DC Comics
Superman: Secret Identity #2
By Koppy McFad
February 20, 2004 - 13:11

DC Comics
Writer(s): Kurt Busiek
Penciller(s): Stuart Immonen
Cover Artist(s): Stuart Immonen



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This high-priced miniseries tells the story of a kid named "Clark Kent" who lives in the real world with no superheroes outside of the comicbooks. He has to endure years of jokes about being Superman. Until one day, he inexplicably finds that he does have Superman's powers. In the second issue, Clark goes to New York and amazingly, despite his youth, gets a job with the New Yorker. He keeps his powers a secret, performing good deeds in a Superman costume so that anyone who sees him will be dismissed as a crank.

In this issue, Clark finally meets his Lois and while she isn't surnamed "Lane", she does capture his heart. It is touching to see how someone so powerful can be moved by a simple thing like young love. Unlike his comic book counterpart, Clark does not let his "dual identity" dominate his relationship with this woman. As for Lois, she isn't so clearly delineated but she certainly seems more sympathetic than the hard-nailed, self-absorbed, super-shrew that Lois Lane has become. Clark also comes face to face with the responsibilities and burdens that go with his powers. But this comes through the old gimmick of the government's men-in-black trying to capture Clark to examine him. These sequences seem like an intrusion of the comic book world into the real world and detract from the personal story which is the focus of this book. But I suppose that this is a comic book story in the end and there has to be an explanation of how this kid got his powers. Hopefully, this story will manage to explain this while still keeping the spotlight on how a real person in the real world would deal with such unreal powers.

The art by Immonen gives the book a quiet, intimate tone that helps the reader feel closer to the characters. The mix of retro-comic scenes with the realistic art in the rest of the story, als help underscore the strange situation that Clark has found himself. At the same time, the art team also shows they can weave an atmosphere of menace and conflict, foreshadowing the more serious challenges that Clark will face in the future.

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Superman: Secret Identity #2
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