Why Superman Needs Clark Kent

Seems pretty simple.  Superman lives the life as a super-hero, while Clark Kent earns the keep working for the Daily Planet.  

But, why not just be Superman all the time?

Action Comics #305 (October, 1963) sheds a little light on that idea, under a cover by Curt Swan and George Klein!

Why Superman Needs A Secret Identity

Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Klein provide the Superman story in this issue.  Other than the splash page, the story starts in the here and now, with Clark and Jimmy doing some work at the behest of Perry White, but getting in trouble, as Benny The Blaster tries a robbery, and Clark thinks there is no way to save Jimmy without revealing his identity.  So, Clark goes through a few imaginary scenarios in his head....such as if he had revealed his identity as Superboy (at his parents request, as Clark was bullied).  Ends up mobsters would likely have killed the Kents, and Superman would end up alone.  Second time, criminals find out Superman's identity (thanks to Jimmy) and expose him to Gold Kryptonite, ending Superman's career.  The third time, Superman gives up the pretense of being Clark....but still wants to help, so tries an alter ego as Mark Trent, but cannot get a job, so ends up a homeless vagrant. 

With a little more thinking, Clark finds a way to sabotage Benny's nitroglycerin, saving the day without revealing his identity!

The Girl Who Hated Supergirl

The second story of the issue by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney has Supergirl dealing with Karen Blair, who seems to hate the Maid of Steel.  Linda Danvers keeps having encounters with Karen Blair, who professes a hatred of Supergirl!  As Supergirl, returning to Midvale to celebrate the day she landed on Earth (May 18, 1959), she even tries to arrange for her to fly Karen, but nearly kills her in the process.  Karen explains her father had invented a way to communicate with aliens, and was, as an object flew between the communication rays, setting his lab on fire, killing him and injuring Karen's brother, confining him to a wheelchair.  Supergirl, using Superman's chronoscope in the Fortress of Solitude, shows Karen what really happen that day (that an alien bat had flown into the path of the rays, reflecting them back).  Supergirl then gives her the plans to her father's communication device, as well as getting doctors to help her brother reacquire his mobility!

Whatever Happened To Superman's Clone?

If you read Action Comics #500 (or our review of it yesterday), you might have one pressing question....

...whatever happened to Superman's clone?

The answer to that question happened in Action Comics #524 (October, 1981) by Martin Pasko, Curt Swan and Frank Chiaramonte...

...with the confrontation dramatized on the cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano.

If I Can't Be Clark Kent....Nobody Can

Superman took his now powerless clone to the Fortress of Solitude, but really wasn't sure what to do with a living creature, who had all of his memories, slightly warped into thinking Luthor was not a villain.  Superman locked up the clone, trying to figure out what to do with him, but the clone tried to escape, and Superman thought he was incinerated (though he really ended up in the vents of the Fortress, unconscious due to the suspended animation gas Superman used to keep him a captive).

After a time, the clone woke up, thinking he was still Superman (but powerless), and used a Superman robot to get back to civilization.  While there, working as Clark Kent (while Superman was in space), Perry White assigned him a story on now missing on a flight WGBS reporter Dan Reed and Superman Pavilion founder, J. Robert Arngrim.  In researching Arngrim (and Luthor's clone plan), the faux Clark Kent started having some memories, fueled by the return of Superman to the Daily Planet.  The clone hid, figuring out what to do.

The clone cannibalized the Superman robot to make himself a super-suit to fight Superman with, planning to take over Clark Kent's life after killing Superman....but, being Superman at heart, hesitated in killing the Man of Steel, and after another battle, the clone was badly injured in a fall.  Superman had the clone taken to an army hospital, and had him altered to look like Dan Reed (who had really died in the plane crash, as Arngrim's body was already found), with Superman also having the army alter the clone to look like Dan Reed (albeit with some memory loss...Superman hypnotized the clone into believing it was Dan Reed), this allowing the clone to live on as a WGBS anchorman.

One of the odder times Clark Kent battled Superman, but not the only time, as this shows.  Plus, the second story of the issue features a battle between the Calculator and Atom and Air Wave!

Superman Writer?

One often forgets about one of Superman's greatest powers....that of the power of the press, in his other identity as Clark Kent.  The cover of Action Comics #380 (September, 1969) by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson shows Superman using that power....

...though the story inside, "The Confessions Of Superman" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Roussos, does have Superman doing this, it is because he thought he committed crimes, and was confessing to them.  He thought he willingly did these heinous actions, as he had Supergirl test him for Red Kryptonite exposure (which makes Kryptonians due odd things for 48 hours), but the tests came back negative (because it was a member of the Superman Revenge Squad, lying to Superman....).

Superman planned punishing himself with exposure to Gold Kryptonite (which permanently removes a Kryptonian's powers).....

