Preview: ACTION COMICS #975

[K. Jones]

I hadn't even thought of that. Nice one. Now I'm not sure if the junk food thing is supposed to be connected to his childlike ways or if it's for calories.

At the end, after Lois makes the six year old comment, he says "not quite." Is that implying that she's close to the correct age or that she misinterpreted the meaning of the junk food? Man, it's gonna be fascinating to look back at all the books for Rebirth post-Reborn.

Well, the "whole of New 52 history" has been about six years long, right? So whoever this guy is he might have been born during or out of the Flashpoint.

But I mean, we knew that, kind of, as far as "whoever he is is related to the temporal/flashpoint/rebirth paradox" and duplicates and stuff going on.

The bleeding Superman logo is meant obviously to homage Death of Superman, but Prime also burned a bloody S onto his chest, so, it's a really solid notion. A little too solid, perhaps. I'm eager to find out.

[K. Jones]

It occurs to me that Mahnke is one of the few artist staples for Superman over the majority of the last two decades. He started on Man of Steel , then eventually moved to JLA and never quite really left drawing Supes in some capacity( at least not for long anyway.) I didn't care for his work initially because he replaced Jon Bogdanove ,whose work I loved, but Mahnke may be quite possibly my favorite Supes artist of the modern times.

Final Crisis, Superman Beyond, Ultra Comics (tangentially related), even the Super/Wonder stuff was very pretty. He's probably my favorite Super-artist, too.

[victorsage]

Right now, Superboy Prime is the most likely suspect. His desire to be the "one true Superman" and his hostility to continuity changes (such as giving Superman a kid) fit the pattern. Going overboard with the food supply but if you didn't need to eat, wouldn't you eat whatever you wanted since you were a kid? So basically this whole thing is coming across as another attempt by Didio to make fun of fans who have a problem with change.

The food supply is a scene that comes directly from the Lois and Clark tv series pilot. It happens when Lois meets Clark, they get partnered up, she meets him at her house and ask for a drink. Where she finds out he has nothing but junk food, and highly fatty foods. She then ask for his secret because "You eat like a 6 year old but got the body of a Mr. Hard Body. What's your secret?" He doesn't answer, and they leave to go on their investigation.

The main problem with Prime is that he has no reason to be interested in Lois Lane, nor should he blame her for his fall down like he did before. The love of Prime's life is Laurie Lemmon, not Lois Lane, nor has Lane ever defeated him or done anything to stop him.

Plus the last time we saw Prime he was a part of the Source Wall.

In the last issue, Creepy Clark was dressed exactly like Clark Kent would during the Silver Age. With that red striped tie and everything. He also did the whole "Superdate" thing that happened during the Silver Age. Which may also explain why Clark thinks that it's a big deal to tip a high class waiter $5 dollars, since that was real money in the early 60s.

I personally think it's Nuperman who has had memories of other "deleted" Supermen affect his mind. It would explain why he was acting like Golden Age Clark Kent earlier (when he was punching baddies and trying to get the "scoop" on Lois). Now he's acting like the Silver Age Clark Kent, who tried to impress Lois with big gifts/events and corny dialogues.

[Atomic Man]

Final Crisis, Superman Beyond, Ultra Comics (tangentially related), even the Super/Wonder stuff was very pretty. He's probably my favorite Super-artist, too.

I've loved his work since he was on The Mask waayy back when. My favorite work of his has to be Superman Beyond. He drew some amazing stuff in that series and is a great fit for Morrison's writing.

Could Mystery Clark be the New 52 Superboy? Didn't he turn evil and get lost in time or some such?

[stephtanner]

I've loved his work since he was on The Mask waayy back when. My favorite work of his has to be Superman Beyond. He drew some amazing stuff in that series and is a great fit for Morrison's writing.

Could Mystery Clark be the New 52 Superboy? Didn't he turn evil and get lost in time or some such?

Oh wow. I'm not sure what happened to New 52 Superboy, but if he popped up again, it would be interesting to see how the characters react to him.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

Oh wow. I'm not sure what happened to New 52 Superboy, but if he popped up again, it would be interesting to see how the characters react to him.

I don't know if I would say interesting, but I always hated the new 52 Superboy so if they had to turn him into a horrible unredeemable villain he'd be a great choice LOL

[adkal]

Reminds me of the first episode of Lois and Clark when Lois goes through Clark's cupboards and there's nothing but Junk Food.

I thought the same thing

So, explain something to me. You - you eat like an eight year old and you look like Mr. Hardbody. What's your secret? And can I have it?

