Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Doomsday Clock, Superman | Tagged: brian bendis, dc comics, Doomsday Clock, gary frank, geoff johns, jonathan ken, ma and pa kent, martha kent, matt fraction, secret identity, superman

Will Doomsday Clock #12 Bring Back Ma and Pa Kent to Superman? (Spoilers)

Matt Fraction appeared on John Siuntres' Word Balloon Podcast talking about his work on Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and working with brian Bendis and the rest of the Superman team. And talking about the upcoming Superman/Clark Kent 'no more secrets' identity reveal in the Superman comic books. He mentioned a small spoiler regarding the spluttering reaction of Daily Planet sportscaster Steve Lombard drawn by Kevin Maguire to discovering that Superman and Clark Kent are one and the same, and turn into an Alex Jones-style 'Identity Truther' refusing to believe that Clark Kent could be Superman.

But what may be a bigger spoiler comes a little later when he talks about the reaction of those in Smallville says "we have a beat – I think Greg's going to write it, a Ma and Pa Kent thing that is one of my favourite things we have come up with. I can't even say for sure whose idea it was, what's that going to be, what's it going to be for Ma and Pa Kent?"

Originally Clark Kent's adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, died when he was young, shortly after his graduation.

In the post-Crisis reboot by John Byrne, his parents were de-aged and were alive when he was Superman…

… and that de-aging would continue in Superman: Birthright, and then again in Superman Secret Origin with Geoff Johns and Gary Frank – the authors of DC Comics' unauthorised sequel to Watchmen,  Doomsday Clock – showing Jonathan Kent would later die of a heart attack.

But in the New 52 reboot, Clark Kent's parents died when he was young again, killed by a drunk driver, on the night of Clark Kent's high school prom. And it was that reality we saw at the beginning of Doomsday Clock, with Clark Kent dreaming of them.

Hmm. that's interesting given the upcoming Superman storylines, right?

Consider this Chekhov's dead parents.

It has now beem revealed that Dr Manhattan was responsible for the New 52, by changing DC Comics history, by removing the Justice Society Of America, after he had seen all these changes playing out.

But Fraction seems to suggest that Ma and Pa Kent will now be alive again. Is this going to be a result of Dr Manhattan and Superman's confrontation in Doomsday Clock #12? Will it be a continuation of the pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois lives being merged with the New 52 versions? Will Manhattan give Superman the gift he's longed for – messing with his parental history again? He's lost Jor-El – will he gain Ma and Pa again?

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Superman #18 is published on the 11th of December. Doomsday Clock will be published on the 18th of December, as is Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #6. Lois Lane #7 is out on January 1st. Superman Heroes is published on January 29th.

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