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

[Jim Kelly]

100% agreed.

Being Canadian, my experience of television journalism is different. The Canadian reporter, Arthur Kent, always seemed a perfect example of who Clark Kent could be.

I'm not saying that a lot of Canadian news reporting isn't also driven by greed, politics and corruption. It certainly is. But you get a wider range of news reporting here than what I see coming over the border from the USA. Canadians can access all the different news media and compare.

Print and broadcasting are driven by the same market forces and often owned by the same large corporations. So if journalism is bad on TV, it's probably just as bad in print. Yet some of the finest writers work in television news broadcasting. And there's also many great documentary features produced.

Moreover, Canadian reporters tend to work for all media, not exclusively for just print, radio, online, or televsion. Certainly, for anyone working in Canada to make a living, they have to contribute to all platforms and have multiple skill sets. Beggars can't be choosers.

[Jim Kelly]

I've been reading Dashell Hammett lately and he actually worked as a private detective before writing about them. I think he romanticizes the profession, making the P.I. a popular leading character. But it's likely that it was a lot of boredom most of the time. And not glamourous.

Likewise, most newspaper reporters have rather unromantic jobs. It's just that in the 20th century, the masses bought newspapers on a daily basis, so the reporter became an easy character to romanticize.

Already by the '70s, so many people were getting their news from TV, that the TV reporter now became a worthwhile character for glamourous adventures.

It's fiction. And most people understand that. It doesn't mean that all actual test pilots, CSIs, corporate executives, museum curators, florists, university professors or teachers lead such romantic existences.

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.

Beyond Clark himself, it was really the expansion of the cast of characters in the '70s that impressed me.

There were the other people that worked at WGBS and the Planet, in addition to Clark, Lana, Steve, Jimmy and Lois--whether it was the pilot of the Flying Newsroom, the guy who worked in the paper's "morgue," Josh Coyle producing the evening newscast and nursing an ulcer, Miss Conway, Johnny Nevada, Roy Raymond, Lola Barnett, Gregory Reed and so on.

And then there were all the neighbours at 344 Clinton Street--Nathan Warbow, those psychic twins, the mysterious Mister X--and friends of Superman, like Captain Strong, Vartox, Dr. Jenet Klyburn. Plus other characters like Kaye Daye, Barbara Gordon, Dr. Albert Michaels, Roger Corben, Dr. Peter Silverstone, Billy Anders, Jonathan Ross, Inspector Henderson. And the villains--Terra Man, the Galactic Golem, the Atomic Skull, Blackrock, Intergang, the 100, etc.

When we lost the WGBS continuity, all of that went with it. Only a few scraps of continuity (mostly attached to Jack Kirby) survived at all.

[Johnathan]

I've been reading Dashell Hammett lately and he actually worked as a private detective before writing about them. I think he romanticizes the profession, making the P.I. a popular leading character. But it's likely that it was a lot of boredom most of the time. And not glamourous.

Likewise, most newspaper reporters have rather unromantic jobs. It's just that in the 20th century, the masses bought newspapers on a daily basis, so the reporter became an easy character to romanticize.

Already by the '70s, so many people were getting their news from TV, that the TV reporter now became a worthwhile character for glamourous adventures.

It's fiction. And most people understand that. It doesn't mean that all actual test pilots, CSIs, corporate executives, museum curators, florists, university professors or teachers lead such romantic existences.



Beyond Clark himself, it was really the expansion of the cast of characters in the '70s that impressed me.

There were the other people that worked at WGBS and the Planet, in addition to Clark, Lana, Steve, Jimmy and Lois--whether it was the pilot of the Flying Newsroom, the guy who worked in the paper's "morgue," Josh Coyle producing the evening newscast and nursing an ulcer, Miss Conway, Johnny Nevada, Roy Raymond, Lola Barnett, Gregory Reed and so on.

And then there were all the neighbours at 344 Clinton Street--Nathan Warbow, those psychic twins, the mysterious Mister X--and friends of Superman, like Captain Strong, Vartox, Dr. Jenet Klyburn. Plus other characters like Kaye Daye, Barbara Gordon, Dr. Albert Michaels, Roger Corben, Dr. Peter Silverstone, Billy Anders, Jonathan Ross, Inspector Henderson. And the villains--Terra Man, the Galactic Golem, the Atomic Skull, Blackrock, Intergang, the 100, etc.

When we lost the WGBS continuity, all of that went with it. Only a few scraps of continuity (mostly attached to Jack Kirby) survived at all.

Clark as a news anchor was an interesting period though today it would be hard to buy - in movies, comics or television - that a news anchor could moonlight as a superhero even with Superman's powers. It would be like if Clark Kent was Mayor of Metropolis, or a governor or President or a movie star. All these are jobs where you work 60 hours a week and even when you are not working, you're still being followed around by reporters and in the public eye.

However, SUPERFOLKS - the novel that provided some inspiration for WATCHMEN and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MAN OF TOMORROW - had a retired "Superman" character that had been a television reporter and anchor named David Brinkley... published when the actual David Brinkley was a real reporter and network news anchor. However, like the novel WHO CENSORED ROGER RABBIT that came out a few years later, it was more a comedic novel that mixed comic book heroes with political and social satire. I think that approach today - more absurd than realistic - could work for a news anchor or any notable person or celebrity that spends his free time preforming superheroics.

[exile001]

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.

Now just imagining a sweating Clark reporting on a Superman story with a giant insert pic of Supes' face right next to him, a thought bubble explaining that this will reveal his secret. Heck, it'd make a classic misleading cover.

