Here...After more than a year of grieving, then (re)introducing the Man of Steel back into proper continuity SUPERMAN REBORN reestablishes the role of greatest hero as the mystery surrounding “Rebirth” continues!
When we lost Superman in the present evolution of the DC Comics universe, readers couldn’t have ever imagined that there was another Man of Steel waiting the wings to swoop in and save the day, unfortunately this version of Superman wasn’t ready to steep into the boots especially given he has a family — a wife and child — to protect. Nonetheless he couldn’t stay hidden, and before to long this Superman revealed himself to the members of the Justice League. Imagine having to explain to them including Batman and Wonder Woman that he was not “their Superman”.
So who is he? Well that’s part of the mystery surrounding the current company-wide reboot of the DC Comics line entitled “Rebirth” and as Superman returns to reclaim his proper place as the Earth’s Greatest Champion, the recent 4-issue arc Superman Reborn which ran its course in recent issue of Superman #18 and #19, and Action Comics #975 and #976 worked to answer some questions including who may be behind all the mischief that has been plaguing the Super-Family recently.
At the center of the entire drama is the son of Superman Superboy! First introduced during the final days of “The New 52” Superman, the child of Clark Kent and Lois Lane from an alternate timeline (specifically the one prior to the “FlashPoint” reboot) survived during the Convergence event, which claimed pieces of previous versions of DC Comics continuity and kept them inside of a living lab watched over by Brainiac and the living planet Telos. When the “Covergence” wrapped up Superman, Lois Lane and Jon (Superboy) escaped to the Prime-Earth (or Earth-0).
Once they arrived, they kept themselves hidden and avoided attracting attention, but were immediately wrapped up in the death throws of Superman’s dying counterpart. Upon the death of “The New 52” Superman energies were released that resulted in the emergence of a Superwoman (the adventures of Lana Lang are evolving in her own title out now). There was also an imposter Clark Kent floating around, but we’ve recently learned that this was the Fifth Dimension menace of Mr. Mxyzptlk who had also been held prisoner by the mysterious Mr. OZ.
Mxyzptlk kidnaps Jon and effectively erases him and all trace of Superman’s and Lois Lane’s life on earth while stealing Superboy and brining him into an “Infinite Planet” dimension. There he forces Superman and Lois to play his game to rescue Jon. There he reveals to Superman that he’s been split into two — including his “New 52” persona as the other side of the coin. During the ensuing challenge, Jon comes across two, distinct energy sources that prove to be the displaced energies of the recently deceased “New 52” Superman and Lois Lane.
Superboy convinces the pair of his sincerity, that he is indeed their son, and convinces the pair to realign themselves with a glowing set of blue energy that represent his parents. Once the energies all come together, the histories of Superman and Lois Lane begin to realign themselves into one, elements from both pasts and present, filling in the gaps. With Mxyzptlk effectively defeated, Superman and Lois Lane finally restored to their proper selves, along with their son Jon, the Superboy return to earth, unaware that they are being closely watched!
Although the place of the Man of Steel within the current world has been reordered and (somewhat) corrected, the mystery of “Rebirth” continues and will be further explored in an upcoming arc appearing in the pages of The Flash and Batman. Stay tuned!
Superman Reborn written by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Dan Jurgens with art by Patrick Gleason and Doug Mahnke is on sale now from DC Comics.