Reign of the Supermen #36: Green Lantern of Sector 2813

Source: JLA #8-9 (1997)
Type: Dream sequenceA dream imposed on Superman by the Key in which we're reminded that Krypton sits in a sector right next to ours (perfect for shuttling babies between). Tomar-Re takes Abin Sur's place so that Kal-El can become a proper Hal Jordan. And now...

5 Ways the Real Superman Is Just Like Hal Jordan
1. Has a bossy girlfriend who tends to be picked by aliens to become their queen.
2. Well known outside Earth airspace.
3. Guilt issues over the destruction of Coast City.
4. Died and came back with younger hair.
and 5. Buns. Of. Steel!

Comments

I was re-reading this story just yesterday. It's like you're in my head, man...
Siskoid said…
In your future head, as I wrote this, like, Monday! 3 days ahead... are you reading something electric blue RIGHT NOW?
snell said…
6. When they died, both temporarily replaced by young punk many fans never really cottoned to.
Anonymous said…
There's an old story from 1972 or so, written by Elliot S! Maggin. I think the name of it is "The Greatest Green Lantern of All", and it details how the Guardians were certain that the offspring of Jor-El and Lara would have what it takes to be the greatest GL of all time. Unfortunately, Tomar-Re failed to keep Krypton from blowing up, and it was all the Guardians could do to guide little Kal-El's ship to earth, where they were surprised to discover that destiny had other remarkable plans for him.

The best part of the story is that the Guardians describe Jor-El as a scientist, and Lara as an astronaut. Famously, Krypton never had a space program. So I think that was the Guardians' polite way of saying that Lara had no marketable skills and Jor-El married her for her looks.

Does the story back that up? Well, as I recall, it was Lara's job to set the navigational computer on Kal-El's ship, and yet the Guardians had to guide the ship to earth. Looks like somebody didn't program the computer correctly ...
Anonymous said…
Found it:

http://superman.nu/tales2/greatestGL/

There's no mention of who set the navigational computer, but Jor-El says "may the 'winds' of space favor his course"; a super-scientist would trust in his own calculations, so we can infer that someone else programmed the computer and Jor-El was too polite to point fingers. I'm guessing he got real good at that over the years.
Siskoid said…
The Guardians should also get in line with behind Mopee, revealed to also be responsible for guiding Superman's rocket to Earth in Ambush Bug #3 (as well as more famously creating the Flash in Flash #167).