Superman reveals his secret identity to the public in a heartfelt, game-changing issue
Aux Features big issues
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What does Superman’s mid-life crisis look like? In the pages of Superman, he’s said goodbye to his villainous father, sent his young adult son off to “future college,” and taken on extra responsibility as Earth’s ambassador to the newly formed United Planets. Big events have forced Superman to reconsider his identity and place in the world, and he’s making drastic decisions as a result. But drastic doesn’t mean bad: This week’s Superman #18 has the hero revealing his secret identity to the world, holding a press conference on the steps of the Daily Planet building. It’s a major turning point, and the issue does remarkable work building up to this life-changing moment with emotional interactions between Superman and his closest friends.
Brian Michael Bendis has had a very busy year and a half at DC Comics, writing four ongoing series and eight miniseries while curating his own Wonder Comics imprint. The results have been mixed, which is to be expected when output is so high, but there’s no denying that the move from Marvel to DC creatively reinvigorated Bendis. With Action Comics and Superman, Bendis explores two different corners of Superman’s world, with the former focusing on Clark Kent’s earthbound experiences with the Daily Planet staff while the latter looks at Superman’s place in DC’s cosmic landscape. Action Comics was the stronger title for the first year because of its more personal perspective, but Superman has since surpassed it thanks to a more consistent art team and a story with huge ramifications for both the character and the larger DC Universe.
Ever since the conclusion of the Rogol Zarr storyline, Superman has been firing on all cylinders. Along with establishing the United Planets and reintroducing the 31st Century’s Legion of Superheroes, it brought the Super Sons back together in a very sweet chapter reuniting Bendis with his Ultimate Comics Spider-Man collaborator, David Lafuente, and laid the groundwork for New Krypton in an issue drawn by superhero legend Kevin Maguire. The regular art team of Ivan Reis, inker Joe Prado, colorist Alex Sinclair, and letterer Dave Sharpe returns for Superman #18, and the character acting in the visuals makes it a high point of this run. Much of this book has been defined by spectacular action sequences, and this week’s issue still holds on to a lot of that dynamic energy despite being made up entirely of conversations.
Superman #18 shows why Ivan Reis is one of the top artists in DC’s stable, delivering intricately detailed artwork that captures all the expression needed to maximize the impact of Bendis’ script. Restraint is a major reason why this issue works so well, and it manifests in a number of different ways. Reis’ layouts are constantly shifting—they toggle between tight panels that create a sense of confinement and more open ones that reinforce how Superman’s decisions liberate him. The first page begins with a close-up on a pensive Superman, moments before he flies down to the Daily Planet. The next four panels are all long and thin, boxing the character in to build tension before it’s resolved with a two-page splash revealing the massive throng of people gathered to hear the Planet’s big news.
This isn’t the first time Superman’s secret identity was revealed (it happened five years ago), but the circumstances have changed dramatically this time around. 2015’s “Truth” storyline exposed Clark Kent against his will rather than having him make the decision to come clean on his own, thereby putting him in a defensive position. That’s not the case in Superman #18, also titled “Truth,” which has him revealing his identity because recent events have taught him that secrets can have major negative consequences when they aren’t brought to light.
Bendis is known for his snappy dialogue, but the most powerful moment in this issue comes when he shows restraint and lets the artwork do the talking. Before telling the world about his secret identity, Clark has to tell his Daily Planet boss, Perry White. This happens in a three-page sequence with no text, and Reis nails all of the emotional beats in his artwork. Clark walks into the office with confidence, but that immediately deflates as he walks past a wall of framed front pages featuring Superman, making him realize how much of a role his superhero alter ego plays in the success of the newspaper. He starts to look around at his colleagues, and it’s clear he’s concerned about what his revelation will mean for their future, but he still needs to push forward.
