Rocket Trips #7: Superman (vol. 1) #146 - 1961

We're firmly in the Silver Age with this week's entry, "The Complete Story of Superman's Life," which begins much like last week's entry with the claim that "millions want to know" where Superman came from and how he got his amazing abilities. And the title page boasts that some of the facts have been revealed before, but this is the first time that the story has been told in full. So, here's 1961's Superman (vol. 1) #146!

Creative Team: Otto Binder and Al Plastino

All-Star Summary: Doomed planet. Desperate scientist. Last chance. Kindly couple. 

Key Elements: Superman is Earth's mightiest hero, with many amazing abilities. His story starts on the distant world Krypton, which orbits a red sun. Krypton was home to an advanced civilization with futuristic technology, as well as many fantastic creatures. Krypton is beset by damaging quakes, and Jor-El warns the Council of Scientists that these are signs that the planet will soon explode. Jor-El suggests that they build space arks to evacuate the planet, but the Council laughs at him and throws him out. Jor-El conducts experiments with small rockets, ultimately building one large enough for him and his wife Lara to send their baby son Kal-El to Earth. The rocket escapes just as the planet explodes, and the debris turns into radioactive Kryptonite. 

The rocket lands on Earth, and Kal-El is discovered by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, a childless couple living near Smallville. They leave the child with an orphanage, but plan to come back to adopt him. At the orphanage, the child displays superhuman strength. The Kents legally adopt him, and name him Clark, after Martha's maiden name. The child demonstrates amazing abilities, and by using the indestructible blankets he was found in, they're able to make clothes that can withstand his powers.

The Kents sell the farm and move to Smallville, where Clark starts school and eventually becomes the teenage superhero Superboy. He keeps his true identity secret, and begins wearing glasses (fashioned from the indestructible remains of his rocket) as a disguise. When neighbor Lana Lang begins to suspect that Clark is Superboy, he takes elaborate steps to protect his dual identity. Eventually he discovers that he came from the planet Krypton, which explains his amazing powers.

Clark grows up and goes to college, but realizes that maintaining a secret identity will require him to pretend to be meek and mild-mannered his whole life.

The Kents die shortly after Clark's graduation from college, but not before Pa instructs him to use his powers for the benefit of humanity. He decides to move to Metropolis, but when Superboy leaves, Smallville comes out to celebrate him. In thanks, Superboy bakes a cake so large that everyone in town can have a slice.

Clark Kent becomes a reporter for the Daily Planet, so he can learn about crimes as they happen. And when they do, he's off to save the world as Superman!

Interesting Deviations: While the story in The Amazing World of Superman mentioned Earth's yellow sun, this is the first origin we've examined that specifically noted the color of Krypton's sun. I'd be interested to know when that bit of lore entered the mythos. Clearly sometime between 1948 and 1961, and I would venture a guess that either Siegel or Binder was behind it.

It's fascinating how the demonstrations of Krypton's advanced civilization have changed over time. Originally it was that they had super powers, in 1948 it was that they could build amazingly fast flying machines, and here it's that they have robotic laborers and that they can remove the pollution from their atmosphere.

Given how Krypton's destruction has become an allegory for ignoring environmental catastrophe, this is an especially interesting element. 

This is the first mention we've had of Krypton's other fauna, in this case a metal-eater kept in a Kryptonian zoo behind glass bars. Ethics of such rudimentary zoos aside, I kind of wish it were a thought-beast instead.

The physics behind Krypton's destruction receive more elaboration here, with Jor-El identifying that the planet's core is made of uranium and that a chain reaction has begun, making Krypton into a "gigantic atomic bomb." Krypton's destruction being used as an allegory for the existential threats facing the contemporary world is, clearly, not a new phenomenon.

The reason for the Council's rejection of Jor-El's predictions has changed considerably from origin to origin, but this one is unique in my experience: the Council possesses a "Cosmic Clock" that predicts disasters, and it says Krypton will be safe.

