Welcome to the twenty-second edition of Adventure(s) Time, where we examine an episode of a classic animated series, and an issue of its tie-in comic that shares a similar theme. This week, we're going back to an episode of Superman: The Animated Series that set out to prove Clark Kent can be every bit the hero as Superman...and an issue of Superman Adventures that also makes Clark the star.

Batman: The Animated Series – When Catwoman Refused to Reform

"The Late Mr. Kent" originally aired on November 8, 1997 as the thirty-sixth episode of Superman: The Animated Series. The episode is written by Stan Berkowitz, who scripted many DCAU episodes of this era, and directed by Kenji Hachizaki. More than any other DCAU series, Superman was reliant on Japanese animators, as the producers grew confident in the ability of the TMS-Kyokuichi Corporation to oversee the boarding and directing of scripts generated in America. While the Japanese episodes are renowned for their incredibly complex visuals, "The Late Mr. Kent" turns out to be a far more grounded story. (With several bits of action thrown in, not surprisingly.)

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Funeral For A Friend

Opening with a funeral, and the title of the show delayed until the appropriate moment, we see that Clark's coworkers have gathered for his memorial, while Superman secretly observes from a safe distance. Clearly, this will not be your standard episode of Superman. Through a voiceover, Clark recounts the unlikely events that have led to this moment.

Clark flashes back to a Daily Planet assignment on the impending execution of Ernest Walker, who swears he was framed for a murder he didn’t commit. Clark’s superhuman senses determine Walker is telling the truth. (So does this mean that it's just as impossible to lie to Superman as it is Daredevil? Usually, Superman limits the hero's collection of superpowers in order to avoid such potentially thorny issues.)

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Clark speaks to the lead investigator on the case, Detective Kurt Bowman. Bowman's adamant that Walker is guilty, and more than a little annoyed Clark is pursuing this case. That evening, taking his inspiration from the Daily Planet's last slice of pizza, Clark stumbles across a means of proving Walker's alibi. After speaking to the owner of the pizzeria nearest Walker's home, and examining their extensive archive of mid-'90s floppy discs, Clark feels confident that he can prove Walker was eating delivery pizza at the time of the murder. After calling Lois to gloat, Clark takes on a personal mission to hand-deliver the disc to the governor.

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Lois & Lana Take the Spotlight

Clark's stated motivation for this, wanting to personally receive the glory for once, is another unique aspect of the episode. The idea of Clark having a bit of an ego, of perhaps resenting just a tad the attention that's paid to Superman while he lives in anonymity -- that's not really what Superman has been about. The show was conceived as a more straightforward action series when compared to Batman: The Animated Series; an outlet for longer fight scenes, more fantastical settings, and undoubtedly, more Jack Kirby. The more human portrayal of Clark, seeing him as an actual person and not just a means for Superman to gather information on the latest supervillain, is unusual. I would also argue that it's a welcome change of direction.

If TMS was bored by now, animating numerous conversation scenes, this is the moment the episode picks up the pace. A mystery figure doesn't want Clark to deliver that disc to the governor, and soon Clark's car explodes...while Clark is driving it. Naturally, Clark survives, even if his car, and the disc, are destroyed. Complicating matters further is the nearby fisherman who witnessed the incident, who could easily surmise that Clark is Superman if he saw the reporter emerge from the wreckage.

The story now cuts back to the opening, with Clark believed dead and Walker hours away from the gas chamber. Clark tries to figure out his next move at his parents’ home (who have a hilariously blasé reaction to news of their son's "death"), before heading back to this apartment. Assuming his assassin might be searching his apartment for evidence, Superman arrives at Clark's home and discovers a despondent Lois Lane is also there. There's another quiet moment, as Lois reveals that she not only admired Clark but also genuinely liked him, tearfully expressing regret for picking on the small town boy. This brief scene might be the nicest Clark-Lois moment from the show's run, since the producers were more concerned with making the characters professional rivals instead of a couple, or even close friends. In hindsight, this episode is a glimpse of what Superman could've been, had the producers given the characters more nuanced relationships.

There's no more time for talk, however, as Lois discovers not only a listening device on Clark's phone, but a bomb that's seconds away from detonating. Superman rescues her from the apartment, and within moments, they've deduced that Detective Bowman is the likely culprit behind the attacks, and the initial murder. Lois confronts Bowman at the Metropolis Police Station, and receives more of a confirmation than she would've liked when Bowman throws her down a flight of stairs.

Superman arrives to rescue her, and in the course of pursuing Bowman, finds himself under assault from a heavily armed police helicopter. So...grimy, crime-infested Gotham City gets wimpy police blimps, but clean, friendly Metropolis receives high-grade military vehicles?

Even though Superman is able to subdue Bowman, he reaches the governor's mansion after the governor has left to witness the execution in person. Superman's also too late to stop the release of gas within the chamber, but he is able to swoop in and safely expel the gas before Walker can be harmed (assuming he doesn't have a heart condition.) With Walker's name clear and Bowman arrested, all that remains is for Superman to resume the identity of Clark Kent. He accomplishes this with the help of his childhood friend Lana Lang, who we've discovered in a previous episode already knows of his secret identity. Clark explains that he's been recovering at Lang's apartment for the past few days, too weak to contact any of his Metropolis friends. And that witness to his "death," the fisherman, turns out to be nearly blind, so his eyewitness statement is pretty worthless anyway.

