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While it seems to be leaning more strongly to the idea of this Jon being an Earth 3 variant, if this little Jon is still the real deal after all of this, it would mean that the older Jon was the fake? What do I mean? I saw a post referring to the clothes Jon wore while he was inside the volcano versus when Tomorrow Man got him out.

I began thinking, “What about the clothes Jon had when he left with his grandpa? What about the clothes he had when he was taken by Ultraman?” I had to go soul searching for Michael Bendis’ storyline of Jon being aged up and it turned out he had multiple issues explaining in greater detail of what had happened to Jon when he was taken. It surprisingly explains what had happened to Jor-El and everything that has happened to Jon throughout the years Jon was gone. I honestly don’t know why Tom Taylor retconned it, because it was a great storyline. I can only think he didn’t do his homework and because the volcano part was the one brought up the most, as it was the most traumatizing thing for Jon, Tom Taylor used it constantly in Superman: Son of Kal El. I take back Tom Taylor not being responsible for the aged-up Jon being terrible. It was still a terrible idea on Bendis’ part, but the story of Jon’s lost years was covered and did not need to be messed with. In fact, had Tom Taylor not retconned Jon’s years being gone, older Jon could’ve still been fixable and Dan Slott returning back to Michael Bendis’ work was the best decision. But, enough about that, let’s go over why either little Jon has to be another variant of Jon or the older Jon is the fake.

So, to put it specifically, Jon was not taken into the volcano until he was at least 12-13 years old according to Bendis’ timeline. This is why little Jon is more broken than the older Jon, assuming Dan Slott did do his homework, spoke to Michael Bendis and read through all his issues of Jon’s lost years to understand the damage made. When older Jon was taken to the volcano, he was treated as a POW. Their one conversation was very seldom. As far as I know, according to Jon’s Lost Years, Ultraman didn’t torture Jon except only left him in the volcano to die or until he knew what to do with him. That’s what he said.

Also, before being taken into the volcano, Jon spent a couple of years with his grandpa on his adventures. He went to different parts of outer space and was saving other worlds. He also got some education and even faced Lobo at one point. Jon mentions how much time had passed before he was taken, which reads around 2-3 years. So, Jon would’ve been 12-13 by the time he was taken prisoner and would’ve been wearing these clothes. He also had years of experience with fighting through his adventures, so it wasn’t like Ultraman was taking some kid he found lying around into a volcano. Again, Jon was treated as a POW.

Now, let’s go into Jon’s encounter and how he was imprison. As it turns out, it wasn’t seven or six years. At most, maybe a few years or less. This is why Jon never showed any effects of losing childhood or being as traumatized as we see in little Jon.

First, he did fight off Ultraman. In fact, he fought off the Crime Syndicate and lost because it was one against multiple super powered villains. This why it was the most traumatizing parts of Jon’s life. It was the first time he ever lost this catastrophically and it was partly because he mistaken Ultraman for his dad before losing his powers from the lack of yellow sun. Ultraman placed Jon into a volcano because he didn’t know what to do with him and expected him to die anyway. That was one other thing, in the lost years, Jon was on a time limit because eventually, the volcano would burn him to ash. So no, it’s impossible for Jon to have been stuck there for 6-7 years and why Tom Taylor thought that was a good idea to add that is beyond me.

Jon would later escape and from there went incognito, realizing that he was powerless. This is when he’d meet his mom from this Earth, who was Superwoman and would eventually be saved by his grandfather. His grandfather gives him a new costume, then… I think the rest of these comic pages will explain it better than I could. But… yeah.

What does this have to do with Dan Slott’s Superman Unlimited? If little Jon is another variant of Jon, it would match up because there’s no way he could be the older Jon’s past self. The ages do not match up with the timeline. This Jon looks way too young. However, if the older Jon is the fake, then that would mean that all the lost years were all made up. It would mean that over time Older Jon completely forgot about the stories of his adventures with his grandpa. Michael Bendis’ work would be dismantled so would all the retconning from Tom Taylor’s Superman: Son of Kal El.

If it turns out that the little Jon is the real Jon of this timeline and the older Jon was a fake. That would mean that the older Jon was either a cyborg or a clone. I’d go for the clone route. He was likely given fake memories that began fading over time as they’re not real memories. It would also mean that little Jon would have to be given a new story of his lost years. How did he get into the volcano in the first place? What happened after he took off with his grandpa? Dan Slott seemed to have read Bendis’ work to the point he got the clothes right in the flashback. Does this mean he’ll bring back the actual correct lost years that were lost?