There's a tendency in these origins to make it seem like Jor-El is a bit of a crank and a doomsayer, but I like that this story pushes in the opposite direction, making the Council look like fanatics, blindly trusting in this mechanical Nostradamus. You can see shades of how Brainiac gets involved in Krypton's destruction in The Animated Series.

It's 1961, and we've met another survivor of Krypton at this point, so we get a panel of Jor-El discussing his theories with his brother Zor-El, and a surprisingly lengthy editor's note linking the exchange to Supergirl's origin.

Also, assuming the Kryptonian calendar is like the American one, Krypton blew up on a Tuesday.

Speaking of 1961, the existence of the Space Race means that Jor-El's methods have come to mirror that of Earth space agencies. We see Krypto here for the first time in an origin story, and a mention that Krypto's rocket isn't the first test flight Jor-El has conducted. Beppo the Super-Monkey was introduced three years earlier.

We've seen in a couple of origins that Kryptonians were familiar with Earth, but here Jor-El discovers it himself. There's no mention here of trying to build it large enough to hold Lara as well. I think this is also the first origin we've looked at where Kal-El was verbal before he was launched into space.

Not only do we see Kryptonite mentioned here, but also the origins of Red Kryptonite.

Unlike most versions of the origin, here Kal-El is thrown from the rocket when it lands, but is unharmed because anything from Krypton is indestructible on Earth. Anyrhing except the rocket, which explodes due to its super-fuel, all of which seems like a pretty tremendous oversight on Jor-El's part. The rocket being destroyed was a frequent element in Golden Age origins, but I'm surprised to see it happening here in the era of "indestructible blankets became the Superboy costume." Though there's enough of it left for the Kents to recognize it as a space ship.

Kal is left on the doorstep of the orphanage under the cover of night. We see some of the classic feats of strength at the orphanage that we've seen before, but here they go unnoticed by the staff. The Kents, on the other hand, start cataloging his powers immediately. Though the sheer number of otherwise life-threatening situations the Kents allow Clark to get into makes them look pretty negligent.

We see the further influence of the popularity of Superboy stories here, as the Kents sell the farm and buy a general store in Smallville before Clark begins school. Clark adopts his Superboy identity after mastering all of his powers except flying, which he eventually conquers with the help of Pa Kent, some weather balloons, and a rope.

The story introduces the super-robots, Clark's secret tunnel out of town and the secret rooms he built in the Kent house, and his reunion with Krypto.

Clark's discovery of his abilities is notable first in that it repeats the justification given all the way back in Action Comics #1, using an ant and a grasshopper as Earth examples of creatures with strength like Superman's, and second in that it distinguishes between the powers he has due to Earth's weaker gravity, and the powers he has due to the yellow sun.

At the end, we get a neat little space-age addition to the old "It's a bird!" exclamation, inserting "a rocket" in there.

Additional Commentary: The issue starts with a brief run-down of Superman's powers and character, which culminates in this neat little panel. I'm always down for Superman, champion of the underdog.

The scenes of Clark leaving Smallville are almost verbatim what we'd see in The Amazing World of Superman, down to people saving their slice of cake and Superman becoming a citizen of the world.

It wouldn’t be entirely surprising that the 1973 origin would hew so closely to this one, except that the last section is really the only place where it does. The biggest deviation is Superman pledging his loyalty to the United States in this version, likely speaking to the greater Cold War tensions in 1961 than 1973.

The Rocket: We'll see variations on this version of this red-and-blue rocket in several origins, and to be honest we see at least a couple of variations (differing mostly in how pointed the nosecone is) in these panels. It's not particularly distinctive, but at least it has those retro fins and the color scheme. Three out of five exploding Kryptons.

