Thursday, May 29, 2014

Superman: The Secret Years #1 (of 4)


Sometime in the late 70s and early 80s, a series of short stories were published in the back of certain Superman themed comics that told of Clark Kent’s days at Metropolis U. The series only lasted a couple of years with about a dozen tales total. The writers of the series desperately wanted to continue telling some untold tales of Superboy as he was growing into the Man of Steel. But for various reasons, the project never manifested. Now, it’s 1985 and with the history erasing Crisis on Infinite Earth’s quickly approaching, it was do or die time to conclude the early days of Clark Kent.

  In this first issue, Clark is still Superboy and is asked by Kansas officials to help recapture Lex Luthor, who has escaped from a juvenile detention facility. While searching for Luthor in his spare time, Clark Kent must come to terms being the only boy out of a group of 4 dorm mates without living parents. Also, one of his roomies is succumbing to alcoholism. When Luthor finally makes his plans known, it’s up to Superboy to save Metropolis from the fiend’s criminal intentions. Sadly, it’s a decision and action that may cost Kent the life of his roommate.

   I enjoyed this tale, but in this first chapter, I really didn’t know what was going on. I had never read any of the college years tales of Clark Kent before. In fact, my little spiel at the beginning of this review was all comic book history that I didn’t learn until a “Letter from the Editor” article at the end of this issue. Now that I know more of the background of Superman: The Secret Years, I think the rest of this miniseries will be more enjoyable.

  Worth Consuming.

  Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

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