DC Comics Presents #14 (1979)
by Paul Levitz & Dick Dillin
If the previous issue featured an unusual team-up between Superman and the Legion, this is even weirder: Superboy shows up!
We begin, in fact, with Superboy attacking the adult Clark Kent! According to pre-Crisis time travel rules, this SHOULD be impossible: you could not travel to a time where another version of you already exists.
The fight happened while Lois and Clark were covering a jury, so this gives Superboy an idea.
Superboy flees the scene, leaving Superman puzzled. We cover the usual bases and no, this is not a robot or an impostor.
Notice the qualifier “since he became a full reporter”. Because as we all know Jimmy used to call Superman whenever he felt like it.
So Superboy captures him with, get this, Kryptonite chains and a KRYPTONITE BAZOOKA.
Joke’s on him, Superman is into that stuff.
The situation is pretty dire when Superboy brings all of Superman’s closest friends.
And Steve Lombard for some reason.
In a somewhat awkward infodump, we learn that “Superboy” is actually Pete Ross!!!
Sounds legit.
Of course the reason why Pete flipped is because Superman just condemned his son to grow up as a child soldier in an alien war… which is fine as far as his friends are concerned.
This is a bit harder to swallow… while I can see the Legion’s reasons behind it, it strains credulity that civilians hearing about this second-hand would okay with it.
Meanwhile Superboy, still trapped inside Pete’s body, manages to escape and wonders: how is he going to defeat a Kryptonian body?
He sneaks back into his old Smallville home, where he hopes to find the Phantom Zone projector or his Legion trophies… kind of awkward since the Legion is the reason he’s in this mess… but presumably everything has been moved to the Fortress of Solitude.
He better hurry since “Superboy” is kicking Superman’s S with all this Kryptonite.
And I guess Kryptonite is hurting only Superman instead of both because… I’ve got nothing.
Luckily for him, Kryptonite is responsible for 70% of the mass of the entire Solar System.
That’s when KRYPTO SAVES THE DAY!!!
That’s because the whistle found by Superboy (in Pete’s body) was actually the special whistle that can summon Krypto from space. Who’s a good boy?
Superboy gets his body back and returns to his time, but we are left with a cliffhanger: what’s going to happen to Pete Ross?
DC Comics Presents #25 (1980)
by Paul Levitz & Dick Dillin
If you ever told me the last significant Pete Ross storyline would involve the Legion, Krypto and the Phantom Stranger… well it wouldn’t have been the weirdest thing he’s ever been in, but it’s still kind of weird.
He looks fine.
We should get scenes of Superman vacuuming the Fortress of Solitude more often.
Suddenly he feels pain, and the Phantom Stranger shows up to do what he does best: being enigmatic and providing zero information.
I won’t cover the Phantom Stranger part of the story, but he basically spends his time fighting this sorceress who I’m pretty sure is one of his regular villains (I don’t really know much about the Phantom Stranger, which feels appropriate considering he’s all about being mysterious).
I’m much more interested to discover that the Fortress of Solitude has a “hall of failures”, which includes a statue of Superman’s adoptive parents dying!!!
And you thought Batman was the dark one!?!?
Also Superman is so paranoid that he immediately assumes Pete Ross is out to get him with magic.
So he decides to go back to the planet where he left Pete’s son, ignoring all the stuff about him being instrumental to the Legion’s future, and just brings him back to Earth.
I don’t have a problem with Superman trying once again to fight destiny… it’s kind of his thing.
But couldn’t he have rescued the kid right after the first part?
This is what saves the world from the sorceress: she was the one to cause Pete’s madness in order to drive Superman to despair. And when that doesn’t work, Superman wins without ever meeting her.
Totally worthy to have the Phantom Stranger around for the occasion.
While this is not the last pre-Crisis appearance of Pete Ross or his son, neither of them does anything of note. And the last time the kid is shown he’s still on Earth with no intention of growing up to be the general of an alien army.
Historical significance: 0/10
Completely forgotten: Pete’s madness has no impact in his (admittedly few) future appearances.
Silver Age-ness
First story: 10/10
Superman is saved from a Kryptonite bazooka by Krypto!!!
Second story: 8/10
The Hall of Failures.
Does it stand the test of time?
First story: 3/10
What a disappointing second part. Gone are all the nuances of the first part; while Pete resenting Superman is understandable, going full supervillain is absurd.
Second story: 0/10
And I thought things couldn’t get worse than the second part. There is basically zero reason for this story to exist, and even less to have the Phantom Stranger around.