Title:
Action Comics v01 591A
Synopsis:
“Past Imperfect”
Superman flies after Superboy and the Legion and grabs onto Superboy’s feet as the Boy of Steel enters the timestream, but eventually loses his grip and falls into the Smallville of the past where Pete Ross discovers him, mistaking him for Superboy. Superman sees that this Smallville of the past doesn’t resemble anything of what he remembers of his Smallville, appearing more like an idealized vision of a typical small town.
Meanwhile, the Time Trapper watches, knowing that this version of Smallville was his own creation as well as Superboy, whom the Legion of Superheroes claim was part of actual Earth history, yet the Time Trapper knows that the Superman of actual history never became Superboy. He reveals to the readers that he has created this "pocket universe” by taking a sliver of time-space from the universe in the past and crafted from it its versions of Krypton and Earth that would produce the Legion’s version of Superboy, and that everytime the Legion thought it was traveling to Earth’s past to visit Superboy, they were actually redirected to this "pocket universe”.
Back on that universe’s Earth, Superboy confronts Superman again at the Kents’ residence and fights him, though Superman is beginning to suspect that Superboy’s heart was really not in this fight. Pa Kent tries to stop Superman by exposing him to that universe’s various isotopes of Kryptonite, but its radiation is totally harmless to Superman. It is then that Superboy confesses that he was hoping Superman would defeat him in order to break the Time Trapper’s control of him. After freeing the Legions, Superboy helps bring Superman back to his own reality in 1987 before disappearing back into the time stream, leaving Superman feeling a little jealous of the life Superboy lived.
Superman flies after Superboy and the Legion and grabs onto Superboy’s feet as the Boy of Steel enters the timestream, but eventually loses his grip and falls into the Smallville of the past where Pete Ross discovers him, mistaking him for Superboy. Superman sees that this Smallville of the past doesn’t resemble anything of what he remembers of his Smallville, appearing more like an idealized vision of a typical small town.
Meanwhile, the Time Trapper watches, knowing that this version of Smallville was his own creation as well as Superboy, whom the Legion of Superheroes claim was part of actual Earth history, yet the Time Trapper knows that the Superman of actual history never became Superboy. He reveals to the readers that he has created this "pocket universe” by taking a sliver of time-space from the universe in the past and crafted from it its versions of Krypton and Earth that would produce the Legion’s version of Superboy, and that everytime the Legion thought it was traveling to Earth’s past to visit Superboy, they were actually redirected to this "pocket universe”.
Back on that universe’s Earth, Superboy confronts Superman again at the Kents’ residence and fights him, though Superman is beginning to suspect that Superboy’s heart was really not in this fight. Pa Kent tries to stop Superman by exposing him to that universe’s various isotopes of Kryptonite, but its radiation is totally harmless to Superman. It is then that Superboy confesses that he was hoping Superman would defeat him in order to break the Time Trapper’s control of him. After freeing the Legions, Superboy helps bring Superman back to his own reality in 1987 before disappearing back into the time stream, leaving Superman feeling a little jealous of the life Superboy lived.
Cover Date:
08/2023
Publisher:
DC Comics
Issue Number:
591
Month:
August
Year:
1987
Variant Number:
1
Cover Letter:
A
Purchase Type:
Direct
Country:
United States
Cover Price:
$0.75
Era:
Modern Age
Genre:
Superhero
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Language:
English
Type of Comic:
Magazine
Characters:
Superman
Brainiac 5
Cosmic Boy
Lightning Lad
Saturn Girl
Sun Boy
Invisible Kid
Blok
Superboy (Kal-El) / Pocket Universe
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Date Added:
2018-07-02 22:31:47
Series:
Action Comics
Story Arc:
Things Fall Apart
Date Added:
2018-07-02 22:31:47
Writer:
John Byrne
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Penciller:
John Byrne
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Inker:
Dick Giordano
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Colorist:
Tom Ziuko
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Letterer:
John Costanza
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Editor:
Mike Carlin
Andrew Helfer
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