Clark Kent's dozen-plus year career as a TV reporter for WGBS

[manofsteel1979]

I'm surprised they made Daily Planet a newspaper in the New 52, honestly. If you're doing a reboot, that would have been the time to change it to a website or an NGO consulting group or something.

I have to admit I get nostalgia for the newspaper element like anyone else but I'd be tempted, if doing an Earth One take, to make the Daily Planet into a research and policy think tank. Dr. Lois Lane heads up poli sci and business innovation. Perry White is an administrator and friend of charitable mogul Franklin Stern. (Incidentally, I find it funny that we have Franklin Stern, Morgan Edge, and Morganstern as owners. We just need a Franklin Edge now.) Jimmy Olsen starts off as an intern and becomes Perry's personal assistant and booking manager.

The whole point of the newspaper setting was always that it was an information hub Clark could use. The problem (and perk) was always that a newspaper had a slightly different visual language than a comic book. I think, based on how modern comics flow, that have the Daily Planet basically be a think tank with a heavy TED Talk style component (so you can have cinematic Powerpoint lectures) would be the way to go. The name sounds like a newspaper but it could just as well sound like a non-profit real time crisis strategy group that specializes in problems where global solutions to human issues have to be delivered in 24 hours or less.

That's a brilliant reimagining.

Oh, and if you absolutely had to reference the newspaper aspect, the think tank could easily publish a weekly or monthly epaper/ emagazine ( also as dead tree copies ) . You could have the secondary planeteers ( Lombard, Grant, Troupe, Armstrong, etc) as the group that run the Planet media publishing and watchdog wing . A little rivalry between Perry:s core group of Lois, Jimmy ,Perry, Allie etc all and Armstrong's secondary group. Perry the old school Liberal and Armstrong the old school conservative clashing over how they envision the Daily Planet concept.

[JAK]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, but as is often the case, it looks like I gotta clarify myself a bit.

I think that Clark working as an editor and Perry's #2 could work in the "now." It'd be one of those things where Clark disappears for hours or even days on end and has a really strange, hands-off, unusual management style that takes getting used to, but his results speak for themselves and its those results that keep him in the job. Perry would still yell at him about deadlines, Lois would still cover for him to keep Clark out of trouble, so in a way little about the dynamic would change but it would give Clark a new avenue from which to conduct his never ending battle and it'd keep his name and face out of the public's eye.

It does put more pressure on Clark to be at the office on a regular basis, but that just adds more spice to the mix.

Additionally, if this were to happen it might be time for Perry to finally admit that he knows who Clark is and has for years. That would take some of the heat off Clark from upper management while still keeping his feet to the fire with the rest of the staff.

The idea of Clark buying the Planet and being its owner would have to be something that happened in the future, at a point we're not likely to ever actually see as main continuity. It could be mentioned by time travelers, or maybe Clark could visit his own future and see it for himself, but its not something that would actually "happen."

Ah - very cool, all around then! Thanks for the clarification!

He was also an editor twice post crisis: he blew the gig at Newstime due to the Eradicator, and filled in temporarily for Perry shortly before the marriage.

I think the trickiest thing about WGBS was that you couldn't lose that DP connection.

Oh, yeah - good catch! I'd forgotten about Newstime; nicely done.

And I agree on the WGBS point as well, much as I like the idea (my wife and I did a riff on WGBS-TV when reporting about the Superman Celebration in Metropolis for a few years)

I'm surprised they made Daily Planet a newspaper in the New 52, honestly. If you're doing a reboot, that would have been the time to change it to a website or an NGO consulting group or something.

I have to admit I get nostalgia for the newspaper element like anyone else but I'd be tempted, if doing an Earth One take, to make the Daily Planet into a research and policy think tank. Dr. Lois Lane heads up poli sci and business innovation. Perry White is an administrator and friend of charitable mogul Franklin Stern. (Incidentally, I find it funny that we have Franklin Stern, Morgan Edge, and Morganstern as owners. We just need a Franklin Edge now.) Jimmy Olsen starts off as an intern and becomes Perry's personal assistant and booking manager.

The whole point of the newspaper setting was always that it was an information hub Clark could use. The problem (and perk) was always that a newspaper had a slightly different visual language than a comic book. I think, based on how modern comics flow, that have the Daily Planet basically be a think tank with a heavy TED Talk style component (so you can have cinematic Powerpoint lectures) would be the way to go. The name sounds like a newspaper but it could just as well sound like a non-profit real time crisis strategy group that specializes in problems where global solutions to human issues have to be delivered in 24 hours or less.

