Superman Sunday: Origins (Part 9)

Today, we're continuing our look at George Lowther's 1942 novel, The Adventures of Superman. When we left off, Eben Kent was about to enter an anvil-lifting contest against much younger men in hopes of saving the farm, and I'm pretty sure someone asked "what could possibly go wrong?" along the way.

The day of the State Fair dawned bright and clear, but there was little happiness in Clark Kent's heart. (p. 36)

Reading this, I can't help but think of "Casey at the Bat"--'but there is no joy in Smallville,' or something like that. Clark didn't sleep well, worried about his father, and trying to think of a way he could help. I get that Clark doesn't realize that he's super-strong yet, but why doesn't he consider entering the contest himself? He's a young man, and while he may not have the years of experience and exercise that Eben has, I'd think being a young, hard-working farm boy would count for something in the muscle department.

Eben and Clark head out to the Fair Grounds after a hearty breakfast¹, while Sarah stays at home. The hard times, it seems, have been harder on her than on Eben, aging her more obviously than him. The fair is an interesting sight to me, because aside from a couple of details ("horse-shoe contests, potato-sack races") it sounds like every local and state fair I've ever been to. Sixty-plus years later, and some things still don't change (p. 37).

The afternoon approaches, bringing with it the anvil-lifting contest. "Clark's eyes roved over the crowd, sought and found what he most feared--the faces of 'The Bull' and Fred Hornbach" (p. 38). The competition for the contest is stiff, and both Clark and Eben know it. "The old man realized, perhaps for the first time, the impossibility of his winning against such heavy odds" (p. 38). But Eben goes anyway, refusing to back down when he's already committed to the contest, and knowing how much they need the prize money. Willingness to strive against insurmountable odds in the name of responsibility and a greater good? In the education world, we call what Pa is doing here "modeling."

I'd like to step back once more and mention just how much I love the Kents. Orphans are the lifeblood of superhero comics, and Superman's no exception to that, but he's one of the few for whom that orphaning isn't his motivation for being a hero. Batman is driven by the tragedy of his parents' deaths, Spider-Man became a hero out of guilt over Uncle Ben, but Superman becomes a hero because he was raised by his parents to be one. The loss of his parents, even his adopted parents, plays a fairly minor role in his superhero career. He becomes a hero because it's the right thing to do.

In part, this is because in the origin stories where one or both of the Kents die, they aren't killed in some freak accident or mugging or anything. They generally die of old age, or related symptoms. The Internet's Leading Batmanologist argues that Bruce Wayne should be the happiest kid ever, and that his parents' death shouldn't be his fault, because that's the point of the story. Similarly, I think the stories where Clark inadvertently causes his parents' deaths (like in the Silver Age, where he accidentally infects them with pirate germs, or something) or where they die from some less natural cause (as in the modern age, where Pa overexerts himself during a battle with Brainiac) are missing a big part of the point. If Ma and/or Pa must die, it should be from old age-related symptoms; it should be tragic in the way that all loved ones' deaths are tragic, but it shouldn't be an event, if that makes any sense. The death of the Kents should be a reminder to Superman of his limitations, that no matter what he does, no matter how much power he has, he can't save everyone.

But I think, ideally, that Superman's parents ought to be alive. There's no reason that Clark's parents have to die, and if there's any superhero who should be able to go back home for Thanksgiving, any hero who should have a good relationship with his parents, it's Superman. The whole point of Superman isn't just that he's the ultimate immigrant, it's that he's the ultimate adoption story. He's an orphan, sure, but he's been adopted by the entire planet, and he sees himself as just another member of the family. And that's all because he had some solid parenting from good, kind, upstanding people. Which is why it's always nice to see Clark's parents walking the walk, and modeling for Clark what real heroes do.

Digression over, back to the book. Clark looks to the competition, seeing how obviously strong they are, and knowing that even his youthful muscles couldn't measure up. Eben ascends the stage, while onlookers snicker, not knowing the desperation that led him to this contest. Clark overhears a sour-faced aging city-slicker scoff aloud about Eben's foolishness, and the two exchange bitter glances. Afterward, the contest begins.

