posted
Great question! The only time I can remember even seeing the funeral is in the various Superman origin stories, the most recent of which was probably the Bridwell/Swan version of the early 1970s(?). I always found it strange that the Kents were buried in the backyard of their Smallville house, but I guess with all the "custom work" in the basement, Clark couldn't very well sell the house. Wonder how he kept it from becoming a vacant eyesore? Did Pete Ross move in and pretend not to notice what was downstairs?
This highlights to me the "separateness" of the pre-crisis Superboy from the pre-crisis Superman. From the beginning, the death of the Kents was always a key moment in Clark growing into Superman. So, if you wanted to publish SuperBOY stories, you had to have the Kents alive. No wonder it occured to Levitz to have a separate Superboy from the Pocket Universe. None of this probably helped the intellectual property case -- Superboy really was a character DISTINCT from Superman (especially after Kon-El was created. Boy, was that stupid! From a legal standpoint, that is.)
Furthermore, after the mid-1960s, Superman almost NEVER interracted with the Legion. I guess you couldn't, really. If you showed the adult Legion too often, you would unduly constrain the creative team on the Legion. And the non-adult Legion belonged to SuperBOY, not SuperMAN. So again you have this discontinuity where SuperMAN drops his buddies after moving to Metropolis after the Kent's death.
No wonder it occured to Johns to write a story about all this--doing what Johns always does, internalizing the incongruities necessitated in comics stories, making the story ABOUT the incongruity itself.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
They would have to appear in 20th century dress, wouldn't they, to not disclose Superman's secret identity?
The Mordru bunch - Lu, Tasmia and Lar - could have attended as the characters they assumed back then, Marie Elkins, Betsy Norcross, Bob Cobb. Jo would have been another likely candidate, since he made several trips to Smallville over the years.
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
What got me started thinking about it is that it's supposed to be kind of a key event in Legion history as well.
Clark graduates high school, his parents die, he goes to college and adopts the "Superman" identity... all of this stuff happens in a relatively short period. And around the same time as this, he resigns from the Legion. Not only does it mark the transition from the Superboy to Superman, but it's also supposed to mark the transition from the Legion as teenagers to the Legion as adults.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
After the Psycho-Warrior debacle (LSH #259), I think the Legion was extra careful about giving away the death of the Kents, and were unwilling to deal with it again until it actually happened from Superboy's perspective. The scene that clinches that idea for me is the one between Superboy and Saturn Girl in the Great Darkness Saga, when Imra becomes agitated and abruptly breaks off their conversation when he brings up the subject of the Kents' health.
Problem is, pre-Crisis Superboy and Legion continuity didn't last long enough to see their deaths occur from his perspective. He still looked like a teenager, or very early twenties at the oldest, in his last apppearance in 1985, by which time the founders were in their mid-twenties and about to retire (iirc, it was the same issue). They transitioned to adulthood while he remained a Peter Pan.
From: Reimagined Trom | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by doublechinner: I always found it strange that the Kents were buried in the backyard of their Smallville house, but I guess with all the "custom work" in the basement, Clark couldn't very well sell the house. Wonder how he kept it from becoming a vacant eyesore? Did Pete Ross move in and pretend not to notice what was downstairs?
A lot of this was actually covered in a "Private Life of Clark Kent" 6-page story back in Superman #270 in 1973. You can read it online here at Superman Thru The Ages
Basically, the house did stay vacant, but Clark had torn out all the stuff in the basement, with Pete Ross noticing that it now was bigger. And Pete finally realizes that Clark kept the house not because he was concerned about his secret identity, but because "Superman is actually a sentimental slob!"
And, of course, in the early Legion stories, the house was shown to survive into the Legion's era.
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Back in the 70s it was revealed that retired Chief Parker was now living in the Kent House and taking care of it for Clark.
Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: They would have to appear in 20th century dress, wouldn't they, to not disclose Superman's secret identity?
The Mordru bunch - Lu, Tasmia and Lar - could have attended as the characters they assumed back then, Marie Elkins, Betsy Norcross, Bob Cobb. Jo would have been another likely candidate, since he made several trips to Smallville over the years.
That's right. In his first appearance, Jo went by the name Gary Crane.
-------------------- Craig C.
- Time travel stories are told in chronillogical order.
From: Santa Ana, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
quote:Originally posted by Blue Battler: Back in the 70s it was revealed that retired Chief Parker was now living in the Kent House and taking care of it for Clark.
Interesting. Did Chief Parker know Clark's secret, then?
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
What a great story! Thanks, Pete Ross! Although, shouldn't Clark have been concerned about his parents buried out back? Maybe that was too adult a subject for the time? Leave it to Elliot to work in an antiquities preservation angle. I wonder, did this inspire all that Indian cave stuff on "Smallville"? I also like how Elliot had Clark give Pete just enough info to do the right thing on his own.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by doublechinner: What a great story! Thanks, Pete Ross! Although, shouldn't Clark have been concerned about his parents buried out back? Maybe that was too adult a subject for the time? Leave it to Elliot to work in an antiquities preservation angle. I wonder, did this inspire all that Indian cave stuff on "Smallville"? I also like how Elliot had Clark give Pete just enough info to do the right thing on his own.
That's the first I heard of Clark's parents being buried in the backyard.
In all the stories that I've seen of Clark visiting their graves, it was in a cemetery.
Registered: Aug 2004
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This version has an amazing publication provenance. At the time, developers were trying to build a Superman theme park in Metropolis, Illinois (a fascinating place, BTW). DC produced one of its tabloid-sized treasury editions as a tie-in (I had it, but sadly no longer), "The Amazing World of Superman." That thing was like a Bible for me as a kid! The tabloid had really cool illustrations of the park that LOOKED like they were by Neal Adams. This version of the origin was done SPECIFICALLY to tie in to the park. The park planners had the Kent home as an attraction and Ma and Pa Kents' graves in the backyard, so that's how it appeared in the story! Here's the link:
The 1973 version followed the 1961 version very closely, except the 1961 version had the Kents in a cemetery. So there you go. This is a GORGEOUS story, with Swan's pencils and Anderson's inks. I guess Curt was very fond of it too. And Bridwell's script was iconic. Read it out loud, and you HAVE to sound like a 1940s radio announcer.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
If you haven't seen it, here's the Neal Adams-illustrated tour of the never built Superman theme park. Man, I remember what a thrill it was as a kid to see this.
Sadly, the only development in Metropolis now is a riverboat casino.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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