Puting aside the newspaper nostalgia, this is a great idea, too! Would have been a definite "update" for a separate New52 ("Ultimate" style), imo.

[Kevin Street]

During the Bronze Age of DC Comics, however, Clark spent about a dozen years as a TV newscaster for WGBS. Clark's switch from DAILY PLANET news writer to WGBS TV reporter started near the beginning of the Bronze Age and didn't end until COIE rebooted continuity and sent Post-COIE Clark back to his more traditional job of DAILY PLANET reporter.

I remember it well! That was "my Superman" more than any other version, because it was the first one I read. Clark was the anchorman for WGBS, and in-continuity they sometimes compared him with Walter Cronkite because he was supposed to be extremely calm and reassuring on air. And he only wore blue suits, because they needed to be treated with some sort of chemical so he could crunch them down small and fit them in his cape pocket. Those were the days!

I think we haven't seen it adapted because they may think that seeing Clark on TV would make more people think he looks like Superman and put two and two together.

The official explanation (revealed in Superman #330) was super hypnosis! He'd been accidentally hypnotizing people for years into thinking that Clark Kent was frailer and uglier than Superman, and apparently that even worked through the medium of television.

[stephtanner]

I remember it well! That was "my Superman" more than any other version, because it was the first one I read. Clark was the anchorman for WGBS, and in-continuity they sometimes compared him with Walter Cronkite because he was supposed to be extremely calm and reassuring on air. And he only wore blue suits, because they needed to be treated with some sort of chemical so he could crunch them down small and fit them in his cape pocket. Those were the days!



The official explanation (revealed in Superman #330) was super hypnosis! He'd been accidentally hypnotizing people for years into thinking that Clark Kent was frailer and uglier than Superman, and apparently that even worked through the medium of television.

Fascinating! I always wondered why Bronze Age Clark only wore blue suits, and now I know. Lol

I read some Bronze Age Supes a while ago and really enjoyed a lot of the stories. If I recall correctly, he didn't just stay in studio to anchor. He went out in the field from time to time in his special news van. It was fun to read but I have to admit that as a Post-Crisis fan, I couldn't help but want him to quit TV and go back to the Daily Planet.

[Dataweaver]

I'm fond of the idea that Rebirth is going to end with a “Superman of all Eras” that takes the N52 Superman's history as a starting point and then expands on it:

1. Start with a Smallville-like boyhood (I.e., no costume, no codename, no flight; but teen Clark still had powers and adventures, including adaptations of the Silver-Age Superboy adventures) and involvement with the Legion of Superheroes (with transuit costume, flight ring, and codename while visiting his friends in the future). When he leaves Smallville, he doesn't go straight to Metropolis, but first goes on a “world tour” a la Man of Steel and Birthright.

2. Superman arrives in Metropolis faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and with a mild-mannered alter ego working for a major metropolitan newspaper (Clark Kent at the Daily Star); but instead of that situation almost immediately transforming into the Superman who flies and Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet, insert a time gap between the two and say that Golden Age Superman adventures took place during that gap.

3. Some time late in his Golden Age adventures, Superman starts flying and Clark moves to the Daily Planet. What follows is a blending of Silver Age and post-Crisis adventures. Possibly insert a Superman-Red/Superman-Blue split at this point, with Superman-Blue going on to experience post-Crisis/Convergence/Lois-and-Clark events while Superman-Red experiences a mix of Silver Age and post-Flashpoint adventures. This split continues right up through Superman Reborn, which (I'm guessing) will end with the two merging again into one Superman who has both sets of memories. If so, the following applies to Superman-Red:

4. Near the end of the N52's five-year gap, Morgan Edge buys the Daily Planet. Instead of immediately quitting and becoming a blogger as N52 Clark did, Superman sticks around for a while and Clark becomes a news anchor for WGBS. This is followed by Bronze Age adventures, but eventually ends with Clark quitting and becoming a blogger, leading into the later N52 stories.

That addresses Superman's adventures and Clark Kent's professional life; all that's left is the (admittedly challenging) task of addressing his private life (e.g., when and how did Jonathan and Martha Kent die? At what point did he marry Lois, and when did Jon come into the picture? When and how did he first meet Lex Luthor?); but most of that is beyond the scope of this thread.