The first man to try is one who stepped up after Eben, and he's unable to get the anvil to budge in the slightest. Next is Fred Hornbach, who struggled to lift the anvil a full inch off the platform. "The Bull," a big broad shirtless man, took to the challenge like a smug prizefighter, and lifted the anvil three inches. Finally, Eben took his turn, much to the crowd's derision. The crowd goes silent when Eben manages to lift the anvil, but at two inches, it's obvious how much he's straining. Clark cries out: "Put it down, Dad! You'll never make it! You'll kill yourself!" (p. 43). The shout is in vain; Eben feels a sharp pang of pain and drops the anvil, but puts on a brave face even as the crowd jeers once more. "The Bull" joins in the mocking, until finally Clark loses his temper. He rushes the stage.

He stood before "The Bull" with tears of rage streaming down his cheeks.

"Let my father alone!" he shouted. "Let him alone--you hear?"

"The Bull" looked at him in mild astonishment and amusement. He reached out a powerful arm to push Clark away.

"Go 'way, kid, or I'll--"

He never finished what he started to say. As his hand reached out for Clark, the boy stepped aside and swung his fist against the other's jaw. "The Bull" shuddered and sank limply to the floor. (p. 44)

There's a trend in certain Superman origin stories that portrays the young Clark as having a temper; he's not quick to anger, necessarily, but he's shown to have a limit and a righteous fury when that limit is hit. We're seeing that here, and I've seen it pop up in Tom De Haven's "It's Superman" and "Smallville" as well. I really like this trait, because it's so believable. It's a flaw in Clark's character, a sign of his immaturity, but it also presages those rare occasions when we see Superman lose his temper--I'm specifically thinking when he fights Darkseid in "Justice League Unlimited" or when he comes out of the Black Mercy world in "For the Man Who Has Everything." It's very humanizing. It's also, when Clark is young, an opportunity for him to realize precisely why he can't cut loose all the time, and why patience and restraint are more important for him than almost any other person alive.

Still seething, Clark walks to the anvil, indignant about the crowd's treatment of his father. "He reached down, gripped the anvil in both hands, and lifted. He was almost thrown off balance at the ease with which he raised it and held it aloft, high above his head!" (p. 45). The crowd is silent in awe, and Clark finally cools down enough to realize what he's done, and moreover, that the anvil feels practically weightless. He puts the anvil back down, and the crows cheers. They mob Clark, asking him questions (again, I can't help but think that John Byrne read this book), until the sour-faced city-slicker pushes through to say that he works for the Daily Planet and wants to write the story of his remarkable strength. Clark is overwhelmed, unable to speak, so the reporter decides to write the story without Clark's help. But as a show of gratitude, he tells the boy to look him up if he ever needs anything. The reporter turns to leave, but Clark manages to stop him and ask his name.

"Eh?" He paused, squinting back at the boy. "Oh yes. Couldn't very well find me without knowing my name, could you? Well, son, if you ever come to the Daily Planet just ask fro Perry White. That's all. Just Perry White!"

A moment later he was gone in the crowd. (p. 48)

And much as I'd like to finish this book tonight, I think that's a good place to stop. Next week, we'll tackle the last two origin chapters, and then it's on to other media once again.

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1. No doubt one that included Kellogg's Pep, the Sunshine Cereal!²

2. If you don't get that joke, don't worry. I'll do some explanations soon.

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Superman Sunday: Origins Master List

Superman Sunday: Origins (Part 8)

This week, we continue our look at George Lowther's 1942 novel, The Adventures of Superman. We left off at the destruction of Krypton, so naturally today's adventure brings us back down to Earth, starting in Chapter 3: Young Clark Kent.

The chapter opens on aging farmer Eben Kent plowing his field. There's a somewhat ominous flavor to the beginning of this chapter, the kind of thing you'd expect from the start of an alien invasion story rather than the happy accident of Kal-el's adoption:

There was something strange about that sky. He knew the weather, as well as any farmer born to the soil, and off-hand he would have said a storm was brewing. Yet he was not quite sure. It seemed to him there was the feeling of something more than just a storm in the air. (p. 20-21)

Eben shakes the feeling and continues plowing until he hears a rumble of thunder in the distance, which turns out not to be thunder at all. The strange sound increases in volume and the clouds open up to reveal a growing, blazing light. His horse gets spooked and runs off, dragging the plow behind it, while the roaring noise gives way to a series of explosions. Eben becomes dizzy, and the fiery object crashes into the ground nearby. He throws himself down and faints.

