Daily Planet Article Outing Superman As Clark Kent Arrives Online

[manduck37]

Continuity varies from era to era. But many times Jonathan Kent forges documents to make Clark legal.

As far as adoption, they did so only in a general sense, not a legal one. (Except in Golden age continuity) They did not pick him out from an orphanage or foster home. It is not done through standard, legal channels.

The closest they come to legality is in MOS continuity. Martha claims to have given birth to him at home, during a snowstorm. They later go to the hospital, and are given a legal birth certificate and social security number. But this is still defrauding the Federal government. Something that could get Jonathan thrown in jail for a long, long time.

The bottom line on his identity: We can argue that Clark Kent is the 'real' person, but from a legal standpoint, the 'real' person is an alien from another planet. Giving him a fake birth certificate and a US social security number is illegal.

I feel stupid making these claims against my favorite character, but again, when DC pushes ultra-realism, this is where the story inevitably ends up.

Yeah, all true. I'm using the term "adopted" in a pretty loose sense. Certainly it's not legal. Then again, how do you legally adopt an alien? From Superman's perspective, he seems to see himself as Clark in "Truth". So I probably should have included that I was thinking in terms of Superman's perspective as well as applying our real world to a comic world. Basically, the point I'm trying to make it that just applying such levels of scrutiny to a comic world just creates more problems than it solves. It's a universe of verified aliens, super powers, billionaire vigilantes and other weirdness. So I just don't see the value in applying our world realism to comics. Comics have things impossible in our world, so naturally they'd have to be considerably different.

[Jeremiah]

Then again, how do you legally adopt an alien?

That's my point. You don't.

So I just don't see the value in applying our world realism to comics.

Agree, it is a problem. One that DC refuses to recognize.

I am applying our reality into the comics, because that is what DC insists on doing. Again, I am holding them to their own standards, and in doing so, exposing their both their triumphs and flaws as story architects.

[Tayswift]

Just in a vacuum, as a vacuum is all we have definitely confirmed at this point, one simply doing their job and revealing a truth, one of which there are genuine concerns in relation to the populace at large (questions of which the article itself does raise), does not inherently make one look bad. She's a reporter. She reported one of the biggest stories of her generation.

Now, like I said, that's in a vacuum. That's not even taking into consideration the strong likelihood (albeit unconfirmed) that there are secret motivations at play here which will paint Lois in a more heroic light, rather just someone doing their job. So either way this lone article doesn't hurt her in my eyes. In any case this is more interested than I've been in Lois Lane since probably 1996 when they got married. Very intrigued to see where this goes.

the excuse of being a reporter is pretty bad, the reporters I know hated that Lois revealed his secrets. It's goes against the journalism ethics code. even with the concerns she raised, she did more harm than good revealing his secret.

[Jabare]

pulitzer prize winning journalism right here

[Tayswift]

[quote]CV: From the DIVERGENCE sneak peek, a lot of people got upset with Lois Lane’s decision. Will your part in the Truth arc show why she exposed his identity?

GENE: Yeah. That’ll definitely be a huge part of our current arc. If people want to find out what her motivation were, they have to read the book.

CV: Lois has often been left out of the main stories or delegated to the sidelines. Is she going to get her chance to be in the spotlight some more?

GENE: Lois has been featured prominently in the Superman books that I read, in preparation for writing this. Like Greg Pak featured her really prominently in a storyline where both Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne lost their memories. I think one of the awesome parts about the rebooted DC Universe is we get to see who Lois is, apart from her romantic connection to Clark. We get to see that she is an amazing three-dimensional character that works well just on her own. That said, she does play a huge role in this current storyline. I really hope that fans of Lois Lane will come out, read the book, and tell us what they think.http://www.comicvine.com/articles/ge...c/1100-152655/[quote/]

what?? I wonder if we were reading the same comics or he just really don't see nothing wrong with Lois bad treatment
if one of the best things of new 52 is see lois outside of romantic relationship with clark, yang and DC did very wrong. I don't understand why guys love this non romantic lois.