[Mister BoMan]

When people think of Clark Kent's professional career, what comes to mind immediately is his being a reporter for Metropolis' DAILY PLANET newspaper...a job that Clark has held for decades not only in the comics, but in just about every media adaptation of the SUPERMAN mythos.

During the Bronze Age of DC Comics, however, Clark spent about a dozen years as a TV newscaster for WGBS. Clark's switch from DAILY PLANET news writer to WGBS TV reporter started near the beginning of the Bronze Age and didn't end until COIE rebooted continuity and sent Post-COIE Clark back to his more traditional job of DAILY PLANET reporter.

Curiously, however, no media adaptation has ever chosen to run with this aspect of the comics, not even in the 1970s and 1980s when it would have helped to update Clark's image and make him more current with those times.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I would have loved to have seen that adapted. I grew up with those Bronze Age Superman stories. I kinda thought Nu52 was going that direction in Superman when George Perez was drawing it. George Perez art on that really reminded me of the Bronze Age Superman.

[Kevin Street]

That might have been the general idea. In the bronze age WGBS expanded Superman's supporting cast by bringing in an adult Lana Lang to be his co-anchor and Steve Lombard as a sportscaster. Perez seemed to be doing the same thing with a couple of new characters.

If all of this merging and whatever is currently going on results in a sort of "ultimate Superman" that has the best elements from each era of his past, I'd really enjoy it if DC did a miniseries that lays everything out the same way you just did.

[Dataweaver]

Maybe; but I'm kind of burned out on retellings of Superman's backstory. I'd be happy with a two-page infodump that lays out a rough timeline of the highlights of Superman's life, then let the writers focus on getting new stories set in the present, referencing events from the timeline to build on the past, and developing into a fresh future.

[Ascended]

Maybe; but I'm kind of burned out on retellings of Superman's backstory. I'd be happy with a two-page infodump that lays out a rough timeline of the highlights of Superman's life, then let the writers focus on getting new stories set in the present, referencing events from the timeline to build on the past, and developing into a fresh future.

What I'd actually love to see is, once the continuity is set post-Rebirth, for each title to post a timeline on its back page that gives a basic account of relevant continuity. Remember the timeline at the end of Zero Hour? I want that in each title. Something like:

"35 years ago, Clark lands in Smallville."

"25 years ago, discovers alien heritage. Begins working covertly as the urban myth "Super-Boy."

"20 years ago, meets the Legion. Visits them regularly for the next three years."

"15 years ago, Superman makes his public debut."

I'd want it a bit fuller and more fleshed out than that of course, but something along those lines is all I really want.

DC can do a timeline for characters without their own books (like Swamp Thing, Booster Gold, Firestorm, etc) and post it on their website, as well as combining all the timelines from the books for a detailed look at how events line up against each other. And as writers fill in the blanks, the map gets filled out so everyone (mainly the writers) know what they're working with.

[Dataweaver]

Yes! That's what I want to see, too. Similar to the splash pages we got in the back of the various Convergence: ___ #1 issues. The trick would be in coordinating them so you don't have a mass of inconsistencies.

[Ascended]

Honestly, lining stuff up shouldn't be *that* hard. Geoff Johns was supposedly involved in the creative process for every Rebirth title, so odds are there's at least a rough framework already in place.

This could easily be handled by an editor; an afternoon sending emails and making phone calls should be enough to get a working model figured out.

[David Walton]

I'll admit I prefer to think of Clark as a writer, a different (though not mutually exclusive) skillset than television journalism.

I see the act of writing as Clark's opportunity to slow down and reflect, which he doesn't get much opportunity to do as Superman.

I also think he prefers to dive into the intricacies of a news story, as opposed to what's more digestible as a sound byte.

[Jim Kelly]

If the post-Crisis (or post-anything) timelines had just said that Clark worked for WGBS for a month or two--or it was a task he sometimes handled, when the Planet was owned by Galaxy--that would have satisfied me. Comic book timelines are always jamming several years worth of stories into a few months in order for the timeline to make sense.

And the irony is that John Byrne went out of his way to accomodate all the Jack Kirby Fourth World stories in the post-Crisis timeline. So if all those stories happened, then what about Morgan Edge and Clark working for him at WGBS?

Morgan Edge makes his first appearance in SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN No. 133 (October '70), on sale August 25th, 1970--"The Newsboy Legion"--the first Fourth World comic by "King" Kirby. It’s revealed here that Morgan's Galaxy Broadcasting has bought the Daily Planet.