Rocket Trips #6: More Fun Comics #101 - 1945

In the modern age, it's easy to think about how common superhero origin retellings are. We see new spins on old origin stories all the time, usually from different creative teams or in different media. It's strange to think about a time when a popular character's origin might not have been well-known. It's stranger still to think about the original creative team taking multiple cracks at a character's origin. To my knowledge, Lee and Ditko only ever did the one origin story for Spider-Man, for instance. But Siegel and Shuster told Superman's origin at least four times across the comics and newspaper strips. This is, as far as I can tell from a cursory search, also the last time they'd tackle the story together. So, without further ado, here's 1945's More Fun Comics #101, the first appearance of Superboy!

Creative Team: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Ira Schnapp

All-Star Summary: Doomed planet. Desperate scientist. Last hope. Kindly couple. 

Key Elements: The distant planet Krypton is home to an advanced species of superintelligent humanoids. Krypton's gravitational pull is much stronger than Earth's, such that a Kryptonian transported to Earth would have superhuman abilities. Scientist Jor-El believes that the planet is doomed, but cannot convince the science council to join his plan to build rockets and evacuate the population. The tremors increase in severity, and Jor-El arrives home to tell his wife, Lara, to get in the rocket with their child, but she refuses to leave his side. They launch their son into space just moments before the planet explodes.

The rocket lands on Earth, where it is discovered by a passing motorist, who takes the baby inside to an orphanage. The child astounds the staff with amazing feats of strength, and is eventually adopted by an older couple, the Kents. As Clark Kent grows, so do his amazing abilities, which set him apart from other children. Clark keeps his powers secret to blend in with other children, but when he sees someone in danger, risks revealing his abilities to save an innocent life. To keep people from knowing that Clark Kent has superpowers, he adopts a costumed superhero identity—Superboy!

Interesting Deviations: Well, the first interesting deviation is that this is, technically, the first appearance of this version of Superman. If you remember from Rocket Trips #3, our look at the Secret Origins story about Earth-2/Golden Age Superman, he was never Superboy. So technically this story is the first appearance of the Silver Age Superman. Not that it was intended to be, that's a weird bit of retroactive metacontinuity. This might also be the only entry in this series that neither displays nor names Superman/Superboy on the cover.

This may be the only time the people of Krypton are described as generally possessing "great physical beauty."

We've moved away by this point from the notion that Kryptonians just had superpowers on Krypton, something I suspect is due to the gradual increase in Superman's own abilities (if Kryptonians can fly and survive in space, why didn't they just fly off of the planet?), but here the strong gravity is also credited with their ability to build lightweight, fast-moving aircraft (and eventually, spaceships). I'm not 100% convinced of the physics of that one.

Lending credence to the metaretcon is that we have "Jor-El" and "Lara" as Superman's parents' names. Lowther's novel used those spellings (capitalization aside), but I think this may be the first time they appear in the comics. The novel also described the Council members as wearing red-and-blue togas, and, well, this is how everyone on Krypton dresses:

All the men, anyway. Lara looks like a candy striper.

Here, as in our previous entry, Jor-El specifically suggests that the Kryptonians relocate to Earth. The rocket here is also explicitly large enough for both Lara and Kal-El, and as far as I can tell, this is where that element is introduced. It's worth noting that Kal-El is never given that name here in this story.

The rocket lands gently on Earth, though no additional mention is made of it after the passing motorist finds it. Again, I think this is a new element; prior to this, it was typically depicted as a crash landing and the ship caught fire and disintegrated soon after.

It's worth noting that even this early in the mythos—even under Siegel and Shuster!—the "passing motorist" weaves in and out of the narrative. He's there from the start, in Action #1 and the newspaper strip, but is cut out of the origin in Superman (vol. 1) #1, returns in the Fleischer serial, cut out again in the Lowther novel, and returns again here. I'd love to know the reason for this back-and-forth; I think there's better narrative economy and drama in the Kents finding the ship, and it's strange that this character never returns to the story later on. Like, I've read multiple comics about The Burglar who killed Uncle Ben, there's a whole mythos about the guy who murdered the Waynes, but as far as I know this guy just drops out of continuity forever after this comic.

