Reign of the Supermen #146: Conner

Source: Teen Titans vol.3 #1 (2003) to today
Type: Current SuperboyAfter his series ends, Superboy goes from a solo star to a team player, appearing regularly in Teen Titans with an entirely new look that ironically looks much less youthful. He takes a human name - Connor Kent - and a Kryptonian one - Kon-El - during this era. The new direction also comes with a retcon: His clone parentage, previously established to be Cadmus' Paul Westfield (with manipulations), is now half-Superman, half-Lex Luthor. Consequently, he starts to exhibit true Kryptonian powers in addition to his tactile telekinesis. Simple disinformation or reality punch? It would be fun to think that Superboy-Prime gave himself more trouble than the previous continuity offered.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes at DC, the Superboy name was knotted up in much-publicized litigation. What was DC's and what was the Siegel family's? While the lawyers had at it, Connor stopped calling himself Superboy, stopped wearing the semblance of a superhero uniform, and was ultimately killed by Superboy-Prime. When things were settled, he was of course allowed to return to life in Legion of 3 Worlds to finally defeat Superboy-Prime.

He's back and between Geoff Johns' Adventure Comics revival and the new Jeff Lemire-penned Superboy series, it's been a good year and a half for Conner. I really like the new/old paradigm, with a Superboy in Smallville, helping at the farm and trying to finish high school. A really fun supporting cast is assembling around him, from older characters like the always appreciated Krypto the Super-Dog and the wise Ma Kent, to newer faces like Lex's niece Lori Luthor and weird science whiz Simon Valentine. Johns knows how to relaunch a character, and Lemire is perfect to write small town weirdness. Good days ahead...

Comments