The panels in the first two pages of this sequence tighten in on Clark again as the pressure mounts, but when he goes into Perry’s office, Reis switches to widescreen panels that open up the visuals. Bendis really understands Perry White’s character, and he doesn’t need words to fill this interaction between Clark and his boss with emotion. The layout here is simple—six repeated panels with slight variations between each—but the storytelling is precise. Perry’s body language in the first panel makes it clear that he’s doing his usual haranguing when Clark walks in, and then he shuts up when Clark opens his shirt to reveal his Superman costume underneath. Clark turns his head down to indicate his shame in keeping this secret, compelling Perry to move out from behind his desk and give Clark a hug to show him support in his time of need.
As someone who struggled to come out of the closet for a decade, I had an intense emotional response to this issue, which examines the fear and anxiety of revealing a major part of yourself that you’ve kept hidden from the world. Unlike Bobby Drake’s coming out in Bendis’ All-New X-Men #40, where he was essentially forced out of the closet by Jean Grey reading his mind, Superman #18 has Superman taking control of his own destiny and sharing his secret on his own terms. There’s one exception in Lois telling Jimmy Olsen before Clark does, but Bendis makes a good argument for this by having Lois tell her husband that she’s known Jimmy longer than him and wants to take responsibility for a secret both spouses have been keeping together.
A secret identity made sense when Clark Kent was growing up, and keeping his powers under wraps helped him connect with his humanity on a deeper level. But Clark isn’t that person anymore. As Adam Strange tells him: “First you have a scared, single, alien orphan…then you have a married, father, superhero.” Present-day Clark has different needs than his younger self, and those can’t be satisfied if he’s worried about keeping his identity secret. Superman’s speech to the press encapsulates what makes Bendis’ interpretation of the character so inspiring, using the lessons he’s learned from humankind to find his true happiness. Every day he sees how humans grow, and he’s inspired by them to make some personal growth himself.
Clark Kent isn’t going away, though. Superman’s birth name might be Kal-El, but Clark Kent is his true identity and Superman is the superhero alter ego. Clark is going to continue being a journalist. (Although Perry White’s sullen face during the press conference indicates that he’s very worried about what this will mean for his publication—and considering how many pieces Clark has written about himself, he should be worried.) But then there’s an even bigger danger, the one that compels a lot of superheroes to keep their civilian identities secret in the first place: villains coming after their loved ones. Superman #18 ends with Lex Luthor silently fuming while the Legion of Doom berates him for not anticipating this revelation, and DC has teased the destruction of the Daily Planet building in the wake of the announcement. Superman’s world is changing at superspeed, and this issue does phenomenal work creating excitement for a future full of intriguing opportunities.
122 Comments
And he odds that this will be immediately retconned the moment Bendis leaves the book are pretty much 1:1.Seriously, Marvel did this with Spider-Man during Civil War in what was both in and out of universe was a publicity stunt.Then a few months later when JMS was about to leave the Spider-Man books he sold his marriage to the Mephisto which somehow altered reality so that Dr. Strange wiped everyone except for Peter and MJ’s memory that he revealed his secret identity in the first place.Though he did reveal his secret identity to the Avengers later on.
Logan in that last panel having one of those “My married friends are having a moment; don’t get involved, just face to plate” moments.
No, he and Bucky Cap were both smirking their a55e5 off. You’d see it if you read the comic.
I was coming in to comment on that. Logan just stuffing his face, thinking he dodged a bullet with the marriage thing.
Logan never gets enough credit for his intellect, and this panel is evidence of it.
Oh god, all of those pages and panels are so fucking awful.
Poor fucking baby.
Billy Tan says your art suck5 too.
Bendis is probably chomping at the bit to write a Luke/Jessica version of Marriage Story.
Bendis is done with Marvel for the foreseeable future. He seemed burned out over there and has been reenergized by his DC stuff.
Didn’t that Avengers reveal happen before the public one? 50 years of comics get jumbled in my mind. Also of course this will be retconned away eventually. It’s comic books. It’s a constant cycle of breaking the status quo and then resetting it back again. I’m currently reading all the new Dawn of X stuff and there is all this talk about how “the world has changed now that mutants can’t die anymore” and my thought was where have mutants been for the last 40 years, fuckers never stay dead. Professor X uses death as an excuse to go on vacation yearly.