For perhaps the only time in Superman history, Pa Kent is bald and has a moustache. He looks a little like Teddy Roosevelt. Unlike Clark's Kryptonian parents, who receive their modern names for the first time in this comic, the Kents aren't named individually at all.

Clark seems to decide on his own that he needs to keep his powers secret and blend in, rather than having that strategy suggested to him by his parents.

Also, while his ensemble of a red sweater over a white collared shirt and blue pants would be the canonical Young Clark Kent look into the '80s, he notably doesn't wear glasses. Flipping through subsequent issues, it looks like he first puts on specs in More Fun Comics #107, just in time to make the jump over to Adventure Comics with the other superhero features.

Clark sees a man pinned under a car, and lifts it off of him. To the children who witnessed the act of heroism, Clark nervously suggests that "something happened just for a minute to give me super-strength," which is about as flimsy as explanations get. This spurs him to develop the Superboy identity, and notably, a caption tells us that he fashions the costume himself. It seems the idea that Ma Kent wove it out of indestructible Kryptonian blankets would come later.

The last major deviation here is just how young Superboy is. Typically, Superboy's adventures are "Superman when he was a teen," but Clark seems to be more like 10-12 here. Certainly not high school hijinks like we'd see later on.

Additional Commentary: In a world where Superman's origin gets told so often that I can build a whole blog series about it, it's hard to imagine anyone, let alone "thousands of followers," asking about it.

Flowery language describing Krypton shows up a few times in these early origins, and though the prose is positively ultraviolet, I really enjoy it.

I've covered most of the other interesting stuff in the Deviations section, but this is an interesting artifact. While its relationship to the Silver Age is mostly due to retcon, you can see some of the seeds here. "Kid superhero who isn't a sidekick and has solo adventures" would become a major feature in the Silver Age, kicking off with the Legion of Super-Heroes and finding their apotheosis in Spider-Man. While Clark here is closer to what you'd see in a Boy Commandos or Newsboy Legion comic in terms of age and artistic influence, this really is one of the impulses that ushers in the next age of comics.

The Rocket: Hoo boy, look at this monstrosity. Dig the fins, but why a yellow-and-green color scheme? It looks like a fish. One exploding Krypton.

Walking with Superman: Day 257

Spring Break is coming to a close, and it's time for the members of the Superman Family to head back to their respective routines. But as they pass over Groom Lake in Nevada--location of the government base known as Area 51--the whole group plummets, unconscious, from the sky. Waking to find themselves trapped in an empty, twisted Metropolis, they discover that they are armorless, weaponless, and powerless! Clark, Lois, Conner, Karen, Linda, John Henry, and Natasha stand against their manifested nightmares, and it soon becomes clear that a forgotten malevolence has awakened in the place called Dreamland. Trapped as they are, with no hope for escape and no way to fight against the darkness, it turns out that the very last thing that the Superman Family needs...is a Savior.

Walking with Superman: Day 256

It's a super-sized installment of Walking with Superman when Superboy returns to his old stomping grounds in Honolulu, Hawai'i--and he's brought the whole Superman Family with him! A lot has changed in the Tomorrow Teen's life since he left the Aloha State, and while he tries to recapture his youth, it seems like every rogue he ever faced is trying to recapture him! The Family of Steel has their hands full keeping the islands safe--Power Girl and Supergirl take on the DNAngels, with the help of Honolulu SCU's Inspector Sam Makoa and Det. Roxy Leech! Steel and Starlight help stop Kossak the Slaver's extradimensional attack on S.T.A.R. Labs, assisted by Mickey "The Mechanic" Cannon, the Technician, Tekka the Gadgeteer, Director Serling Roquette--and the Guardian?! Superman and Lois Lane check in on Rex Leech, recently-appointed Chairman of the reformed Superman Foundation, and find themselves up against Kekona the Demolishor--the miniature Menahune menace who nearly ended their Hawaiian Honeymoon! Meanwhile, Conner tries to reconnect with the people and places that made him who he is today, and remembers his friends and lovers he's left behind. If only Sidearm, the Silver Sword, and King Shark were willing to leave him to his quiet reminiscence! And if the Boy of Steel hopes to uncover the shadowy figure pulling the strings behind his rogues' convenient resurgence, he's going to need help from one of his oldest friends, who disappeared during the DNA diaspora, and is believed dead--the DNAlien called Dubbilex!

