Superman in his preteen and teen years
Superboy is a superhero that appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Don Cameron and is based on the character of Superman that Siegel co-created with Joe Shuster. Superboy first appeared in the comic book "More Fun Comics" #101 in 1945.
Superboy is Superman in his preteen and teenage years. Most of his adventures take place in the fictional town of Smallville.
Publication history.
The first pitch for a "Superboy" character was originally made by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel (without fellow Superman co-creator Joe Shuster) in November 1938. The idea was turned down by Detective Comics, Inc., and the publisher again rejected a second pitch by Siegel two years later.
After the appeal of kid superheroes had been demonstrated by the success of Robin, the Boy Wonder and similar characters, Detective Comics reversed itself in late 1944 and started publishing a Superboy feature, in an effort to expand the Superman franchise by presenting a version of the character to whom younger readers could easily relate.
Superboy first appeared in "More Fun Comics" #101 (January/February 1945, published in late 1944). Though Joe Shuster supplied the art, the Superboy feature was published without the input or approval of Jerry Siegel, who was serving in World War II. This fact increased an already-growing rift between the publisher and Siegel and Shuster.
After just seven issues of "More Fun Comics", the Superboy feature moved to "Adventure Comics", where he debuted in issue #103 (1946) as the cover and lead feature for the anthology comic. In a period when the popularity of superheroes was generally in decline, the adventures of Superboy became increasingly popular.
Three years after the move to "Adventure Comics", Superboy became only the sixth DC superhero to receive his own comic book when "Superboy" #1 debuted in 1949. "Superboy" became the first new superhero title to succeed since World War II.
The first Superboy story also updated the origin of Superman, and for the first time shows his father Jor-El as being aware that his son Kal-El would have powers on Earth that he does not have on Krypton. In this original story, years after his arrival on Earth, Clark Kent saves a man pinned under an automobile and subsequently decides to become the costumed hero Superboy. Clark appears to be a preteen in this story, and in his first story in "Adventure Comics", he actually celebrates his tenth birthday.
In the first couple years of the Superboy feature, Superboy remained a boy close to that age. The character gradually aged, however, and by the time "Superboy" #1 was published, Superboy was usually depicted as being in his early teens.
Billed as "The Adventures of Superman When He Was a Boy", Superboy stories in both "Adventure Comics" and "Superboy" treat him as essentially a junior version of Superman. To that end, he wears the Superman costume and (beginning in "More Fun Comics" #107) his alter ego Clark Kent wears glasses as a disguise for his civilian identity. Superboy's powers are identical to those of Superman, including enhanced strength, speed, vision, and hearing, plus flight and invulnerability.
Though clearly superhero stories, Superboy's earliest adventures shared features with non-superhero comics of the late 1940s. For example, the three stories published in "Superboy" #1 had elements of teen romance, juvenile delinquency, and teen humor. In the words of Robert Greenberger, "No costumed super-villains plagued Smallville."
Not only are the earliest Superboy stories free of supervillains, Superboy himself is essentially earthbound and remains in the story "present." Not until 1949 does Superboy take a trip to the Moon, intercept a comet in outer space, and fly back in time to the American Revolutionary War.
Mythos and supporting cast.
After the debut of the "Superboy" comic, Superboy's mythos and supporting cast expanded as well. His home town finally received a name, Smallville, in the second issue. The town's location was never specified, although it was usually placed close to Metropolis.
Superboy's foster parents, previously only Mr. and Mrs. Kent in their infrequent appearances in the Superboy feature, finally appeared on a cover ("Superboy" #3), began appearing more frequently in the stories, and received permanent first names, Jonathan in "Adventure Comics" #149 (1950) and Martha in "Superboy" #12 (1951).
"Superboy" #8 (1950) saw the first adventure of "Superbaby," a character which extends the "Junior Superman" concept to that of a super-powered toddler. The Superbaby stories are set in the time just after the Kents adopt Clark. "Superboy" #10 (1950) featured the first appearance of Lana Lang, a character that would become a romantic foil for both Superboy and the grown-up Superman. Lana's debut also featured her first attempt to learn Superboy's secret identity.
In "Adventure Comics" #210 (1955), Superboy acquires a superdog, Krypto, the first additional survivor of Krypton that he meets. Though Superboy regularly interacts with the Smallville police, Chief Douglas Parker, who first appears in "Adventure Comics" #225 (1956), is the first officer to become a regular supporting character.
Pete Ross first appears in "Superboy" #86 (1961) and quickly becomes Clark's best friend—and just four issues later, the guardian of his secret identity after accidentally finding it out while witnessing him changing into his costume. Bash Bashford, bully and a nemesis of Clark, became the last major addition to Clark's supporting cast with his debut in "Superboy" #157 (1969).
Early on, the Superboy feature became a platform for backdating first meetings between Superman and members of his supporting cast, nearly always contradicting previously established continuity. Thus, Superboy first meets Perry White in a 1947 story ("Adventure Comics" #120), and in the following year, meets Lois Lane ("Adventure Comics" #128), years after the adult Clark Kent had first met his fellow "Daily Planet" staffers in Superman stories. In a similar vein, Kal-El later meets toddler Jimmy Olsen ("Adventure Comics" #216, 1955) while still Superboy, as well as meeting a time traveling teenage Jimmy Olsen ("Superboy" #55, 1957).
Superman's first meetings with a number of his fellow superheroes were also backdated to his adolescence. Thus, Superboy meets Bruce Wayne (Batman) in "World's Finest Comics" #84 (1956) and on three subsequent occasions; Clark befriends short-term Smallville resident Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) in "Adventure Comics" #258 (1959); Superboy teams up with Aquaboy (Aquaman) to fight polluters in "Superboy" #171 (1971); Superboy meets Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) in "Adventure Comics" #453 (1977) and Clark befriends Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) in "New Adventures of Superboy" #13 (1981).
