Next up for the month is a trip to the 80’s… sort of. We’re
still in the Bronze Age, but this story came out right as Crisis on Infinite
Earths was ramping up. I guess one could consider this a farewell to a certain
pre-Crisis feature of the Superman mythos: Superboy. Superman’s early
adventures were still a thing even in the 80’s. Either he was getting into
trouble in Smallville or hanging out with the Legion of Superheroes. I don’t
know if there were any that talked about his college exploits. I know that there’s
was a back up in Superman called “Superman: The In-Between Years.” Then,
there’s this four issue story.
Superman: The Secret Years ran from February 1985 to May
1985. Bob Rozakis, the writer of the other college Superman backups, wrote this
story. On pencils, we got Curt Swan, the face of Superman throughout the Bronze
Age. On inks, we got Kurt Schaffenberger. Schaffenberger used to do inks for
Superboy stories. Then, we got the covers drawn by Frank Miller… yeah, that
Frank Miller! So, what happened during Clark Kent’s last years in college? Ohyeah, here’s a little mood music…
Superman: The Secret Years
Writer: Bob Rozakis
Pencils: Curt Swan
Inks: Kurt Schaffenberger
Letters: John Constanza
Colors: Tom Ziuko
Editor: Julie Schwartz
SYNOPSIS
Clark has entered into his final years at Metropolis University.
Things are usual at this point. Lex Luthor escapes from “juvie hall” once again
to do nefarious deeds. When he gets caught this time, he’s thrown into
straight-up jail since he’s no boy anymore. Clark deals with regular college
life as well as a lot of guilt over the
Kents’ death. He even feels some guilt over his birth parents’ deaths. Lana’s not even in the picture anymore since
she’s transferred schools.
Uh... "groping", Clark?
During his stay, Clark comes across Billy Cramer, a new
student who just graduated from Smallville High. While that’s great and all,
Billy’s a bit… weird. Billy ends up moving into Clark’s dorm, and they
eventually become roommates when one of Clark’s roommates gets into a bad car
accident. Even though Billy’s… weird, Clark kind of takes him under his wing.
He even strangely reveals his secret to him and gives him a whistle that acts
like Jimmy Olsen’s signal watch. Clark even finds love on campus in the form of
foreign exchange student, Lori Lemaris. Let’s just say that things don’t work
out too well for them since she has a tail and can live underwater… yeah,
Superman attracts mermaids too!
At some point during the mini, Superboy is trying to figure
out why ships get lost in the Bermuda Triangle. He eventually finds out that
there is a paradise dimension in the Triangle. He finds survivors, but they are
pretty much done with the regular world and remain there. Meanwhile, Clark and
Billy have a falling out when Billy pushes too many of Clark’s buttons. While
Clark is off saving folk as Superboy, Billy tries to help firefighters by
getting folk out of a burning building. Billy gets trapped, and Superboy has to
unfortunately watch him suffocate to death while he’s saving an island full of
people. Because of this and other guilt he’s built up, he quits being Superboy
and goes missing.
While Superboy’s missing, reporter Perry White is tasked to
see what happened. He ends up finding Billy’s whistle. When Lex Luthor breaks
out of jail again and threatens the world, Perry uses the whistle. Meanwhile,
Superboy’s ended up in the Triangle. He tries to work through all the guilt
over the family and friends that he’s lost. Superboy then hears the whistle and
leaves the Triangle. He finds out about Lex’s plan and uses his wits to
outsmart the bald threat. The story ends with Clark graduating college, getting
a job at the Daily Planet, and finally changing his name to Superman.
I think we can all relate to this at times... the self-loathing, not the whole creating mannequins of your loved ones.
OPINION
I thought that this was a nice read. I haven’t read a lot of
Superboy comics, but I should know a thing or two about a young Clark Kent finding
his way to adulthood. I went through a decade of Smallville, remember? I haven’t
read the rest of Rozakis’ work with Superboy’s college years, but this makes me
curious about them. Even though this story is simple enough, it’s helped by
having Superboy deal with the guilt behind the Kents’ deaths and realizing he
can’t save everyone. That was definitely evident with Billy Cramer, and seeing
Superboy deal with that loss was pretty interesting.
Well, dang.
It was also interesting to see Clark deal with college life
in general. He’d run into the annoying jocks, fall in love with pretty women,
see a drunkard friend get paralyzed, and have an annoying roommate. Yeah, it
sounds like college life hasn’t changed much since then. It was nice to see Superboy
go up against Lex who’s the usual mad genius at this time. It’s not my favorite
iteration (I like a mix of rich boy and genius), but he’s still cool. The fight they get into at the end was nice. We
even run into a reporting Perry White which was cool.
The artwork is fine for me. I wouldn’t exactly call this
Curt Swan’s best work, but it tells the story well enough. Scaffenberger’s inks
are fine as well. These guys did a lot
of work on the character in this era, so it makes sense for them to draw the
story where the “Boy” becomes the “Man.” One thing I’m not too fond of is Frank
Miller’s covers for the books. You can really tell it’s him too and he’s using the
style that I’m not really fond of. They don’t really tie into the story and
just feel out of left field. If you like Miller’s off-style, they may be your
thing. As for me, nah.
As for any dislikes, I do have a few. I wish this was a
little longer and less all over the place. Apparently, this was supposed to be
a 12-issue maxiseries, but it got cut down to only four issues. Case in point, Clark’s
last year in college just takes place in two pages. I also wasn’t a fan of Billy.
We really never understood why he was so weird. I also thought it was weird how
Clark blamed himself for his birth parents’ deaths too. I’m like “ you
literally had nothing to do with that, dude.” Maybe it was survivor’s guilt or
something. Other than those things, the okay artwork, and how Clark chose the
name “Superman” (that was laying it on thick!), I really enjoyed this one.
What was up with Billy and his weird diaries? We may never know...
...........................................................
In the end, The Secret Years was a nice send-off for Superboy.
This would be the last we’d get of Clark Kent being Superboy for almost two
decades. This is one story that you can’t find too many places, so if you come
across it, give it a read. Well, that’s all I got for tonight. Next time, I
think it’s time to hit the 90’s. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful
out there. Also, steer clear of that Luthor boy. Remember those 40 cakes!
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