Ryan Sook’s exceptionally strong cover image introduces the best issue so far of Superboy’s run in Action Comics. If that Camo Clark look doesn’t translate to an action figure I’ll eat my hat.
And the picture doesn’t over-promise, Superboy does indeed go to war, having agreed with General Sam Lane he’ll do the occasional job if the Army man will leave him be in Smallville.
Before that, though, present day Clark’s narration tells us of a time he visited Lana Lang so they could do homework together, being greeted by her father.
Homework completed, Clark heads off, only to be speedily summoned by Lane.
In Modora, Superboy finds his hearing vanishes, but he gets on with saving Lane’s soldiers from snipers.
Eventually Superboy completes the mission, but not without experiencing some of the horrors of war, including seeing death. Deeply affected, he knows he can open up to Ma and Pa Kent, but doesn’t, perhaps not ready to talk to anyone about seeing his first human corpse, holding a dead soldier in his hand.
Soon afterwards, Clark joins pal Pete Ross for a camping trip in the woods outside Smallville, and his friend has a question.
Clark reassures Pete, but the matter is on his mind later when he sneaks out of the tent in the middle of the night to rescue a couple of campers from danger. Luckily, Pete is fast asleep…?
Readers with knowledge of the original Superboy stories will have an idea where that plot strand is going, but I think that’s the subject of next month’s Action Comics. This month’s provides enough talking points.
There’s Superboy’s impressive level-headedness when thrust into a war zone. A guest appearance by the father of Teen Titan Cyborg. The likely new secret origin of the technology which gave a classic Green Lantern villain his gimmick. A tease that Lana’s dad is going to cause big trouble.
I wonder if this is the first comic ever to feature the fathers of both of Clark’s favourite girlfriends. Surprisingly, Lewis Lang looks even more jacked than Lois Lane’s he-man pop.
Speaking of whom, what the heck is he doing sending a kid into a war situation? Especially a super-powered one – if he freaks out he could make things much, much worse, never mind the fact you should not be traumatising a teen. From a reader’s point of view, though, it’s really exciting to see, Superman is so rarely seen on a battlefield, never mind Superboy.
So kudos to writer Mark Waid, for giving us a new perspective on Clark’s early years as a hero, and a sense of just how lonely his life could be.
And how fabulous to have General Lane’s secret signal be the same ‘zeezeezee’ later used for Jimmy Olsen’s watch! Thinking on, Lane should get his Army tailors to upgrade Clark’s makeshift Superboy outfit.
The art matches the script in terms of impressing me. I’ve only come across Patricio Delpeche as a colourist but I see he’s done full art – illustrations and colours – in Catwoman, and that’s what we get here. It takes a few pages before the artist gets comfortable with our hero, but once Superboy hits Modora it’s a case of all guns blazing. The style is a little less naturalistic than that of series regular Skylar Patridge but there’s a power to the action beats, such as Superboy’s initial touchdown on foreign soil. And the emotion is economically sketched on character faces. It’s not perfect – the Lang home looks like the Winchester Mystery House, with the world’s highest staircase, but let’s assume it’s a Smallville thing. I hope Delpeche gets a regular Superman Family gig, or at least does more work here.
Someone not lacking for work at DC is Steve Wands, who letters here as well as he does in several other books each month.
When we saw last time that this month was ‘Our Superboy at war’ I wasn’t too excited, but Waid and co have delivered a terrific comic, a done-in-one that works as a slice of DC history and a hugely formative moment for Superboy. Don’t miss it.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
The Langs fare well here. Has Profesor Long been eeeevil in comics at all? My sole memory is him being the usual Schaffenberger fuddy duddy as much older ethan Lana as the Kents were back then to Clark before they got rejuvenated. I’m liking Lana her more than in a long time. I like her and Steel together but am on the fence still about super powers. I liked Lana when she was an adult pre-Crisis and got over her catfighting with Lois. Pete? Haven’t liked any story direction since they all grew up. Byrne’s best change was making Lana a confidante rather than a love interest. Maybe Waid can go that route with Pete? Who was the mother of Pete’s kid anyways? Disliked everything about his direction back then so no memories there.
As to the obligatory evil military man, show of hands for everyone who thinks Sam not only didn’t stop searching but already knows Superboy is Clark? It’d be a cool twist if he engineers Clark and Lois working together erroneously thinking he can use her to control Clark. Oh, and Lucy needs to show up somewhere and have years of bad stories erased. Not just say ‘this is now the continuity’ but have a real Lucy show up and whoever took her place exposed. That way they’d have to work to get that awful crap back in continuity rather than just saying ‘this back in continuity’ in a letter page.
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(BTW, I keep a browser window open with UK current time on it so I can know if I need to check back today or first thing in my morning)
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Oh gosh, I feel so guilty at not posting at a regular time, sorry.
BTW, going back to Pete Ross did you ever have a chance – or the inclination – to listen to that recent Digging For Kryptonite episode in which lovely host Anthony and I went on and on about Pete Ross? Pete Ross is great.
