Uninformed.
Superboy was introduced as a concept just a few years after Superman was first published.
It's nearly as old as the Superman character over all.
Nice to see at least some aspects of it are being revived in the current continuity.
John Byrne's MAN OF STEEL
- Thread starter EJA
- Start date
Uninformed.
Superboy was introduced as a concept just a few years after Superman was first published.
It's nearly as old as the Superman character over all.
Nice to see at least some aspects of it are being revived in the current continuity.
Superboy first appeared in 1944. However, the initial pitch for the character began as early as 1938.
That being said, I personally don't like the concept of Clark-as-Superboy (or at least of the idea of Superboy in costume). I feel it diminishes his role as Superman.
The one thing from Birthright that I did like was the idea that Clark traveled the world in his late teens/early twenties, not only learning about things, but quietly preforming superhero feats in the process.
Clark traveling the world and acting in secret didn't originate in Birthright, but in Byrne's Superman work. Ma Kent even kept a scrapbook of "mysteriously" averted disasters.
Checkmate
Commodore
How exactly does that make him "uninformed?" I don't think that word means what you think it means...
Even if Superboy existed first, his opinion would still be accurate. It would also be one I share.
Oh, I read them as a little kid. I certainly wouldn't read those particular comics as an adult. But even when I was a kid I thought they were lame.
Fair point, but it was explored more in Birthright which I liked.
They used to re-tell a superhero's "Secret Origins" every five years. That was the expected turn-around time for a comic book audience; you read them in your 'tweens, then get your kid brother (girls were rarely part of the equation) into them a few years later.
The fact that it's been twenty-three years since the story was last told in-continuity (Birthright started as an Elseworlds, and was only ever half-heartedly adopted into canon) is, in my opinion, way too long. I had just celebrated my first birthday when the first issue of Man of Steel came out. Where's my "jumping on point?" It certainly wasn't in the comics; my generation had Lois & Clark, and Superman: The Animated Series, and Smallville and the comics became tangential to the equation. Even in this retelling, they're sculpting it to cater to audiences fifteen years older than me, and while some good stuff has come out of it, I wish for once they'd give some thought to the longevity of the medium.
The fact that it's been twenty-three years since the story was last told in-continuity (Birthright started as an Elseworlds, and was only ever half-heartedly adopted into canon) is, in my opinion, way too long. I had just celebrated my first birthday when the first issue of Man of Steel came out. Where's my "jumping on point?" It certainly wasn't in the comics; my generation had Lois & Clark, and Superman: The Animated Series, and Smallville and the comics became tangential to the equation. Even in this retelling, they're sculpting it to cater to audiences fifteen years older than me, and while some good stuff has come out of it, I wish for once they'd give some thought to the longevity of the medium.
Unfortunately comicbooks seems content to cater to an aging, selfish fanbase that are intent in dragging their childhood characters into adulthood leaving nothing for the next generation. That's given us a 30-something, married Spider-Man who eats the eyeball of an enemy. That gave us a first issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA where the founders sit around a table and talk for the entire book. And it's given us "bestselling" titles that would have been canceled not to long ago for low sales.
And honestly, I don't even care if the characters grow up. I'm actually a big advocate for that happening. Peter Parker should be thirty, maybe even forty. Let him get older, let him settle down, let him hang up the costume.
And then let his daughter pick it back up, so that today's kids have their own heroes to latch on to the same way you guys had Spider-Man when you were a kid. Let Dick Grayson become Batman (though that should have happened twenty years ago, and we should be ready for, I dunno, Terry McGinnis to take on the cape and cowl). Legacies could be serving a really important purpose; they can let you have your cake and eat it too, let you tell grown-up stories with one set of characters, and have whole new adventures for today's kids.
Just give us something other than resurrecting characters who've been DEAD MY WHOLE LIFE, just with more gore when they punch people.
(Also, Spider-Man ate an EYEBALL? Oh gross, when did that happen?)
No, you're uninformed.
Luthor appeared as an adult in Superman well before Superboy was introduced - and in fact, his first appearence in Superboy was as an adult character in a one-off story (Adventure Comics #253, in 1958). He became a contemporary of Clark's and a resident of Smallville at a slightly later point (Adventure Comics #271, in 1960), and the "Superboy made me bald!" nonsense was created at that point.
The rest of what I said has nothing to do with how long Superboy has been around, just what an unconvincing drag the character was and is.
Last edited:
Uh, there's something wrong with a superhero who is married and 30 years old?
Heck, I wouldn't have minded if they kept him as a Schoolteacher. That photographer thing is so overdone...
Nothing, but should that character be Spider-Man?
Definitely not.
The fact that all of these photos of Spider-Man crime scenes are all taken by Peter Parker and yet nobody ever figures out that Peter is Spidey is almost as lame as Clark Kent keeping a secret ID through the use of glasses. The school teacher thing was a much beter idea.
So what does Peter do when Doc Ock starts tearing up downtown in the middle of class? Call for nap time and hope no-one notices him duck out the window? Freelance photographer is a great job for a super-hero. You work on your own time, with no-one, and accountable to no-one.
And when the crooks see the camera flash and a camera stuck to a glob of webbing?
They're too busy being punched in the face to worry about one camera flash out of what is sure to be dozens. Peter often gets the best pictures, but he certainly doesn't get the only ones.
Similar threads
