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When Superman died in the much-publicized battle with
Doomsday, he left a vacuum behind. To fill that
vacuum, four individuals emerged to carry on the
legacy of Superman. Three of those did so voluntarily,
but only one was created to fill that role.
Cloning has become such a cliche in comics and sci-fi
over the last two or three decades that most readers
don't even take it seriously, anymore. It has been so
misused that it's a joke, now. But, ten years ago, or
so, it hadn't QUITE been "done to death", yet. Still,
I remember groaning when I first read that the new
Superboy was going to be some kind of clone.
Produced in the government funded research facility
of Project Cadmus, this new Superboy was created in an
attempt to duplicate all of Superman's powers. Unable
to unravel the mysteries of Kryptonian DNA, the
scientists seem to have grafted Kryptonian and human
DNA to produce a hybrid being able to duplicate many
of Superman's powers. Prematurely released from his
gestation tube, by the young clones of the original
Newsboy Legion, (complete with a distinctive costume)
the new Super-, (uh, don't call him Superboy, he said,
at first) the new Superman, was grown to the
approximate physical development of a 15 or 16 year
old, and had been educated while he grew in the tube
to an equivalent level. Considering how he behaved at
the beginning, this is a further indictment of public
education!
When he was brought out of the tube, he had a cape,
but that was quickly shredded on broken glass. One of
the clones of the original Newsboy Legion gave him a
leather jacket and so the new Superboy joined the
jacket-and-tights club.
Shortly after Superman returned, the clone, now
calling himself Superboy, moved to Hawaii and
generally made a nuisance of himself there. For
awhile, he even attended school, as Superboy, but that
didn't last. He met the Legion of Superheroes and even
helped save Valor, Lar Gand of Daxam, when he
succumbed to lead poisoning.
Tom Grummett designed Superboy's first costume and I
suppose it was stylish for about 20 minutes in 1993,
but as the years went by, all those little straps anf
belts that aren't holding up anything just became,
embarassing. I do like the gloves, however.
Superboy avoided team affiliations for a long time,
though in DC-time, it really wasn't so long. When
Superman adopted him as his cousin, and conferred on
him the name Con-El, a couple of years back, it was in
honor of Superboy's SECOND birthday. Comic book time
is a mystery that Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and
Dr. Who could puzzle over til the end of the earth.
But, eventually, even Superboy signed on with a team
of "side-kicks" called Young Justice.
Young Justice managed to fill the need for a team of
young heroes, since the Titans, at the time, were
mostly adult former Teen Titans.
About a year ago, the Teen Titans was relaunched,
this time with a team of young, former Young Justice
members, along with Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy, of
the second-generation Teen Titans.
At least since the start of the new Teen Titans
series, Superboy hasn't worn a costume, seeming to
prefer a black t-shirt with the Superman-shield
emblem, blue jeans and hiking boots. For a guy who's
trying to maintain a secret identity, this doesn't
seem like a great idea. Especially around the old
homestead (he's living with Ma and Pa Kent), I think
he needs something that'll keep folks from making the
secret ID connection.
And then, all of a sudden, there he is in The Legion!
Plucked out of the timestream, his clothes in tatters,
he's now on two teams simultaneously, a thousand years
apart. Of course, the Legion quickly whipped up
something for him to wear, a 31st Century copy of
Superman's costume, with the L* belt buckle.
This is nice, because it could give him a sense of
destiny.
People who know me may have heard an idea I had to
bring Superboy into the Legion without having to worry
about time travel. Though I'm sure it will be fixed,
at some point, Superboy's genes don't allow him to age
normally. He is more or less permanently frozen at
about 16 and the idea struck me, since he helped Lar
Gand escape the 20th Century and death by lead
poisoning, by helping to shift him into the Phantom
Zone, it would be interesting to have the two of them
meet again, in the 30th, nor the 31st Century. Of
course, Valor, now M'onel, got to take the easy road
in the Phantom Zone. No hunger or strife, just
boredom. While Superboy gets to live out a thousand
years the hard way. I would have had him return from
space after spending the last several hundred years
traveling the galaxy.
I thought that, after all that time, with the
accumulated experience and knowledge of a thousand
years, he'd make an interesting contrast with the
brash, young "Kid" of the 20th/21st Century. Make a
useful addition to the team, as well, since the Legion
already has more than enough brash, hotheads.
And that brings us to the purpose of this exercise,
my design for a Superboy costume. I tried to keep a
bit of the lines of his original costume, and use some
black, as they seem determined to always give him a
somewhat "darker" look than his elder. In this case, I
just melded the black shoulder area with the S-shield.
I like the short sleeve look, so I went that way. I
was also inspired by the new Beast Boy costume, even
though I much prefer the name Changeling. I designed
the gloves to resemble his old ones, a bit, and gave
him black boots styled after Superman's boots, with a
decent sole.
With or without the leather jacket, this would work.
It's simple enough not to clash too terribly with
Superman's or Supergirl's style.
See ya next month!
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