When Eben wakes up, the noises have stopped, except for the sound of a nearby fire. He sees the ship--"a strange, bullet-shaped object, almost completely enveloped in flames"--and runs toward it, sensing that someone might be trapped inside (p. 23).

Peering through the flames, he saw a child lying helpless behind the thick glass window of the door that sealed the rocket. Already Eben had come as close as the wall of heat would let him. He realized instantly that unless he broke through that searing wall the child would die.

He made up his mind quickly, took a deep breath, and plunged through to the rocket. When he emerged again from the flame and smoke, agony stood in his eyes, for he had been severely burned. But in his blackened arms he held the child! (p. 23)

I really like this take on the discovery. While it's a bit sad that Ma Kent isn't present, it gives Eben a nice heroic moment. In most versions of this origin, the Kents adopt Kal-el without much in the way of physical danger or difficulty--in some versions, the child saves them--but here, Pa Kent rescues the child with little thought to his own life and safety. It's pretty generally accepted that Superman gets his strong moral code from his parents, but usually that's just stated or it comes out in conversation or advice. Here is a fairly rare instance of showing, not just telling, the kind of people that the Kents are. That is, after all, the first rule of writing, and it's nice to see it put to use here.

Another interesting detail is one that had never really occurred to me before. I'm so used to this scene occurring as the Kents drive down the road in a beat-up pickup truck that it's a bit jarring to see the rocket crash down on the Kent farm in front of a horse-drawn plow. Even the earliest versions of the origin had a "passing motorist" discover the rocket, and I've not realized before how odd that really is. Imagine that Clark Kent is a conservative 22 when he leaves for Metropolis in 1938. That means that our motorist was driving through some unknown moderately rural town in 1916. It's certainly not impossible--the Model T was introduced in 1908--but it's definitely a bit unlikely. That's not really a criticism, mind you, just a reminder that the world has changed a great deal in the intervening seventy-odd years.

Eben Kent and his wife, Sarah, never knew where the child had come from, never pierced the mystery that surrounded his strange appearance on earth. Destiny perhaps played a part in directing the rocket to the Kent farm, for th eKents were childless and desired a child above anything else on earth. And here, like a gift from Heaven, was the infant Kal-el. The old couple took him into their home and raised him as their own.

They called him Clark, because that was Sarah Kent's family name. (p. 23-24)

I think this is the first mention we have of "Clark" being Martha's maiden name, a bit of trivial origin detail that remains even today. Clark grows up relatively normal until the last day of eighth grade, when he's thirteen years old. The school principal, Mr. Jellicoe, and Clark's teacher, Miss Lang, are giving out academic prizes to the various students (Clark was awarded a book of Shakespeare's plays due to his English scores and ambitions of becoming a writer), when one blue ribbon goes missing. Clark watches his teacher search the desk for the ribbon, and eventually realizes that he's also looking into the desk, where he sees it caught behind the drawer. Clark points it out, but when he's unable to explain how he knew where it was, everyone thinks that Clark had been rummaging around in Miss Lang's desk.

All at once, Clark learns that he has abilities which set him apart from others, and that such a difference alienates him from his peers. He learns an important lesson about secrecy and discretion the very first time he uses his abilities in public.

This scene is interesting for a few other reasons. First, it follows through on the "he has always been sensitive to the elements" foreshadowing line from the previous chapter, by making the super-vision abilities the first manifestation of Clark's strange abilities. Vision powers were a later addition to Superman's repertoire; he used some kind of super-vision in the Fleischer cartoons, and it's probable that X-Ray vision had showed up in the comics by this point¹. It's nice, too, that Clark has ambitions of being a writer. Even the earlier origins have treated reporter as something Superman chose to do for practical reasons; this is the first real glimpse (in an origin story) we've had of Clark Kent as a normal person with hopes and dreams and ambitions, rather than just a mask for the Man of Steel.