[Auguste Dupin]

Yeah, I think where things start to get confused is applying our logic to a world/universe that may appear on the surface to be like ours but is actually very different. For example, is vigilantism really illegal in the DCU? Batman works with the police. So does Animal Man and lots of others. Superman has been shown working with police and law enforcement. So do they have different laws for this kind of thing? Plus, Clark isn't some false identity or construct. Some may choose to see it that way, if they don't agree with Superman or what he does. Though he was adopted by the Kents. He was given the name Clark by them. He was raised as their adopted child. He really is Clark Kent.

Just those two points that you used to illustrate this point got me thinking Jeremiah. So I agree that applying real world scrutiny to a comic universe doesn't really work well. Just look at the term "comic book science", for example.

I really don't think having Gordon wait on a rooftop, talk five minutes about whatever they're focussing on right now, and then pretend he didn't see anything counts as a legal collaboration. The fact that the cops do try to arrest Batman everytime Gordon isn't in charge makes it obvious Batman is officially considered a criminal. It's just that the GCPD usually prefers to look the other way.
As for the Clark Kent identity, it's really not about how he sees himself. The American law is clear: to be an American citizen, you need to be born on american soil. Superman is born on Krypton, therefore he's not an american citizen. By pretending to be the biological son of Johnattan and Martha Kent, he's lying about his true place of birth and therefore obtains American Citizenship by fraud. That's illegal.

[vaf2675]

She basically betrayed her friend just to get another Pulitzer.

N52 Lois Lane is a real cold B I T C H!

[Darth Kal-el]

Wow.

Seeing so many "Superman fans" actually defending Superman's outing to the entire world just furthers my resolve to have nothing to do with this storyline.

I think I'll just be avoiding this whole forum for a while. I'll come back when Superman is Superman again and we are actually back in the business of lauding the greatest superhero of all time instead of basically saying "He totally deserves everything that's happening to him! This is awesome!"

I am not saying he deserves anything that happens to him. I am saying the story is an interesting idea that so far has been great in the books. I like the story because it's different and inventive. I genuinely am excited to see where they will go next

[Darth Kal-el]

I really don't think having Gordon wait on a rooftop, talk five minutes about whatever they're focussing on right now, and then pretend he didn't see anything counts as a legal collaboration. The fact that the cops do try to arrest Batman everytime Gordon isn't in charge makes it obvious Batman is officially considered a criminal. It's just that the GCPD usually prefers to look the other way.
As for the Clark Kent identity, it's really not about how he sees himself. The American law is clear: to be an American citizen, you need to be born on american soil. Superman is born on Krypton, therefore he's not an american citizen. By pretending to be the biological son of Johnattan and Martha Kent, he's lying about his true place of birth and therefore obtains American Citizenship by fraud. That's illegal.

The point of Snyder's current Batman arc is to show why a Batman who works in the system, Jim robo batman, doesn't work and only Bruce Wayne vigilante Batman does

[Sacred Knight]

So its either Team Clark or Team Lois? No thanks. I think there's going to be plenty of gray area here. If the story's good, if the writing is respectful to the lore and the characters, an understanding and feeling for both will be displayed (and no, I don't feel its a situation where she'd never reveal the secret upon pain of death or its automatically disrespectful to her. Sorry).

[Tayswift]

She basically betrayed her friend just to get another Pulitzer.

N52 Lois Lane is a real cold B I T C H!

more like writers destroying her, they deserve to be called out on this

[manduck37]

I really don't think having Gordon wait on a rooftop, talk five minutes about whatever they're focussing on right now, and then pretend he didn't see anything counts as a legal collaboration. The fact that the cops do try to arrest Batman everytime Gordon isn't in charge makes it obvious Batman is officially considered a criminal. It's just that the GCPD usually prefers to look the other way.
As for the Clark Kent identity, it's really not about how he sees himself. The American law is clear: to be an American citizen, you need to be born on american soil. Superman is born on Krypton, therefore he's not an american citizen. By pretending to be the biological son of Johnattan and Martha Kent, he's lying about his true place of birth and therefore obtains American Citizenship by fraud. That's illegal.