There’s still too much to decide if this little Jon is the real deal or a fake. Even with the kryotonite resistant factor, that could still be chalked up to little Jon becoming resistant to kryptonite thanks to Ultraman’s torture. However, if this is the case, then that would mean that the older Jon was the fake. Ultraman did seem to be acting too nice to Jon, even if he was only 12-13 years old. I think it’s intentional to set this story up this way for the mystery factor and maybe see what the fans want. It’s already clear that Jon’s lost years don’t match up with little Jon’s, so the question of why Tomorrow Man didn’t catch it is mysterious in itself. Is little Jon another Jonathan Kent variant or is the older Jon the real fake?

I still stand by that it is too early to tell, but there seems to be evidence pointing to an idea that while this isn’t a fake Jon, this might still be an Earth 3 variant. I did say before it was possible and I’d be down for. The first thing that stood out to me was the nightmare. Ultraman intended on making this Jon his subordinate, which wasn’t his intention for adult Jon as a kid.

The second was Kryptonite having a seemingly opposite effect on little Jon. That one definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. It made him stronger instead, which would make it possible that the Kryptonite tests at Steelworks in the next issue were the green ones instead of red. The only versions of Supers that were affected by Kryptonite in this way are the Earth 3 variants. Before, I did say that there was much stronger evidence that this is the real Jon with the possibility that he could still be another variant, and it looks like there’s stronger evidence to suggest the Earth 3 variant. It would not make sense if it was any other variant of Jon, since Tomorrow Man stripped this one from Earth 3.

Does this change the return of little Jon or the Super Sons? Hell no! Actually, it was expected that since this was like the double Superman and then Clark situation. Even the canon Superman and Lois were not from Earth 0 at the time they returned (remember, Jon Kent never originally was born on Earth 0 until Mxyzptlk got involved. He was always an anomaly). At the time, the New 52 Sups was from Earth 0 and the OG Sups and Lois were yeeted from their Earth by Brainiac. At the end of the day, we wanted a little Jon that was like the one from Pre Aged-Up, and if that means we can only get an Earth 3 variant, then I say this is a better solution.

Better yet, this changes what’s often assumed of Earth 3, that any Earth 3 variant of a hero must be evil. This would be the first time we’re introduced to an Earth 3 variant of a character that isn’t evil. Assuming this is an Earth 3 Jon, he had been tortured by Ultraman longer than older Jon ever had. Both his parents are evil. While there’s no confirmation about his mom or if she tortured him too, it may be possible that Ultraman might’ve set him up to take Jon’s place before he returned to Earth. This Jon might be beelining for Lois because he’s scared of Ultraman hurting him. In this case, we’re looking at a victim pretending to be someone he’s not in fear of being hurt again.

This was likely the best solution to bringing back younger Jon. This Jon may be from a different Earth, but that doesn’t make his stay temporary. It makes his existence as a character unique. He gives Clark and Lois a second chance in raising Jon and returning the Super Sons without erasing the older one or replacing him. Even this Jon’s friendship with Damian will be different since this Jon will be someone Damian can connect with as someone who was raised to be evil but wants to do good. Since he was the only character to give Prime the benefit of the doubt, he may do the same with this variant of Jon.

Imagine Jon being that big of a brat to Damian in DamiJon fics where Damian never reveals he’s Robin. Only, Jon would take it to the next level. He’d tie himself to a rock, then knock it and himself into the river with an eye mask on or throw himself into a burning building just so Damian could reveal himself as Robin.

Damian: JONATHAN KENT, YOU GET YOURSELF OFF OF THAT TRAIN TRACK!

Jon: Make me! Admit you’re Robin!

Damian: For the last time, I- JON, THE TRAIN IS COMING, PSYCHO!!

*train is running with horns blowing*

Jon: *dramatically* So long, cruel world. If only Robin could save me.

Now, that we have two Jon’s, I notice many DamiJon’s pairing Damian with the older one. But, (hear me out) what if Damian ended up with the Young Jon. The Older Jon chose Saturn Girl, then Jay over Damian and is probably still not over him. He’s likely going to choose Dreamer. Damian has waited and waited until he realized Older Jon was never going to have the same close relationship with him they once had. It was robbed from him and now Jon would rather spend time with his own age group that doesn’t include Damian. He’s learned to move on and has since found his own community in Gotham.

Then, Little Jon returns. Damian doesn’t trust this. He finds this too good to be true. He doesn’t want this to be true. It can’t be. If it was, then all of this time Damian could’ve searched for a spell or built a machine that could help him travel through time to rescue his Jon. Of course he would. Perhaps, that’s why Young Jon isn’t greeting him, hugging him, responding jubilantly to seeing his best friend again. What kind of friend just sits there while his best friend is imprisoned in a volcano in an Earth where every hero is evil?

