Panel Biter Podcasts

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Prime Problem: Rebirth of The Cruel

Let us continue to talk about the craziest Superman by far. And that's counting the "Man of Steel" version. Today we explore the other half of Superboy-Prime's history.
In the 2007 event "Sinestro Corps War", former Green Lantern/current Yellow Lantern Sinestro led his army into Oa and attacked The Green Lantern Corps. Along with the revived Anti-Monitor, Superboy-Prime was recruited into The Sinestro Corps and received a Yellow Power Ring, fueled by the fear he'd instill in his victims. Superboy-Prime began calling himself "Superman-Prime". He did this A. Because he was around eighteen years old at this point and B. Because the families of Siegel and Shuster were in legal battle with DC Comics over the rights to "Superboy". It may be odd that Prime worked with The Anti-Monitor, seeing as how The Anti-Monitor was responsible for his world's destruction, but Prime stuck around simply to have his revenge one day. Well, that one day was actually pretty soon. During a battle between the two Corps, Superman-Prime flew through the wounded Anti-Monitor's body to attack one of The Guardians of The Universe. The Guardian sacrificed himself to kill Prime, but instead sent him through time itself.
We see him again in a headquarters he built in The Source Wall. Oh, that? The Source Wall is the SPACE BETWEEN OUR REALITY AND THE DC COMIC'S REALITY. It is there he tortures Superman's 5th dimensional villain Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Earth 3 version of Zatanna hoping their powers could recreate Earth Prime. He ultimately gets fed up and kills Earth 3 Zatanna. After a journey to Earth 51, Prime is lost in time and sent to an alternate future by a villain known as The Time Trapper. It is here Prime finds a Superman Museum where he is remembered as a footnote. From this museum he learns of The Legion of Super-Villains, criminals who were inspired by "a dark being who's name was never spoken". Prime found this team and told them that he was that "dark being". At first, The Legion of Super-Heroes and Superman were overpowered by Superman-Prime and The Legion of Super-Villains, but after getting the help from Bart Allen/Flash and the revived Connor Kent the tides of the battle turned. Superman and the three founders of The Legion of Super-Heroes were transported by The Time Trapper-who is revealed to be Superman-Prime from the future-to his timeline. Superman and friends drag The Time Trapper back to the battle and he and Superman-Prime of the present argue over each other's actions. This results in a paradox explosion that sends Superman-Prime to a recreated Earth Prime.
For the next year of his life, Clark lives on Earth Prime without his superpowers. However, everything he did within the DCU was still published on Earth-Prime which means his family and friends see him as a psychopathic murderer and the DC Comics Fan Community sees him as a lame villain. Clark joins multiple online forums trying to defend his actions. He collects every DC comic book published after his return to Earth Prime searching for some remnant of his presence. He lives in his parent's basement because his parents are afraid for their lives. One comic he buys alludes to his ultimate fate, but as he searches across the country for the next issue he finds it has not been published yet. He is met by Alexander Luthor of Earth 3 who was revived as a Black Lantern. Alex spoils the next issue by telling Clark that his character "dies" in the DCU. Alex also gives Clark his powers back. Clark flies to the DC Comic's building in New York City and demands answers from the writers and he learns what Alex said was true. Before he could kill the writers, Alex transported Clark back to his home, destroyed his comic book collection, and left him with a Black Lantern Ring. Since his character was "died" in the books, the ring could assign to him. Alex leaves as Clark submits to his fate and dons the Black Ring, only for the ring to self-destruct from emotional overload. With his last hope extinguished, Clark blames "them" (the writers) for robbing him of a happy ending. It's then his girlfriend Laurie shows up and tell him that "they" sent her to tell Clark that "they" won't bother him ever again. As they hug we see a Black Ring on Laurie's finger either implying she is a Black Lantern or that everyone on that Earth is a Black Lantern because they were all killed and revived.
Although he was told he'd be left alone by DC Comics, Superman-Prime returned when a villain named Headcase brought him back to the DCU and recruited him onto his team to battle The Teen Titans. Clark was understandably upset he was separated from Laurie. At the end of that story Superboy and Supergirl sealed Prime away inside The Source Wall. So, currently, Superboy-Prime is trapped BETWEEN THE FICTIONAL WORLD AND OUR WORLD.
Scary stuff. I should have wrote this in October. For my thoughts on this character tune in for tomorrow's wrap up to this terrifying trilogy!
Thanks for reading!

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