While that explanation might be the weakest part of the episode, the final coda of the story is unforgettable. Months pass, and Bowman is still stewing over the reporter who exposed him. Reading the story of his scheduled execution, also covered by Kent, Bowman fumes for one last time as he's escorted to the gas chamber. Just as the lever is pulled, a realization hits Bowman -- how did Clark Kent survive that bomb? It's because Clark Kent is Superman...knowledge Bowman will take to his grave.

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The Late Mr. Kent

"The Late Mr. Kent" is easily one of the strongest episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, a clear example of the importance of breaking formula and trusting the audience to accept something different. Can turning the focus to Clark Kent also benefit the monthly tie-in comic?

Superman Adventures #18 (April 1998) presents “It’s A Wonderful Super Life!” by writer Devin K. Grayson and artist Aluir Amancio. Amancio enjoyed a lengthy run on this title, penciling many of Mark Millar’s issues, while Devin K. Grayson was a new writer at DC at this time. She apparently chose to pursue a career working in the non-profit sector over freelance writing, but for a while, Grayson received no shortage of industry press. She was even one of the creators Marvel tried to lure away from DC during the early days of the Marvel Knights imprint, with the 1999 Black Widow miniseries.

While the cover of the issue wouldn’t lead you to believe this is a Clark Kent tale, it fits into a recurring motif -- while Clark is investigating a routine public transit story, his life as Superman continually gets in the way. After weeks of mediocre work, Clark’s desperate to please Perry White on the story. Even though his Daily Planet coworkers dismiss the assignment as a joke, Clark investigates the feud over a conflicting monorail and subway stop with grave resolve. However, there’s always a montage of Superman action distracting him from the story.

Frustrated, Clark visits his parents’ home for lunch, explaining to them his unease with his double life. Clark questions if perhaps he should live life as a full-time Superman, since his responsibilities as a hero aren’t allowing him to truly live as Clark Kent anyway. His parents advise him that Clark’s life has a meaning of its own, and that people count on him in both identities. The warm relationship between Clark and his parents stands in sharp contrast with the, let’s say, less than noble portrayal of the Kents in their recent film appearances. My personal bias is that this is the best interpretation of the characters; but I suppose others might enjoying seeing them as selfish, paranoid misanthropes. Everyone has opinions.

Inspired by his parents, and his 4:00 deadline, Clark continues to investigate the feud over the mass transit stop. His enquiry leads to the discovery that the bridge carrying both the subway car and monorail was built by Samson Construction, a shady firm that Clark exposed a year earlier for a different story. And while the bridge seems to be sturdy enough, based on Superman’s discreet strength testing, more research at the Hall of Records offers Clark another surprise. It’s time to “Stop the Presses!”

Clark learns both the subway and monorail lines will pass the bridge at the exact same time, and even though they’re on different tracks, the combined weight will be too much for the bridge to support. It’s actually Clark who saves this day, as his “boring” mass transit story dominates the top page, and his exploits as Superman are relegated to a sidebar.

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The Wrap-Up

Design-y

"The Late Mr. Kent" compensates for its lack of supervillains and monsters with numerous explosions. Here’s a great shot of a bomb exploding in Superman’s face.

Continuity Notes

  • Detective Bowman previously appeared in the episode "Target," unwilling to properly investigate threats on Lois’ life, due to an earlier story he disliked. Why exactly he killed the wealthy woman from this episode is never revealed.
  • The smaller headline from the ending of "The Late Mr. Kent" reads “Fans Nix New Duds!”, which was very possibly a jab at the “Electro-Supes” redesign of Superman from the mainstream comics in early 1997.
  • In "The Late Mr. Kent," Superman is adamant that he is Clark Kent and cannot abandon the identity. In “It’s A Wonderful Super Life!,” Superman is ready to give up life as Clark (at least for a few pages.) The idea of Clark being Superman’s true persona was pushed by John Byrne during his 1986 revamp of the character, and was one of the many aspects of Byrne’s work to make its way into this series.

Over the Kiddies’ Heads

It’s hard to imagine a story focusing on a corrupt white cop framing a minority victim, poorly served by his lazy public defender, that ends with someone dying in the gas chamber, airing in the current environment of children’s television. Doesn’t exactly fit into the jokes-action-jokes format.

Hey, I Know That Voice

Character actor Eddie Barth, who spent much of his career playing cops on prime time dramas, voices Detective Bowman. Barth earned the nickname “Mr. Gravel,” thanks to his raspy tone.

Battle of the Identity Crises

Can Superman exist without Clark Kent? Both stories make a compelling case for why Clark is just as important as Superman, although "The Late Mr. Kent" has more of an impact. While “It’s A Wonderful Super Life!,” is a decent fill-in, and manages to use the obligatory action scenes in a way that emphasizes Clark’s internal conflict, "The Late Mr. Kent" is such an unusual story for this canon, it easily stands out.

Not only does the episode offer insight into what a more character driven Superman series could’ve been, but it also raises the prospect of a Superman cartoon with strong episode to episode continuity. How does Clark react after not only losing his car, but also his apartment? What does he do after being declared legally dead? After giving that lame story to Lois, will Clark be able to maintain his double life in the future? Long-term continuity won’t appear in this canon until Justice League , but episodes like "The Late Mr. Kent" show that this is a tool that should’ve been utilized years earlier.

That’s all for this week. If you have any animated episodes you’d like to see paired with their comics tie-ins, leave a comment or just let me know on Twitter.