[manwhohaseverything]

I think smallville did a node to this period..
Superman and lois had lois be an anchor..

[JAK]

Since this is semi-on topic, I suppose I should share this thing my wife and I did for a few years in Metropolis - it's from 2009 (my accent was a LOT thicker), so be gentle, lol

[DABellWrites]

I think the reason why the WGBS never took off was because by the 1970s comics moving into the 100,000s territories, where they are still these days. By the 1980, Superman (1939) was selling 178,946 per issue. Plus, the LCBS had a brief moment of popularity. So, it's not that era of Superman was bad, but that era of Superman probably didn't have that mainstream recognition like the silver age and post-crisis got (more specifically, the origins).

[Jim Kelly]

I see that I already said a lot about this when this thread was first posted five years ago--so there's not much point in saying anything now. However, since I've been re-reading a lot of the comics from the 1970s, I've noticed it's not just Clark Kent himself that benefitted from Morgan Edge amalgamating the Daily Planet and Galaxy Broadcasting. Jimmy, Lois and Lana all appeared on air for Galaxy. Vartox even worked in the building briefly. And there were several other characters that were associated with the broadcaster--Percy Bratten, Meg Tempest, Dave Stevens, Tina Ames, Josh Coyle, Melba Manton, Linda Danvers, Geoff Anderson, Nasthalia Luthor, Johnny Drew, Steve Lombard, Lola Barnett, Johnny Nevada, Gregory Reed, Dan Reed.

[Dataweaver]

Yeah; the revival of this thread was a blast from the past. With what transpired since then, I still wish that they had gone with something closer to what I suggested a page back, instead of effectively erasing the N52 Superman to the extent that all that's left of him is the costume he wore being one of the costumes Superman wore.

With the advent of Earth 52 in Doomsday Clock, I wouldn't mind revising Superman's Earth 0 timeline one more time to get rid of the extra ten years needed for Jon Kent's early childhood: just reinstate Convergence and Superman: Lois & Clark, with the departure point for the former moved forward so that when they return, it's almost as if they were never gone, and with the latter miniseries and everything that follows right up to Superman Reborn taking place on Earth 52. Explain Jon's sudden appearance upon their return to everyone else by claiming that they adopted him.

Unfortunately, that doesn't leave from for “the WGBS years” on either Earth 0 or Earth 52, unless you want to insert it into the brief period of the post-Crisis history when Luthor bought out the Daily Planet and shut it down: have Morgan Edge hire former Daily Planet staff for awhile until Perry White gets the Daily Planet yup and running again.

But at this point, I don't see that happening.

[Jim Kelly]

Some more Galaxy alumni that I neglected to mention: Roy Raymond, Martin Korda, Danny Victor, Captain Dingle (the Clown), Laura Conway.

The Marigold Twins appeared on Clark's show, STRANGER THAN FICTION. Wade Halibut, Jr., was a guest on THE MIDNIGHT SHOW. Steve Lombard's aunt was Kaye Daye (mystery writer, member of the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City). Linda Danvers was an actress on the Galaxy produced soap opera, SECRET HEARTS.

Jack Ryder was already working in television when he became the Creeper, in 1968, three years before Clark.

Ryder worked at WHAM out of Gotham City, for Cosmic Broadcasting. I don't recall if he ever worked for Galaxy. The main rival of Galaxy was United Broadcasting.

[bat39]

A while back, when I did my post on what comes to mind when I hear the phrase ''classic Superman'', I wrote that the Bronze Age Superman was one of the versions I pictured as ''classic'' (along with the early Post-COIE era). And yet, admittedly, Clark's job at the WGBS didn't really register as a ''classic'' element to me - it seemed more like an outlier to the traditional mould of Superman and his mythos.

I think Clark working as a reporter at the Daily Planet is just so cemented in popular consciousness that it'll be impossible to break away from that for any significant length of time (though I do believe its way past time that the Planet becomes primarily an online publication, like most newspapers are these days). That said, I'd love for the WGBS era to be explicitly restored to continuity as far as possible. And I do like the idea of Clark growing professionally and appearing on TV occasionally (as most prominent reporters, even print reporters, do these days). But yeah, Clark as a TV anchor on a regular basis...just doesn't jibe with my vision of the Superman mythos for the long-term.

[godisawesome]

Here's how I think it could be done for fun:

- Clark, at the start of his "career," makes his name first as a blogger, with a distinct voice and a loyal following.

- He's hired as a "Editor at large" by the Daily Planet, who are an old newspaper that got absorbed into being just part of the multinational WGBS news company's website, with the power dynamic between the larger parent company and the smaller left-over Planet being part of the atmosphere.

- Lois is a true investigative reporter but not a TV personality because she's too active and acerbic for that, and since she often investigates things that both interest Clark and maybe require Superman's attention, Clark is one of her constant companions.

- At the same time, one of Clark's "ins" with WGBS is his old childhood sweetheart Lana Lang being a nationally trusted anchorwoman, with some light rivalry between her and Lois base doff their different styles and place in news - like Lana being a bit more sensationalistic but orderly, and Lois being a bit more disorganized but more gritty as well.

- The Planet is mostly online articles, podcasts (with Steve Lombard and others running a sports podcast), and investigation for the news anchor - and Clark and Lois both occasionally get pulled into the podcasts and news shows, where both are awkward and uncomfortable but competent. At WGBS proper, Lana, not Lois, is Cat Grant's rival, but Lois and Cat are more genuine (if still harmless) enemies.