Time period of Superboy stories.
The story about the first team-up between Superboy and Aquaboy was also the first story that occurred in a "floating timeline," with Superboy stories taking place perpetually 15 years or so behind the current year.
In the earliest stories, the time period in which Superboy's adventures were set was never clearly defined, with some adventures seemingly taking place in the same year the story was published. For example, in a 1952 story, Lana Lang participated in a "Miss Smallville of 1952" contest.
In the late 1950s, Superman comic editor Mort Weisinger decided to place all of Superboy's adventures in an early-to-mid-1930s setting, in light of Superman's first comic appearance being in 1938. In 1970, the Superboy writing staff decided to "update" Superboy by setting his book always about 15 years behind Superman. This resulted in the 1970s stories featuring Superboy being set in the 1950s.
Starting with the debut in 1980 of a new Superboy comic, the Boy of Steel's era was moved up again, to take place in the late 1960s/early 1970s. This also explained Superman's shifting age within his own comic books.
Enemies of Superboy.
In 1953, Mort Weisinger became the editor of "Superboy" and "Adventure Comics", and under his guidance, Superboy began to acquire a regular cast of supervillains. Some of these villains first made their appearance in the Superboy feature, and would later go on to plague Superman.
Superboy first meets another human survivor of Krypton, Klax-Ar, a villain who claims he destroyed the planet, in "Superboy" #67 (1958). Three years later, both the Phantom Zone and its most infamous occupant, General Zod, make their first appearances in "Adventure Comics" #283 (1961), in a story that features Superboy accidentally trapping himself in the Phantom Zone after a cache of dangerous Kryptonian weapons arrives on Earth. Zod and other Phantom Zone villains would become recurring villains in Superboy stories, and go on to plague Superman.
The first Bizarro, in "Superboy" #68 (1958), is an imperfect copy of Superboy.
The Kryptonite Kid and his dog, aliens who could project Green Kryptonite radiation, start bedeviling Superboy and Krypto in 1960 ("Superboy" #83).
Superboy's cosmic heroics also earn him the enmity of an alien criminal task force, the Superboy Revenge Squad starting in "Superboy" #94 (1961). Two months later, the Revenge Squad started showing up in Superman stories.
Some of Superman's established foes were also backdated to his days as Superboy. Mister Mxyzptlk, the magical imp from the Fifth Dimension who had been Superman's bane since 1944, begins plaguing Superboy in "Superboy" #78 (1960).
The most famous example is the young Lex Luthor. In a story in "Adventure Comics" #271 (1960) that purported to reveal the origin of the enmity between Luthor and Superman, Lex is revealed as a brilliant Smallville teen who is a friend of Superboy until Lex blames him for a lab fire that destroys a critical experiment and causes Lex to lose his hair.
Superman's first encounters with his mineral nemesis, Kryptonite, were also backdated to his boyhood. The first Superboy story with Kryptonite, in "Adventure Comics" #171 (1951), followed the first Superman comic with Kryptonite by three years—and its use on the "Superman" radio show by eight years. Five years later, a Superbaby flashback in "Adventure Comics" #231 (1956) backdated Clark's first encounter with Kryptonite yet again.
Though Green Kryptonite, the type that can kill Superman, originally appeared in Superman stories, Red Kryptonite, whose temporary effects on Superman are unpredictable, made its first appearance in the Superboy story in "Adventure Comics" #252 (1958).
Legion of Super-Heroes.
Unlike his adult self, Superboy inhabits a world that is (in his time) largely devoid of other superheroes. Superboy occasionally meets heroes from other worlds, such as "Mars Boy", through both his visits to their worlds and their visits to Earth. Kal-El even meets time-traveling teen heroes of the future, including Robin and Supergirl. Mostly, though, Superboy lacks superheroic peers with whom he could regularly interact.
In 1958, a Superboy story called "The Legion of Super-Heroes" in "Adventure Comics" #247 changed all that. The story features three super-powered teenagers from the 30th century who offer Superboy membership in their superhero club, the Legion of Super-Heroes. Although this was intended as a one-shot tale, the three future teens returned as guest stars in late 1959, and over the next three years, the Legion appeared periodically in Superboy, Supergirl (who also joined the Legion), and even Superman stories. The team membership also exploded from the initial three members to nearly twenty. Finally, the Legion got its own feature, starting in "Adventure Comics" #300 (1962), with Superboy usually, but not always, appearing as part of the team.
The popularity of the Legion of Super-Heroes soon rivaled that of Superboy himself. Nine issues after their feature debut, the Legion displaced Superboy as the lead feature in "Adventure Comics", and soon forced original Superboy stories out altogether. Superboy's last consecutive original story in "Adventure Comics" #315 (1963) ended a run of 213 original Superboy features in the series.
Superboy still appeared in nearly every Legion story through "Adventure Comics" #380 (1969). In the next issue, the Legion was replaced by Supergirl, while the Legion (usually without Superboy) took over Supergirl's spot as the backup in "Action Comics". In 1971, the Legion moved over to "Superboy" as a semi-regular backup. History repeated itself as the Legion backup feature quickly became more popular than the title feature. Beginning with "Superboy" #197 (1973), the cover logo was changed to read "Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes", and the Legion, including Superboy, took the lead spot in the comic.
The Superboy backup in #197 was the last original Superboy feature to appear in his own title. With the next issue, "Superboy" became an exclusively Legion of Super-Heroes title, with Superboy appearing in every issue as a Legion member. The series title remained "Superboy" through #230 (1977), after which the series became "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" from #231-258. With "Legion of Super-Heroes" (vol. 2) #259 (1980), an issue in which Superboy