What A-S-S and INFINITE CRISIS teach us about Secret IDs

[nightwing]

According to the Kingdom series, Kal-L had Lois Lane, the Daily Star building, and most of the rest Metropolis in that "Paradise Dimension" with him. So presumably being Clark and showing up for work every day was part of his daily routine.

This is an interesting notion (though for once I agree with Didio...Kingdom should not count!).

The notion being, can a place need Superman and still be considered paradise?  Would a "paradise" still suffer from natural disasters, fatal accidents, and...most importantly...crime?  On the other hand, could a superhero consider a place paradise if he wasn't needed?  Would Superman be happy in a world that didn't need him?  Would any hero feel fulfilled and satisfied if he never had to pull on his tights and perform some feat or other?

I think the way it's shaping up...in Kingdom and Crisis alike...is that Kal considers Earth-2 paradise, even with its problems.  While some of us might agree, it doesn't paint him as a very heroic character, IMHO, to want the restoration of E-2 above all else.  In a way, he's a stand-in for all the readers who say "Change is bad, period."  I can't see this series ending with an affirmation of that world view (even if being 40 makes me sympathetic to it, personally!).

Superman's Pal wrote:

Has it been stated anywhere exactly how much time they spent in "Paradise"? I've been following the series faithfully (including all the "Countdown to Crisis" series) and don't recall if the time they spent there is specified (then again I have a hard time finding my keys in the morning...)

No, "20 years" is our time (real-world time).  It's unclear to me how much time has passed on Earth-Dreck since COIE.  But considering one of the first things the morons in DC editorial did after their vaunted "this will solve everything" reboot was to have Superman meet President Ronald Reagan, something very much like 20 years must have passed for our heroes, as well.

[Anonymous]

as soon as they went to lex as president the idea that they had presidents in real time like we did went out the window...
and don't get me started on the dates in birthright...

[DoctorZero]

As for Kal-L, maybe I'm wrong but I never thought they said he gave up his secret ID. I could have sworn I saw some 70's All Star comics JSA stories which had Clark changing into Superman.

Kal kept up the Clark Kent disguise right up until his final appearance in Crisis #12.

That's true but....

There's a spoiler here so don't read if you don't want to know...










In the most recent issue of JSA, we find out that Superman told the House Committee that he was really Clark Kent back when the JSA refused to reveal their ID's.  This is another major continuity change for DC, but then again, that's to be expected by DC, isn't it?

[Great Rao]

SPOILERS!

In the most recent issue of JSA, we find out that Superman told the House Committee that he was really Clark Kent back when the JSA refused to reveal their ID's.  This is another major continuity change for DC, but then again, that's to be expected by DC, isn't it?

Actually, this happened in Superman 226, not JSA 82.  A pretty easy mistake to make, given that both titles dealt with the Earth-2 Superman's involvement with the "McCarthy"-like congressional hearings in the 1950s.

And given that the rest of that issue of Superman was mostly crisis-induced continuity-hopping and continuity-rattling, I don't think we know yet how "real" any of those events were.  JSA, on the other hand, is one big flash-back to a series of events that definitely occured.  And the events in that title seem to be playing out a little bit differently.