Superboy: The Hypertime Black Zero Saga

[superfangirl1]

Superboy#60

















Superboy#62

















Superboy#63


















Superboy#64

Comments

[buttz]

Thanks for posting -- this was a fun stroll down memory lane.

I picked up Superboy #60 following The Kingdom when I was a kid because I thought that Hypertime seemed like a cool concept and thought that DC would be using it a lot in the future. Swing and a miss on both fronts!

[zachbeacon]

I read every single Kingdom tie-in and I'm still fuzzy on how Hypertime is different from the multiverse.

[lordultimus]

I think the idea was that it could also handwave minor continuity gaffs and retcons. Superman's favorite food changed again? Fluctuations in Hypertime.

(Granted, Superboy-Prime punching the walls of reality accomplished the same thing, so whatcha gonna do.)

[zachbeacon]

Minor inconsistencies like that are such a ubiquitous part of comics that Marvel made the No Prize a thing (not sure if there's a DC version) so the kind of fans that are bothered by that kind of thing are encouraged to do the handwaving themselves rather than just nitpicking.

[donnblake]

If DC *didn't* do an equivalent, then that's just a No-No-Prize!

(Wait, that doesn't sound right...)

[laughing_tree]

Well, there is the stuff lordultimus said about how hypertimelines can branch and re-merge, but ultimately it's just a cool term to describe the multiverse.

It sounds weird today that they'd make such a big deal about the simple fact that a multiverse exists, but at the time, DC's official in-continuity position was that it didn't. That Crisis on Infinite Earths really did merge all realities and there is only one version of Batman, Superman, etc. Writers literally could not do stories about the DCU interacting with alternate realities and hadn't been able to since 1985. At the time the Kingdom came out, the company finally reversing course on that *was* a huge deal.

[zachbeacon]

I mean I get it but also it just seems like when they had to come up with convoluted reasons for Supergirl to exist but NOT be from Krypton (don't get me started on Power Girl) because Superman has to be the sole survivor.

Plus the "there is no multiverse" era was also the peak of the Elseworlds era so it just seems like they wanted to have their cake and eat it too.

[lordultimus]

After reading Secret Six, it's really weird to read Knockout not speaking all flowery.

[scorntx]

... well, that was delightfully low-level bonkers.

Like that there's a SuperRobin. Guessing on that Earth the minute Bruce learned there was a teenaged clone of Superman running around he swooped right in.
"He's mine! MINE! NONE OF YOU CAN TOUCH HIM!"
"Uh, you mind letting go of me?"
"(mine...)"

[zachbeacon]

I love that he's dressed like every other Superboy except the mask and cape. Its like a half-asset cosplay.

[obsidianwolf]

IIRC he was just another Superboy first and then Tim Drake died so he became Batman's new sidekick. So the mask and cape were probably added when he started hanging around in Gotham probably cause Batman made him.

[zachbeacon]

Now I just have this mental image of Batman holding out a mask and cape.

"There is a dress code if you're going to fight crime in Gotham"

[obsidianwolf]

well he did give a mask and cape to a alien telepathic starfish so it would be in character.

[zachbeacon]

After Ace the Bat-Hound I expect nothing less.

[zachbeacon]

(stupid autocorrect)

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Hyperium sounds a lot like energon in some ways.

[starwolf_oakley]

This storyline is how Kon-El learned Superman was Clark Kent, via the "Silver Age" Superboy. I think the same one from ZERO HOUR.
"Wait, you're Clark Kent?!"
"Wait, you aren't?"

[mastermahan]

"The public refused to accept me, in spite of my awesomely radical thigh belt. People had started calling clones Genetix. It was the '90s, and putting unnecessary Xs in words was all the rage. I tried to make things better by creating some horrifying human-animal hybrids, but somehow that didn't reassure people."

[armycat23]

I miss sterling and knockout being in superboy's life ever since he joined the teen titans many years ago. Knockout in particular has been handled like garbage ever since her appearances in this series.

[phantomfo]

Conner should really steal that soul patch.

Ah, memories...

[silverzeo]

Superboy was my first subscription. I remember him from Adventures of Superman #500 and wanted to read more about him.

Still, sad that the closest adaption we got of this was that Ben10 episode about crosstime...