However, Young Jon was scared and believed Damian’s Jon was Tomorrow Man. After one fight, Damian realizes that the friend he’s been missing has always been right here. Young Jon, on the other hand comes to realize Damian has always had him. They are the Super Sons again. More than that, perhaps they have become more with Young Jon discovering he’s attracted to guys and perhaps to his best friend as well. Damian, over time, grows apart from Flatline and falls for his best friend, who has always and will always be by his side.

However, there seems to be criticism toward Power Girl just following what Ma Kent asks her to and not doing more to Superboy Prime. I disagree. It was clear Power Girl was overreaching and in a losing battle. No one else in the Justice League wanted to be there since Superboy Prime was only there to eat and talk. Power Girl was the one refusing to leave because of Superboy Prime’s past actions. It doesn’t even seem like Power Girl ever realized she was in the wrong and seems like she’d have doubled-down if not for the JLA group being just done with this. Not to mention she has super hearing and can hear Prime’s conversation, heartbeat and the stress of his body from her own actions. Power Girl knew what she was doing and it was wrong.

The thing Ma Kent was asking Power Girl to do is to not try throwing trash at the dog to prove a point. Power Girl refuses to believe that Superboy Prime has changed, but Ma Kent is reminding her that stalking Superboy Prime isn’t putting her in the right. It will only make her the bad person for riling up Superboy Prime, who’s already having a stressful week as it is. You can see from Power Girl’s eyes that her actions were deliberate and she isn’t sorry. Her protecting the Kent’s might’ve had some part in it, but she was just wanting to lock up Superboy Prime and willing to push his buttons if that would give proof to lock him up.

This isn’t Power Girl being overprotective over the Kent’s. This is her trying to rile Superboy Prime up to prove he is still a monster. She’s not fighting Superboy Prime because that’s not the issue. Her issue is that he’s freed and not locked up or rotting in jail. It’s easy for us to believe certain people that hurt us personally deserve that, so we poke the bear, stalk them on social media, call them names, expect them to fail and think they’re failing somehow when they’re just living their life. This is a subtle message toward how we treat people we feel did us wrong and think they deserve it when we are the ones wishing for those who did us wrong to suffer. This kind of attitude is what led to Ra’s murder and Damian deciding to be better than that.

This should be taken as a lesson on how we treat people we or others don’t like. Even the Kent’s didn’t like his company at first. However, they listened. It turned out that Prime was stress eating because he feels like he keeps messing up and the JLA isn’t helping by this stalking. Just stalking someone’s social media to see when they’ll mess up because they hurt us is not how we should treat people. No matter how much sense it makes for Power Girl to do what she’s doing, she was in the wrong. Power Girl is preventing Superboy Prime from making attempts to become a better person. How is that making Power Girl any better than Lex Luthor or Manchester Black? Damian doing that is what ruined his character in the Teen Titans 2016. The only difference is that Power Girl had far better execution with subtly of her actions compared to Damian in TT16. The Kent’s and Damian show us that everyone should be given room to improve. Damian could’ve kept Prime out of his missions, but he took the high road and allowed him to try. The Kent’s could’ve told him to leave, but they gave him food and listened to his distress.

I think we can all agree that any and every version of Superman would want their cousin to give Superboy Prime a chance to change and be a good person. Yes, Ma Kent had to be the one to tell Power Girl, but she’s right. Sometimes being the better person means allowing the person that hurt you to live their life. Power Girl didn’t just leave because Ma Kent told her, but because she heard the conversation and knew what her actions were doing. She’s Kryptonian and you don’t think she wasn’t using her super hearing, X-Ray vision and all to stalk Superboy Prime? Power Girl left because no matter how not-sorry she was or how personal it was, she knew she was wrong and the cousin she lost would never have approved of this. She saw it and felt no amount of sympathy. It makes sense, but it doesn’t make it right.

Power Girl is overreaching and pressuring Superboy Prime to mess up to find an excuse to lock him up. I find that more people are equally guilty of this than we’d like to believe and often justify our actions by seeing ourselves as the victims of the situation while refusing to see the person we hate as the victim. I can understand from that perspective why some support Power Girl’s actions, but it’s still wrong. Making any attempt to “prove” someone is terrible by putting them in an impossible position where they could slip up is you blocking any attempts they have in improving themselves. Everyone should be given a chance to change, because after this life, they likely won’t have it. The right thing to do is keep a distance, but leave room for change. Damian is a great example of someone who doesn’t trust Prime, but allows him to try. Damian could’ve used magic to kick Prime out, but he doesn’t. He chooses compassion over punishment.

This one is issue 13. Superboy and Tomorrow Man meet Beppo and trying to stop him from destroying Metropolis looks like. So, a fun little adventure. The only variant cover that I’ve heard others say foreshadows Jonny being evil is this one.

Very similar to this,

but something I also notice is that little Jon here has yellow eyes. This is not counting Kryptonian red.

