Source: Superman vol.1 #86 (1954); Brave and the Bold vol.3 #10 (2008)
Type: The real deals (since retconned)
It's not what it looks like! Though Superman could have gone back in time to hang with the Knights of the Round Table, this is actually a contemporary story. How? By the power of NATIONAL CLICHÉS, of course! Just as I'm sure 50s comics version of Canada would be full of igloos and Mounties, so is its England a country of knights and castles. At least, when Clark, Lois and Perry go to England to report on a dragon sighting (apparently leaving the Daily Planet in the capable hands of Jimmy Olsen), everyone they meet is wearing a suit of armor. Seems like the descendants of the original Knights of the Round Table (sounds like a genealogy con to me) are having a little Medieval fair, and are out looking for the dragon. Clark gets in good with the Knights and becomes, variably, Sir Clark or Sir Kent. He'll be on the trail with them, "reporting", and can't show his Super-face in England without arousing Lois' suspicions. So of course that's when the cover image happens! Sir Kent is broiled alive by the dragon, revealing the Superman within, right in front of Knightly witnesses! How does he get out of THIS one? Well first, there's a dragon to defeat, which Superman does. Or rather, it collapses, dead, in the museum to which it was drawn.
Yes, the surprise isn't that there's a live dragon running around the UK, it's that they already had a dead one in a natural history museum. Dragons are real and everyone knows it. Suck it, paleontology. So how DOES Superman get out of the looming "Superman Is Clark Kent" headline? Let's go back a couple pages to see how they made Clark some tight-fitting (and easy-melting) armor:
Ah yes, the wax dummy scheme. A classic. Superman steals the dummy and Lois immediately leaps to the conclusion that he must have been wearing it over his skin and costume, POSING as Sir Kent while the journalist hid like a little girl. Well, OF COURSE! And since it's Lois' idea, so easy to just laugh and say "yeah, you got me again Lois". She really doesn't want him to be Clark, does she?
Sir Kent Returns!
In Brave and the Bold volume 3 #10, Superman is whisked to the Middle Ages by Merlin and teams up with the Silent Knight. He gets a cool shield in the process.
Superman's got a sweet deal, secret identity-wise. Puts on glasses and nobody's the wiser. The Silent Knight not only hid his face, but NEVER SPOKE from fear of his voice being recognized! Now THAT'S realistic. So together they fight a frost dragon, and there's a fun bit where Superman covers the Silent Knight in heat vision to keep him warm even under the dragon's breath.
Type: The real deals (since retconned)
It's not what it looks like! Though Superman could have gone back in time to hang with the Knights of the Round Table, this is actually a contemporary story. How? By the power of NATIONAL CLICHÉS, of course! Just as I'm sure 50s comics version of Canada would be full of igloos and Mounties, so is its England a country of knights and castles. At least, when Clark, Lois and Perry go to England to report on a dragon sighting (apparently leaving the Daily Planet in the capable hands of Jimmy Olsen), everyone they meet is wearing a suit of armor. Seems like the descendants of the original Knights of the Round Table (sounds like a genealogy con to me) are having a little Medieval fair, and are out looking for the dragon. Clark gets in good with the Knights and becomes, variably, Sir Clark or Sir Kent. He'll be on the trail with them, "reporting", and can't show his Super-face in England without arousing Lois' suspicions. So of course that's when the cover image happens! Sir Kent is broiled alive by the dragon, revealing the Superman within, right in front of Knightly witnesses! How does he get out of THIS one? Well first, there's a dragon to defeat, which Superman does. Or rather, it collapses, dead, in the museum to which it was drawn.
Yes, the surprise isn't that there's a live dragon running around the UK, it's that they already had a dead one in a natural history museum. Dragons are real and everyone knows it. Suck it, paleontology. So how DOES Superman get out of the looming "Superman Is Clark Kent" headline? Let's go back a couple pages to see how they made Clark some tight-fitting (and easy-melting) armor:
Ah yes, the wax dummy scheme. A classic. Superman steals the dummy and Lois immediately leaps to the conclusion that he must have been wearing it over his skin and costume, POSING as Sir Kent while the journalist hid like a little girl. Well, OF COURSE! And since it's Lois' idea, so easy to just laugh and say "yeah, you got me again Lois". She really doesn't want him to be Clark, does she?Sir Kent Returns!
In Brave and the Bold volume 3 #10, Superman is whisked to the Middle Ages by Merlin and teams up with the Silent Knight. He gets a cool shield in the process.
Superman's got a sweet deal, secret identity-wise. Puts on glasses and nobody's the wiser. The Silent Knight not only hid his face, but NEVER SPOKE from fear of his voice being recognized! Now THAT'S realistic. So together they fight a frost dragon, and there's a fun bit where Superman covers the Silent Knight in heat vision to keep him warm even under the dragon's breath.
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