Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Pls post part2 of Identity Crisis...

Hi Rao

Hope you can post this one as soon as possible. I'm an avid reader of the comics posted on your website and thank you for having such Superman comics for us, the fans.

Cheers and keep up the gr8 work!
Vishnu

Alright, thanks!  Part two is on its way!

:s:

Part II: Here (http://superman.nu/tales3/identity/2/) is it is.

And here's Part III (http://superman.nu/tales3/identity/3/) as well.

Thanks for posting these.

I can understand why some traditional fans might not like this story, but I count myself as one of the (possibly few) who does.  Yes, it's the long haired Superman with the dark costume in the "Iron Age" continuity.  But--having read a goodly amount of the S titles published from 1986 onward, this story is an exception to the rule of the time.  It shows a competent, capable, heroic and self-assured Superman (albeit in a different body) whom the general public liked, trusted, and admired.  This was a far cry from the angsty, lost, insecure and unsure character that Jurgens and his crowd were writing about.  One could almost argue that it explains the entire Carlin/Jurgens age as being the tales of this Brainiac replacement, not of Superman--which is a pretty good explanation IMHO.

I'm pretty sure that it's also the final Superman work that Curt Swan did before his death.  Too bad that his pencils were hidden under Giordano's typical 4:00 am inking job, though.

ok waiting for part IV

Another thought:

This was also the only complete, stand-alone story without 87 interminable subplots running through it.  It had a beginning, a middle, and an end.  Just to remind folks where DC was at, they considered this to be an "experimental" idea when it was published.  On further thought, if you could reprint any story from the 1990s, this is the only one you'd be able to choose because it's the only one that's a complete story in and of itself.

Thanks! By Rao, its a gr8 story...just the graphics are a bit too graphic :)

still waiting.....

OK guys, here's Part IV (http://superman.nu/tales3/identity/4/).

Temple Life, I never believed in revealing spoilers (although someone else may be happy to oblige you), so I'm just going to say that if you want to know what the story is about, read Part I (http://superman.nu/tales3/identity/1/) and you'll get the whole set-up.  You may also want to read this thread (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1176) about the story.

:s:

?... Good story Rao, but how is Supergirl referring to Kal as her cousin in the MOS continuity?!

What are you talking about, they've always been cousins.

 :wink:

Starchild, until the "new" Birthright-era Kara Zor-El arrived in Superman/Batman #8, the Post-Crisis Supergirls were NOT Kryptonian nor true blood cousins of Superman.  Matrix (the Man of Steel-era Supergirl) came from the same "Pocket Universe" that John Byrne hastilly created to provide the Post-Crisis Legion of Super-Heroes with a Superboy, since his Man of Steel Superman got his full powers in his late teens and thus was never a Superboy.

Matrix was actually an artificial protoplasmic being created by a good Lex Luthor (a nod to the old story where a boy Luthor cooked up a protoplasm experiment, but landed up losing his hair and blaming Superboy for it).  "She" was originally modeled after Lex's late wife Lana Lang Luthor (sometimes morphing into her likeness), but her usual appearance was a blonde Supergirl, substituting as the protector of the Pocket Universe's Earth after the disappearance of Superboy.  (He died heroically in a Legion storyline.)

The Pocket Universe Earth was destroyed by the three Phantom Zone criminals, who were then EXECUTED by Superman, a HIGHLY controversial act that still draws fire from Superman fans today -- it's still not clear whether these killings have been erased in the new Birthright history.  The only survivor was Matrix, who had reverted to her original protoplasmic state.  (She tended to do this when seriously injured, thus gaining the derisive nickname "Goo-Girl" from still-resentful Kara fans.)  Superman brought her back home to Smallville, where the Kents nursed "Mae" back to health and got her accustomed to her new Earth.  So even though she wasn't Kryptonian, the Matrix Supergirl was considered part of the family and saw Superman as her "cousin".  

This relationship continued after Matrix merged with Linda Lee Danvers during the Peter David Supergirl series (though with all the changes PAD did to this character one could consider the Matrix/Linda Supergirl as separate from the original Byrne creation), since originally Linda didn't want to reveal to Clark that something happened to Matrix.  Linda finally had to explain herself after Matrix was separated in Supergirl #50, leaving Linda unable to transform and forced to don a makeshift uniform (modeled after the animated Kara In-Ze version).  Despite this, Superman still considered Linda "part of the family" until she abruptly resigned after Many Happy Returns.

Wow, that's a pretty good rundown, dto.   Admirable job, but you left out the Lee/Fallen Angel stuff and *ack* her disgusting and misguided affair with Earth-0's evil Lex (how easily we forget!).  :roll:



Proof positive that said character wasn't Superman, since Superman doesn't kill.  Further, post-Zero Hour, the Pocket Universe never existed, so Matrix had no origin, hence she couldn't have existed.  We therefore had a character who wasn't Superman, who had executed 3 criminals that never existed in a universe that never existed, yet who still agonized over it; and a female-like creature who never existed either.  Anyone who tried to buy into all that deserved whatever they got.

Now, however, we have the post-Birthright continuity, where Superman and Supergirl have always been Kryptonian cousins - just as they've been since 1959.  You're talking about the pre-Birthright "continuity" - if that's what you want to call it. ;)

Anyway, Great Rao's presentation of Identity Crisis reads Great to me!

Starchild, my post was already getting long, so I omitted the Matrix/Lex affair (actually I've been trying HARD to forget it ever happened)  :wink:  , and we're still not certain Linda became Lee in Fallen Angel.  And with the recent cancellation of this series, we may never will unless Peter David finally confesses on the last panel of Issue #20.

And actually I was trying to protect fellow board posters by NOT being a completist and mentioning the "Supergirl Troika" of Cir-El, Traci Thirteen and Natasha (Steel) Irons.  (Sorry, folks!)   :wink:   It still turns my stomach that DC cancelled Peter David's series (effectively bumping off BOTH the Many Happy Returns Kara Zor-El AND Linda Lee Danvers in favor of Cir-El the Much-Despised), and THEN stealing PAD's idea of a Supergirl "Blonde Justice" team of Linda, Kara and Power Girl.  Fortunately, the "Supergirls" experiment flopped, forcing DC to make a hasty about-face and "returning" a Kryptonian cousin Kara.

An excellent question Pal, and a most astute observation.

Who ever claimed this was the MOS continuity?

:s:

LMAO! Good fun read too! :D