....with that story resolving in Action Comics #381 (October, 1969) with a cover by Swan/Anderson and story by Dorfman, Swan and Roussos, with Superman as "The Dictator Of Earth".  Instead of exposing himself to Gold K, Superman decides to take over the world!  As he is doing this, Superman comes out of his Red K haze, and allows himself to be put on trial by the United Nations for his misdeeds.  The Revenge Squad watches, gloating, and Superman tunes in on their actions, proving his innocence (his plan, as he figured out what they were doing when he headed back to his Fortress, pretending he was going to expose himself to Gold K).

All of which proves the power of the press, and the need to use it wisely.

Superman Says Happy Birthday Clark Kent!

Odd that Superman could wish Clark Kent a happy birthday...especially since they are suppose to be the same person!

To help conceal his identity, Superman (who has a birthday on February 29th), doesn't share a birthday with Clark Kent (who was born on June 18th!)!

You can see, that DC has done a few tricks over the years to put Superman at odds with Clark Kent...

One of the biggest tricks they pulled was having Superman and Clark Kent team up, and they did that twice in Superman's team-up book of DC Comics Presents!

Superman meets Clark Kent

In DC Comics Presents #50 (October, 1982) in the story "When You Wish Upon A Planetoid" by writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, and artists Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenberger, thanks to a chance encounter with the Miracle Machine (technically, its first appearance, as every other time Superman encountered this device of the Controllers, it was in the future, when Superboy, Superman's adventurous younger self, traveled to the 30th Century to work with the Legion of Super-Heroes) while saving a planet, Superman's subconscious wish of having a life separate from Clark Kent came true, and the two existed as individual beings for a time, working to thwart the Atomic Skull and his attack on S.T.A.R. Labs.

Eventually, Superman and Clark worked together and returned to being one man.

Clark Kent Meets Superman

At least until DC Comics Presents #79 (March, 1985) in the story "Superman -- Meet Clark Kent" by writer Paul Kupperberg and artists Curt Swan with Al Williamson, Superman and Clark were split by intergalactic gamblers Rokk and Sorban (and dealt with the villainous Erg-Master at this time), and the two alter egos had to work together...and become one being as well.

It might seem strange to devote time to Superman and Clark Kent working together, but they need to, and sometimes we all need to make parts of ourselves work together...the showy larger than life side full of action and heroics (one might say the Superman side) and the quieter, thoughtful, more emotional reporting side (the reporter, Clark Kent) to make us all be one functioning person!

But, you might ask, why June 18th as Clark Kent's birthday?  Well, that's the day that Kal-El arrived on Earth from Krypton and was found by the Kents...

...and, oddly enough, in 1908, it was when Bud Collyer was born (he who would voice Superman on radio and in the cartoons of the 1940s, shifting his voice an octave when he switched identities).

Arrow Hits The Man Of Steel

Well, sometimes Ollie and Clark weren’t the best of friends, so the Emerald Archer might have wanted to hit the Kryptonian Crusader, but for the most part their relationship was cordial.
And, it isn’t a small screen/big screen crossover that brings them together (though Arrow is enjoying success on the CW, and the Man of Steel sequel will be rocketing into theatres….).

It took a while for these two characters to meet, and it was while they were young!

First Shot

In Adventure Comics #258 (March, 1959) in a story by Jerry Coleman and George Papp entitled “Superboy Meets The Young Green Arrow”…well, that’s what happened!  Superboy creates a “time-viewer” and learns about Green Arrow and Oliver Queen’s future, and tries to steer the young, spoiled rich lad in a better direction by getting him into a Robin Hood costume…though Oliver shows no ability to wield a bow and arrow, and he and his family move away from Smallville (with Ollie eventually ending up on an island, and adopting the Green Arrow identity without Kal-El’s help).  Green Arrow even returns the favor to Superman, when in Adventure Comics #266 (November, 1959) when Ollie and his ward, Speedy (Roy Harper) make some new arrowheads out of green rock they found outside the Arrowcave…arrows which seem to mysteriously disappear for a time…until Superman explains that green rock is kryptonite! 

This issue is the first meeting of Green Arrow and Superman (and one of the earliest crossovers, as at this time, DC characters didn’t interact much…other than the Justice Society of America and the Seven Soldiers of Victory…the Justice League hadn’t had their first appearance even!), and happens even before Green Arrow has met Batman (though Superman and the Darknight Detective have been friends for some time, and Green Arrow meets the Gotham Guardian soon enough…).

In fact, along with Aquaman, Batman and Green Arrow compete for Lois Lane’s affections in Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #29 (November, 1961), after Green Arrow has joined the Justice League.

A League of their own

Superman was a charter member of the Justice League of America (though he, along with Batman, weren’t that active in the League’s earlier cases), and Green Arrow joined the team with Justice League of America #4 (April-May, 1961), and Clark Kent, Oliver Queen (as well as Lois Lane and the Arrow’s paramour, Bonnie King aka Miss Arrowette) all had a chance encounter in Justice League of America #7 (October-November, 1961).