No, that definitely happened after OMD.
Must have happened twice because wasn’t Mary Jane and Aunt May living in Avengers tower when Aunt May was shot which started the whole OMD stuff
This was Peter re-telling the New Avengers his identity after Mephisto/Dr. Strange magically covered it up. So most (all?) of these people previously knew Spider-man’s identity. But you are right that this is the second time in a couple of years that Spidey revealed his identity to the New Avengers and Jessica Jones. The first time she never mentioned that they knew each other. So this was a do-over to do the scene right. The public reveal in Civil War was dirty pool because Marvel was already erasing it and that was the only reason they did it. That makes it different and worse than most big changes where people say “it’ll be reversed soon.” They figured since they were erasing his Marriage they could market some other big deal things they could erase. It cheapened everything and makes Civil War non-sensical in retrospect.
Professor X uses death as an excuse to go on vacation yearly.
Quoted for accuracy.
Every single big moment in comics is very likely to be retconned. As long as the writer tells an interesting story with it, who cares what the next writer does?
Oh I know. I just get annoyed that these big dramatic shake-ups don’t have long lasting consequences.
I’m less concerned about the retconning than the rehashing. A superhero revealing their identity is no longer a big deal, and for Bendis, feels like an old trick from his Daredevil run. Seems tired and low hanging fruit.
Exactly. Though DC does it differently. It seems they pretty much start almost from scratch every few years.
Peter Parker is just your average nebbish loser who has horrible luck and who every hot girl in his immediate vicinity falls in love with.
It balances out when you remember that unless you are directly related to Peter or are married to him, the longer you hang out with him the more likely you’ll turn evil.
I had no idea they decided that he went to high school with Jessica Jones.Who was in love with him.That’s… All kinds of awful.
Jessica Jones going to school with and having a crush on Peter Parker (and the Human Torch) goes back to the original Alias series. It’s part of the flashbacks in the Purple Man arc.
Man, I do not remember that part of alias. It’s been a long time. I also wasn’t a massive fan despite some great ideas. Which I suppose sums my perspective on Bendis.
Also, still awful.
Well, Bendix is in general awful. No dispute there. Dialogue he’s written since at least 2011 is unreadable to me. Those Avengers issues came out while I could still stand him though.
I’m trying to imagine Jessica Jones’ dialog there coming out of Kristin Ritter’s mouth and I just can’t picture it.
Try picturing her being at high school with Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland, that’s even harder.
“Luke, if you don’t keep quiet, I’m going to give you a smackwich.”
Cage would be one of the few people who could survive a Jessica Jones-delivered smackwich. Maybe Hulk.
Eh. Peter was a nebbish loser, but he loses the glasses and levels up in confidence fairly early on.
“Marvel did this with Spider-Man during Civil War in what was both in and out of universe was a publicity stunt.”It was long believed (and eventually confirmed) that the main reason Spidey revealed his identity to the world was because Joe Quesada *hated* Peter Parker being married, so this was part of a long-term plan that would paint Spidey into a corner so that he would have no choice but to sell his marriage to the Devil (Mephisto).
Marvel tried to make Peter single years earlier saying that MJ died in a plane explosion, and the fans revolted and said they knew MJ was still alive. This time Quesada was determined to have his way so he set-up a scheme where Spidey had revealed his identity to the world, was on the run from superheroes and the authorities, Aunt May was shot and dying, and he had no other option but to make a deal with the devil, undoing his marriage.Marvel is on record saying that they knew the fans would hate the marriage being eliminated this way, but they fully expected that with the new stories they would be able to tell with a “single Peter Parker” they would accept it in about a year. The stories were average at best (Freak, Menace, Paper Doll, etc) and the fans never accepted it. Ten+ years later they still want the marriage back. At least new writer Nick Spencer has Peter and MJ back together as a couple, and a recent issue showed that Peter was about to propose but missed MJ at the airport.
