Reign of the Supermen #120: Clark Small

Source: Adventures of Superman Annual #6 and Superboy Annual #3 (1994)
Type: ElseworldsClark Small is the name Superman gave himself to hide from the Horde, an army of alien marauders who invaded Earth in an Elseworld. Though the heroes tried to fight them, the Horde promised to kill a thousand people any time a superhero was even sighted, and more if they put up a fight. They did, and seven million civilians were killed, including one Lois Lane. As many of the surviving superheroes went underground, Clark Kent became Clark Small, a farm hand working the Midwestern Farm Blocks. But Jimmy Olsen and Lana Lang have evidence that Lois may be alive, so Superman lets himself be drawn out of retirement to work with the Resistance.
Wonder Woman. Batman. A new version of Superboy (coming soon to a Reign near you). Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Wally West as a maimed but cyber-legged Kid-Flash. Metallex (do the math). And now Superman. They make up a group called the Super Seven, and they'll get us out of this one for sure!
Well, sort of. Lois is really dead, and Lana's working for the other side because hey, he chose the wrong chick. Though betrayed, the Super Seven do manage to kill the aliens' leader and route them from Earth, but not before Superman is killed by kryptonite energy.

Now time to fess up about a super geeky thing I used to do in middle school. The original Who's Who was just gearing up see, and I was discovering all these cool, crazy characters from across the entire DC Universe. So I made up this game for myself in which I and six friends (always 4 boys and 2 girls), were the "Super Seven". And Dial H-like (another favorite of my youth) we would spend an entire month as a band of heroes specifically culled from that month's Who's Who. They were in on it and would sometimes choose who they became. I traced and colored a few for them as well. It was silly fun, and you know, whenever I read a new encyclopedic comics series, I automatically do that exercise in my head. Not the same 6 friends of course, but in my imagination, the group's kept going despite the personnel changes. So it was fun seeing the team name in print for the first time, and it sounds so good, I'm surprised it never appeared before or since. (I of course realize I stole it from the Saturday Morning cartoon line-up "Jason and the Super 7".)

I can't really remember the very first Super Seven line-up, but it was from Who's Who #6 and I was Dr. Fate. Still am, in a way...

Comments

DarkShinobi said…
That scene where Clark tears out the wall to reveal his Superman Costume hidden inside was just too awesome...still get that coolness chill over that. And Superboy taking the mantle of Superman after holding up the Horde's Leader over his head...they need to make an animation of this tale!
Siskoid said…
Hopefully with better artwork. Bit of a mess, this one.
Patrick C said…
Maybe it's just because i was 12 or 13 when I first read this... but I thought this was the coolest storyline ever. I read and re-read these two comics I don't know how many times.

I was fairly new to comics when they came out, so people died! Sacrifice! Superman coming out of retirement to save the world! "Cool" and "realistic" clothing!

I'm almost afraid to pull these comics our and reread them, I don't want my memory to be tainted