Source: Superman/Batman #51-52 (2008)
Type: Alternate Earth
Recently seen in The Multiversity #1, this tiny Superman first appeared in a Superman/Batman two-parter with the rest of the Lil' Leaguers, 'ported over from an unnamed Earth we now know to be the Earth-42 by 5th-dimensional imps Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite who were always, it seems, cast in their image. The imps want to show the Lil' heroes a grim and gritty version of their world, as if they were the vicious DC editors of today. On Earth-42, there is no death, and though there's violence, it's cartoon violence. There's no actual pain! And it's even more cartoony than that:
People there can manifest love hearts! Possibly even stormy clouds and shoulder devils and angels! They're almost uniformly playful, like children, and their favorite show is Tiny Titans!
Seems like we were made for each other, Lil' Leaguers. (They also have a great Red Tornado, and if you know me, I don't say that kind of thing lightly because Red Tornado sucks, but our focus is on Superman today.) Wait. Backtrack a little. No DEATH?! But weren't most of these heroes born from fatal tragedies? Not on Earth-42! Batman's parents were SHOVED, and nothing was ever the same again. And Krypton? Well...
It's still out there. Superman sees his bio-parents all the time. They're keen! But they're on Earth-Prime now, where pain and death ARE possible, a harsh lesson learned when Mxy and the Mite bring some Lil' villains over and Lil' Superman gets in a tangle with Lil' Doomsday.
Doomsday is destroyed, but Superman... Superman is killed. Oh crap. It's happening again. Dust off the old black armbands, guys. So if Lil' Superman was the first of E42's fallen, how can he be in The Multiversity? I guess it's true that all the Earths went through their own Flushpoint!
Type: Alternate Earth
Comments