Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Does anybody out there remember a character called Bronze Boy?  

I remember him from a Superboy story in the early 60's.   I was about 7 or 8 years old then, so I don't have a lot of details on him.  I do recall that he was  a super-powered youth who had some connection with a volcano.  It may have even been Superboy himself in some guise necessary for the situation.  I recall also that the story had a very tragic ending.  Help!

Adventure Comics No. 295
April 1962
Story: “The Duel of the Superboys” (14 pages)
Editor: Mort Weisinger
Writer:  
Artist: George Papp
Feature Character: Superboy of Earth-B (last appearance in SUPERBOY #59; next appearance in issue #302)
Supporting Characters: Mayor Horace Higgins,  Lewis Lang (of Earth-B, first appearance for both), Chief Parker (of Earth-B; first appearance; last chronological appearance in SUPERBOY #123; next appears in SUPERBOY #113)
Intro: President Martinez, Vonrovians, Juan, Lucia (only appearance for all)
Comment: This story is recycled from issue #175 and is too close to the original to be anything but an Earth-B story.
Synopsis: When emissaries from the small nation of Vonrovia claim that their hero, Bronze-Boy, is greater than Superboy, Clark Kent and two other representatives from Smallville go there to investigate.  Clark discovers that Bronze-Boy was Superboy himself, given amnesia temporarily by a Red Kryptonite exposure.

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/indexintro.html

Earth-B?  Isn't this the alternate Pre-Crisis Earth for out-of-continuity Earth-1 stories, such as the Super-Sons and DC Challenge?  

Considering that DC Challenge ran past the Crisis (and included a still-alive Supergirl), I always wondered if Earth-B somehow survived the Crisis.  Or perhaps DC Challenge WAS their version of the Crisis!  that would make an interesting Elseworld -- what other notable differences were there between Earth-B and Earth-1?

Well, it's difficult to nail down any defining characteristics for Earth-B, because it's not like a specifically-defined Earth...it's more like a trash bin. ;-)  What it amounts to is, if a story can't possibly fit into continuity (or if it violates the character so much, in your opinion, that it isn't worth trying to fit it in there), you place it on Earth-B.  When Catwoman used a tiger to kill someone in a BRAVE AND BOLD Batman / Wonder Woman team-up, that's an Earth-B:  Catwoman didn't kill, and that was emphasized in a BATMAN story not long afterward.  When Superboy met a Martian hero named Marsboy in the early years of his comic, those were Earth-B's, because Marsboy wasn't of J'onn J'onzz's race (or a White or Yellow Martian, either) and because one of his stories was recycled as the first Star Boy story.  

A lot of Superboy stories (and more than a few Superman stories) were recyclings of older stories from the Forties and Fifties.  This was a pretty common practice for comics of the late Fifties and early Sixties; it saved time trying to think up a new plot, and anyway, the audience turned over so often it wasn't likely that very many people who'd read the original stories would be there to read the recycled story.  (Will Eisner commonly did this in THE SPIRIT, recycling pre-war stories in the post-war era.)  Some of them can be seen as Earth-2 stories; "Superman's Big Brother", which was recycled as "Superboy's Big Brother" (the first Mon-El tale), is an Earth-2 because it happened in the right era (Earth-2 stories were still being told in the mainstream comics) and because it was a Superman, rather than a Superboy story.  (Supes of Earth-2 never had a Superboy career, so no Superboy stories can be placed on his Earth.)  But a Superboy story that is recycled from an older Superboy story forces us to place one of them on Earth-B.  My rule is that, unless the later story is connected to fully-established continuity (like a relative of Clark Kent's who shows up in later stories, or a Legionnaire), the earlier story is an Earth-One and the later one is an Earth-B.

There's no telling what Earth some of those "alternative" DC stories appeared on, such as DC CHALLENGE and SUPER POWERS.  It'd be fun if we could shunt them all onto one Earth, not necessarily Earth-B.  But I'm not going to try it yet!

Hmm... Super Powers was a promotional tie-in with a Kenner toy line, wasn't it?  Should Superman/Masters of the Universe crossovers be also considered in the same category?

I once half-seriously suggested other alternate Earths based on Hollywood interpretations.  Earth-1C (for Cinema) is the home of Christopher Kent, Margot Lane (no, she doesn't moonlight with Larmont Cranston) and Helen Danvers.  This in contrast with Earth-2T(elevision), home of George Kent and Noel Lane.  Interestingly, Noel Lane has an exact double in Earth-2S(erial), home of Kirk Kent.

And then there's Earth-1A(nimated Series), Earth-1SF (for Superfriends), Earth-2F(leischer)...  ;-)

Many thanks, darkmark90!
I've wanted this info for a long while. I have all the issues of Adventure that feature the LSH, but since this one does not, I passed on it.
Thanks again.
colindain

Well, anything dealing with the Superfriends cartoon and tie-ins was Earth 1A.

IIRC Challenge was tied in with the Kenner toys and the various Superfriends cartoons, so it would be by extension Earth 1A

Earth 1A is simmilar to Earth 1, but there are enough differences to make it it's own Earth. Marvin, Wendy, Wonderdog, The Wondertwins and Gleek the space monkey are the main ones, but there are others.  Superman used the Supermobile quite a lot during the cartoon.  The Phantom Zone criminals were different than Earth-1's and Kandor had not been enlarged on Rokyn yet.  You might be able to fit Bronze Boy into the Earth 1A continuity. For example, Superman didn't have the Superman Revenge Squad, he had A.P.E.(Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Warlock,  and some others)