Even this one has Jon with yellow eyes. In other covers, you will notice Steel is sometimes in the corner even though he’s not in issue 12 or is expected to be in 13. Let’s continue. This next one might tell us what’s going on with Jonnyboy. Let’s see.

Wait, so something went wrong at Steelworks involving kryptonite and it’s effecting Jon somehow to where his life won’t be the same again. Okay, Kryptonite shenanigans that involves Steel and Lana Lang. Got cha. Maybe red Kryptonite? That would explain why Jonnyboy’s eyes are mostly yellow. So…. Yellow Kryptonite? Red Kryptonite? Some sort of Kryptonite that’s effecting Superboy.

Now, we get to this cover.

Let’s see what the summary says:

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

So, Superboy was never a fake, he just got into some weird Kryptonite shenanigans that led to Robin having to fight him since he’s the only one that was prepared due to his distrust. I hate to say this buuuuuuuuuuut….

In any case, let’s actually look at this cover in context that doesn’t involve jumping to conclusions. Damian lost his partner and childhood friend. While they remained best friends after aging up, Jon’s and Damian’s relationship became stagnant, which Superman Unlimited has not tackled yet. It’s recognized that it robbed Clark and Lois of raising Jon as a child, but not what it robbed from Damian. Let’s break it down.

1. The best friend for Damian to go to school, play with and study with. Before Jon aged up, he and Damian were going to school together and shared classes. Before Jon, Damian didn’t have any friends his own age or ever went to a school until Jon came around. Even in the Teen Titans, Damian didn’t have anyone his own age.

2. The partner that Damian could work and cooperate with without establishing dominance. Keep in mind Damian also kidnapped Jon upon first meet like he did with the Teen Titans, but Jon was Damian’s equal. Jon never let Damian take control over their missions as the Super Sons. The other Teen Titans couldn’t ever come close to Damian’s level like Jon could.

3. A hero that taught Damian that being a hero wasn’t about stopping bad guys. Jon was the one that introduced Damian to the idea of being a hero by helping people cross the street, rescuing small animals from trees, repairing cars and helping carry groceries. Damian learned from Jon that kindness, hope and compassion is far more heroic and something people will remember than beating up bad guys.

4. A friend Damian wasn’t afraid would judge him for his past. Jon was the first friend Damian was open to, because unlike the Teen Titans expecting him to be open with them to establish trust, Jon waited for Damian to be open in his own time. If Damian needed Jon’s help with something involving his past, he didn’t need to explain himself or say why. Jon was on his side and believed in him wholeheartedly. Damian never got this from anyone else. Not even the Bats.

When Jon aged up, Damian was homeschooled again, while Jon went off to the Legion of Super Heroes, then hung out with the Nobody Cares Squad because Damian was no longer in his age group. Damian lost Alfred, Dick no longer remembered him, his Teen Titans team abandoned him, he ran off grid to a Death Match, became possessed, had to take care of his brokeass dad, and now is finally healing and finding himself. Damian didn’t just lose Alfred when in the worst state of his life or Dick for that matter. He lost his best friend and partner. Jon is still his best friend, but their relationship was never the same. Before, Jon always hung out with Damian or else Kathy, but after aging up, he hung out with the Legion of FuckUBendis Heroes and Nobody Cares Squad and Damian became a background character to Jon’s friendship group. This led to Damian no longer feeling as open as before to Jon about anything and everything like before.

Now, after mourning what he lost, accepting that he and Jon will never have the same friendship because of their age difference. After all of that, Damian sees little Jon and is expected to just… what? Be happy he’s got his partner back? Thank T-Man for bringing back the partner that was robbed from him? Excited to have Jon grow up in the same school together and graduate after months of learning to move on? Be part of every one of Jon’s friend groups? It’s like that Shazam comic where Billy meets his mom and she offers him to live with her with his little brother she’s been raising since birth and he’s supposed to be happy and accept that everything’s okay. It wasn’t okay for Billy then, because his entire childhood with his mother was abandoned in the sewers and broken foster system and for Damian, all those months he could’ve had his partner with him when he lost Alfred, the Teen Titans, quit Robin, returned to his mother, joined the Lazarus Tournament, was possessed, looked after his dad while they were broke and much more? They still were imprisoned in that volcano.

Jonny is never going to bring back those months Damian mourned Alfred alone, the loss of the Teen Titans alone, the loss of Dick alone, the loss of Tim alone, watching his dad in a coma, being possessed, his dad being possessed, struggling to get back to school, having his first girlfriend. Jonny is never going to get back those months Damian deserved to have his partner and best friend with him his own age instead of with the Nobody Cares Squad and Legion of FuckUBendis Heroes. Sure, Jon as older did save Damian from turning evil, but Damian would never have gone as far as he did had Jon still been his Super Sons partner. If Jonnyboy turns out to be a fake or evil, Damian is never going to get that Justice he deserves. After all the pain and suffering Damian went through without his partner and best friend his own age during the worst moments of his life, he needs to have this fight with the REAL little Jon. They both deserve that much.