Quesada’s absolute obsession with ending the marriage, and doing it in such a stupid, stupid (rat creatures) fashion… Sigh.
And after refusing to answer the readers’ questions about why Peter and MJ didn’t get married, Quesada decided to write the story himself that explained it, including these gems:- Spider-Man, a man who can dodge bullets, cannot dodge a cinderblock thrown by a normal man while that man is on the ground and Spidey is ~10 feet above him in midair.- Spidey literally misses his wedding because a fat man lands on him and knocks him unconscious.- Aunt May’s bullet wounds are cured by Peter doing chest compressions on her.
Just write a good solid story of two adults who have grown apart and separate. It was never that hard. The thing about the anti-MJ/anti-marriage camp, for me; that group of 40-something (50-something?) writers wanted the version of spiderman that existed (for a relatively brief window) when THEY were kids. It’s been talked about how in modern comics and movies, many today’s creators come to the table with a more limited well of inspiration. They are inspired by comics or the movies they loved as kids, not necessarily building on a more layered or worldly set of influences.For the VAST majority of people who know Spiderman, Mary Jane is the woman. Gwen died a long, long time ago. Single college Peter was a period. He has been with MJ, married to MJ, for… What? Half as long as he has existed? More? Less? A SIGNIFICANT chunk of his existence. The 90s cartoon. The Raimi movies. Other media. It’s MJ.That does not mean it HAS to remain MJ, but Quesada is the fanboy who had the power to “fix” something… Ie restore a specific version he is nostalgic for. “His” spiderman. Geoff Johns is horribly guilty of this as well. I like the return of Hal Jordan, mostly; he had a fairly terrible exit. And gl lets us still have others. But me? Kyle was MY first gl. A better example is flash. Wally West was flash longer than and more successfully than Barry. But Johns had to undo all of this to bring Barry back; the flash from when he was a kid reading comix. And so forth.
So incestuous and insular.
The problem with that directive is that there is no way to write a good story where Peter and MJ split up. The characters had been through too much already and always come out stronger and more in love. To suddenly have one/both of them decide that they didn’t want to be together anymore shows a misunderstanding of the characters. Quesada tried to break them up in One Moment In Time, which ended with Peter and MJ breaking up and Peter saying he felt like he had been set free. I know nothing about Quesada’s personal life, but writing that I have to assume Quesada has never been married or been in a long-term relationship in his life, if he thinks that after breaking up with someone that you spent so much of your life with you would “feel free”. Also, OMIT is widely regarded as one of the worst Spidey stories ever (it would be “the” worst if not for One More Day, where Spidey trades his marriage to Satan (Mephisto) so that his ~80 year old aunt can live another 5-10 years. Good move, Pete.Marvel/Quesada said for years that they didn’t want to divorce Peter and MJ because “that would age the character” – they wanted Peter/Spidey to be a young character, not someone who has been divorced. So their first idea to get rid of MJ was to kill her off, which made Peter a widower, aging the character even more than if he was divorced. More proof that Marvel had no idea what they were doing with the character.I agree about Marvel’s current desire to have Spidey’s default status quo be a teenager in high school, when that was almost a footnote in his history. Lee/Ditko aged the character in real time so he was out of high school by ASM #30. Peter/Spidey’s default status quo is a college student – once he got to ESU they stopped aging the character in real time and he stayed in college for many, many years.
Great points!
I grew up on Wally West, too, so it drives me crazy that Barry Allen is the Flash again. I have no interest in Barry, and Wally has been in a weird limbo ever since he returned.
Everyone prefers comics at the status quo they grew up with. Quesada grew up with single Spider-Man, so it felt weird to him for Peter to be married.I grew up reading comics with Peter being married, so it feels weird to have it be undone through a deal with the devil. I just checked out completely when they undid the marriage via that route.