And Clark still seems to be a print reporter at this juncture.

Mind that this Edge is secretly working for Intergang. However, it will eventually be revealed that the “smiling cobra” is a Morgan Edge clone--the actual Edge being held prisoner behind a mirror.

Clark is indeed roped into TV news reporting by evil Edge in SUPERMAN No. 233 (January ’71), on sale November 5th, 1970. The first Schwartz edited issue--and the first O’Neil scripted story. Issues 230 - 231 had a two-part imaginary story, while issue 232 was a Giant (reprints dedicated to Krypton, edited by E. Nelson Bridwell, which helps to set up the ongoing Tales of Krypton back-up feature that begins in 233).

I think that the next story in continuity that should have followed 233’s “Superman Breaks Loose” would have been “The Pied Piper of Steel” in ACTION COMICS No. 398 (March ’71), even though this didn’t go on sale until January 28th, 1971--nearly three months after “Superman Breaks Loose.”

Keep in mind that Murray Boltinoff was the editor on ACTION COMICS at this time--and the two previous issues featured another imaginary story. So 398 was Boltinoff’s first chance to introduce Clark’s new job. The story by Leo Dorfman with Swanderson art starts out by showing the Daily Planet globe being toppled from its perch atop the Planet (now Galaxy) building. And on the next page Edge introduces Kent to the Rolling Newsroom--a news gathering van with high tech equipment.

Logically, this seems like Clark is just new to his job, so it ought to come right after 233.

[Jim Kelly]

I think that this kind of job, with Kent as a roving reporter, going around gathering news--much as he always had done as a print reporter--is maybe more in keeping with how some readers see him. It still uses all of his basic skills--writing copy, investigating stories.

Some TV news stories can take months to put together.

Of course, Kent is almost immediately anchoring the local news, as well. But if that was omitted and Clark was just a reporter with a TV camera, I think that would please picky readers.

Later on, Clark becomes the producer of the news--which is commonly part of a news anchor’s job--while Lana Lang is his co-anchor. It seems to me that Lana is better suited to being the news anchor, having had lots of experience in front of the camera. The proper division of labour would have had Clark writing and producing, with Lana anchoring and doing field work.

But for myself, I never had a problem with Clark being in every living room in the nation. I think it shows Superman’s cleverness. The things we most often overlook are the things that we see every day, so they become invisible to us.

After all, in 1970, Tony Burrows was featured in four top charting songs by four different one-hit wonder groups--“Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Grows)” by Edison Lighthouse, “My Baby Loves Lovin’” by White Plains, “Gimme Dat Ding” by the Pipkins and “United We Stand” by the Brotherhood of Man. He’d appear on TV shows fronting these different groups all around the same time period. He always looks exactly like Tony Burrows. Yet nobody I know ever twigged to the fact this same guy was singing on all four records. It’s only decades later that it’s come to my attention. Burrows pulled off the same trick in 1974 with “Beach Baby” by the First Class.

While “The Master Mesmerizer of Metropolis” in SUPERMAN No. 330 (December ’78) floated the notion that it was Clark’s glasses that manifested some kind of mass-hypnosis--which was immediately ignored and never mentioned again--I don’t think this explains it at all. Some manner of mesmerism might be at play, but I note that, in THE MENTALIST, Jane has a way of talking to bring people under his spell. It might be that Clark’s voice has some spell-binding power.

On radio, the Shadow's power to cloud men's minds always seemed to be a vocal thing. Likewise, Bud Collier's transition from Superman to Clark Kent was totally credible because his voice completely changed--he was not the same guy.

That's if you need Superman's trick to be explained. I'm of the belief that the best way to explain it is not to explain it. If it's made an issue of--if some characters somehow see Clark as Superman while others don't--then it becomes a problem. But if it's a rule of the universe that no one can see that the two are the same, then we accept that as part of the entrance fee. So if that's the rule, then it shouldn't matter how many cameras are directed at Clark. It's not something that anyone in that universe can see.

[Flash Gordon]

While I would love for Clark's time for GBS to be part of his modern history, I think our modern perception of TV reporters don't quite jibe with many people's view of Clark Kent, who goes out of his way to not call attention to himself.

There's also the reality that many TV reporters are not really the finest examples of journalism. With few exceptions, successful TV reporters have to care more about ratings than actually informing the public. Again, this doesn't really jibe with our view of Clark Kent as a great reporter.

100% agreed.