Superman Depowered! In 1971!

The Truth has been working its way through the Superman titles for the last couple of months, showing us a Superman trying to come to grips with a new reality. His secret identity has been revealed. He has been depowered. He feels betrayed by friends. He is wanted by the police. He vacillates between angry and happy.

Suffice it to say, it has been an uneven ride so far.

In the last issue of Superman, the issue ends with a weird being grabbing Superman. It seems to be this interaction which is the cause of his depowered state.

Blog friend Martin Gray, of the Too Dangerous For A Girl comic review site, came up with the brilliant correlation between this scene and storyline to the classic Kryptonite Nevermore story arc from the early 70's.

In that arc, a being from the dimension of Quarrm rips its way into the world and slowly drains Superman of his powers. It was a Denny O'Neil's attempt to freshen up the Superman mythos. Kryptonite was changed to iron. Superman was ratcheted down to 2/3 of his power. Clark became a TV personality. Things were going to be different.

Could that energy creature from Superman #42 be a 'Sand Superman' for a new generation.

Kryptonite Nevermore was released in 1971. That's 44 years ago!

Nowadays people learn everything about upcoming comics from the web, devouring interviews, previews, and social media.

Back then, the way to tell people that things were changing in comics were in comics themselves.

So sit back and enjoy the low-tech way the 'soft reboot' of Superman in Kryptonite Nevermore was announced to the world.

"A new year brings a new beginning for Superman 1971"

In a nice one page review, we get the briefest review of all Superman history.

The first panel reminds people that Superman started out with modest powers. Jumping not flying. He could be hurt by anything more powerful than a bursting shell.  Then we get the connection - he is depowered.

Then we learn about his life as Clark going from Daily Star to Daily Planet to WGBS.

I can only imagine the outrage back then if social media existed.

I love the fact that the ad also included the larger Superman family and gave them some publicity as well.

Supergirl, the headliner in Adventure Comics at the time, gets her little sliver of coverage touting her whole new look.

Of course, since Superman was being depowered in his own book, Supergirl couldn't maintain all of her tremendous powers. Within 2 months of the Kryptonite Nevermore, Supergirl had ingested her own depowering pill, and was using a Kandorian exoskeleton to be a hero.

Still, the idea of linking Kryptonite Nevermore to The Truth is brilliant. We'll have to see if it plays out!

Posted in: Reviews