Quesada is not that much older than me so he would have grown up reading a mature Peter Parker who was single for a long time but proposed to MJ two different times, grew up and matured after graduating college, and always went back to MJ, both as a romantic interest and as a best friend. Even before the marriage, Peter was a not the “single young guy dating multiple women” that Marvel said they wanted him to be after they got rid of the marriage. Peter either had no romantic prospects, or he dated one woman exclusively. The Peter that Quesada and Marvel were so eager to get him back to never existed in the first place – not even in the Lee/Ditko/Romita era.
I agree that a man on the town conception of Peter never existed, but having Peter single, even if he dates one woman exclusively for long periods, still goes back to a status quo that is more like the first roughly 30 years of the character’s stories when Quesada was likely growing up on them. So yeah he may have proposed to MJ twice (and been exclusive with her and Gwen and whoever for long bouts), but the key is that the regular rejections left the option open for Peter to explore romantic stories with other characters. They could have him date a different character exclusively to tell a story, then move on. I know just before I started reading in the late 80s there was the arc that introduced Black Cat as a love interest that occurred in between periods with MJ. You lost the ability to tell those stories once Peter was married.Which is fine! There were lots of other story options that were introduced instead, the stories I first read and are my Spider-Man. So I can understand the motivation behind Quesada’s decisions, but I don’t agree with them, and don’t really read Spider-Man anymore as a result.
But that status quo that Quesada and Marvel long for Peter to go back to never existed. They were very open after One More Day saying that they wanted Peter to be a swinging-single (no pun intended) and dating multiple women. The second Brand New Day issue literally opened with Peter kissing some random woman with Peter’s narration talking about how this woman was “macking” on him (showing that Marvel writers not knowing how young people actually talk was not a problem that only 1960s Stan Lee suffered from). This was adult men trying to live vicariously through Peter even though these actions were never anything the character was about.Once Peter and Gwen were in a relationship, Peter thought about marrying her all the time. Gerry Conway admitted that he killed off Gwen because there was nothing else to do with the character except have Peter marry her (also he said that MJ was a much more interesting character to write than Gwen). And after Gwen’s death and growing closer to MJ, Peter proposed to her too. Peter has always been about finding someone he loves and committing to her 100%. He’s never been this casual-dating person Quesada remembers but never actually existed.As far as the Black Cat, yes Marvel lost the ability to tell those kind of stories with a married Spidey, but that argument (which Marvel has used many times) shows limited vision. For example, they act like before the marriage Spidey had 10 different type of stories that could be told with a single Spider-Man, and after marriage you lost 6 of those stories. But they never mention (or they just don’t understand) that there are many different type of stories that can *only* be told with a married Spidey. In my analogy you gain so many more story possibilities with a married Spidey than you lose. They talk about Peter getting married like it’s an ending, but they can’t understand that it’s really a beginning.
Also, the Black Cat was only in love with Spidey, not Peter. When he actually unmasked in front of her and described who Peter Parker was, she was disgusted and asked him to put his mask back on (she assumed he was a billionaire with a Spider-Cave type of lair). At that point Spidey realized that although he loved Felicia, they had no future together because he needed to be with someone who loved both Peter and Spidey. It was no coincidence that they broke up about ~20 issues later.
Awkward comment, dude
“Hmm, who’s a character we have whose imminent death Superman can somehow only stop through a deal with Etrigan despite him living in a world with wizards, super science and personal friends with God-like powers?”“…Emil Hamilton?”“Good enough. Get that secret identity reveal out of here!”
Agree, but I believe you meant something other than a 50/50 shot (which 1:1 is)
I’m only here for the bitching.
Ive never liked these plot lines. The whole point of being a hero is anonymity. Now you have people gunning for loved ones and millions of liability lawsuits coming your way.
If we’re talking about journalistic integrity: there’s no way Clark could keep his job, or that Louis could keep hers. You can’t perpetually write stories about someone to whom you have a secret, intimate personal relationship. It violates all of the ethical standards for journalism. Both of them would have to be fired.
