Superman: The Odyssey...

[thelazyreader]

Many years ago I read an ad for a Superman story with the tagline: 'Before the name, before the cape, there was just a man, searching for the truth.' and was greatly intrigued. I later read the actual story, Superman: The Odyssey, written by Chuck DIxon and Graham Nolan, which explores the period when Clark was traveling around the world prior to settling in Metropolis. It's collected as a TPB, in case any of you find it as touching as I did.

(BTW the TPB I have is 52 pages, so this many scans should be fine. Nevertheless a warning to those with dial-up net connections)


The story begins in the present, with Superman displaying a rare degree of badassery(He even has a few wisecracks!) as he busts up a Kobra hideout.



The ass-kickery is momentarily interrupted by a news report about the execution of one Terri Chung, the 'Rhana Bhutran', by the Chinese army invading the (fictional) country of Bhutran. Before we proceed further, yes, this story involves a thinly-veiled allegory of China's invasion of Tibet. Try not to let that dissuade you from reading it.

Superman apparently recognizes the name, because it we cut to a flashback of a young Clark traveling in Paris.



Unfortunately another tourist whipped out her camera and took pictures of the incident. She's a hot Oriental gal named Terri, who decides to follow Clark around so that she can see more interesting moments. And Clark gains a new lady friend.



Hmm. Isn't this relationship going a little fast?



Hot damn! Unfortunately, their fun is interrupted by the untimely arrival of... masked assassins. And Clark discovers that he doesn't need to dodge bullets.



Turns out Terry's been hiding a few things from her new friend. She's not just an average Bhutran tourist. Her father is the Dalai Lama Rhana Bhutran, the spiritual leader of TibetBhutran. She ran away from home because of daddy issues(Her father wanted her to join a monastery and prepare herself to lead the country, she just wanted to be normal and have fun). Clark, being the responsible young man he is, insists that she needs to return home. So, dodging a few more assassination attempts, they make their way to Bhutran.



Bhutran is as peaceful as you'd expect a remote Himalayan country to be. As they head to the palace, Terry prepares to meet daddy(and introduce her new male companion).



Now I must ask you to brace yourself, because Clark about to meet a certain stranger.



I suppose you all know who that was. No? Well, apparently it was another young American visitor, who had come to study under the Rhana Bhutran and was expelled for saving the Rhana from an assassination attempt. Strange? Well, the Rhana is a little different from your average Buddhist monk...



Thankfully for the story's sake, he behaves acts a little more rationally with Clark and thanks him. Later Clark consults him for a little spiritual guidance.



So Clark stays at the palace for a while, tries a little Buddhist meditation and gets closer to Terri. But as with all such stories, the bliss doesn't last.



Yup. The nasty Chinese Commies are finally here. Peaceful attempts at annexingintegrating Bhutran have failed and the Red Army is marching.



Oh... sad but not unexpected. Having killed the Rhana the soldiers aim their guns at Terri next. Clark is so enraged by their aggression that he does something which many here would find questionable but which I remember fondly to this day.





Wow.

The invasion is routed, but Terri resolves that with her father dead she must perform her duty as the next Rhana Bhutran. Clark's destiny leads him along a different path, and he leaves Terri.




I guess Clark felt he owed Terri one more miracle.

I always find stories regarding the formative years of superheroes interesting. In Superman's case I only read a couple of other stories of this sort(disregarding Origin reboots). If anyone here has any recommendations please let me know.

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

SUPERMAN #118, where Lois decides she *does* want to marry Clark, has a similar background. While working abroad, Lois befriends a young Indian/Asian man, who says he was rescued by an American some years ago and inspired by said American. At the end of the issue, the Indian/Asian man shows Lois a photo of himself with the American, and, yes, it's a young Clark.

[mullon]

Was the Rhana Butran supposed to be Jack Kirby?

[blake_reitz]

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[amaniwolf]

Wow, until you mentioned it, i didn't even consider it. Still...i did enjoy this story, showing that Clark evolved into the Superman we know and love.

[cypherfdp]

Jack Kirby is a lot of religious figures, huh?

Next thing you know, he's going to turn out to be Buddah.

[philippos42]

Pfft. Jack Kirby could paste Buddah.

[starwolf_oakley]

Well, he doesn't hate hippies. But he does hate communists.

Its hard to imagine Bruce Wayne wanting to hang out with peaceful Buddhists, even to learn fighting styles.

