Clark Kent Friendless Outcast? Well, YEAH, pretty much...

[alschroeder3]

Yeah, being a friendless, bullied outcast is a cliche, but to say it is new to the character of young Clark Kent...is a stretch.

Peter Parker derived his friendless loner characterization from young Clark Kent, not the other way around. Except that Pete's other identity was not idolized like Clark's was.

From the "Boy Who Betrayed Clark Kent", the first Pete Ross story by Robert Bernstein and George Papp, January 1961...

Fuller image below...

In case you can't read it, due to the scan, the bully below is saying, "Beat it home, kid. Your mama wants you." That's Pete Ross, new in town, behind them, who can't abide such cruelty.

Pete hopes he and Clark will be friends, but Clark discourages friendships...

But as his loneliness is very real, not just part of his Clark Kent "act".

From the follow-up story, "Pete Ross' Super-Secret",(July 1961, Otto Binder and George Papp) the one in which Pete learns Clark's secret--but before that pivotal moment:

Pete and Lana are about the only friends Clark HAS in Smallville, as opposed to acquaintances. Even kids half his age bully Clark (From "The Boy With Ultra-Powers", the first Ultra-Boy story (July 1962 by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan)...

And Lana's "friendship" with Clark--one got the feeling that if she didn't suspect him of being Superboy, she wouldn't give him the time of day, when she would sometimes ENCOURAGE bullying pranks to prove who he was (although in the scan below, "Clark Kent" is actually a reform school kid who just happens to look like Clark Kent --which happened quite often in the Silver Age--and who took over Clark's life..) from "Mystery of the Seventh Super Hero" November 1961 by Bernstein and Papp...

From "The Rock'n'Roll Riddle of Smallville",(June 1973) by Cary Bates and Bob Brown...his loner status is mentioned...

He did make a friend of another kid, also a loner, a blind kid named--believe it or not--Don Blake. But Don Blake gained some self-confidence (before his blindness was cured and he found that cane in that Norweigian cave)...and pitied Clark Kent for still being an outcast.

And should we mention Bash Bradford, admittedly a Flash Thompson rip-off originally created by Frank Robbins and Bob Brown? We could do a whole scans daily series on him, and his bullying of Clark Kent. This scene though, was by E. Nelson Bridwell and Rich Buckler in 1980.

Comments

Mod Note!

[icon_uk]

Please trim the image above the cut to be no more than 400x300 pixels.

Thanks!

[alschroeder3]

Done, and sorry! My bad.

[icon_uk]

Cheers!

[btravage]

Maybe if you didn't wear that silly bowtie, Clark, then strangers wouldn't make fun of you.

[icon_uk]

"Bow ties are cool!"

Sorry, someone had to say it, I believe it's now an article of geek law.

[superfangirl1]

I think Jimmy Olsen proves that point often in the silver age. lol

[starwolf_oakley]

So, are we supposed to think the kids in Smallville are utter dicks? Or they "sense" Clark isn't human?

[jaybee3]

I assume its the reverse form of Super-dickery. Which maybe why Superman excelled at it when he was finally grown up.

While I like the Superboy/LSH stories and liked the art, Superboy stories have never been my cup of tea. Clark usually thinks of himself as Superboy first and Clark second, Lana is nothing more than a red-headed version of Lois Lane always trying to prove Superboy=Clark and Pete is a replacement for Jimmy Olsen. And this is the version of young Clark DC wants to revert to?

[icon_uk]

Kal-El before Clark is pretty much how Superman always was too, so Superboy is just following the pattern.

It took Byrne's Man of Steel to have a Superman who was Clark Kent in a cape, rather than Clark being Superman play-acting in a suit.

[jaybee3]

Yes, I know and I think that was the most successful think the post-Crisis reboot ever did. And it worked. Why DC threw that away in the reboot is beyond me.

[starwolf_oakley]

They kept "Clark Kent in a cape" for a long time. Past INFINITE CRISIS and everything. Really just until Grant Morrison. Always comes back to him, doesn't it?

[ozaline]

I think it was the second best reboot after Perez's Wonder Woman but a good reboot none the less.

[silicondream]

Personally, those are the very reasons I liked Superboy so much.

From a wish-fulfillment perspective, it was satisfying to see this 15-year-old kid basically be the universe's most trusted authority figure. Entire planets threw celebrations for him, and he could jaunt through time and be the MVP of the Legion whenever he wanted. It made sense to me that being bullied or ostracized in his Clark persona just wouldn't matter that much to him. I liked how mature Superboy seemed, compared to the typical "my Sports Illustrated physique and telekinetic powers just don't matter if no one wants to take me to Homecoming" angsty super-teens of later comics.

And I preferred Lana to Silver Age Lois, because Lana seemed to actually value Clark's friendship, even if she criticized and dominated him. Lois was just stuck with Clark because they were coworkers; it was Superman who 100% occupied her attention. Plus, Lana basically had Clark nailed down as Superboy, and her quest to officially reveal him seemed more like a mutual role-play game than anything.

[jaybee3]

I liked Silver Age Lana much more than Silver Age Lois as well. Particularly when older Lana came into the story and it was clear she was Clark's friend (even if she vied with Lois for Superman). By contrast there were several stories where it seemed Lois couldn't stand Clark (while she fantasized about being "Mrs. Superman"). I was even a fan of Bronze Age Clark and Lana hooking up (back when they were GBS anchors) prior to the Crisis reboot because it was more realistic than Clark being with the 1970s/early 80s version of Lois.

[icon_uk]

They're kids, a certain degree of dickishness is implied.

[tugrul]

So Superman later on becomes a hero is his own right hero but writers of Spider-Man can't get past tormenting Peter Parker?

Also, Pete is so sweet to Clark. I'm shipping.

[icon_uk]

Well, depends on the era, in the stories shown above, yes Superman was a hero, but Clark grew up to adopt the persona of the not so much "square" as "downright cubic" guy who was the straight-man to the likes of Steve "Asshole" Lombard (That wasn't actually his nickname, but it's what I always thought when I saw him on the page)

And Pete Ross's selfless boycrush on Clark is pretty much canon.

[blunderbuss]

Uuggghh, sorry, but I just can't buy this. There is a gap as wide as the Pacific between 'being a total push-over' and 'beating the crap out of bullies', and making Clark stick to the former despite all sense makes me think he really IS a spineless whimp when I really shouldn't.

Seeing comic book writers - or writers in general - try to write about bullying drives me nuts, because it's obvious they have no idea how it works and how totally damaging it is. Instead they do the same old cliche of total over-the-top villainy that you can't take seriously.

I mean, honestly, they shove Clark out of line at the cinema and trip him in the middle of the street, and yet no one in this small town notices and tell the kids parents. Why not? Oh wait, because then the bullying would stop and there's no drama. Oy.

[starwolf_oakley]

I vaguely remember that Chuck Dixon wanted to do something about bullying in his ROBIN run, and made sure the bully wasn't a Flash Thompson knock-off. Someone more familiar with the series would to post more details.

[tpsreports]

Holy crap, in that last panel Clark is being bullied by Hank Venture.

[superfangirl1]

Lol, now I can't unseen that kid not being Hank.