Yea, see, things are a bit different due to the New 52 reboot. New 52 Superman never got into a relationship with Lois. Wonder Woman was his longtime lover, and while Clark and Lois were good friends, they never went beyond that. Moreover, Clark quit the Daily Planet to start his own news site with Cat Grant.Then, it was revealed that there were two Supermen on Earth. One was the New 52 Superman, and one was the pre-Flashpoint Superman, living with pre-Flashpoint Lois Lane, who spent his time as a farmer on the outskirts of Metropolis. They had a son named Jonathan. Eventually, New 52!Superman died and the pre-Flashpoint!Superman took his place, with Jonathan becoming Superboy.
…which is a long way of saying “Comiiiiiccc Booooooookkkkksss!!!!”
This entire thing was supremely stupid and confusing
It’s not different though, because not-New 52 Superman and Lois both took jobs with the Daily Planet and did the thing seanpiece is talking about.
Ow…my head.
To make things even more confusing, due to the machinations of Mr. Mxyzptlk (Who is the same Mr. Mxyzptlk from the Post-Crisis timeline.), the Post-Crisis Superman and his family were integrated into the Nu52 Universe as if they had always been there. And none of the stuff involving the Nu52 Superman ever happened.
That is one of those ideas that the more you think about, the more it looks stupid. For instance, every time Superman says Batman is his oldest and most trusted friend in the superhero community, or that he is proud of fighting along the noble Wonder Woman for so many battles in his life, or that Jimmy Olsen is the greatest pal in his life, it’s all a lie, because the Batman, Wonder Woman, Jimmy, and everybody else he has ever met besides Lois has been dead since at least “Flashpoint”. These current versions he has been living with since his return are not the same ones he knew but, for all intents and purposes, from his viewpoint, dopplegangers. Batman himself stated several times in their first times together that he had trust issues with this Superman, because it was not the one he knew.
Okay, but none of that matters. What matters is that this is a damn Superman comic book.
okay we need another Crisis reboot now. This is too confusing..
Well, that is one of the few instances in which comics can realistically play things as they are in our world, because it’s 2019 and ethical journalism is dead… In fact, in the real world Clark kent would be pursued for hiring by every major news network after that revelation…
bOtH oF tHeM wOuLd hAvE tO bE fIrEd
Drawing glasses on picture of Superman…..My God, it’s true!!!!!!
A caveat that I have not kept up with most mainstream comics since just after the first few months of New52, so this may have already been covered (though at the same time it sounds like there has been another reset after the last reset, reset, reset).Are they, or have they (will they?), raised the issue of Supes’ citizenship in this storyline*? Not going to put this well, and I believe they have used it before, but asking because I think with Mr. Bendis writing this version would be an interesting background story in today’s climate to have it covered. Thanks.
*Or does the current origin still use the “he wasn’t actually born/finish gestating/whatever until his rocket safely landed on Earth/in the U.S.A.” version, sidestepping the issue?
Last I checked Superman has officially said he a citizen of the world and not one country and who is going to fight with Superman about it.
“I’ll fight him!”
I can think of one person…“Krypton, they’re not sending us their best people…”
But what about Clark Kent?
Not sure how citizenship laws work when someone’s home country doesn’t physically exist anymore.
“I know, right?”
Sometimes they don’t; there are actual stateless people even today (for example people born in Latvia when it was part of the Soviet Union but who don’t meet the requirements of Latvian citizenship are citizens of no country. Which is pretty messed up).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-citizens_(Latvia)
Well, continuity is kinda messed up because this isn’t New 52 Superman, it’s Original Continuity Superman. When they officially ended the New 52, they revealed that OG Supes and Lois were hiding out on the New 52 Earth the whole time and eventually had a son named Jonathan. The New 52 Superman was killed and OG Supes took his place. It’s kinda weird since everyone else is still their New 52 selves.
Actually it’s more like he’s the Post-Crisis Superman as if he had always existed in the Nu52 Universe.
But didn’t their memories and histories get more or less melded together? I read the Superman Reborn crossover when it was published as a trade but kind of rifled through it super fast because it was due back at the library real soon.