Walking with Superman: Day 255

Team Superman is headed toward Hawaii, but as they approach the island, Superman and Power Girl pick up a distress call on an old JLI communicator frequency! Descending to an uninhabited volcanic island just east of the state, the heroes discover a fortress, stacked floor to ceiling with mystical artifacts, futuristic technology, and discarded equipment from heroes and villains alike. Superboy recognizes the collection almost immediately--though it's no longer on the moon, this fortress is clearly the home of one of his oldest foes: the Scavenger! Despite the Teen of Tomorrow's trepidation, the only one trapped is the Scavenger himself! The aging cyborg has become a victim of his own collection, pinned beneath some collapsed pile of discarded deathtraps and doomsday devices! The Family of Steel may be able to save him from his collapsed collection, but to really help him, they need to cure his compulsion--and that task may be too much even for them!

Walking with Superman: Day 254

The Superman Family was heading west, planning on a short stop in Galveston Island along the Texas Gulf coast, but something went wrong along the way. Only Steel and Lois Lane awake to find themselves on the island--and under glass! Galveston has been transported to some strange new world, and these two displaced Metropolitans must find a way to restore it to its proper place! Meanwhile, Supergirl, Superboy, and Starlight find themselves forced to live out stereotypical roles on the set of a sinister teen sitcom, and there's no stopping this laugh track! Elsewhere, Superman and Power Girl are trapped in a deadly pinball machine, and one wrong move spells game over! It's all part of the Prankster's deadliest trick yet, but when the suckered superheroes learn the truth, their problems will suddenly seem a whole lot smaller...

Walking with Superman: Day 253

On modern maps, it is called Key West, but the Florida island's original name was Cayo Hueso, which translates literally to "bone key." Historians have developed hypotheses about the reasons for that ominous name, and only a few have even suspected the truth. But today, Dr. Barbara Minerva has finally discovered the Bone Key itself, and when she unlocks the Skeleton Door on one of the remote islands of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge, it unleashes the power of a forgotten animal god--a power that only the Cheetah can harness! As her bestial army advances on the inhabited islands, the Superman Family stands as the only line of defense! Superman and Superboy take on the terrible Turtle-Men! Steel and Supergirl combat the cunning Commandospreys! Meanwhile, it's up to Starlight and Power Girl to face the deified Cheetah! If they fall, so falls the human race!

Walking with Superman: Day 252

The revelers in Miami, FL, are generally more hedonistic than antagonistic, but when inhibitions run low and rival-school tensions run high, sometimes violence erupts. The brawl between some local University of Miami students and a group of visiting teens from Florida State would be enough cause for alarm, but these aren't just any students. These brawlers come from rival chapters of Iota Sigma, the international metahuman fraternity, and so their fight becomes a whole lot more than just collegiate fisticuffs! The Superman Family has their indestructible hands full trying to separate the rumbling rivals and protect innocent bystanders, but the unpredictable nature of the students' sprouting superpowers may make them more than Team Superman can handle!

