Friday, June 09, 2006

Further Crisis Implications

I've stumbled upon a little wrinkle in the Post Crisis DCU. It's not the first such thing, of course. And it's not likely to be the last. But I found it very interesting.

You see, Tim Drake thinks Superboy Prime is dead.

I was rereading Detective Comics #820 when I noticed it. While under the influence of the Scarecrow's fear toxin Robin fights a vision of the Earth-2 Robin. Tim makes short work of him, and is then faced with a far more terrifying specter: Superboy Prime.

But that's not the interesting thing. The interesting thing is how Tim rationalizes the phantom away:

"You took my friend, Conner. You took away a lot of Titans. But Conner died taking you with him. You're dead."

This certainly raises a lot of questions (at least in my mind). I'd imagine that the general public doesn't know much about what really went down. Like the fire fighter in 52: Week 1 they've just been told that someone put the world in dire peril. And that that someone was stopped.

But what about everybody else? Most of the caped community knows what happened. They know the raw power Superboy Prime possessed -- and how almost no one could stop him.

But who really knows that he's still out there? Tim Drake seems not to know. Does Wonder Girl know that the monster who killed her boyfriend is still out there? Do the rest of the Titans? Does Batman?

Do they know that he's out there, waiting, biding his time? Do they know that he will get out? And how would they react if they knew?

5 Comments:

At 6:05 PM, Blogger CalvinPitt said...

That's a good point. I'd imagine Clark told Bruce and Diana, but they've probably neglected to let their prodigies in on that piece of information.

Because, you know, adults are jerks like that.

 
At 6:12 PM, Blogger Centurion said...

I noticed that little bit too. I'm thinking only those resposible for stopping and locking away Superboy Prime really know the truth. Everyone else probably understands the threat was dealt with, and that it is over.

If it was common knowledge that he was still alive I think people would be much more nervous. Remember how anxious the idea of Doomsday was/is? Superboy Prime would likely cause more potential worry because he was once a good guy. Superman beat Doomsday, but what if Superman was evil? That kind of overarching worry.

They just keep the real truth a secret from the superhero community to allow the community to sleep at night, or so I think.

 
At 7:11 PM, Blogger Diamondrock said...

That's what I figured too. But I can't help but think that honesty would *still* be a better policy.

After all, how are Tim and the others going to react when SBP inevitably breaks free and they find out he *isn't* dead?

 
At 6:48 PM, Blogger Scipio said...

I just assumed that either Robinson hadn't read of all IC when he wrote this, or Robin felt saying that would dispel the fear more effectively.

 
At 12:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i havn't heard of this yet thats strange i loved conner i grew up with him and i really wish they would bring him back. i don't know why they even took him out but if anyone heres that they might be bringing him back or something conntact me somehow thanks

 

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