It’s not like they’re going to know about his gestating or baby details anyway except his parents word. Who might be dead now? I haven’t kept up. But yeah, who’s paying his taxes and social security as Clark Kentf?
Who the hell cares about “Supes’ citizenship”? It’s, like, a crazy person’s thing to care about.
There’s actually a law on the books that grants him citizenship. He’d be considered a foundling, since his birth parents are dead and therefore unreachable, Clark would be considered a natural-born American.
A lone voice can be heard in the sea millions as he makes his announcement.“we know!”
If only I could find a clip of Patrick Warburton’s Tick reacting with confusion every time The Champion puts his glasses on b/c Tick doesn’t recognize him anymore.
This has a similar bit.
Pete Holmes at his best.
He discussed this with Lois first, right? She’s okay with all the LexCorp sniper rifles that are going to be aimed at her from this day forward, right?
I mean, odds are they were already being aimed at her anyway so…
I will say that one of the best things DC’s recently done with Lois is give her a solo series which is basically issue after issue dodging sniper fire and doing it with aplomb. She’ll be fine.
Stupid.
Is he still going to go by “Superman”, or now that the need to hide his identity is no longer needed will everyone just start calling him Clark Kent?I wasn’t reading the comics, but when the world learned that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, did he still wear the mask that no longer made sense?
Probably Superman professionally and in uniform and Clark when just walking around in civvies. I don’t imagine him wearing the cape and tights all the time.
Oh, if we can have silly names professionally, then I’m going to go by Greatgal at work.(Let’s be honest, “Superman” is a silly name. No disrespect to a character that has been fantastic in the right hands.)
I mean, it’s succinct..
Superman reveals his TRUE identity: He’s a DICK.
This is obviously going to be erased eventually but Clark’s interaction with Perry really got me, and his conversation with Jimmy was downright hilarious.
Is he going to French-kiss memory wipe everyone on the planet?
I don’t buy White giving Clark a hug after his big reveal. How many stories about Superman has Kent written? White should be super pissed-off that one of his reporters was actually PART of a story and not being honest about it. I think it’s pretty clear Bendis was trying to draw an analogy between Clark revealing his double life and the struggle a lot of people have had to come out. But Clark’s double life has serious professional implications for him as a journalist, possibly career-ending.
Depends how much you care for somebody and what the situation is. People have hugged and never been mad at people that have killed their loved ones all the time. This isn’t as bad as that.
“People have hugged and never been mad at people that have killed their loved ones all the time.”
Uh… what? What bizarro world are you living in where this is a common occurrence?
It might sound crazy, and is, but this is Christian America. The land of forgiveness.
This was pretty big news recently:
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/03/766866875/brandt-jeans-act-of-grace-toward-his-brother-s-killer-sparks-a-debate-over-forgi
“Clark, what’s your source on this.”“Me. I saw it. With my super-eyes. And heard it. With my super-ears.”“Uh, I don’t think that’s good enough to print. I mean, you could just be making it up.”“But I’m not.”“But how do we know?”“I have … super-honesty.”
That’s one part the last story where Superman’s identity was revealed got right.
I think the bet Bendis is making is that Perry probably always knew but didn’t push to expose Clark because of the greater public good, and because that relationship has deepened over the years. That’s not a bad thing for journalism, necessarily, but I don’t trust him to really address the aftermath with nuance.
This sounds like a terrible idea, for all the same reasons Peter Parker’s unmasking was a terrible idea. Next thing is Dr. Fate, Bruce Wayne, and Scot Free will come up with some device that erases everyone’s memory. It will cause a psychic blind spot!
let’s be CLEAR: brian bendis SUCKS wanna go through a list of his “ideas”? …please don’t make me start with his garbage Avengers
so he’s telling people he’s kal-el?
NOhis “true identity” is KAL-EL, last survivor of Krypton his DISGUISE is Clark Kent jesus, haven’t you seen Kill Bill Pt 2?
