Superman #296 (1975)
written by Cary Bates & Elliot S. Maggin
pencils by Curt Swan
cover by Bob Oskner
I consider this storyline another attempt to modernize Superman that ultimately failed. But more importantly, this is an attempt to modernize Clark Kent.
This is a long storyline so I won’t go into detail for all the plot points, but one that will become important later is a flashback to Superman’s origin…
…because immediately after Superman’s ship lands on Earth, a completely different alien follows.
Some time later, we see Superboy who is CLEARLY meant to be President Kennedy.
I always find it fascinating when we get an indication of when the Superboy stories are supposed to be set. Since this is very blatantly JFK, this scene must be set between 1961 and 1963.
And we have confirmation that Superboy is 16 years old at this point, since the other alien gives it as the amount of time passed since he landed.
(technically speaking Superboy is a bit older since he was born on Krypton, but he definitely would consider himself to be 16 at this moment.
So if he was 16 between 1961 and 1963, in 1976 Superman is supposed to be between 29 and 31.
Which does track with more modern versions of Superman, but it is interesting to me because he was DEFINITELY considered older in the 50s and possibly in the 60s.
The alien contacts his masters, who know enough about humans to disguise one of them as a perfect replica that can live among humans for over a decade… but never noticed that humans age.
Sounds legit.
After dealing with a completely unrelated plot, Superman changes into Clark Kent… with a method that he will use again later and that I hope I never see ever again: swallowing his costume.
But after he has changed *gasp* Steve Lombard is about to be hit by a car!
Too bad he’s saved by Clark Kent.
And I say “too bad” because Clark is injured, not because I consider pre-Crisis Steve Lombard to be one of the worst fictional characters ever created.
Well… maybe it’s A LITTLE because of that.
But the important thing is that the alien from the Superboy flashback is STILL stalking Superman!
Turns out that Clark has lost his powers.
This way to hide the costume is as intriguing as it is disgusting. Did he just stuck it inside his mouth (HOW?) or did he actually eat it? If so, is Superman not digesting it because it’s indestructible?
We know that while Superman doesn’t NEED to eat, he most certainly does… so should we assume that if he kept it for too long, Superman would eventually have needed to poop out his costume?
Does Superman need to poop?
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t wear clothes that I kept hidden in my mouth.
Superman soon discovers the gimmick of this storyline: he has superpowers ONLY when he’s wearing his costume, and loses them when he takes it off.
Once he has to fight an Intergang robot out to kill Clark Kent (!!!), he also discovers that if he’s wearing ANY clothes above the costume, he still loses his powers.
As Clark helps one of his neighbors, we learn why the alien stalker is so up to date: he lives next door.
Superman #297 (1975)
written by Cary Bates & Elliot S. Maggin
pencils by Curt Swan
cover by Bob Oskner
The recurring motif from these covers is Superman being a dick to himself, which sadly doesn’t actually happen in the stories.
The first page has a disclaimer that a part of this storyline happens after Superman appears elsewhere. Thanks for the information, that was just vague enough to be completely useless.
Again I have to skip Superman’s adventures, because ironically enough they’re not REALLY important to the overarching plot. Other than he’s seriously considering quitting his super-job.
Unfortunately for his career, he has to erase the film to avoid exposing his own identity.
The whole costume thing has given Superman something of an identity crisis.
Most importantly, only now Clark is thinking that he has to “become an Earth man”, which is… odd from a modern perspective, but it fits the pre-Crisis character.
Because for the VAST majority of his stories, Superman thought himself as Kryptonian first and a human a VERY distant second. Which to be honest never made any sense to me: yes he has super-memory from when he was a baby on Krypton, but he grew up on Earth.
Then again, with the exception of teenage Clark during his Superboy days… the adult Clark wasn’t truly a full character, something that this storyline wants to fix.
So as a test on whether he truly can live as a human, Superman decides he’s going to be ONLY Clark Kent for the next seven days.
Not only Clark has no longer powers, he’s beginning to feel attraction for women who don’t have the same initials for their first and last names.
As Clark has dinner with Lois, Steve Lombard shows up to be his usual annoying self.
And Clark really has had enough of Steve Lombard.
JOIN THE CLUB, CLARK.
I mean… punching Steve Lombard isn’t just a way to give Lois Lane the hots, it’s a social duty.
I really like the scene where Clark thinks he’s going to intervene as Superman to deal with a flooded subway… only to then realize he doesn’t have to fix EVERYTHING himself, there are things that humans can handle themselves.
This preserves his heroism because he was ready to sacrifice his freedom to save lives, but it’s also a bit of character growth if he realizes he doesn’t have to micro-manage the city.
I also greet people I see opening my door by describing to them exactly what they are doing.
This story is the reason why Superman’s favorite dish is canonically beef bourguignon; it’s been reference countless times across the years.
Mostly because it’s taken as a given that Lois and Clark did more together than just eat.
Superman even manages to stop a riot… only it’s not the real Superman, it’s an actor famous for the role. Your first instinct is probably to think of Christopher Reeve, but this is a 1976 story… the movie is two years again. So is this more likely supposed to be George Reeves.
Next, Clark has a dispute with his employer: Morgan Edge wants to send him overseas, but Clark is having too much of a good life in Metropolis.
And since Clark now has a spine, he convinces Edge to send someone else!
Not even that: he even gets a raise!!!
On one hand, this is a bit much… but it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. A lot of stories make it look like Clark is the face or the network; this is Clark realizing he actually does have some leverage over Edge. Heavy-handed, yes, but not completely unbelievable I think.
