dupin]

Don't sweat it.
If you're not a big comic book fan , you may not know this, but this is basically what we call an "event", where a big change in a character's status quo is done for some time before they go back to the usual formular. Famous examples include Dick Grayson replacing Bruce Wayne as Batman after the latter's "death", or Doctor Octopus mindswiping his brain in Peter Parker's body and taking over as Spider-Man. All of these examples have been "undone", not because of backlash, but because they were always meant to be temporary changes.
So it's probably better to think of it not as killing the idea, but as putting it in hiatus for some time, and to keep in mind that somehow, reporter Clark will come back at some point.
But yeah, if you were going in hoping for the classic Superman formula, you (well, your girlfriend) kinda picked the wrong time.
As for how it happened, well.....the details are still unknown, but what we do know is that Lois Lane discovered his secret identity and, for reasons yet unspecified but that are implied to be bigger than just "doing her job", exposed him to the world.

[WheresMySuperman]

So it's probably better to think of it not as killing the idea, but as putting it in hiatus for some time, and to keep in mind that somehow, reporter Clark will come back at some point

Auguste,

How can you be sure?

[Loose Threads]

Auguste,

How can you be sure?

We're more certain about reset buttons than we are certain of life in general