[thelazyreader]

He didn't travel just to just learn fighting styles. Apparently he learned how to manage with one hour of sleep per day and even picked up a technique to stop his heartbeat from a Himalayan monastery.

[zyriex]

Oh yeah, and there are those Chinese monks that can condition their bodies to resist extreme temperature, both hot and cold. Probably would be helpful against say, people like Mr.Freeze (at least before severe frostbite sets in)

[thanekos]

"They just don't make terrorists like they used to, Kobr-*hackcough*"

[comicoz]

Gotta love the Bat-shadow!

[cypherfdp]

Who was that mysterious character, anyway?

I think it may have foreshadowed the first appearance of Deathstroke.

[salad_barbarian]

It knows that the evil that lurks in the hearts of men is superstitious and cowardly.

[teamrodent]

The Stig?

[xammax]

It had glaring eyes!!!!! Bruce should not go near these place. I am amazed Clarks shadow didn't hand out freaking cookies.

[crinos]

screams subtlety doesn't it?

Like that elseworld where Bruce Wayne is a victorian era Psychiatrist and his colleague, Professor Crane, always has a scarecrow shaped shadow.

[abates]

You'd think it would tip people off.

[lonewolf23k]

"yes, this story involves a thinly-veiled allegory of China's invasion of Tibet. Try not to let that dissuade you from reading it."

Dissuade me? That just encourages me.

[blackruzsa]

I read "masked assassins" as "naked assassins"...
Besides that, the bat shadow wasn't obvious at all.

Also, I forgot up until just now how easily people equate communists with bad.

[espanolbot]

It doesn't help that in comics the only heroic communists are womanising jerks whose competancy level wobbles dramatically (Oliver Queen) or violent vigilantes (Anarky).

Then you get into non-American communists, like Black Widow (who is a villainess some of the time and not distinctly a communist, just Russian), and they tend to be mostly Russians who act like throwbacks to the USSR.

Love Sausage was cool though.

[icon_uk]

It doesn't help that in comics the only heroic communists are womanising jerks whose competancy level wobbles dramatically (Oliver Queen) or violent vigilantes (Anarky).

Which I'd counter with Red Star, Rocket Red, Gates from the Legion, that half of Firestorm for a while, the Russian teen team, Soyuz.

[mistersandman]

I was going to say that very few of those guys have had any relevancy since the Cold War ended, but Anarky isn't exactly what I would call high profile these days either.

[fifthie]

It doesn't help that in comics the only heroic communists are womanising jerks whose competancy level wobbles dramatically (Oliver Queen) or violent vigilantes (Anarky).

The only heroic everything in comics are violent vigilantes.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Strictly speaking, I wouldn't say that Anarky is a communist, per se - as his name suggests, he's an anarchist. His philosophies may verge on socialism at certain points, but not communism. There's a name for the specific philosophy he espouses - it's something that his creator, Alan Grant, believes in - but it's not coming to me.

[mistersandman]

Superman glibly putting the Fear of God into the GODLESS COMMIES seemed a bit off-color to me, but I suppose it makes sense for someone raised in the American midwest.

[psychopathicus_rex]

'Fear of a higher power' might be a better way of putting it - 'Fear of God' just sounds snappier, and is a term that would come more easily to Clark, given his Kansas upbringing.

[zyriex]

Yeah, "Fear of God" is snappier than "Fear of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" isn't it?

[psychopathicus_rex]

Takes less time to say, anyway. And while it would be awesome if he was, I highly doubt that Clark Kent is a Pastafarian.

[fifthie]

As I said in the post about child Superman hanging out with J'onn, I love these early-Superman stories in which Superman is actually like, a decent guy with a powerful belief in doing the right thing.

[fifthie]

In fact this is actually a good example of how you tell a story about a Superman committed to doing the right thing nevertheless having to deal with internalized struggle and conflict with himself.

[goblinthebamf]

interesting scans, but, er, "hot Oriental gal" is a questionable phrasing.

[thelazyreader]

It was either that or 'Hot Chinese girl' which would be wrong.

[psychopathicus_rex]

'Hot Asian girl'?

[goblinthebamf]

...not sure if serious.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Those assassins are smarter than most. The reaction of most people on discovering that Clark is bulletproof is to KEEP SHOOTING AT HIM - like that'll help.

'OK, 105 bullets didn't do it - maybe the 290th one will do the trick!'

BUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDA

'Hmm... Let's shoot for five hundred.'

[mcity]

Wait, when was the last time a mainstream comic depicted someone saying they'd wait until marriage to have sex?

That's not a rhetorical, by the way.