Although there is the possibility of causing an international incident when Steve Lombard is sent to Chile. Wars have been started by far lesser offenses.
Also, what kind of move is this!? Lombard is a sports journalist and Clark is an investigative reporter and an anchorman… regardless of my raging hatred for Lombard, the two are not interchangeable!!!
If this comic starts to punch Steve Lombard every single issue, I don’t even need Superman to show up anymore. I’m plenty entertained as is.
Even without Superman adventures on the side, Clark’s relationship with Lois keeps getting better.
Superman #298 (1975)
written by Cary Bates & Elliot S. Maggin
pencils by Curt Swan
cover by Bob Oskner
We saw last issue that Earth can survive just fine without Superman.
Time for the exact opposite!
Just your regular day in Metropolis.
Okay that was just a dream sequence, but I admit it was kind of funny.
Throughout this entire story, the stalker has been repeatedly sneaking into Clark’s apartment.
After testing if he can be Clark without being Superman, now he’s testing the opposite.
Which just happens when Clark has to testify against Intergang.
I see that he has regained his super-timing.
He also stops a super-villain whose plot isn’t really important, except for making Superman realize that he has to choose which identity to keep.
Superman #299 (1975)
written by Cary Bates & Elliot S. Maggin
pencils by Curt Swan
cover by Bob Oskner
You’re taking this “am I the man or the costume” thing way too literally, Superman.
Just in case you were confused, this Superman story ALSO happens after other Superman stories.
Glad we cleared that out.
Clark finally does manage to testify, because for some reason his powers are back.
As you saw from the cover, all of Superman’s greatest villains and Terra-Man are now attacking him together.
The reason for why only his costume is visible is… just a throwaway Mr. Mxyzptlk thing that doesn’t affect the actual fight.
You would think that having so many villains around would make for an exciting fight, but Superman isn’t really interested.
And surprisingly we get a very quick explanation for why he lost his powers when dressed as Clark Kent.
That… doesn’t work with what we saw.
If Clark lost his powers only when he dressed with his regular clothes, it WOULD have worked with Silver Age logic.
Except we also clearly saw that Clark was powerless when wearing his hospital gown!
What, was the gown ALSO “sun-screened”???
Turns out that the reason for why the stalker did all this was to super-charge Superman, leading to him blowing up the Earth.
Superman learns all of this just before fighting the final villain.
That would be Kryptonite Man in a surprisingly rare appearance.
Since punching him as Superman would trigger a cataclysmic explosion, Superman voluntarily de-powers himself by wearing Clark’s clothes beneath the costume.
That’s actually a genius idea, but I wonder how the heck is the costume still form-fitting.
Guys, there HAD to be a better way to blow up Earth than:
step 1) place an agent on Earth
step 2) make him follow Superman for 31-ish years
step 3) sunscreen his clothes
step 4) super-charge his body
step 5) release super-villains to fight him
step 6) when Superman punches the final villain, the Earth explodes
Alright, that was actually a pretty good storyline! I’ve made it no secret that I normally don’t like Maggin and Bates when they write Superman, but this was a good way forward for the character.
Now Clark has finally learned that he CAN be assertive without compromising his secret identity, so from this moment forward we are done with the “mild-mannered” Clark who…
Wait, there’s an epilogue?
We can skip that since there’s no change this entire thing will be made pointless at the very last page, right?
Right?
OH COME ON!!!
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS???
You had a perfect evolution of the character! The modern Clark Kent was RIGHT THERE around the corner!!! Why would you go back!?!?
AND YET… the Clark-Lois romance is not over!
By Superman #308, now that Gerry Conway is the writer, he also brings back beef bourguignon.
We are now in 1977 and you see that the character are doing their best to move outside of their old characterization.
AND YET… just look at Superman #309.
Even with Gerry Conway doing his best, Clark Kent is STILL forced back into his wimpy characterization.
Either Conway didn’t want to go all the way through, or DC Comics was terrified of changing Superman. Giving the rest of the 70s, I’d say the latter.
Historical significance: 10/beef
This is definitely one of the most remembered and influential Superman storylines of the 70s.
Mostly because of the beef.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
The villain’s overly convoluted plot, its questionable science, and Superman’s weirdest costume change ever.
Does it stand the test of time?
Without the epilogue: 8/10
I can almost excuse the stalker plan because it really wasn’t the point of the story, but it WAS clunky.
The last issue is by far the weakest part (even excluding the epilogue), because the whole “release the supervillains and punch the final one” part is VERY rushed… and not helped by Superman moving back and forth between the fight and the stalker multiple times.
But this was a REALLY solid character work for Superman, who has to balance between his two identities. You’d think he’d have things figured out by now, but I like how he’s stuck inside his routine so much that he doesn’t see things from a new perspective until he’s proven otherwise.
It’s a personal journey from which both Superman and Clark emerge much stronger characters…
With the epilogue: 4/10
…only to screw it up at the end. What a difference a single page can make!!!
Because that last page erases all character development, makes everything a giant waste of time and honestly make it VERY hard for me to root for Superman.
AT NO POINT anything that happened proved to Clark that he should be back to be everyone’s doormat! Like I said at time he ALMOST feels like modern Clark, and he truly does have great chemistry with Lois, better than he’s ever had as Superman.
Stuff like this is why Crisis was a necessity in my opinion. Not necessarily to erase all the sillier concepts… most of them have slowly tricked down into new continuities anyway… but because Superman was VERY resisting to evolve as a character. DC had tried for literal decades and nothing ever managed to stick.
