Superboy’s Mentor Is Not Who You’d Think (and He’s a Surprising Threat)

Action Comics is in the middle of recounting Clark Kent’s first days as Superboy, and quite frankly, it’s not going well for the Boy of Steel. His identity was all but immediately uncovered by his teacher Mr. Blake, who in actuality was the long-forgotten superhero Captain Comet. Unknown to Clark and his family, Comet had been watching Superboy for some time now, and for better and worse he was moving to be a bigger influence on the fledgling hero. Unfortunately, his motives aren’t anywhere near as clean as they appeared, and they didn’t look very clean at all. Clark is going to have to learn fast, because Captain Comet has set his eyes on Superboy.

Surprising Revelations

Mr. Blake showed up at the Kents’ door and outright asked if Clark was Superboy, and given that this was the first time something like this had ever happened, Clark picked the worst possible answer and asked if Blake was from the government.

With that all but confirming his suspicions, Blake revealed that he was actually Captain Comet, a mutant with powers similar to Clark’s, only with some psychic abilities like clairvoyance. Superheroes had completely disappeared decades earlier, so it was a definite shock to see one show up out of the blue, but he wasn’t here to talk about himself. He told Clark that he thought he was reckless and needed to make sure he could trust him. He recounted stories of other young heroes from across the universe, all of which ended in failure and decimation because of their lack of experience. The narrator, modern day Superman, noted how everything about what Comet said should have been several red flags. Captain Comet promised he’d talk to Clark soon, then vanished.

Understandably upset by what Captain Comet said, and following a very bad morning, Clark hoped that his schoolday would only be filled with sneaking glances at Lana Lang, but he could never be that lucky. Comet embarrassed him all through class, and when it finally let out Clark’s usual bully decided to double down on making his day worse. Clark just about lost his temper and shoved Braverman, then flew away before he went off the handle. He planned to smash through a mountain to make himself feel better, but Captain Comet grabbed him out of the air and forced him into a lesson. A plague of locusts was about to hit Smallville, so how could Superboy stop them? Before Clark could ask any questions, Comet was gone, and he was alone with the bugs.

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First he tried to blow them away or send them flying with a sonic clap, but that only scattered them for a second. Superboy panicked, trying to think of a way to save Smallville’s crops without burning them all to a crisp, when he remembered that locusts were very perceptible to high frequencies. He used his greatest power of super-whistling to stun all the bugs, then flew fast enough to cart them away in a slipstream. He guided the swarm back north, where the cooler temps returned them to normal grasshoppers. Clark celebrated his first win of the day, but was secretly being monitored by Captain Comet and General Lane, who decided that Superboy was dangerous enough to move onto some kind of next phase.

Clearly, there’s a lot going on that Superboy doesn’t know about. Not only do Captain Comet and the government think he’s a threat, but they’re planning to take him down. Except, if he was really an enemy, Comet could just tell them who Superboy is and be done with it. Things definitely aren’t what they seem, and it probably all harkens back to the mysterious reason that superheroes disappeared overnight all those years ago. Captain Comet could be an enemy working to bring Superboy down, a misguided mentor who thinks he’s too dangerous as is, or someone who has deeply laid plans involving the legality of superheroes, and is working towards a goal that Superboy’s existence undermines. I’m willing to bet that Comet isn’t actually an enemy, but Superboy’s debut might be causing way more waves than he could ever have anticipated.

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