1. Jon can hear T-Man’s heartbeat and how it somehow matches his own. I can bet you that this freaked him out and made him suspicious of T-Man throughout the whole ordeal. T-Man is trying not to freak his younger self out, but his younger self is already freaking out by what he’s hearing and feeling from T-Man.

2. Jonnyboy mentions how he knows he doesn’t belong in this universe. He is also hearing what others are saying, such as: “I thought he got older.” Jonnyboy sees the look on Damian’s face. Everyone is focusing on how Jon would normally react to Damian with a hug, but what about Damian had Jon been missing for as long as Jonnyboy was kept in captivity? Jon knows that if he had been missing for months or a whole year, Damian would be searching across the universe and multiverse for him. More importantly, if so much time had passed, Damian would be so overwhelmed with emotion. All of Smallville or anywhere would’ve assumed he was dead. Compare to how everyone reacted when Damian returned back after the same amount of time to Jonnyboy. Night and day.

3. Keep in mind Jonnyboy can hear distant conversations and stuff. Not only was he able to hear someone say “I thought he got older,” and before T-Man came in along with Jonnyboy, Lois says the following, “Well, there’s Jon. I haven’t heard from him in days. Which is fine. He’s a grown man, but Superboy Prime is here in Metropolis, filling in for Clark. It should be Jon doing that. Like he has before. That’s his legacy his… sorry. That’s not important. What matters is… I can’t find my son.” This is before T-Man finishes it by saying, “I think you’ll find he’s right here.” They would’ve just appeared through the window. Jonnyboy has super hearing so he would’ve searched for his mom and heard maybe less than a minute of what Lois said, which includes “haven’t heard from him in days,” and “He’s a grown man.” T-Man may not be paying attention, but Jonnyboy, who hasn’t seen his mom in MONTHS is going to pay attention. Jonnyboy may not understand why, but he knows a version of himself older exists and T-Man shares his heartbeat.

4. If you look at Jonnyboy’s face and the direction he’s looking at when Damian looks at him, it is directly at Damian. This is similar to when Damian reunited with older Jon. People often use the “didn’t hug,” but…. Jon didn’t hug right away when he and Damian reunited after he aged up (and didn’t offer it until tree pages) and it seemed like he rehearsed how this reunion would play out. Jonnyboy never had those years and maturity to think about that. He’s scared, traumatized and probably thinks Damian is mad at him because he left without saying goodbye. I sometimes think we place too much expectations on Jonnyboy’s reactions and not enough on what would make sense given his months of trauma vs years with possibly rushed writing. Poor kid’s gonna have nightmares like nothing else. He’s gonna be afraid of everyone and everything around him. He might even become afraid of his dad because of how much Ultraman looks like him.

I think I will mention one last thing: even though Damian doesn’t trust Jonnyboy, it doesn’t mean he believes that’s a fake Jonathan Kent. He’s creating Kryptonite baterangs. When he met older Jon, he used regular baterangs, because he didn’t believe it was Jon for a while. If he is creating Kryptonite baterangs, it means he believes that this is the real article or a clone of him at least. As I’ve said in the last post, he doesn’t have all the facts. He just knows that something isn’t right about this arrangement and it’s not Jon’s lack of hugging.

Damian also uses the phrase “just in case,” meaning he’s not expecting to have to fight Jonnyboy but is prepare if he has to. Until Jonnyboy proves he’s not some Earth 3 variant, he’s gonna keep his eyes peeled. To me, this is how Superman (2018) 16 should’ve gone. The issue should’ve allowed itself to be slow and progressive. It should’ve allowed Damian to be paranoid and not trust this new Jon or be won with hotdogs (you can tell the writing is poor when they forget Dami’s a vegetarian).

First, Damian not trusting little Jon doesn’t mean that Jonnyboy is a fake. We have confirmation from both Lois Lane and the older Jonathan Kent, who know Jon more than even Damian. Not only could Lois tell this was her boy (the lady changed his dippers. You’d think she wouldn’t memorize birth marks and all?), but the older Jon himself could FEEL his heartbeat. You don’t think the guy doesn’t know his own heartbeat?

It’s also worth noting Damian doesn’t have all the facts yet, such as that Tomorrow Man is his Jon that’s been missing for several days. Imagine yourself in Damian’s shoes. Your best friend has been missing for several days, then suddenly some futuristic stranger pops in with a younger version of said best friend he says is your best friend like “trust me bro.” Would you believe right away that was your best friend? No, you wouldn’t.

