Superman is going through a renaissance, with the upcoming Superman film seeing DC Comics put all their weight behind the Superman books. Summer 2025 is the Summer of Superman, and Super fans are ecstatic. Superman can be a difficult nut to crack, but so far we’ve gotten a lot of great Superman comics. Supergirl is back with a new series, and it looks DC wants to bring back another classic aspect of the Superman titles. Action Comics #1087 takes readers back to the younger days of Clark Kent, when he and the Kents take a trip to Metropolis to go to a new space museum. However, a villain attack leads to young Clark jumping into action as Superboy. That’s right, we’re getting back Clark Kent’s teenage adventures of Superboy and it’s the best idea in a while.
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Superman’s time as Superboy has often been put on the chopping block of DC continuity. The publisher did away with it with Crisis on Infinite Earths, brought it back post-Infinite Crisis, and did away with it again with the New 52 reboot. Since then, DC has changed their universe several times (I love DC, but it loves rebooting everything), but the disposition of Superboy in the history of DC has been a question. The latest issue of Action Comics, written by Mark Waid, a creator who loves every aspect of Superman history, brings it all back and that’s a cause for celebration.
Superboy Opens Up So Many Story Options
So, let’s start with the most exciting part of the return of Superboy — the Legion of Superheroes. Superboy played a key role in the Legion of Superheroes in every way. The Legion, a group of superpowered alien teenager superheroes, were inspired by the fact that Superboy used his powers to save the world. It let them see that they could make a difference in the universe, and that brought the team together. They’d eventually come back in time and recruit Superboy. The Legion is one of DC’s most complicated teams, mostly because of the damage that DC’s reboots have done to their history. Bringing Superboy back into continuity means that the only thing stopping DC from rebooting the Legion — or just bringing back the old pre-Crisis history of the Legion again (they did it once before post-Infinite Crisis, which was ruined by the New 52) — is themselves. DC has introduced a new version of Legion in DC All-In #1, which they have called the Darkseid Legion. From what we’ve seen, they’re basically just evil versions of the classic Legion, but that also might mean that the classic Legion might be out there, all because Superboy exists again.
The next part of the return of Superboy that is exciting is the relationship between young Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. Clark and Lex grew up together, and back in the pre-Crisis days, the beginning of their hatred for each other came from then. Lex started out as a friend of Superboy, but then blamed him when Superboy couldn’t save him from a science experiment gone wrong. Re-establishing this brings something new to the Superman/Lex Luthor rivalry, and could make for some exciting stories. In fact, even beyond this, the return of Superboy could lead to all kinds of great stories. It would be too much to expect that DC would put out a Superboy book immediately, but it does allow the publisher to print stories of Superboy in action, showing his growth as a hero. Current day DC keeps bringing things closer to pre-Crisis DC, and Superboy is a key part of that. Superboy was once a linchpin of DC history, and he can be again.
The Return of Superboy Is the Best Idea DC Has Had In a While
Superboy doesn’t have the easiest time of things in Action Comics #1087. New villain Raze is able to do quite a bit of damage, which leads to another aspect of Superboy that is so cool. This gives writers a chance to show how Superman has become the person he is. Superboy had to learn the heroism ropes, so having Superboy around allows creators to show a side of Superman we don’t get to see very often — the side that isn’t perfect and makes mistakes. Superboy was a key part of the character’s history, and bringing him back is great in every way.
One of the biggest problems with DC’s reboots has been the way they take away aspects of their history to “streamline” things or to make it easier for new fans to understand DC. However, subtracting anything is a mistake. DC’s reboots have taken a lot of great things away from fans, and Superboy is one of those things. Superboy is a key part of the Superman mythos, and bringing it back opens up so many opportunities. Here’s to Superboy!
Action Comics #1087 is on sale now
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