Reign of the Supermen #398: Age of Wonder Super Man

Source: JLA: Age of Wonder #1-2 (2003)
Type: ElseworldsIn this Elseworld written by Adisakdi Tantimedh, with art by P. Craig Russell and Galen Showman, Superman emerges on the world stage at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, sans secret identity. It changes the whole of human history. You see, our boy Clark is deeply interested in science, probably a genetic trait, and starts using his powers to help inventors like Edison, Tesla and, Mr. production'n'marketing, Lex Luthor.
Drawing some inspiration from holographic reproductions of Krypton, Clark assembles a team of scientists that engineer their own powers, like Ted Grant/Starman, Barry Allen/the Human Flash, and after Clark refuses the gift of a Green Lantern ring from a dying alien, decorated soldier Hal Jordan. Together, they start making discoveries well ahead of our history's, and start to build the Age of Wonder. There is some opposition from mistreated workers led by Green Arrow and the ever-jealous Lex Luthor who comes out of his radium experiments with multiple casualties and sudden hair loss. Eventually, Hal Jordan allies himself with Luthor, believing Super Man's policies are repressive and dangerous, and uses his ring to blast the Man of Wonder far out into space, returning home with a story about Clark's death by comet. By 1911, Luthor is president and World War I has come early. Luthor's sold an atomic bomb to the Germans who have destroyed London, crippling the world's greatest empire. When Hal realizes Luthor's role in this crime, he tries to assassinate Luthor, but is killed by Ms. Luthor (Wonder Woman, oh ick). The ring flies off Hal's finger looking for its replacement GL:
So Super Man, armed with the ring, flies back home to find the world in chaos. With the help of the other heroes, including Batman, the Atom and Wonder Woman herself, Luthor is defeated before he can unleash Tesla's death ray projector. And in the wake of those events, in 1913, the Justice League of Nations is inaugurated.

We can only imagine how the Internet might have been invented in the 1940s. And by 2011? Sky's the limit!

Comments

This was just released as one of DC's 100 Pg Spectaculars. Which I'm enjoying more than the DCnU 52, by and large.
Siskoid said…
That's good news. Would have been worth it for the P.Craig Russell art alone!
You just completely sold me on this comic. Literally. It shall be with me in 6-8 working days.
Anonymous said…
in a spoof story they did a what if called what if capt america had thawed out on gilligans island