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I can’t really do podcasts. I didn’t figure out why until a few years ago when in my sixth decade I figured out I have ADHD. I can’t just listen to/watch the things because I lose the thread and have to backtrack and it happens so much that it’s not a pleasant experience. Streaming video works better since I can see the spot I tuned out in when I backtrack.https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f7/0b/cb/f70bcbb3b557b941e56ce013cda76486.gif
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Aha, nice one on having worked things out. I’m sure everything we said, you’d know. If you have Apple Podcasts there’s generally a ‘transcript’ option, for people who need to turn the sound off 🙂
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Apple is anathema to me. BTW, five monitors helps too.
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Anti-Apple but not Anti-Monitor…
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I don’t recall Prof (it was fully hard not to call him that!) Lang ever going bad bad, though I have a bell ringing that he was possessed by an evil demon figure the odd time.
Yes, this is a good time for Lana fans, and I also love the more mature Bronze Age Lana, as well as Lois.
I’d love Pete to tell adult Clark he knows the secret and pal around with him in Metropolis. We never did learn who the mother of Jon was, I imagine she had a big hat and a face eternally in shadow.
That’s a brilliant, logical idea about Sam Lane knowing the secret and engineering Clark and Lois working side-by-side. And yes, yes 1000 times yes to more Lucy Lane.
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isn’t Lana the mother of Pete’s kid?
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I have no clear memory of that but Lana was never written as having the same bad reactions to what would be done to the kid but Pete was.
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Now, if this is a reference to Jon Ross being kidnapped, I’m OK…
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Oh yeah, Clark Jr, I assumed Steve was talking about pre-Crisis Pete’s son, Jon Ross… I have no idea why I was!
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Pete’s son is Clark JR? Yikes!
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Yep, but if memory serves after he and Lana divorced Pete decided he’d rather refer to his son as ‘Buster’. Or something. Anyway, these days he’s a ventriloquist’s dummy.
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While I liked the issue, there has been too much “one-to-grow-on” in the stories, and not nearly enough fun. Sorting a way out of a problem, for Superboy, can actually be fun; it doesn’t have to be a lifelong reflection on struggle. Too much lonely, secrets, moody, dark, approach to being a young superhero. Superboy was originally 8 years old when he began his career, and Superbaby was even younger! We have to remember that what we’re reading is fiction, and if we assert reality into a fictional world, what’s the point? Where is the sense of wonder??? Being Superboy shouldn’t be a drag, just to allow him to be young and powerful. It’s not alcohol, with an established required age; heroism isn’t localised to only adults. Great review!
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‘Sense of wonder’! That’s what we want. Hopefully over time – soon – the learning aspect of Action Comics will be dialled right down. Superboy should be a quick learner… heck, in the Bronze Age we actually had a story in which Earth 1 Clark, via time travel/multiversal shenanigans, trained the Golden Age Superman. It was a bit of an odd idea, but testament to what a wise hero teen Clark had become.
Thanks for the great points, and kind words.
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I loved this one, for all the reasons you mentioned. And I wouldn’t write off Prof. Lang as “eeeeevil” yet — Superman’s narration describes his secret as “nothing abusive, nothing criminal…but a secret that would nonetheless destroy Lana’s life in a few weeks.” Which is really intriguing to me. I mean, if he were having an affair with someone in town, that could pretty much meet that description… but it wouldn’t explain the notes Lang is taking while Clark is around. So what could it be?
I’m really digging this book. It occurs to me that issue 1100 is coming up, and while that’s sure to be some sort of anniversary brouhaha, I hope it isn’t also the start of a Bold New Direction*, because I really like what we’re getting right now.
*Unless that Bold New Direction includes young Clark’s visits to the 31st Century.
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Oh gosh, please, no affairs, I still haven’t got over Amy Winston’s dad, and Jean Loring! I think Lewis Lang won’t be doing anything world shakingly villainous, but I could imagine him doing some kind of dodgy archaeology, perhaps not declaring things to the countries who would own them, then selling them on the black market; this could see him jailed and ruin the family.
A BND involving the LSH could be fun!
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Yeah, I don’t think it’s an actual affair — the notes he’s taking don’t square with that.
The best possibility I’ve come up with is that Professor Lang — he’s still a professor, right? — is doing some sort of social anthropology study on this little rural town of Smallville, and when he publishes it… it won’t be flattering. That has the possibility of getting everyone in town mad at him, and totally upending Lana’s life, without him being eeeevil (and not abusive or criminal, which Clark explicitly states) — but still being secretive and, in some people’s eyes, cruel.
I think that would fit with all the clues presented so far. The fact that he’s taking notes on Clark isn’t so much because he suspects he’s Superboy as because we’re seeing this from Clark’s point of view, and he’s taking notes on *everybody*.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
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Prof Lang as gossip monger… that would be different, he’s usually possessed by pot plants or little idols. Wasn’t there a soap in which someone wrote an expose and scandalised everyone? Peyton Place?
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