Thread: January 28
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Old 01-28-2006, 10:36 PM
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No, but there are limits. A show whose entire purpose is to show Superman's teenage years can't do something that would change everything we know about his adult life, like killing Lois. (Some of us think they already crossed the line by having him meet her this early.)

Jonathan is another story -- and in my opinion, a fascinating one. See, until the Crisis, there were two major time periods where Superman stories took place: his youth in Smallville and his adulthood in Metropolis. It had been established in the very first Superman issue that Clark's parents were dead, so they could only appear in Superboy stories. The death of Jonathan came to be treated as an important turning point in Clark's life -- the moment he realized that for all his power, he couldn't always save those he loved. (Anyone who saw Superman: The Movie will remember this.)

Then in 1985, DC decided to rework Superman to keep the character fresh. John Byrne, one of my all-time favourite comics writers, got the job. The biggest change he made was to eliminate the Superboy period entirely. Clark didn't wear a costume till he was an adult, he didn't meet Lex in Smallville -- and his parents were still around. The latter is the one Byrne change that almost everyone agrees was for the better, because Jonathan and Martha have proven to be valuable supporting characters ever since. Lois & Clark was based on the new Superman backstory, so it had Clark's parents on the cast.

But Smallville's a whole other deal. With one exception -- Clark's lack of a costume -- it took its cue from the old Superboy stories and the movie. Thus Lex was Clark's friend (and bald), an element the show would never have succeeded without. And with those influences, especially the movie, it was inevitable in hindsight that Jonathan Kent would die.

There's an interesting capper to this: the success of Smallville eventually convinced DC to change things around again. They recruited another of my all-time favourite writers, Mark Waid, to do a new official origin combining elements of both its predecessors. So in the comics, Clark and Lex did meet as kids... now. Again. After all.

The past is the future, the future is the past... it all just gives me a headache.
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