Lee Semmens
Last Son of Krypton
 Offline
Posts: 201
|
 |
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2006, 01:30:23 PM » |
|
MEL, here is a brief synopsis of the conclusion of the story, from Action Comics #392 (September 1970) - Mort Weisinger's last as editor of that comic:
SPOILER ALERT!
After Superman removes his son's superpowers with a piece of Gold Kryptonite, for his repeated bungling, which ended in his reckless destruction of a robot Superman had built to train the boy, he takes him home from the Fortress of Solitude.
At home, Superman, full of self-recrimination, in a bout of depression locks himself in his room.
His (unnamed and unidentified) distraught wife rushes next door to the home of Batman/Bruce Wayne.
Batman bursts into Superman's room, where he explains the full story.
The powerless Superman Jr. goes diving into their swimming pool, only to be rescued by his father, as his son has never swum without his powers before.
The son, bitter and resentful of his father trudges off, comforted by Batman Jr.
Next, Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. take their teenage dates to a dance, where the former is upstaged by the latter, and is humiliatingly dumped by his girlfriend.
The following day, Superman is at a charity workshop, signing Superman dolls made by the blind.
All of a sudden. a secret compartment in a doll springs open, revealing Green Kryptonite to a shocked Superman, who topples over unconcious!
He has been tricked and trapped by a gang of criminals!
Superman Jr. turns up, having been sent by his mother to purchase some dolls as Christmas gifts.
The chief crook hurls the Kryptonite doll at the boy, who also collapses!
The crooks load the pair into the back of a dump truck and head off to the bay, in order to feed them to the fish.
All of a sudden, Junior reaches into the cabin, grabbing the steering wheel, the struggle causing the truck to crash into a tree, and knocking the crooks out.
Superman Jr. has saved his father!
He was only pretending to be overcome by Kryptonite, which being powerless (and the crooks were unaware of this), of course had no effect on him.
After Superman recovers, he flies his son back to the Fortress of Solitude to give him his 14th birthday present.
Both are reduced in size, and enter the bottle city of Kandor, to meet the Science Council.
A member of the Science Council hands them both an object, saying as he does so, "On this, your 14th birthday, it is the custom for you and your father to wear matching bracelets, signifying that you are his son and heir!"
Leaving the bottle, and resuming normal size, father and son are confronted by a multi-headed dragon-type alien creature that has escaped from Superman's Interplanetary Zoo.
Superman is knocked over and hors de combat.
Rushing over to defend his father - even if it costs him his own life - Junior clobbers the monster, much to his amazement!
Somehow he has regained his superpowers!
Superman explains to his son, that during his private consultation with the Science Council, while they were in Kandor, he asked whether there was any way his son could get his powers back.
The Council told him he could, if they both put on "cosmo-kinetic bracelets"
which would transfer all of Superman's superpowers to his son, but the effects would be permanent.
Then, under the pretence cited above, Superman Jr. unwittingly donned his bracelet, as did his father, with the result that Superman gave up all his superpowers for his son, unknown to the latter.
The story ends with Superman Jr. flying his father back home.
I have sometimes wondered whether this two-part "imaginary story" was ever retrospectively considered part of the "Super-Sons" canon.
I seriously doubt it, although I have a sneaking suspicion it may have strongly influenced Bob Haney and editor Murray Boltinoff to produce their "Super-Sons" stories, even though the two-part story from Action Comics #391 & #392 was written by Bob Kanigher, not Haney.
|
Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM