Everyone knew that Superman had left the planet Earth, and many realized why. But of course, none of them knew that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same. Wouldn't Superman's disapperance have coincided with the unexplained absence of Clark Kent, reporter?

One would think; but by a tragic coincidence this was not the case.

Before Superman's voluntary exile, Clark Kent had been working on a series of stories exposing the criminal activities of Intergang, Metropolis's chief criminal organization. This provided the perfect cover to allow Clark Kent to "disappear" for awhile, by going under cover to avoid reprisal by Intergang. Clark arranged with his parents and Lana Lang to keep up the illusion that Clark Kent was still around by giving them copies of his stories to mail in at regular intervals. This was a great plan and would have worked well, had it not been for some bad timing.

A private investigator, hired to look into Clark Kent's life, broke into his abandoned apartment. While he was there, a hit squad from Intergang arrived. Mistaking the PI for their target, the assassins struck. Soon the headlines were there: Daily Planet Reporter Found Dead in Apartment!

When Superman returned, so did Clark Kent--seemingly from the dead. Investigations by the police soon cleared up the mystery, however, and Perry White and the rest of the Daily Planet crew were thrilled to have their star reporter back.

His return to the Planet turned out to be somewhat temporary, however. Collin Thornton, publisher of Newstime magazine, approached Kent with an offer he could hardly refuse: to join the staff of Newstime as Managing Editor! Clark (who at this time was beginning to be affected by the Eradicator) recognized the logic of taking the job offer and quit the Daily Planet!

His tenure at Newstime was short-lived, however. As a reporter on the streets, it was easy and convenient for Kent to disappear at a moment's notice to become Superman. A Managing Editor, however, does not have that same freedom. Thornton was continually frustrated by Kent's many disappearances and inexplicable behavior, and soon fired him. Clark returned to the Daily Planet on a freelance basis.