I think you may have missed my point a bit. My point is simply that using real world law and logic doesn't really work with comics. The comic universe has to deal with impossible situations. So asking if vigilantism or the level to which superheroes operate with the law is just an example of trying to apply that level of scrutiny to a comic world and how quickly things fall apart. Gordon works with Batman, Batman works with Arkham Assylum, some cops hunt Batman while others work with him, some politicians support Batman while other oppose, it can be all over the place even in the same story. Post-Crisis Batman used to process crime scenes like the police department and leave evidence in evidence bags for the police. Nu52 may do that with Batman, but in a comic universe Batman's vigilantism has worked directly alongside law enforcement.. So do we spend time to spell out the legal system of Gotham City and find a firm legal ground to approach Batman or do just have fun reading about his adventures? Same with Clark Kent. Of course his identity is fraud. There is no way to legally adopt an alien baby from another planet. So all documents and information about him would be fraud. Do we want to explore the legal aspects of Superman creating an identity, or in this case, using an identity he was given or do we want sci-fi adventure? It never bothered me as a kid that he's technically an illegal alien living among us. It doesn't bother me now. Personally, I'd find reading a comic about American Law to be dreadfully boring. Reading about Superman is pretty fun though. It's only entertainment. We don't need the hard light of the real world to be shed on comics. Comics deal more in myth, ideas and themes, not the technical letter of the law. Otherwise every comic would be incredibly short, one page that says "Billionaire Bruce Wayne arrested for vigilantism, assault and other crimes", end of story.

[Tayswift]

I don't believe I read this...

[Jeremiah]

I think you may have missed my point a bit. My point is simply that using real world law and logic doesn't really work with comics. The comic universe has to deal with impossible situations. So asking if vigilantism or the level to which superheroes operate with the law is just an example of trying to apply that level of scrutiny to a comic world and how quickly things fall apart. Gordon works with Batman, Batman works with Arkham Assylum, some cops hunt Batman while others work with him, some politicians support Batman while other oppose, it can be all over the place even in the same story. Post-Crisis Batman used to process crime scenes like the police department and leave evidence in evidence bags for the police. Nu52 may do that with Batman, but in a comic universe Batman's vigilantism has worked directly alongside law enforcement.. So do we spend time to spell out the legal system of Gotham City and find a firm legal ground to approach Batman or do just have fun reading about his adventures? Same with Clark Kent. Of course his identity is fraud. There is no way to legally adopt an alien baby from another planet. So all documents and information about him would be fraud. Do we want to explore the legal aspects of Superman creating an identity, or in this case, using an identity he was given or do we want sci-fi adventure? It never bothered me as a kid that he's technically an illegal alien living among us. It doesn't bother me now. Personally, I'd find reading a comic about American Law to be dreadfully boring. Reading about Superman is pretty fun though. It's only entertainment. We don't need the hard light of the real world to be shed on comics. Comics deal more in myth, ideas and themes, not the technical letter of the law. Otherwise every comic would be incredibly short, one page that says "Billionaire Bruce Wayne arrested for vigilantism, assault and other crimes", end of story.

I understand what you mean. I think most of us do.

But you are letting DC have it both ways. They are pushing Superman deeper into the real world.

You can't turn around and say, 'It's a comic.' Because they're saying, 'It's real life!'

[protege]

I don't believe I read this...

The part of the article that bothered me was how he felt clark Kent was boring, dull, not someone he'd want to have a beer with, or something like that. I'm kind of getting tired of people trying to equate Clark Kent to someone like them. I don't know why you can't tweak his abilities or something; since when does he not need to eat? Why can't he go out with his coworkers once in awhile and Have a burger? Who says he HAS to be superman 24-7? Superman needs to find a better balance between his responsibilities to the world, and to himself. And don't get me started on "alcohol not affecting him". I kind of think some of the quirks they give the character are kind of silly.