Source: Superman: True Brit GN (2004)
Type: Elseworlds
Superman is perfectly set up for Elseworlds and What Ifs. Just have the rocket crash somewhere other than Kansas - instant story. But True Brit is more than a "what would happen if Superman's rocket crashed in the UK?", it's also "what if John Cleese (co-)wrote Superman stories?"
And that makes much more of a difference.
True Brit is a comedy about Kal-El/Colin Clark, a space baby adopted by Somerset farmers and taught all his life to hide his powers because, you know, what would the neighbours think? In any case, in this world of rather broad comedy, Colin makes a right mess of things whenever he uses them, like sending his mum to the hospital with third degree burns, or running a cricket bat through a guy (who, it typical British fashion, barely complains). When he grows up, Colin takes a job at a tabloid and is soon forced to take the dual role of media darling Superman and the paparazzi who covers him. The Queen tasks him with keeping the trains on time, improving the BBC's programming and other not-so-super things, which the Daily Smear later uses to destroy his image when he refuses to endorse the paper. It certainly doesn't help that he crashes the United Kingdom's economy by turning all its coal into now devalued diamonds. Between his evil editor (played by Cleese himself) outing his secret identity, his nemesis Bat-Man coming back for not-so-cricket revenge, Lois Lane's treacherous page 3 cousin, and his parents constantly moving without a forwarding address because they can't face their neighbours, this Superman has his hands full.
In the end unable to stop the tabloids, Superman fulfills his destiny as the world's most famous immigrant and moves to the States to work at the Daily Planet. He takes a new name, keeping Clark and adding the area from which his mother is from, he will be Kent Clark, reporter with integrity! And in the skies of Metropolis he will fly in the costume we've known his best for.
Type: Elseworlds
Superman is perfectly set up for Elseworlds and What Ifs. Just have the rocket crash somewhere other than Kansas - instant story. But True Brit is more than a "what would happen if Superman's rocket crashed in the UK?", it's also "what if John Cleese (co-)wrote Superman stories?"And that makes much more of a difference.
True Brit is a comedy about Kal-El/Colin Clark, a space baby adopted by Somerset farmers and taught all his life to hide his powers because, you know, what would the neighbours think? In any case, in this world of rather broad comedy, Colin makes a right mess of things whenever he uses them, like sending his mum to the hospital with third degree burns, or running a cricket bat through a guy (who, it typical British fashion, barely complains). When he grows up, Colin takes a job at a tabloid and is soon forced to take the dual role of media darling Superman and the paparazzi who covers him. The Queen tasks him with keeping the trains on time, improving the BBC's programming and other not-so-super things, which the Daily Smear later uses to destroy his image when he refuses to endorse the paper. It certainly doesn't help that he crashes the United Kingdom's economy by turning all its coal into now devalued diamonds. Between his evil editor (played by Cleese himself) outing his secret identity, his nemesis Bat-Man coming back for not-so-cricket revenge, Lois Lane's treacherous page 3 cousin, and his parents constantly moving without a forwarding address because they can't face their neighbours, this Superman has his hands full.
In the end unable to stop the tabloids, Superman fulfills his destiny as the world's most famous immigrant and moves to the States to work at the Daily Planet. He takes a new name, keeping Clark and adding the area from which his mother is from, he will be Kent Clark, reporter with integrity! And in the skies of Metropolis he will fly in the costume we've known his best for.
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