[adkal]

The food supply is a scene that comes directly from the Lois and Clark tv series pilot. It happens when Lois meets Clark, they get partnered up, she meets him at her house and ask for a drink. Where she finds out he has nothing but junk food, and highly fatty foods. She then ask for his secret because "You eat like a 6 year old but got the body of a Mr. Hard Body. What's your secret?" He doesn't answer, and they leave to go on their investigation.

8 year old

Jump to 14:18 in the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwlPwwr4a18

I'm travelling on Wednesday (through to Sunday) and have no idea what the wi-fi will be like. grr

[gwangung]

I personally think it's Nuperman who has had memories of other "deleted" Supermen affect his mind. It would explain why he was acting like Golden Age Clark Kent earlier (when he was punching baddies and trying to get the "scoop" on Lois). Now he's acting like the Silver Age Clark Kent, who tried to impress Lois with big gifts/events and corny dialogues.

I note nobody's suggested that this Clark Kent will eventually get merged into the ultimate Superman that's coming. It'd be interesting to construct a scenario where that occurs and makes sense...

[spirit2011]

The food supply is a scene that comes directly from the Lois and Clark tv series pilot. It happens when Lois meets Clark, they get partnered up, she meets him at her house and ask for a drink. Where she finds out he has nothing but junk food, and highly fatty foods. She then ask for his secret because "You eat like a 6 year old but got the body of a Mr. Hard Body. What's your secret?" He doesn't answer, and they leave to go on their investigation.

The main problem with Prime is that he has no reason to be interested in Lois Lane, nor should he blame her for his fall down like he did before. The love of Prime's life is Laurie Lemmon, not Lois Lane, nor has Lane ever defeated him or done anything to stop him.

Plus the last time we saw Prime he was a part of the Source Wall.

In the last issue, Creepy Clark was dressed exactly like Clark Kent would during the Silver Age. With that red striped tie and everything. He also did the whole "Superdate" thing that happened during the Silver Age. Which may also explain why Clark thinks that it's a big deal to tip a high class waiter $5 dollars, since that was real money in the early 60s.

I personally think it's Nuperman who has had memories of other "deleted" Supermen affect his mind. It would explain why he was acting like Golden Age Clark Kent earlier (when he was punching baddies and trying to get the "scoop" on Lois). Now he's acting like the Silver Age Clark Kent, who tried to impress Lois with big gifts/events and corny dialogues.

your logic is wrong. Superboy prime isn't hilself, he went crazy on method acting level 9000. At least this is my theory.
fake clark really believes hilself is clark, with all his will. So he shapes his personaity and desires into what real Clark would do, even in a very twisted way of doing it

[victorsage]

your logic is wrong. Superboy prime isn't hilself, he went crazy on method acting level 9000. At least this is my theory.
fake clark really believes hilself is clark, with all his will. So he shapes his personaity and desires into what real Clark would do, even in a very twisted way of doing it

There is nothing wrong with my Logic. Prime's entire driving force is to restore his "perfect" universe. He wasn't driven by "method acting" but instead a belief that his Silver Age values was all the mattered. His attempt to bring back those Silver Age values, in the forum of his world is what drives him, because he thinks once he gets his world back he won't need to worry about the consequence of his actions. He considered the ends justified the means, and once his "perfect" word came back he would become his pure self again.

Prime has no reason to care about Lois Lane. His Clark Kent never had a Lois Lane, that's not the woman he loves. He also has no reason to blame her for anything, because Lois Lane did nothing to him. The only version of Lois he actually had any long term contact with, was the original Lois Lane from Earth 2 who treated him like a son, but never did anything against him. In fact if you look at every time Prime "failed", Lois Lane had nothing to do with it.

Nuperman on the other hand, has a reason to be annoyed with what his Lois Lane did to him.

The other possibility of course is Myxi, who has been defeated a coupe times by Lois tricking him in saying his name backwards. It would also work with his "fun" talk, since Myxi ultimately is a trickster character, and would explain why he was acting like different versions of the Clark Kent character, since Myxi's 5th dimension technology is indistinguishable from magic.

[SuperCrab]

Nuperman on the other hand, has a reason to be annoyed with what his Lois Lane did to him.

Yikes. I hadn't thought of that angle. "You ruined my life" could be recalling how she outed his secret identity and told the world he was Superman, which, alongside a reduction in his powerset, triggered the depressive spiral represented in the Truth arc where he left the Daily Planet and wound up in Oakland essentially doing a professional wrestling show with forgotten gods for taco money.

Also, Mystery Clark calls SuperDad "the other one who looks like me". New52 Superman died without knowing what was up with SuperDad. One of his last words was something along the lines of "I don't know who you are, but the world is going to need you.".