Cool I guess. Maybe some great story from this before inevitable retcon.
I still think the whole idea is stupid, a gimmick to generate sales, and something it will be totally retconned sooner than later. But I’m ok with it, since at least is mildly entertaining in the moment, and mostly well executed in universe.But…I say “mostly” well executed because where Bendis seriously dropped the ball is in the reactions from the JL and Batman. The only person in the JL having the proper reaction is Wonder Woman, displaying the correct worried face, since this: a) put an enormous burden on the Leaguers, because now every civilian on Superman’s life has become a hot target, and; b) set a dangerous and bad highlight on the team, because from the revelation of Superman’s secret identity any villain with half a brain would have very good leads on the identities of the rest of the League (“Oh, look at all those people to who Clark Kent seems to have exclusive access and write about constantly, who also are related to the towns and events related to superheroes!”).As for Batman, he is shown smirking, when he should be fuming, much more pissed off than Diana, because this was the exact kind of idiocy that Bruce has been talking Clark to not do since forever, as it paints targets on pretty much everybody around him.
So I assume all the awards Clark Kent got for his exclusives with superman will be stripped from him immediately since they were written under false pretenses?
At least he has his shorts back. I’m being serious.
This is possibly the dumbest headline I’ve ever seen on this site.
I don’t read Superman, but if his identity was revealed against his will a mere 4 years ago, that kinda takes the bite out of him revealing it now, yes? Unless they’ve retconned it in less than 4 years, and are already repeating that story line?
“It’s…it’s okay, Clark. I wear Underoos sometimes, too. Batman, usually. And not at the office. But…I get it. You’re not alone.”
If his adoptive parents are no longer around, and he’s not married, of course he can reveal his secret identity, disposing of it forever. And he should be doing superhero stuff 24/7 and all over the world, not only in Metropolis. All of the above is why I prefer Batman over the goody two shoes boy scout from Krypton.
Bendis really likes breaking the toy’s doesn’t he?And repeated panels….
“Yes, I have a question for you, Superman. Where do you buy your glasses? Cause those *really* change the shape of your face. A lot.”
One thing I find it hard to agree with is Perry being surprised by this. I forgot where it originated, or even if it’s in-universe or a meta topic, but there was a belief that as good a journalist as Perry White is, he would’ve known to a degree that Clark is Superman, and Jim Gordon is a good enough cop that he would’ve suspected Bruce Wayne is Batman.Of course, we can read this instance as White being surprised that Clark finally revealed it to him, but it kinda takes a bit of the magic out of it for me.
I’m pretty sure it’s Lois that has been written as suspecting Clark is Superman (which is then followed up with him coming clean to her). I’ve never seen anything that even implied Perry knew Clark was Superman.
Jeph Loeb. The Public Enemies arc, I think.
This!!! I remember reading something (might have been the novelization of Knightfall?) where it was implied that both Perry and Gordon knew who Batmand and Superman were. But they didn’t tell the world since they trusted both men were doing good and needed their secret identities to connect with everyone else. Perry just might be surprised that Clark revealed he was Superman and realized how brave it was of him..Or it just could be shitty writing..
I wasn’t happy that DC let Bendis ruin Jon Kent and throw away the best status quo Superman had in years, but it was all worth it so they could recycle the exact same story that ran before Rebirth.
Yeah, it seems like every idea Bendis has had so far for Superman has been just terrible. This seems like the worst one yet, especially since they’ll undo it again in the near future.
I still think this should be the endgame of the current season of Supergirl (for her, not him).
nothing from dc comics after 2010 matters.when old booster gold comes back and says “i fixed everything” i’ll start reading again.oh he got “time cancer” you say?“nothing from dc comics after 2010 matters.”also this is on thanagar? the neutral location for the universal united nations is thanagar? yeah. that’s going to last.ffaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart.
who are those people?
Superman
I don’t want this to last. Too many villains and warlord aliens will be attacking civilians with a connection to Clark.