Superman 137 – the saga of Super-Menace

Siegel, Swan and Forte spin a full-length story about an evil double of Superman in issue 137 (May 1960).

The story has the rocket carrying the infant Superman hit an alien ship while on its way to Earth.  The ship emits a double of Kal-El’s rocket, complete with a double of the baby, which also heads to Earth.

The double gets found and raised by Wolf and Bonnie Derek, two small time hoods.  The first chapter largely contrasts the way Ma and Pa Kent raise Superbaby to be a good child, and the way the Dereks raise Superbrat to be evil.

The baby is barely able to walk before they start using him in their crimes.  Oddly, the Dereks do not become as fabulously wealthy as one would expect.

The second chapter jumps up to the teenage years.  We see little of Superboy in this chapter, but Superbully, as the double is called, learns of his doppleganger.  He comes to Smallville and impersonates Clark Kent, successfully with Lana Lang, less so with Krypto.  Because Superbully is not Kryptonian, he unwittingly helps Clark convince Lana that Superboy is someone else, when he does not have any ill effects from the kryptonite she exposes him to.

Only in the third chapter to the two meet, as adults, with Super-Menace hunting down Superman.  The two are fairly evenly matched, both able to survive a nuclear blast. Super-Menace has the kryptonite advantage, which he is in the position to use to kill Superman.

In a bit of a lame out, at this point Super-Menace finally learns that his adoptive parents consider him a monster, and have never loved him.  They have also succeeded at concealing this from their child for decades, only expressing it now.  But it’s still a bad idea, as Super-Menace abandons Superman, who gets away from the kryptonite, and instead chooses to kill the Dereks, and himself.

 

Tagged: Clark Kent, DC Comics, Krypto, Lana Lang, Ma Kent, Pa Kent, Superman