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houseofel
houseofel
05 October 2007 @ 12:44 pm
Who is Clark Kent's Big Brother?  
My fave story in Action Comics Annual #10 from this year which was written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner (yay!) and illustrated by Eric Wight, raises an intriguing question that catches one's attention: "Who is Clark Kent's big brother?"

When Clark was still a school boy in Smallville, Pa Kent told him to avoid playing sports with other kids because it could be dangerous and he could harm someone. Clark grew up without a friend who'd really understand him, someone he could show his superpowers to without fear of them completely freaking out. He had to come up with excuses why he's not joining in games. Even pretend he's of a weak disposition.
Still, Clark could not prevent the papers from printing stories about him (a mysterious "flying-boy") and his heroic deeds whenever they spotted him.



The tale begins with a newspaper photo of Ben Hubbard and an article reporting this very "flying-boy" stopped a fire on the man's farm. Clark begins: "Today the paper run some more stories about me... Today Mr Lang swerved his car so he wouldn't hit Pete's golden retriever... Today I got so close to Lana Lang I could smell her perfume..."





It's a rocket ship, crashing! Clark goes "Whoa!", flies up and tries to slower its descend for a while but is thrown away, the ship's coming down too fast. It crashes in the middle of a cornfield. Someone's in it:











It continues:

They're in the storm cellar where the locked safe is.

Clark: "You don't have to do this."
Mon-El: "I need to make sure I am who we think I am. You said you had a Kryptonite rock."
Clark: "In that safe but --"
Mon-El: "If you expose me to it, we'll know I'm Kryptonian."
Clark: "Kryptonite is poisonous to you and me. It could hurt --"
Mon-El: "And if it does, maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight. Please, Kal."
Clark: "All right. But Pa wouldn't like us doing this --"

Clark opens the safe and picks up a lead box. A green glow can be seen underneath the lid...

Mon-El: "Aaaahhh!"
Clark: "Mon-El?"
Clark narration: "He got sick and buckled over in pain. His skin turned white. But it was impossible. I hadn't even opened the box yet. The Kryptonite was still encased in lead."

Mon-El: *sweating* "I remember, Kal. I remember... My name is Lar Gand."

It continues:









Such a sad ending! "I wish it was Monday again." LOVE that line. It's like the writers made the whole story begin on a Monday just so it could end with that great line.

A bit later in Donner's run in Action Comics it was shown Mon-El is still waiting for Clark in the Phantom Zone. It's been years since they last saw each other. Superman met him there again in issue #851, though sadly he hasn't come up with a solution yet how to free his friend.

Mon-El: "Kal... Do you remember what you said the day we met?"
Superman: "I said... I said I'd never met anyone who understood me before."
Mon-El: "I never told you... I didn't either."
Superman: "Mon-El... I'm sorry."

From Action Comics #851 (scary Phantom Zone!):



One day Mon-El will be free. ;_; Superman will find a way to get him back.

Is it just me or does Clark look a bit like Harry Potter in this art? :)

I also wanted to thank everyone who commented on my previous post about the JLA movie news/no MOS news. *hugs friendslist*
 
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damo: supeslost[info]damos on October 5th, 2007 12:15 pm (UTC)
Ah, Mon-El! Such a wonderful hurt/comfort story. Those old LoSH stories were pure, pure gold.

All the villains in the phantom zone mocking him...
Keeping his faith in Clark...
The moments he can get out and help Clark...

Pure, pure gold.
houseofel: SR Clark in the barn (S chest)[info]houseofel on October 6th, 2007 02:57 am (UTC)
Yeah, too bad a wonderful character like Mon-El couldn't stick around in present Action Comics... He'd make for a great ally for Superman and he'd get way more exposure if he was in Supes' main titles IMO... A lot of people don't know about him.
Rizny: STM drowning[info]rizny on October 5th, 2007 12:32 pm (UTC)
*cries*

Poor woobie Clark, so lonely. I read the scary PZ stuff on [info]scans_daily awhile back and was somewhat confused about Mon-el, but got the general gist of it. Reminds me of some comic somebody posted about Clark and Pete playing baseball and along comes Bruce and Alfred with a blown-out tire or something, and Bruce wants to play with them but doesn't. :(

Okay, the Harry Potter resemblance is really creeping me out! It makes me think of some (hopefully just imaginary) really bad fanfic where Kal-el lands in England and becomes Harry, or whatever...bleah. At least the art is pretty.
Rizny: STM drowning[info]rizny on October 5th, 2007 12:32 pm (UTC)
Forgot to ask - does he ever get Mon-el out of the PZ?
damo: supeschains[info]damos on October 5th, 2007 12:43 pm (UTC)
He does. In the far distant future of the LoSH. Brainiac 5 finally finds a cure. The current version of the Legion (Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes) just got to that story a few months ago.
houseofel: HP glasses - Undersirable Number One[info]houseofel on October 6th, 2007 03:01 am (UTC)
Clark looks like little Daniel Radcliffe in the first Potter movie. The hairstyle is THE SAME. Give him round glasses and he could be his twin brother! o.O

The resemblance threw me a bit at first. He even has a red t-shirt, like the red of Gryffindor. And the letter 'S' on the front reminds me of the 'H' on Harry's pullover that Mrs Weasley knit him in the same movie.
damo[info]damos on October 5th, 2007 01:10 pm (UTC)
Speaking of your post about the JLA movie...

