Slugfest!

With Infinite Crisis, any reader who has never read Crisis on Infinite Earths must be shaking their head wondering, 'Who is Superboy Prime?' Back in 1985, readers were asking the same question. He first appeared in DC Comics Presents # 87 (Nov. 1985) in a story titled Year of the Comet written by Elliot S! Maggin and drawn by Curt Swan and Al Williamson. And the second feature in that book was the story The Origin of Superboy-Prime! written and illustrated by the same creative team. The two stories connect in an unusual narrative format. You begin reading the first story, Year of the Comet, and when you get to page 7, you are instructed to jump to the second story The Origin of Superboy-Prime! And when you finish the origin story, you are instructed to continue on page 7 of the previous story, Year of the Comet. And of course in true comic book fashion, Year of the Comet continues in Superman # 414 (Dec. 1985: "Revenge is Life--Death to Superman!" written and illustrated by the same creative team: Elliot S! Maggin and Curt Swan/Al Williamson). The focus of this review is on the second story, The Origin of Superboy-Prime!

The idea for Superboy Prime belonged to the editor of the Superman line, Julius Schwartz. He wanted to do one final parallel worlds story; thus Clark Kent, Superboy of Earth Prime, from the dimension that is supposed to be our own, where superheroes were comicbook characters. His second appearance, and likely the most commonly read, was in Crisis on Infinite Earths # 10 (Jan. 1986).

Superboy Prime's origin begins like every other Superman origin: the red sun is about to nova as Jor-El passionately addresses the science council. One of the council members suggests they form a committee to study the problem. Jor-El responds in anger and Councilor Durkin tells him he is out of order. Councilor Marya intervenes and reminds Jor-El that everyone has copies of his proposals and understands the urgency. Jor-El politely requests the council's leave and returns home to Lara and his son, Kal-El. Jor-El realizes that he has narrowly escaped being banned from further developments and from speaking in public.As time passes, Krypton is affected by the same maladies that affected many worlds during the original crisis: red skies, shifting magnetic fields, wicked gravity, electomagnetic pulses which affect vehicles and machinery, volcanic eruptions, and more. After what is probably too much time, the council begins to consider that it might be wise to heed Jor-El's proposal. So they visit his home to find what progress he has made on his teleportation experiments.

He demonstrates a machine that is capable of teleporting anything of fifty pounds or less to the far end of the room or the far end of the universe. He suggests building larger versions of the prototype, one capable of moving cities full of people at a time. He takes a grundoon, a small furry animal, and transports it to Earth Prime. We follow the animal to its destination, a quiet trail where Jerome (Jerry) Thornton Kent and Naomi Clarke Kent are hiking.

Meanwhile, back on Krypton an incredibly powerful solar prominence strikes! Realizing Krypton is about to be reduced to ashes, Jor-El hustles his visitors out the door and leaves the lab to check on Lara and baby Kal-El. Together, Lara and Jor-El prepare the baby for the transporter. As Lara throws the switch, Jor-El begins preparing the computations for teleporting themselves next. But Councilor Durkin, who has been eavesdropping outside the window, confronts the couple and places himself in the transporter. When he flicks the switch the device explodes. And simultaneously Krypton is consumed by the expanding red giant.
On Earth Prime, as Jerry and Naomi continue their hike, they are alerted to sounds of a babbling child. They pick him up and Naomi immediately decides to call him Clark. Jerome is a little concerned about naming a child after a character from a comic book, but reluctantly agrees. Time passes and Clark is raised in the New England seacoast town where his father owns a successful computer business and his mother practices law.

Growing up, Clark does not exhibit any super-powers and is teased by his peers because of his name. As a teenager, Clark and his girlfriend Laurie Lemmon attend a costume party at the beach. Clark wears a Superboy costume and Lori wears a mermaid costume. As a group of their friends head off to nearby Hampton Beach, they reminisce about an old comic book story in which Superboy had a girlfriend named Lori the mermaid. As they arrive a park officer monitoring beach traffic warns them about unusual tides.

As Clark and Laurie stroll along the starlit beach, Clark takes a running start and pretends to ascend into flight but crashes headlong onto the beach. It summertime, 1985, and Halley's Comet is approaching Earth but will not be visible to the naked eye for about another six months. So Clark is quite surprised when he can see the comet. Thinking it looks almost close enough to touch, he extends his right hand upward and attempts to point it out to Laurie and begins flying off toward the stars. As he turns a couple of somersaults in the air, he encounters Superman from Earth-1. And the story continue on page 7 of Year of the Comet.

I find it a little odd that DC chose to create yet another Superboy for the original Crisis series. It seemed as though it only served to add more confusion to the already convoluted series and further complicated the various incarnations of Superman/Superboy. Also, Superboy Prime really had very little to do with the final resolution of the original Crisis. But the character has proven to be a little more substantive as a pawn of Alexander Luthor in the current Infinite Crisis.

DC Comics Presents # 87 can be read online here http://superman.ws/tales2/comet/
and the follow-up story in Superman # 414 can be read online here http://superman.ws/tales2/revenge/