Action Comics #507
“Well, Clark --Care to make a last-second guess?" -Lana Lang
The Miraculous Return of Jonathan Kent
by Writer: Cary Bates, Penciller: Curt Swan, Inker: Frank Chiaramonte, Letterer: Milt Snapinn, Colorist: Gene D’Angelo, Editor: Julius Schwartz. Cover by Ross Andru & Dick GiordanoAfter a report on how Superman saved an ocean liner from a typhoon, Clark Kent and Lana Lang sign off from their six o’clock news show at WGBS. Clark tries to sneak out of the building so he can change into Superman, when Lana stops him. She tells him that she’s reserved a dinner for both of them at a restaurant called Marcel’s, and there will be a third person joining them, but leaves the revelation as a surprise for Clark. Clark and Lana take taxi to the restaurant, where they are greeted by a waiter to their seats. On the way to the table, Clark recognizes the back of the man’s head who is waiting for them, but can’t quite place it. It is none other than Clark’s foster father, Jonathan Kent, who should be dead.
Shocked at the presence of his father, Clark clearly remembers both of his parents having died. Jonathan acts as though he is fine, and that him and Clark have been keeping a correspondence over the years. Clark assumes that Lana and other members of the news team are pulling a prank of some kind, but then Jonathan starts revealing information to him that only he could know. Furthermore, he thinks that Lana must be under some hypnotic trance that this fake Jonathan has conjured, because she was at his funeral too.
As this strange event occurs, a few blocks away a long-haired man wearing a poncho has his hand out for money. A middle-aged, well-to-do couple walk by him, correctly identifying him as being a dirty hippy. He reveals that they are correct by saying his name is Starshine. The couple walk past him, giving him no money, when he suddenly screams at them “BOTH OF YOU... GIVE ME ALL YOUR VALUABLES... ...PLEASE!" All of the valuables that the couple wear cannot handle the size of his font, and the items suddenly fly off right into his arms. Starshine bags all of their possessions up like a hippy Santa, and tells them that he’s going to go take a jetliner in first class now.
Back at Marcel’s, Lana and Jonathan are reminiscing over her and Clark’s childhood. Clark tries to out his dad, by bringing up a beloved memory of him finding a rabbit. Jonathan recalls what Clark is talking about in detail, Clark still not believing him, checks both Jonathan and Lana’s pulses to find out that they aren’t lying.
Meanwhile, Starshine is tossed out of a bank for asking one of the guard if he has any change to spare. After being told to go take a bath because he’s a dirty hippy, Starshine yells at the bank to give him all of its money.
At Marcel’s again, Clark uses his microscopic vision on the glass his father drinks from. Apparently Clark has his father’s fingerprints memorized, and uses this to realize that this man must be his father somehow. Suddenly their dinner is interrupted by a commotion outside, Clark uses his x-ray vision to look two blocks away where he sees the bank being robbed. Trying to find some excuse to leave, his father suddenly creates a diversion like he used to when Clark was Superboy, so that his son can leave without raising Lana’s suspicions.
Flying away from the restaurant, now in his Superman garb, Superman approaches the bank the dirty hippy is robbing. All of the money is just pouring out in a pile around Starshine, while the guards warn that they will shoot him. Superman arrives, and tells the officers that he’ll handle it. Upon asking the dirty hippy how he’s making the money come to him, Starshine just offers Superman to slap his filthy hippy hand.
Superman attempts to remove Starshine from the sidewalk. Fed up with Superman, the dirty hippy tells him “...so buzz off and take the slow boat to China--” In response to this, Superman flies off into the sky at an alarming speed, leaving the hippy on the ground. Superman then flies all the way to the Pacific Ocean, where he finds a very slow boat headed towards China.
Using his telescopic vision, Superman notice the coast to China is about 200 miles away. Instead of waiting all day to reach it, he uses his super-breath on the sails creating a massive wind to sail the boat to the coast. Once in China, the spell seems to have lifted, so Superman flies all the way back to Metropolis in search of Starshine. At the bank the hippy was robbing, tell Superman that all of the money was returned to the bank. As they attempted to arrest the dirty hippy, he muttered something under his breath and was suddenly gone. Superman then passes by Marcel’s, but finds out Lana and his father have left.
Flying to Smallville, Superman changes to Clark Kent so that he can go into the cemetery without arousing anyone’s suspicions. Clark approaches his mother’s tombstone to lay down some flower, but realizes that his father’s is missing. Confused, Clark visits his boyhood home, which should be under the care of Chief Parker, who retired and lives there. Inside the house, Clark finds a bunch letters written in his own handwriting, with personal detail only he himself could know. Finally accepting that his father must be alive somehow, Clark changes back to Superman.
In Metropolis, Jonathan Kent is trying to find Clark’s apartment. He questions a couple of men for where a street is, when they grab and pull him into an alley. They whip out guns, and demand all of Jonathan’s money. A sudden wind blows between the men, when Superman appears, blocking the guns’ paths to his father. Superman juggles the two men around and then tosses them out into the street, when a cop car pulls up behind them to arrest the two men.
Up in Clark’s apartment, Superman and his father talk about what just happened, when Superman finally smiles accepting that his father is alive somehow. Just outside of the city, the dirty hippy, Starshine, is yelling at the city. He complains that all the over-thirty year olds are making all of the decisions, or something. He then shouts, “Everyone over thirty-- Get out of Metropolis and stay out-- --PLEASE!”
Notes/Observations/Thoughts
Originally, I was just going to cover this issue, but then I realized the next part of this story has a major event in it, so I plan to cover that one as well. I like this story, except for the parts with Starshine. All of the Jonathan stuff is pretty intriguing. If I were Superman, I’d go consult with Batman to see if he knows what’s up, being the expert on dead parents and all.
The parts I didn’t like with Starshine, are mainly due to the fact that they don’t really tell us anything about him, other than that he’s a dirty hippy and has some kind of vocal or word imposing powers. Kind of like Zatanna, but shouting “PLEASE!", instead of saying things backwards. The only part I liked with him is when he interacts with Superman, telling him to go to China. Cary Bates can do a much better job of characterization than this, just look at Jonathan Kent here, or check out his run on Captain Atom (which I will cover as my final DC issue for this round.)
Quotes
“What a weird day this has been!" -Superman
The images, story, and all character names on this page are trademarked DC/Marvel Characters, and used without permission. No infringement is intended.
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