Source: JLA: Secret Society of Super-Heroes #1-2 (2000)
Type: Elseworlds
JLA: Secret Society of Super-Heroes, a Chaykin-Tischman-McKone-Palmiotti production, was a rather good Elseworld, especially for use Reigndeers because it was based on a choice made by Superman. Baby Kal-El was adopted by the Kents in the 1930s (all the hero timelines are screwed with in some way) and learned from their example. Aside from the date, that sounds like our own Clark Kent. However, the example given here is that of anonymous charity. Pa Kent and other Smallvillians would go around leaving food at the door of needy homes, never taking credit, thanks or recognition. Clark loved to sit in the bushes and watch the faces of those who found these gifts. It was "the best part".
Cut to the present day and Clark Kent is editor of the Daily Planet (Perry and Lois work for a Weekly Worlds News-type tabloid instead), but secretly he's also Superman, the leader of a secret society of do-gooders called the Kryptic. Thanks to Amazonium cannibalized from Wonder Woman's invisible plane, all the heroes can be made invisible, fighting crime, alien invasions and disasters without anyone ever seeing them. Bigger crooks and menaces can't really be dropped at the police station anonymously, so they're sent to the Phantom Zone!
It's not the Zone we know, all in white where no one can touch. It's a sort of pocket dimension where the convicts have built a community, even had children.
Superman's age is showing though, and he fields threats from both without and within. His aging cells aren't metabolizing sunlight as well as it used to, and he's gone the way of the bifocals and the occasional heart attack. At the same time, some of the Kryptic members have been manipulating markets to get themselves paid, and are militantly lobbying for the team to go public. And then there's Lois Lane and FBI agent Bruce Wayne closing in on their secret base. Though it momentarily devolves into a Kingdom Come conflict, I think the ending is pretty perfect. Check it out if you have the chance. I've spoiled very little.
Type: Elseworlds
JLA: Secret Society of Super-Heroes, a Chaykin-Tischman-McKone-Palmiotti production, was a rather good Elseworld, especially for use Reigndeers because it was based on a choice made by Superman. Baby Kal-El was adopted by the Kents in the 1930s (all the hero timelines are screwed with in some way) and learned from their example. Aside from the date, that sounds like our own Clark Kent. However, the example given here is that of anonymous charity. Pa Kent and other Smallvillians would go around leaving food at the door of needy homes, never taking credit, thanks or recognition. Clark loved to sit in the bushes and watch the faces of those who found these gifts. It was "the best part".Cut to the present day and Clark Kent is editor of the Daily Planet (Perry and Lois work for a Weekly Worlds News-type tabloid instead), but secretly he's also Superman, the leader of a secret society of do-gooders called the Kryptic. Thanks to Amazonium cannibalized from Wonder Woman's invisible plane, all the heroes can be made invisible, fighting crime, alien invasions and disasters without anyone ever seeing them. Bigger crooks and menaces can't really be dropped at the police station anonymously, so they're sent to the Phantom Zone!
It's not the Zone we know, all in white where no one can touch. It's a sort of pocket dimension where the convicts have built a community, even had children.Superman's age is showing though, and he fields threats from both without and within. His aging cells aren't metabolizing sunlight as well as it used to, and he's gone the way of the bifocals and the occasional heart attack. At the same time, some of the Kryptic members have been manipulating markets to get themselves paid, and are militantly lobbying for the team to go public. And then there's Lois Lane and FBI agent Bruce Wayne closing in on their secret base. Though it momentarily devolves into a Kingdom Come conflict, I think the ending is pretty perfect. Check it out if you have the chance. I've spoiled very little.
Comments
The idea that "kindness is its own reward" is really done well and takes it to an interesting place.
I also liked how they inserted several classic DC characters into the mix with very different histories. The concept that without Supes, all other heroes would have been different than their current versions is nothing new in DC themes, but I think it was done well in this case.
I am little put-off by Chaykin's tendency to have asshole personalities to generate "drama," for some of the characters (for no apparent reason), but at least it doesn't degenerate into the ridiculous violence/sex messes that can be another Chaykin trait.