Green Arrow even learns the secret origin of the Justice League in Justice League of America #9 (February, 1962) (which ends up helping the JLA later on, especially in Justice League of America #200!).  There aren’t too many cases that focus on the Superman/Green Arrow pair, but they do encounter Felix Faust and the Demons Three for the first time in Justice League of America #10 (March, 1962), and there are a few other places along the way (like Superman facing Green Arrow’s greatest foe, Merlyn, who appears for the first time in Justice League of America #94 in November, 1971…and Merlyn’s second appearance is in Action Comics #443 in January, 1975 along with a group of JLA villains…and Green Arrow faces Lex Luthor, kind of, in Justice League of America #61 in March, 1968…).  So, Green Arrow’s and Superman’s histories start to mix…

Updated Arrow meets Kryptonian Crusader

…and Green Arrow needed the help, as he had become homeless (losing his Adventure Comics spot with #269, and even his back up behind Superman and Batman in World’s Finest Comics with #140, so other than Justice League of America (and their guest appearances), Green Arrow only had Brave & the Bold and meetings with Batman to look forward to!  In Brave & the Bold #85 (August-September, 1969), Green Arrow got a new costume (by artist Neal Adams, who had major influence on Green Arrow’s life), and in Justice League of America #75 (November, 1969), Ollie lost his fortune….and that led him to work with Green Lantern, in a hard travelling run from Green Lantern #76-89…and Clark Kent stopped by in Green Lantern #87 (December-January 1971-1972) to give Ollie a little advice (and led into a somewhat unrelated adventure in a magical land with Superman in World’s Finest Comics #210 in March, 1972, when DC was experimenting with having Superman team up with others besides Batman for a little while….).

Hanging around with Superman must have led to Ollie getting a new home (along with his new paramour, Black Canary) in the back of Action Comics, starting with #421 (and alternating with the Atom and the Human Target for a time), and even working with Superman (as well as Flash and Green Lantern) in #437, and the whole Justice League and their individual foes in #443.  Ollie even handled some super-stuff, with Krypto in #440-441, a team-up with Superman and Atom in #455, and facing Luthor in #456-458 (both multi-issue arcs drawn by Mike Grell…a major artist in the life of Green Arrow!).

World’s Finest heroes!

Green Arrow moved from his home in Action Comics over to World’s Finest Comics (from #244-284), only missing a few issues along the way…yet not usually meeting with Superman (except for World’s Finest Comics #250 from April-May, 1978), wherein Superman and Green Arrow, along with Batman, Black Canary and the Wonder Woman of World War II (this coming about due to Lynda Carter’s success on TV in the World War II adventures of Wonder Woman!) had to save the entire universe from ending….and the fact that there were issues after #250 shows they were successful!

At least Green Arrow was being social at this time!  That would change as time progressed…though Superman just kept expanding who he’d work with….and got more titles for himself as well!

DC Comics Presents Superman and Arrow

Superman and Green Arrow kept working together in the Justice League of America as well, and Green Arrow even stopped by Superman’s new team-up magazine, DC Comics Presents, two times, for old times sake!  In DC Comics Presents #20 (April, 1980), the duo faced off against an evil rich man named Bo Force, and in DC Comics Presents #54 (February, 1983), Black Canary joined the boys in an adventure against Dr. Titus Selinger and a monster he created while trying to harness energy (seems Superman and Green Arrow fought the same fight against the rich  industrialists that Superman and Batgirl did for a time…which was ironic, since Green Arrow at this time had taken over Batgirl’s spot in Detective Comics…).

After Crisis Arrow and Steel

But, after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Green Arrow was homeless again…at least until Mike Grell started Ollie on his adventure with Green Arrow: the Longbow Hunters in 1987 (and the regular series that followed…wherein Green Arrow stayed away from the more “super” elements of the DC Universe, including Superman!).

Still, both Ollie and Clark found time to stop by each other’s books when they died…both later to come back as well!

Meeting in Smallville

Ollie and Clark’s friendship even crossed genres, as Oliver Queen popped up on Clark Kent’s television show, Smallville, starting with season six, and their friendship continued through the end of the series with season ten, with Clark portrayed by Tom Welling and Ollie by Justin Hartley from 2006 to 2011.  Amazingly, the history related above showed up in a few of the episodes (battles with Lex Luthor, and an affair with Lois Lane for Ollie) as well as seeing one of Ollie’s foes (Meryln, though in Smallville, he was called Vordigan or the Dark Archer) and a few other things as well.

Still, this show does NOT relate to Arrow (as that has adapted the Mike Grell idea of less super heroics, and has Stephen Amell as Arrow…but one never knows what the future may hold, so who knows?  Maybe some future meeting of Arrow and the Man of Steel is what Superboy saw when he looked into his “time-viewer”….

…or maybe it was back to Earth-2, where the original Green Arrow and Superman met for the first time, in All-Star Squadron #31 (March, 1984), though the story was set in the early 1940s…and the two crossed paths again in the Crisis on Infinite Earths!