Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Pardon me if I make any overgeneralizations, but reading several Superboy message boards I sense the following:

1.  Many Superman fans like the idea of Superboy.

2.  Many Superboy fans like the idea of him being Superman as a teenager.

3.  Other Superboy fans prefer him to be a separate individual, such as Kon-El.

4.  As a whole, Kon-El fans don't particularly want him to be TOO MUCH like Superman, but they DO like the idea of them working closely together -- perhaps the "kinght and squire" analogy might be too much, but there's somewhat of a quasi-"father and son" relationship here.

5.  Many Superboy fans would like a full-blooded Kryptonian, while Kon-El fans are mixed -- and they're definitely divided on whether he should be 50% Lex.

I remember enjoying the Superboy "Zero Hour" and "Hyper-Tension" issues when Kon-El interacted with the Hypertime version of the classic Silver Age Superboy.  So as a "guest star" why not bring back someone who can fulfill most of the issues I raised above -- Superboy-Prime?

The Superboy of Earth-Prime IS Clark Kent, but he's no Kansas farmboy.  Instead he comes from New England (probably from Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.  Father Jerome Kent had a home-based personal computer business, while Naomi Kent was an attorney.  Even though young Clark was steeped in Superman lore (by reading COMIC BOOKS!), he would have a distinctly different personality, even speech patterns and accent.

He knows he's Kryptonian, and while Clark may strongly suspect he's actually another Kal-El, there's no direct proof.  Unless Clark gets a hold of "DC Comics Presents #87" he'll never know for sure about his true origin.

Kon-El's been acting rather moody lately (the Luthor revelation has teken its toll), so Superboy Prime's enthusiasm would be a breath of fresh air.  In fact, even after all these years tutoring under Kal-L in the "Paradise Dimension", Prime still hasn't really "grown up".  He's not at all embarrassed in saying "Up, up, and awaaaay!" or "This looks like a job for... Superboy-PRIME!", which might drive Superman and Kon-El nuts.  Can you imagine the other problems he'd encounter in the current DC Universe?  

Superman MIGHT still recall him (he did early in the Byrne years when encountering the Pocket Universe Superboy, but who knows after Zero Hour and Birthright?), but would he trust this strange kid?  How is Kon-El going to take it when he has to share his bedroom at the Kents?  What will Lois say if she met a younger Clark?  Or Lana?  And if you think Batman's paranoid over the new Kara Zor-El, he'll have conniptions over Prime.  "He's ALREADY stronger than Superman, isn't affected by our Kryptonite or red solar radiation, babbles on about multiple Earths and comic books, knows nearly ALL our secret identities..."

And when Superboy-Prime learns of Superman's new-found cousin:  "Kara?  Supergirl's ALIVE?  Not a hoax, not a dream, not an Imaginary Story?"

"Clark, what in Rao's name is an 'Imaginary Story'?"   :wink:

I've always thought Superboy-Prime had potential, and the recent "Superman: Secret Identity" just wetted my appetite for more in the mainstream DC Universe.  What do you think?  After nearly two decades, should "Prime Time" return?

What you're proposing sounds ALOT like what Peter David had planned in his Supergirl series before it got canceled.  The reason he had brought the Silver Age Kara into his book was to make her the new Supergirl, make Linda Superwoman, and throw in Powergirl (A former version of Supergirl herself) together to make the Super version of "Birds of Prey".

While it seems a little farfetched...  I admit I'd probably pay to see how they did a comic showing Clark and Conner having to live together.   What would you call it?  Superboys?  Or Boys of Steel?

I'd love to see Prime be more active as Superboy(I loved his origin story) but he's killed and that's a big no no in the "Superman Family". I don't think Superman would fully trust him and might would send him to the Phantom Zone.

HAH....Like THIS Superman would have a leg to stand on.  Even going by the tripe in IC...SB-Prime killed by accident.   THIS Superman killed  with cold deliberation.  Judge, Jury and executioner.

Excuse me...I might be behind the times....has That been written OUT of THIS Superman's continuity?

Dylan

One time would be an accident; he killed three times! Yes, Superman killed the three Kryptonian renagades in the pocket universe but he was the last vistage of law there. So, yes he played judge, jury and excutioner because there was no one left alive to carry it out. Superboy Prime's ego drove him to madness and he felt he was becoming as evil as "he thought" the real Earth's heroes were.

It's a safe bet that Superboy-Prime will come out of IC with a new identity and a spectacularly lame nom de guerre in the grand tradition that gave us "Parallax," "Extant" and now "Ion."

He'll be touted as the next great villain of the DCU and never be heard from again.

I hope he repents then kicks Alexander back to the pocket dimension and dies a hero's death.

You know, even though I started this thread back on June 16, 2004, I'm sorry to see it revived.  After witnessing what DC did to Superboy-Prime, it hurts to read my original optimistic post again.   :cry:

Aww. Don't feel sad. You had a good Idea! Really!

I agree.  DC will milk his Super Villain status for all it's worth.

The ruination of Superboy-Prime in Infinite Crisis was really bad.

I enjoyed Kurt Busiek's retelling of unofficial Superboy-Prime in Superman: Secret Identity. I'm going to pretend Infinite Crisis never happened. In several years, it will probably be retconned, no worries....


Although, I will never buy another crossover event. I'll follow what happens but I'll spend cash on Absolute editions, specials, and the occasional Omnibus. 

IC really just took a leak on the characters of Superboy Prime, Alexander Luthor, E2S, and E2Lois.


The only way you could hope to do it now would be to dovetail a book out of Busiek's really beautiful Secret Identity series. Yeah he couldn't be part of mainline DCU that way but he'd prolly be better off for it.

When is "Superboy: Prime Directive" coming out?

the idea of two superboys (one a bad boy rebel, the other a goody two shoes living out his dream of being superboy) living in the same room sounds really.. cute! however you couldnt call them either superboys or boys of steel because to me both those names suggest a different kind of publication....

and yes infc did ruin those characters methinks, superboy a nutjob, Alex a evil genius "cuz hes a luthor" (prejudice! hisss) and Kal-L a dodery old geezer. and i didnt like seeing kon el die.. i LIKED kon-el the lil brat! and the fact that his genes were frozen means that he could carry on being a teenage character forever! (unlike the others, who get kinda... streached)

i also miss impulse... a fun lil hyperactive twerp and then he reads an entire libary and oh no now he is just supersmart kid flash but before you get used to that now he is depowered and then idontknowwhat since i havent read anything post infcrisis...

im gonna go hide in the reprint section of my local comic book store now

Does anyone remember that the original Superboy during the Crisis managed to get the Legionnaires back to their time before dying? He was then buried with the other deceased legion members. Is that still in the continuity? Do the legionnaires remember him? When they asked Kon-el to join, were they aware of another Superboy who had been a member?

Sit down, 61673bill -- this will take some explaning.

The Superboy you mentioned really WASN'T the "original" Earth-1 Superboy.  After the Byrne reboot, the post-Crisis Superman was NEVER a Superboy.  But the Time Trapper knew that the Legion NEEDED a Superboy or their entire past history would collapse, so he created a "Pocket Universe" with a Krypton and Earth. 

Supposingly, every time the Legion went back in Time (or when Superboy visited them in the future) it was the Pocket Universe Earth version, since the Earth-1 timeline "never existed" anymore.

But the Legion itself and their entire 30th Century were wiped out by Zero Hour.  The rebooted Zero Hour Legion never encountered ANY "Clark Kent, Superboy" -- the only Superboy they knew was Kon-El. 

And now we're currently seeing ANOTHER rebooted Legion, but that's a whole different matter...