Damian hardly believed Jon when he came back seven years older. Damian’s not gonna accept that as truth, especially since he’s already played this same dance before and was forced to mourn the loss of years he missed growing up with his best friend. And, not only is he forced to accept his younger best friend is back, but now the older version of his best friend is STILL missing. Even if little Jonnyboy was the real deal, the older Jon wouldn’t just disappear like in Back to the Future. He’d still exist as a paradox until he’s killed off or disappears off of continuity.

So yes, Damian not trusting Jonnyboy is in character for him just as it is he doesn’t trust Tomorrow Man and Jonnyboy isn’t going to hug Damian right after almost killing a bunch of people two times and hugging his mom. Between his mom and Damian, Jonnyboy will choose his mom.

This isn’t to say that Jonnyboy isn’t an evil variant or fake, but it’s too early to tell and there’s more evidence to suggest otherwise. Lois and older Jon are the biggest ones. They’d be the first to pick up that Jonnyboy was a fake before the Bats could interrogate.

Keep in mind Lois is the only person so far that seems to suspect T-Man is older Jon. As I’ve said, Damian being suspicious of Jonnyboy doesn’t mean Jonnyboy is evil. He doesn’t have all the facts yet. He doesn’t know T-Man is Jon yet and likely doesnt trust T-Man either.

No, Krypto doesn’t know either. He’s smelling two Jon’s, of course he’s gonna growl. He barked earlier when T-Man first plopped in with Jonnyboy. He clearly looks confused by the way he’s sniffing Jonnyboy. Any good dog would know something is off if two of the same owner showed up and didn’t know which was the real one.

We start off with an intro from Superboy Prime giving us a preview of what is to come before going to the next page of Superboy Prime being… well… Superboy Prime. I swear this gives the same energy as this.

Lolz co’mon, you guys know I couldn’t do a Superboy Prime review without bringing up that meme!

We cut to the Watch Tower just a few hours earlier where we see Lois being tested and finding she no longer has super powers. Mr. Terrific offers more tests, which Lois refuses, of course, since she’s made peace with not being Superwoman. He checks on Lois as Superman is gone, though she says she’s not too worried before overhearing some ladies gawking at Superboy Prime totally flexing at his OPness. To be fair, I can’t name any guy who wouldn’t.

Lois recognizes that Superboy Prime helped the Justice League with Darkside, but despite this, he is not welcome at the Watch Tower. According to Mr. Terrific, despite time, space and history changing in his favor, Superboy Prime is still remembered for all the atrocities he’s done in the past. Joshua Williamson does a great job in allowing Superboy Prime to face the consequences of his past actions. Having a redemption arc doesn’t mean consequences for past evils don’t exist. It balances out Prime’s OPness.

Furthermore, as Mr. Terrific wonderfully points out, Prime knows anything and everything about their world because it all exists as comic books in his world. This makes Superboy Prime’s trust from the Justice League far more difficult to earn back as having knowledge about private and intimate things about everyone in the Justice League results in them shutting themselves off around him. It would be like a former criminal joining your group that just happens to have the ability to see everyone naked. Even Batman and Superman are limited on what their skills/powers reveal to them about everyone. It’s not Prime’s fault that he knows everything about everyone, but it creates an awkward atmosphere around every person he meets and, without Superman to vouch for him, Prime isn’t going to be trusted or welcomed by anyone.

But also I love how the comic shows us Superboy Prime’s struggles in being kicked to the curb by the Justice League without him playing the victim or whining about it. Prime is the kind of person who gripes and whines about the smallest things, but doesn’t when it’s actually something that effects his well-being such as shelter, protection, food and other needs. This defines who Prime is: he only whines and complains about comics or anything related to comics. Much like Clark, Prime doesn’t think too highly of himself, so his ego is a facade. He might be a super comic nerd, but he is still Clark Kent at heart who wants to do good. The difference is that this version of Clark lives in a world like ours before it was destroyed, something he seems to never mention as the real reason he can’t return home.

Lois decides to step up and try to help Superboy Prime find his footing by giving him the “get a job ya bum” talk. Prime doesn’t want to, of course, because he’s still a child, but pouts when Lois brings up the question “what Superman would do?” She offers him a job at the Daily Planet, but Prime turns it down due to him looking like the younger twin of Clark Kent. Unlike Conner, Prime doesn’t have anyone setting him up or a group of hippies in Hawaii to crash with. He points out to Lois that he’s only ever lived with his parents or prison. This is the first time he’s ever truly been on his own. He also seems to leave out the part where his world was destroyed during Infinite Crisis. Once again, Lois brings out the question: what would Clark do? A different question from what Superman would do.

Superboy Prime decides to do what Superman would do, highlighting all of the Superman comics in history. He flies off to find a bad guy to fight, which doesn’t take long as he runs into a GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT because you can’t have a great comic without a giant freakin robot. Prime beats up the robot and, during the fight, realizes that other people are in danger from the fight.