Walking with Superman: Day 251

EdgeMusic, the cable music station arm of the Galaxy Broadcasting empire, has recently been more known for reality shows like "Gotham Shore" and "Meta Mom" than for actually showing music videos, but their annual Spring Break celebrations always manage to bring out the hottest artists on the Billboard charts, and this year's is no different. Today on the main stage in Miami's South Beach, the headlining band is the up-and-coming "Spellbinderz," whose meteoric rise up the charts has led to unprecedented success and acclaim. The elder members of the Superman Family don't quite see the appeal, but Conner, Linda, and Natasha are drawn into the huge crowd of teenage fans. But when the audience starts rioting at the band's command, it looks like the music has an even greater hold on the teens than anyone suspected! Now, it's up to Steel, Power Girl, and Superman to stop the mob of mesmerized minors--including Superboy, Supergirl, and Starlight! Meanwhile, Lois Lane investigates the source of the hypnotic rock, and finds herself face-to-face with the Spellbinder himself!

Walking with Superman: Day 250

"It'll be fun!"

"It's just...not my kind of fun, Conner."

"Come on, Clark! Linda's already packed, Kara's put together an itinerary, John Henry and Natasha are on-board, and I bet even Lois would be up for it. Besides, we've all had so much drama recently, I think we'd all benefit from a little break. Blue skies, yellow sunshine--"

"'Tanned bodies, polka-dot bikinis.'"

"Okay, maybe some of that, too."

"Like I said, Conner, it's just not my idea of a good time."

"Can't you just picture it, though? 'The Superman Family Vacation'! 'Super-Team Saves Spring Break'! 'S-Shield Swimwear Sweeps Nation'!"

"..."

"See, I knew you'd warm up to it. Look, I even got us matching sunglasses!"

---

The Superman Family is on Spring Break, and their first stop is Fort Lauderdale, Florida! But it's not all sun and fun for the Family of Steel, when Conner and Natasha Irons learn that someone's selling a snake oil super-power serum to unsuspecting students! Now, Lois Lane and the Teens of Tomorrow investigate the source of the elixir, while Superman, Steel, and Power Girl try to protect hundreds of intoxicated teens who think they're invincible!

Walking with Superman: Day 127

Clark Kent returns home to Smallville to help Ma with the cooking for their big Thanksgiving dinner. Lois and Lana fly in from Metropolis, along with Lana's niece Linda, and Conner even brings his friend Lori over. Everyone settles in for a nice, calm, home-cooked meal...until a knock on the door brings an unexpected party crasher! On the doorstep, bloody and disoriented, and crackling with strange energy, is Lex Luthor. The Kent clan takes him in, but what brought him to Smallville? Why is he in such a terrible state? What do you suppose will happen when his former Vice President stops by? This year at the Kent farm, the turkey comes with a heaping side of drama!

Doomsday will Purple Rain

So, Doomsday is coming back. When the "Doomsday WIll Reign" teaser first broke, I rolled my eyes. Doomsday has existed for around eighteen years at this point, and yet he already feels played out. It's really a function of what Doomsday is, specifically that he doesn't have much depth. He started as an unintelligent, unstoppable force, designed (by the writers) to kill Superman. His second story gave him an origin (which, despite its terrible mangling of evolution, I don't really have many problems with), and his third story made him basically into DC's version of The Destroyer. After that, he showed up a few more times, but as far as I'm concerned the last Doomsday story that needed to be told was in "Superman" #175, where the Man of Steel finally confronted the now-intelligent monster, handily defeated him, and told him in no uncertain terms that he no longer feared him. And, of course, stories have since been told about Doomsday, none of them particularly good. So I was all ready to come into this post full of sighs and snarkiness about DC dredging up Doomsday for no good reason, rehashing old stories, and failing to let Superman have even a few months go by when his titles aren't embroiled in one crossover stunt or another.

