Reign of the Supermen #140: Superboy 1,000,000

Source: Superboy vol.3 #1,000,000 (1998)
Type: FutureProject Cadmus. The 853rd century. Superboy's 1,000,000th clone. Call him OMAC, if you like - the One Millionth Actual Clone. A member of both Justice Legions "S" and "T" (the former will yield more Superboys, the latter is that century's Young Justice). Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett fully channeling the power of Kirby.

But while Superboy One Million might include a reference to OMAC - which makes sense, seeing as the 20th century's Superboy was palling around with other Kirby creations like the Guardian and Cadmus - I think he was also a retro-reference to Superboy analog, the Gladiator. The logical train of thought goes from the future, to the Legion, to the Imperial Guard, to Gladiator, to let's put a mohawk on the future Superboy, to OMAC. Simple when you think about it!

Now if only the comic didn't keep jumping back to the 20th century version. Superboy OMAC appears in a couple other books, including the One Million 80-Page Giant, but only Kesel and Grummett really nail the insane Kirbyness of it all.

Hey DC, I think I'd read a monthly One Million book.

Comments

Matthew Turnage said…
I'm not sure Gladiator was really on Kesel and Grummett's mind when they did the OMAC Superboy, but you never know.

I really loved K&G's second run on that title, with all the Kirby elements cranked up to 11. It should be collected some day, as I think it tends to be overlooked.
Austin Gorton said…
Hey DC, I think I'd read a monthly One Million book.

Me too!

Even without Morrison's direct involvement there's tons of cool ideas there to prop up just about any writer.