According to The New York Times, JLA does not have a final script and it has not been green-lit. Feature films such as JLA "are now being seen as high-value targets by those at the writers guild who advocate an immediate walkout should no deal be reached."

The Times reports, "The question at hand is whether writers, in the event no deal is reached, can inflict maximum damage on their bargaining opponents by striking immediately rather than continuing to work and letting the studios add those films to their strike stockpile."

http://movies.ign.com/articles/823/823906p1.html

Were I less lazy, I would go dig up the original Times story...
damo: supesmyxedup[info]damos on October 5th, 2007 01:16 pm (UTC)
Less lazy than I thought...

Only this month Warner Brothers began a last-minute push to prepare its “Justice League of America,” a multisuperhero extravaganza to be directed by George Miller (“Happy Feet,” “Mad Max”) early next year — if the studio can get a viable script together, never mind a complicated cast. Kieran and Michele Mulroney, who did uncredited work on “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” have worked on the project, which still does not have a so-called green light to begin production. A spokeswoman for Warner Brothers declined comment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/movies/29writ.html
houseofel: SR Clois - Lonely road[info]houseofel on October 6th, 2007 02:42 am (UTC)
The NY Times article is talking about things we've already heard from insiders quite a while before, actually. The article only took the strike angle (again nothing new but more detailed, it's a very interesting read) and focused on that and how it could affect the movie. It gave a little hope to MOS fans for a couple of days but pro-JLA fans weren't fazed by it at all... It's this article Sanchez of IESB mentions in his post and that it's actually wrong by saying there's no script, the movie DOES have a script (2nd draft) and that Miller can work on it during pre-production and well into filming (fix stuff along the way). It's a workable script, NY Times is being technical by saying it's not "finished". That may be so but it doesn't have to be finished for this movie to start shooting. *sigh* The female countingdown insider said the same thing about the drafts.

IMO the article can be seen as false hope for MOS fans who would like JLA to be delayed so much that it's past the pre-strike deadline and has to be canceled. I don't think an "unfinished" script will keep the JLA team from working hard on the project. It would take something huge to put an end to the whole thing... ;_; They know they have to work fast.

IESB also said JLA's status could be "Prep" for a long time, maybe up to 6 weeks till they start shooting, so it doesn't have to be officially greenlit by the studio anytime soon. But it can go forward just like movies who have been greenlit. Just without any announcements.
WB may not give any statement on the movie for months. I can imagine people waiting for some "official word" till mid January if WB prolongs the "prep" phase and starts shooting in early February. We've been waiting for any word for 2 months already.

Some people also believe there won't be a strike, the parties will make a deal before it happens. History will repeat itself (a few years ago we thought there would be one but it never happened?). Last time there actually was a strike (late 80s?) the loss was like $500 mil, I've heard. Studios wouldn't want it to happen again. Who knows at this point. But it looks like Miller can work with the script he has already... And rumours are the script's great, the key roles are cast (again contradicting the NY article which was published BEFORE we got rumours they have the cast already, so it could easily be outdated by now), etc. We have new rumours on JLA almost every week. The movie's probably further along than we think. It's what pro-JLA people hope and many "Man of Steel" fans fear.

I'm still skeptical and don't take rumours for facts, of course, but I can also imagine JLA happening. IMO it's doable. That's the "sad" part. To me, at least, since I want MOS and Routh. *hangs head*
damo: supes zod[info]damos on October 6th, 2007 05:14 am (UTC)
Ah, I hadn't heard this news before, but I'm don't actively following much movie news (as they likely will be released where I am 3-6 months after they are released everywhere else in the world...)

It is tough. I'd love a good JLA movie. But I'd love to see MoS move forward also...
Rebecca: gotta be the cape[info]becs1024 on October 5th, 2007 01:29 pm (UTC)
I love the art on that story. And so sad! I have somewhat of a weakness for kiddie Clark, which is why I actually started watching the LoSH cartoon (so cute!!).
houseofel: SGA John & Rodney (green)[info]houseofel on October 6th, 2007 02:51 am (UTC)
One of the reasons I love kid Clark and young Clark are the many stories writers can come up with without repeating the same old material over and over again (like Metropolis-based stories, for instance). They can introduce new characters and friends for Clark, put twists on already existing tales, show us more about his life on the farm, his "growing pains", etc. Not Clark fighting the bad guys/aliens like he does as Superman in the present but shorter, character-building stories and episodes that you like to come back to and re-read when you're feeling nostalgic. :)

They did just that with Superboy comics. I love Superboy comics, even though it's hard to imagine a young Clark in tights, I'm so used to the origin that says he first put on the suit when he was an adult. :) But lovely stories nonetheless.
saavikam77: Clark Pleased[info]saavikam77 on October 5th, 2007 03:24 pm (UTC)
Oh, young Clark is so adorable! *loves him*

That was such a sweet and poignant story. Too bad they couldn't cure Mon-El until the time of the LoSH.
houseofel: SR comicbook!Clark in the office[info]houseofel on October 6th, 2007 02:54 am (UTC)
I wish they saved the Mon-El story for either "Action Comics" or the "Superman" run but I can see why they wouldn't do that just so his main titles had the "coolest" stories. :) Other runs have nice little gems, too, and this is a big one IMO. Mon-El's a great character, I wish we'd see more of him in present time.