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 meets a guy 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 DIFFERENT initials.
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 away. 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 chance 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.
Had to look up who that red-haired guy on the cover was. Apparently he’s Amalak, a space pirate with a grand total of two appearances before this comic. Admittedly, I would probably also struggle around the 8th or 9th slot if asked to name a list of Superman’s most notable enemies off the bat.
My headcanon is Mr. Mxyzptlk just silently reverted this whole dynamic with his powers because he found it boring, and that’s why nobody questions the ridiculous ‘it was this one specific suit being tainted’ explanation.
Yep, that’s Amalak.
Still a better villain than Terra-Man.
“all of Superman’s greatest villains and Terra-Man”
Oh the shade…I love it😎
The Brazilian edition of the story whose cover heads this article was the very first Superman story I ever read.
There is no doubt that post-Crisis Superman was established as feeling significantly more attached to Earth than it was typical of the Earth-One Superman.
Not a change that I particularly welcomed (I happen to be very anti-nationalistic and to like to think of Superman as the ultimate immigrant) although I suppose it is justifiable on paper and makes for a more relatable and easier to write Superman.
So why was 1976 Superman thinking of himself as Kal-El with a secret identity of a human? Leaving my personal preferences aside, I think that this period was near the heights of fascination with the idea of visitors from space and humanity of eventually leaving Earth to found space colonies. As Star Trek put it: “The Final Frontier”.
The first moon landing had happened just a few years prior; Erich von Daniken’s “Chariots of the Gods” was all the rage; and there was a lot of enthusiasm for the idea that people might travel among planets “once the technology was developed enough”. I suspect that it was also a significant source of general optimism for the future and hopes of world peace, with the expectation of space colonies eventually becoming a reality and easing up tensions for territory and resources on Earth – a major anxiety given the 1973 oil crisis. In a nutshell, people just wanted to believe that Earth could be a stepping stone towards a wider scenario for humanity. Being an actual alien, Superman would of course not be particularly Earth-centric when contrasted with the general population.
Just guessing on my part, but I assume that between the general assumption that Clark Kent is something of a fake identity (and therefore unimportant for Kal-El) and perhaps a cultural perception that people ought to know how to be tolerant of other people’s unreasonable demands because most everyone had little choice but to wait and hope for some nebulous better time ahead (a conceivable side-effect of the combined frustations of the Vietnam War, the previously mentioned oil crisis, Richard Nixon, the cold war “détente” and stagflation). Everyone felt unfairly stymied and with no obvious path towards solving that situation, so it made sense for Clark to follow suit and therefore be more relatable. Baby Boomer mentality may also have contributed.
Society changed quite some since.
As you point out, Gerry Conway seems to have had different thoughts back at the time. His Superman story in #307-309 goes to considerable lengths to position Kal-El as someone who feels responsible for Earth and values his human life.
As for Amalak, he too changed quite some since this story. His next storyline (by Martin Pasko, in #311-314) repositions him significantly and happens to be very engaging.
In one “Private Life of Clark Kent” (I believe Superman 294), Clark is forced to switch clothes with a mobster who wants to impersonate him (and never noticed that he also looked like Superman, I guess). Clark has to whip off his Superman costume at invisible speed, crush it into a pellet, and this time he swallows it. Would it be digested? Well, Clark noted at the finish that it will probably come out all right in… the end.
This storyline loomed large in fan esteem when I started collecting Superman comics. All four issues were reprinted in a “best-of” anthology side-by-side with such classics as “Superman’s Return to Krypton” and the teenage Luthor origin.
Your comparison with “Kryptonite Nevermore” is a shrewd observation: funny that both storylines involve fluctuating powers. But once again, a good-faith attempt to advance Superman as a character was abandoned immediately, and the strip was reset to the former status quo. To be fair, in the wake of “Who Took the Super Out of Superman,” writers like Conway and especially Marty Pasko made an effort to elevate the storytelling and develop a romance between Kent and Lois; but it seems there was no editorial (or commercial) will to follow through.
Looking at those beautiful García-López panels at the end of the post, I feel that this was the time for DC to hand him the reins of one of the monthly books. He could have done for Superman what Adams did for Batman at the beginning of the 70s. Conway always seemed inspired when working with García-López—as in the famous sequence in Superman #347, where Superman and Lois dance up in the clouds.