All that said, N52 Superman got his powers back and forgave Lois and apologized to her, and saved SuperDad's life and told him the world needed him. So, he changed his mind on all that? Clark's behavior is almost completely out of character for New52 Superman, too. And his Krypto would recognize him and not growl that way at him.

I mean, honestly, if New52 Superman were Mystery Clark and got his memories back, I think his first move might be to ask Jimmy or Batman what was going on with the other Superman, or to ask SuoerDad for a face to face to have a talk. What we're seeing just isn't New52 Superman's personality.

Although, you know who's personality it is? Denny Swann aka Solar Superman, who thought he was New52 Supermam and had a ton of his memories as Clark and Superman. Solar Superman could easily hold a grudge there. I still just keep waiting for Mystery Clark to go, "What? No bacon and flapjacks this time?".

[victorsage]

I mean, honestly, if New52 Superman were Mystery Clark and got his memories back

I don't think he has all his memories back, just bits and pieces, so right now he could only remember the feelings he had when Lois first gave up his ID. I think Nuperman has been affected by the past memories of other versions of his character. that have been "deleted" over the years. Which is why a few issues ago he was acting like Golden Age Clark Kent, punching bad guys and trying to get the scoop over Lois. This issue he was like his Silver Age self, trying to "win" Lois' love with expensive gifts and "big" romantic gestures.

Again Myxi could work too under that condition.

[Patrick Gerard]

The food supply is a scene that comes directly from the Lois and Clark tv series pilot. It happens when Lois meets Clark, they get partnered up, she meets him at her house and ask for a drink. Where she finds out he has nothing but junk food, and highly fatty foods. She then ask for his secret because "You eat like a 6 year old but got the body of a Mr. Hard Body. What's your secret?" He doesn't answer, and they leave to go on their investigation.

The main problem with Prime is that he has no reason to be interested in Lois Lane, nor should he blame her for his fall down like he did before. The love of Prime's life is Laurie Lemmon, not Lois Lane, nor has Lane ever defeated him or done anything to stop him.

Plus the last time we saw Prime he was a part of the Source Wall.

In the last issue, Creepy Clark was dressed exactly like Clark Kent would during the Silver Age. With that red striped tie and everything. He also did the whole "Superdate" thing that happened during the Silver Age. Which may also explain why Clark thinks that it's a big deal to tip a high class waiter $5 dollars, since that was real money in the early 60s.

I personally think it's Nuperman who has had memories of other "deleted" Supermen affect his mind. It would explain why he was acting like Golden Age Clark Kent earlier (when he was punching baddies and trying to get the "scoop" on Lois). Now he's acting like the Silver Age Clark Kent, who tried to impress Lois with big gifts/events and corny dialogues.

I've been saying how I think the "dated" slang is key. That's not 80s slang.

The idea of him being "everything that's missing from Superman" personified is an interesting idea.

I've had a feeling that when this is over, we could have elements of Morrison/New 52 stick around but I can't shake the feeling that a streamlined Silver-Age Krypton is what Jurgens would prefer for Krypton itself. (It was never his choice what the continuity was in the 90s or his earlier New 52 run. From what I understand, he wanted Kara Zor-El's pre-Crisis career or a version of her back in continuity several times. He also wanted Barbara as Batgirl after Zero Hour. In general, my read on Jurgens is that he likes 70s status quos with Mike Grell Legion and Gil Kane style costume makeovers.)

[Atomic Man]

Yikes. I hadn't thought of that angle. "You ruined my life" could be recalling how she outed his secret identity and told the world he was Superman, which, alongside a reduction in his powerset, triggered the depressive spiral represented in the Truth arc where he left the Daily Planet and wound up in Oakland essentially doing a professional wrestling show with forgotten gods for taco money.

Also, Mystery Clark calls SuperDad "the other one who looks like me". New52 Superman died without knowing what was up with SuperDad. One of his last words was something along the lines of "I don't know who you are, but the world is going to need you.".

All that said, N52 Superman got his powers back and forgave Lois and apologized to her, and saved SuperDad's life and told him the world needed him. So, he changed his mind on all that? Clark's behavior is almost completely out of character for New52 Superman, too. And his Krypto would recognize him and not growl that way at him.

I mean, honestly, if New52 Superman were Mystery Clark and got his memories back, I think his first move might be to ask Jimmy or Batman what was going on with the other Superman, or to ask SuoerDad for a face to face to have a talk. What we're seeing just isn't New52 Superman's personality.

Although, you know who's personality it is? Denny Swann aka Solar Superman, who thought he was New52 Supermam and had a ton of his memories as Clark and Superman. Solar Superman could easily hold a grudge there. I still just keep waiting for Mystery Clark to go, "What? No bacon and flapjacks this time?".

Denny Swan was shown imprisoned in China in a recent issue of New Super-Man.