But then I actually read the solicitations, and there's no Superman to be found. Instead, this "Reign of Doomsday" storyline seems to be starting in a "Steel" one-shot, then continuing in "Outsiders" (featuring the Eradicator), "Justice League of America" (featuring Supergirl), "Superboy," and some fifth to-be-announced title. And that actually intrigues me. Doomsday's not fighting Superman this time around, instead apparently going after the Superman Family, three of whom showed up as a result of Doomsday's first appearance (and Steel's origin is a direct result of Doomsday's attack). I wouldn't be surprised if the fifth book were "Green Lantern Corps" or a Cyborg Superman one-shot, but I also wouldn't be shocked to see "Adventure Comics" or "Legion of Super-Heroes" in that slot. Despite facing the JLA and Matrix/Supergirl early on, the vast majority of Doomsday's battles have been with Superman. It'll be quite interesting to see how the rest of the Superman family deals with Doomsday.

So interesting, in fact, that I'll be purchasing comics written by Dan Didio and James Robinson to find out.

You win this time, DC Comics.

Superboy's Age

An amusing post over at Thoughtballoons poses the question of Superboy's age, which is kind of an interesting nexus of problems that only comic book characters face. To wit:

1. Superboy is a clone who emerged fully-formed from his test tube, physically sixteen years old when he was 'born.'
   
2. Several years in real-time, and an unknown amount of comic book time, passed, during which Superboy learned that he would not age beyond 16.
   
3. In the "Sins of Youth" crossover, Superboy was artificially aged, then restored, but this (as I recall) fixed his inability to grow older.
   
4. A few years in real time, and an unknown amount of comic book time, passed, and Superboy was taken one thousand years into the future, where he spent several months of real time and an unknown amount of comic book time with the Legion.
   
5. Superboy returned to the present, around the same time that he left.
   
6. A few years in real time, and an unknown amount of comic book time, passed, and Superboy died.
   
7. Superboy's corpse was placed into a sort of suspended animation/regeneration matrix, where it remained for a thousand years of comic book time and a year or two of real time.
   
8. After that thousand years or so, Superboy was revived by a different Legion of Super-Heroes, and he returned to the present.

So how old is Superboy? A few years? Nearly eighteen? That, plus a thousand?

In any case, I imagine he and Bart Allen have quite a lot to talk about. Frankly, they've got so much in common that I think we ought to see a lot more of Conner and Bart hanging out than Conner and Tim.

Oh no, you won't get me that easily.

Superboy is returning to Teen Titans. Now, my love for Kon-El is no secret, and I've been greatly enjoying Kon-El's return to the land of the living.

That being said, it's going to take an awful lot more than Superboy to get me to read "Teen Titans" again. That book was broken well before Johns left, and never quite recovered its...what, third foray into an evil counterpart team. It's similar to how Mon-El on the Justice League isn't enough to get me to resubscribe to that chronically broken book (especially with increasingly inconsistent James Robinson at the helm and the Cry For Justice status quo in place).

Look, DC, you're heart's in the right place. Can we just get your writers and editors to that place too?

It's been done before, but...

I'd really like to see a return of the Metropolis Mailbag--you know, the old tradition where Superman would take Christmas Eve to answer all the letters sent to him over the course of the year and do his best to fulfill those wishes? I can't remember the last time it happened, though it's entirely possible that it was during the "World Without a Superman" arc, where various heroes filled in for the Man of Steel's annual duties while he was temporarily deceased.

Granted, since Superman's absent this time too, it might feel like a re-hash. But I think it would be a good opportunity to explore some of the current status quo in a more laid-back setting. Mon-El's portion of the story would naturally be about him trying to fit in and understand Earth culture better, Nightwing and Flamebird's story would be about trying to fight against anti-Kryptonian sentiments, and it'd be nice to cap it all off with a big, solemn Christmas dinner at Ma Kent's house, with Conner, Kara, Lana, and Lois, all remembering everyone they've lost in the last year.

I'm enjoying the whole World of New Krypton arc, and I look forward to "War of the Supermen" in spite of the hideous cover and the dodgy concept of making it a Free Comic Book Day book, but it'd be nice if the Superman books would remember that the low-key character-building issues are a major component to making a memorable and high-quality crossover event. It's not much use having a new status quo if you're not going to use it.