Also, one might note Clark's teacher's name, Miss Lang. This book was published a full eight years before Lana Lang made her debut. According to the introduction, the novel was pretty successful, so it's not unlikely that the use of the same last name is intentional. Still, Miss Lang makes an interesting forerunner to Clark's teenage sweetheart, just as Jimmy-not-Olsen in the radio program presaged the later Jimmy. Sadly, blue ribbon recipient Lucy Russell didn't stick around quite so consistently.

Clark returns home, where his father congratulates him on winning the book of plays. This is the first time Eben speaks in the book, and it's dialect dialogue worthy of Chris Claremont:

"Son," said old Eben, "ye've done a mighty fine job. That book--that book of plays--why, shucks, boy, that's one o' the finest things that's ever happened to yer ma and me. We're proud o' ye!" (p. 29)

Yes, in this episode, the part of Pa Kent will be played by Snuffy Smith. It's just so jarring to see the 'ye' and 'yer' from Pa, who I've never actually seen written or acted with an accent before, let alone one as cringeworthy as this. For better or worse, though, we don't have to deal with it long.

Clark looked up at them and felt everything going soft inside him. He loved these two, loved them as nothing else on earth. (p. 29)

I quote this last bit for humor. "Everything going soft inside him" is a really bizarre way of describing Clark's feelings, and "loved them as nothing else on earth" might as well be followed with "Eben had only one week until retirement." If you didn't know that Eben was going to die (perhaps from reading the Table of Contents: "Chapter V. The Death of Eben"), this brief paragraph paints a big red bullseye on him.

Ma and Pa give Clark a present, a homemade costume for a costume party that night. It's about what you might expect:

There was a tight-fitting suit of blue, a wide belt of leather, knee-length boots, and--most thrilling of all--a scarlet cape. (p. 30)

It's at this point that I really started questioning Roger Stern's declaration that John Byrne was "working without the benefit of Lowther's long-out-of-print text" (p. xix) when he wrote "Man of Steel" in '86. As in "Man of Steel," here Clark's powers don't really begin to manifest until he's a teenager, his costume is made on Earth by his mother, and his name comes from Martha's maiden name. I wouldn't be surprised if Byrne did have this book, or had read it at some point, because the details he chooses to bring in are eerily similar to the ones presented here. I suppose I could go to the Byrne boards and ask, but I'm not quite that brave/foolish.

In any case, Clark runs up to his room to try on the costume, and jumps for joy once it's on. Shockingly enough, the jumping leaves him on the other side of the room. Trying it once more, he discovers that he can fly. And with this discovery comes the understandable angst that launched ten seasons of "Smallville":

He was frightened at first and his heart beat like a triphammer. Just as his eyes could pierce the wood of Miss Lang's desk, so he could fly. What was the answer? How could he do these things when other boys, he knew, could not? Was he different from other boys? He had never thought so before and he didn't want to think so now. He had a feeling that to be different would set him apart, and he saw himself as a queer and lonely figure, shunned by all. (p. 32)

There's a lot of room for allegory here, but I think the X-Men have pretty much covered that. Still, it'd be interesting to see a Superboy story that made the secret identity/in the closet linkage intentionally, as the language in this paragraph suggests.

Clark tries to forget his powers in the ensuing months, to be a normal kid, but temptation would get the better of him, and he'd try them out, eventually coming to enjoy them. He was also developing superhuman strength, though he would not discover that until he was seventeen.

The Kent farm had fallen on hard times, and the family was in dire need of extra money. Despite his age, Eben decides to enter an anvil-lifting contest at the state fair, which would award a $500 prize. While he'd won the contest as a young man, his age and the presence of much stronger men in town made victory unlikely for the old farmer. But Eben was desperate, and so was willing to take desperate risks.

We'll finish the rest of the origin material here in the next installment, which (with any luck) will be sometime during the week. I'm really enjoying this book, but I'll be happy to move back into the comics.

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1. (Edit: 7/26/10) I don't know exactly how I missed it, but Superman's X-Ray Vision first showed up in Action Comics #11, cover dated April, 1939. That means that he'd been using the power for roughly three years by the time this novel came out.

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Superman Sunday: Origins Master List