Superboy Prime decides to save them, since that is exactly what Superman would do. Unfortunately, it distracts him from the GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT attacking him from behind, reminding Prime that being Superman is easier said than done.

Prime gets pissed off, returning us to the fight from the beginning after the intro. Lois tells Prime that the robot is down and he can stop. Superboy Prime isn’t having it and keeps beating up the robot, saying Metropolis is his and claiming he’ll kill anyone who says otherwise.

However, this is only in Prime’s head as he had stopped beating up the robot the moment Lois told him. Once again, despite being from a world like ours and being a comic book nerd, Prime is still Clark Kent at heart. Even the dark thoughts in his head freak him out despite not following through those actions.

Everyone applauds for Superboy Prime, who briefly thanks them before flying off. It comes to Prime that being Superman is not as easy as he thought as it requires multitasking and self control, which are his greatest struggles, especially self-control. Even though Prime didn’t continually beat up the robot and become violent, he was still thinking about it. That’s enough to make Prime decide to think deeper on what it truly means to be Superman. He no longer asks himself what Superman would do, but what “Clark” would do. He’s both referring to Superman’s Clark and himself, who shares the same name.

Prime sees a Help Wanted sign at a comic book shop and offers to work there organizing and stacking comic books in boxes. This fits Prime and using the name CK instead of Clark to differentiate between Clark Kent and himself. This is also the same question Lois posed on Prime, which is “what would Clark do?” not Superman.

Lois helps CK move his boxes of comic books into his new apartment he’s now living in. Lois informs CK that Mr. Terrific and the Justice League will still be keeping an eye on him, but offers for him to call her if he needs anything. CK thanks Lois as she leaves with the hope that she did what was right by giving Prime a second chance the other members couldn’t give him.

CK decides to kick back and catch up on the comic books before hearing a cry for help. We end with what looks to be like a giant ghost or hologram of Manchester Black, who’s setting his eyes on Prime.

Honestly, I think Manchester Black would be a better suit for Prime’s arch nemesis than Superman’s as they both are fans of Sups with massive egos. Thanks to Superboy Prime’s redemption, Manchester Black would be a perfect opposite to Superboy Prime.

Overall, this was a fun story with Superboy Prime learning about what it means to be Superman, but also learning how to grow up and take responsibility. One could say that Lois becomes Superboy Prime’s Uncle Ben without the death part. She isn’t just giving Prime the “with great power comes great responsibility” talk, she’s showing him that he must also live responsibly, which means working a job, making money and earning a living instead of abusing his powers to feed his ego. Prime, along the way, learns that being Superman also means putting others’ lives over yourself.

This is also why ending this story with Manchester Black is so perfect. Whereas Superboy Prime genuinely wants to change and be like Superman, Manchester Black thinks himself as being better than Superman. Black was the response to the Edgey Superman knockoffs claiming Superman would save more people if he killed or should start killing villains to protect the people. Superman may’ve given Manchester Black a demonstration of what that could look like, but Superboy Prime has lived it. He’s still facing the consequences for his past evil actions and will soon be going up against someone who is a reflection of what he once was, except I feel Prime at least had the excuse of losing his world and having no way of getting back.

Also, I like how this story shows us who Superboy Prime is as a character. He’s far more than some OP egoistic version of Superman, he’s more like Clark Kent if he was human that grew up without powers. Even though he’s a comic book nerd with an ego that could give Tony Shark’s a run for his money, CK is more like Clark Kent who prefers living a humble life with a humble job he enjoys.

CK could’ve chosen a job as a comic book writer or a writer of any sort, but instead chooses a job of stacking comic books. Whereas Clark Kent at least has his name on the newspaper of the Daily Planet, which requires a bachelors degree, CK is working in the back room of a comic book shop making pennies and lower wages than SpongeBob SquarePants. Then, there’s the subtle hints that CK doesn’t view himself highly and is similar to Deadpool where he uses his ego as a facade to cover his insecurities. He wants to be a hero to matter because he doesn’t think he does matter.

That’s the other big thing, CK lost his world before and while he gained it back, that trauma still effects him. His past evils still effect how this world’s heroes view him and his OPness makes it difficult for anyone to give him a chance. Prime isn’t going to admit that it bothers him or will recognize it, because that would make Prime the victim and he wants to be the hero. He wants to be Superman and that means he can’t admit if others are treating him unfairly for his past mistakes and abilities he can’t help.

I look forward to seeing more from Superboy Prime and where DC takes him. More of this and less of…

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

We start with two pages of Jon’s backstory from his birth to the present. For the first time, it never misses any embarrassing decisions DC made by aging Jon up. We are introduced to the villain, who calls himself Jon’s arch enemy and is a unique villain with a personal vendetta against Jon that has nothing to do with his dad. His name is Master Txyz and his design is well made; reminds me of the demons from the Halloween special.