Oh, btw – “Mister Xavier” first full appearance is in #296, but we got teasers of him as the mysterious neighbor in #246, #254 and finally #258 (which is an odd piece).
Since he vanished in this storyline, a new resident moved to his previous apartment, opening a whole new can of worms starting with Action Comics #471.
Anyone remember that monologue about Superman from Kill Bill?
“Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He’s weak… he’s unsure of himself… he’s a coward. Clark Kent is Superman’s critique on the whole human race.”
Reading this kind of Pre-Crisis stuff, I can genuinely believe a lot of Superman fans would have got that impression.
I certainly did.
One of the things that I disliked in Byrne’s reinvention of Superman was how sternly it separated Superman from his Kryptonian heritage, bordering on full rejection.
Superman from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s was at the peak of development of Kryptonian ideas and concepts, down to Kandor being restored (“Superman #338”, 1979), a Krypton-substitute planet named Rokyn built for Kandor to settle into, and DC’s very first miniseries being “The World of Krypton”. Heck, even the bottle that used to hold Kandor was recreated and repopulated in 1982’s Superman #371.
I won’t be surprised if our steemed Archeologist decides to make a count of Krypton substitute planets at some point. In Earth-One continuity alone there are at least two (Rokyn and #255’s, which was doomed to explode like the original, as confirmed in #323).
Yes, I can see how this would feel excessive and weird to many people. There are legitimate reasons why DC and Byrne felt the need to reboot Superman in the mid-1980s. I just don’t feel very enthusiastic about that reboot and particularly by how far it went.
I’m of the opposite view for Superman’s heritage. It never made any sense to me that he considered himself anything but a human with Kryptonian heritage, since he grew up as Clark Kent, among humans and raised by humans.
As for the immigrant aspect, which I agree is of Superman’s fundamental traits… I don’t like how his pre-crisis version believed he could never fully integrate with humans.
Perhaps it’s a consequence of starting to read Superman later, but for me the Byrne paradigm is the best version: Clark dresses as Superman, it’s not Superman who disguises himself as Clark; he’s proud of his alien origins but they don’t supercede his humanity.
As for Krypton, while I do have a slight preference for the more morally dubious versions, I don’t mind Good Krypton… with a catch: I hate Krypton as a utopia.
I believe I’m paraphrasing Grant Morrison: you should never read a Superman story and think “things would’ve been better if he never made it to Earth”.
You mean the Black Mercy story?
Why, of course we won’t think that. But I think we are working from very different understandings of what “better” means here.
The Superman I grew with is Martin Pasko’s and Elliot S! Maggins. By contrast to the character that was created post-Crisis and that Batman spends his life trying not to be too jealous of, the Earth-One Superman as envisioned by those gentlemen is all about transcendence and, as later verbalized by others, “a better future”. He has no time for petty chauvinisms and may well be unable to even understand the notion.
In short, he was indeed super-human instead of simply powerful.
I suppose that figured into my inability to enjoy “The Dark Knight Returns”. To my eye that supposed “Batman” had no idea of who Superman was and instead decided out of personal pride alone that it must be a buffoon to be humiliated. That was not the Batman that we knew from World’s Finest -and arguably it wasn’t the Superman from Earth-One either.
No it was a specific Morrison quote about Krypton not being a utopia.
I fully agree on Dark Knight Returns, it misunderstands Superman at a fundamental level and it does a huge disservice to the character. Post-Crisis Superman is nothing like him.
Agree to disagree on Superman… my imprinting is far too Marvel to make me accept a flawless character and I see Supes as being at his best when he’s closer to Steve Roger’s idealism.
BUTWHATDAFECKINTHEHIGHSTINKOFTHESEVENHELLS!!!!!????!!!
This was going on so well! Clark was going to EVOLVE into a true human being, there was so much room for further devlopment in the relationship between Supes and the rest of the world!
And where do we stay at the end? AT THE END OF A FECKING TV CARTOON EPISODE! Eh? Eh? Did you get it guys? We trolled ya sooooooo good! We never wanted to make an adult out of Superman!
And not only that, LOIS gets it worse! “Hey, Clark got a personality, I like him after all!” and she and Clark went to second base straight away! I mean, in human terms that should MEAN something, right? Evidently NOT, since she goes all “Nah, you’re the usual cheddar girl I remember, Clark. Don’t touch me ever again!” DO YOU REALIZE SHE ENDS UP LIKE THE WORST FEMININE STEREOTYPE?!?