Conspiracy Theory

[MichaelBailey]

I'd give a spoiler warning, but the fact of the matter is that the comics in question have not come out yet and this is pure speculation.

And yes, the subject title was intentional given the people involved.

Ok, looking at the solicitations for November the bit about Action Comics #845 reveals, "The destined-to-be-classic tale of the Last Son of Krypton by Geoff Johns, Richard Donner and Adam Kubert continues! The explosive return of Bizarro threatens the future of Krypton's last son as Clark Kent and Lois Lane make one of the most heartbreaking decision of their lives. Plus, what does Lex Luthor have to do with all of this?"

Now normally I am not one to openly speculate on a forum, but this occured to me so I am posting it not only here but on several Superman forums throughout the 'net because if I'm right than I am right but if I'm wrong I can at least reference on of the first Superman books I ever read.

So a last son of Krypton appears in the previous issue of Action, at least that is what the solicit led us to believe, and in this issue Bizarro appears and Lois and Clark have to make a heart breaking decision.  Which to me sounds an awful lot like a story from the sixties.

In Superman #140 (October 1960) a three part story appeared that had Bizarro and Bizarro Lois having a child who had a normal, non-Bizarro like appearence.  They sent the child to Earth, it was found by Supergirl and eventually it's appearence changed into the proper Bizarro form.  Fun story.

I'm wondering if something like this is happening here.  I mean in a "it's three months out and I'm only guessing" kind of way.  I just found the connection odd and thought it was worth mentioning.  The two stories could have nothing in common.  Then again the child they find could end up being Bizarro's and they have to give it up, thus the heartbreaking decision.  

Just a thought.  Discuss.

[JulianPerez]

Good find, Mike. One thing that is often forgotten about the late fifties and sixties is how much they depended, not just on the usual crashing spaceships, lasers, and STAR WARS-type stuff, but also on these gut-tearing stories that have the ability to make you cry. I feel very, very sorry for poor Sally Sellwyn, wherever she is now. This is why, a while back, I said that Kurt Busiek was the right guy for Superman: he can tell these kinds of stories with powerful emotions without it feeling fake or schmaltzy.

Once again, part of the appeal of Superman is that he is big enough of a character that when you look at him, you see what you want to see. When my pal Nightwing looks at Superman, he sees a fantastic world with incredible concepts featuring an affable but bland father figure hero. A guy weaned on Englehart and Thomas AVENGERS like me looks at Superman and sees a complex hero with a rich inner life, whose stories deliver on action and science fiction, but what keeps me coming back is the fact we care about the characters, and want to see theiir goals and passions fulfilled.

One thing that really, really bugs me about reboots is the fact that what happens is, they end up doing "retellings" of famous origins and stories AGAIN. This is why the entire concept of the ULTIMATES annoys me: if I wanted to read the first battle between Spidey and Kraven the Hunter, wouldn't I pick up the Ditko/Lee issue where that happened? There's no point in doing this story a second time.

What reboots tend to do is give you "snapshots" of previous stories, using their imagery (e.g. the George Washington Bridge, Pheonix, the Silver Surfer rebelling against Galactus) but with none of their context. They're going to be using Venom in the upcoming Spider-Man film, for instance...however, without the Sin-Eater story, the basic crux of this story (Venom's desire for revenge against Spider-Man) is made arbitrary or irrelevant.