Jon decides he’s done with this imp, so he punches him and Txyz pulls a Clockwork from Danny Phantom, which confuses Jon.

At least he knew to stop before….

Hahahaha still funny.

I like that Jon punched first, because it shows he’s not like his dad. He has a bit of Lois in him who will punch first if she loses her temper. Jon is the same way, so I’m glad he’s showing that side of him. Who’d have thought it would take a villain from the 4th dimension to bring back our Jonny boy.

Speaking of which, Txyz shows Jon how he had such a great life before throwing it all away when he left with his Grandpa Jor-El, robbing Lois and Clark of watching their son grow up and ending up in a relationship that ended in a breakup, and in the end only became a shadow of his dad. Wait, am I dreaming? Is DC actually admitting they ruined Jonathan’s character by aging him up!? Are they actually admitting that they turned Jon into a shell or clone of his dad? Not only that, but even the minor employees at DC I met at Comic Con and Bleeding Cool admitted that was a mistake. Wow! Just… wow. Took ya how many years, DC? I think about a decade. NOW, YOU ADMIT IT!!!

Txyz attacks Jon once again after hitting every weak point: his insecurity. Oh my god, they finally give him a flaw that’s from his mom. Jon finally snaps and takes off his costume. He states that he doesn’t fight for glory or recognition, but because it’s the right thing to do. Even if he doesn’t achieve anything in the future, he will defy the past. It no longer matters to him what his title is. I love how much this parallels Damian’s development in Robin 2021.

Jon recreates his new suit from what looks to be like a clone of himself? Not sure, but anyway he puts the suit on and gotta say that is one of the most badass suits I’ve ever seen. I love the inspiration with the Bats, while keeping the Superman colors. Also, the title Tomorrow Man gives Jon his own title separate from Superman. Love it! I don’t care what anyone says, the suit and title is badass. Also, Tomorrow Man is a quadrillion times better than Super Son.

Txyz realizes that he had ensured his own destruction will happen, being this is the suit Jon had. He rips a hole in the timeline, showing what looks to be a familiar shadow of a child inside what looks to be the landscape of a volcano. Jon helps the kid out and it turns to be his younger self. This ends the comic.

This was a comic that got me pumped for the next issue. I don’t know if this means we will be having a retcon or how long little Jonathan Kent will stay, but if this is the compromise for us to have child Jon, I am satisfied with that. My only concern is how long we’ll have little Jon. I’m hoping it’s a bit more permanent this time. The comic itself already gave us what we’ve been begging for year after years of disappointment and broken promises.

Dan Slot did an amazing job with this one. He was also the writer of Spider-Man’s Brand New Day and some comics following that. If there’s anyone who’s had to learn the hard way of what happens when you take an established character, destroy him, run him into the ground and continually double down on said destruction instead of giving the fans what they want, it’s Dan Slott. Maybe fixing Jonathan Kent can be his redemption arc? From what we can gather from Dan Slott’s interviews, this isn’t just a temporary one-and-done. Young Jonny-boy is going to have his own storyline and reunite with Damian as the Super Sons. This isn’t just me going by Dan Slott either, I was at Comic Con in my area and met with minor artists and employees who work for DC and they said that DC is trying to bring back the Super Sons.

I did expect a little Jonny to appear for the Reign of Super Sons, but choosing the volcano instead of literally any other timeline tells me this might be permanent. Like the younger Clark’s Superboy, DC could just stick him with the Legionaries and call it a day or else send him back to the farm since he has every reason to return home. Younger Jonny does not and the next issue is him reuniting with his mom and there’s not an issue where he’s reunited with his dad as of yet due to the K.O. event. There’s more reasons to keep young Jonny by the setup and DC logic versus the opposite, especially now that Jay is gone and Nia seemed to disappear into oblivion.

I’m going to keep myself updated on Superman Unlimited. However, what I can confirm is that the Jonathan Kent being trapped in the volcano for seven years has been officially retconned. Even if he’s only here temporarily, I have every reason to believe Jon’s Superboy is officially out of the volcano. 1. DC admitted that aging up Jonathan Kent was a mistake. They never admit their mistakes unless they intend to correct them. 2. Based on the interview with Dan Slott, there seems to be more planned for little Jon than just the Reign of Superboys. More so than with young Clark’s Superboy. This includes a reunion of the Super Sons. 3. A Crisis is coming up and DC had done something similar with Superman and Lois during the New 52 where two counterparts of Lois and Clark lived in the same universe. Dan Slott looks like is doing something similar by having a younger Jon and older Jon in the same universe and allowing the readers to decide who they want.