Action Comics Reveals Who Coined the Name Superboy (and It’s Perfect)

Superman is having a banner year, and DC is pulling out all of the stops for fans new and old in the comics. While Superman deals with the current events in the character’s life, Action Comics has taken readers back in time, to the days when young Clark Kent decided to become a superhero. These are the Superboy days, and readers got to watch him in action in Metropolis for the first time in Action Comics #1087, when young Clark had to fight an enemy at a Metropolis space museum. However, the young Clark Kent didn’t stay around to do interviews, so no one knew what to call him. Well, none of the adults did, but Action Comics #1088, we learn that a certain young woman, at The Daily Planet with her uncle, coined a name for him. Of course, this was Lois Lane.

Lois Lane is the most important character in the Superman mythos by a long margin. Supeman’s love for Lois has been one of the guiding lights of the character’s life, and their working relationship — Superman as a superhero and Lois’s as the reporter who reports on him — has always played a huge role in the adventures of both of them. This isn’t the first time that DC has established how important Lois Lane is to Superman’s early career, but this issue of Action Comics canonizes it in the most perfect way possible.

Lois Lane Should Always Be the Person to Coin Superman’s Name

The canon status of Superboy has been in question since Crisis on Infinite Earths. Pre-Crisis, Superboy was an important part of the history of Superman. Young Clark Kent started his superheroic career in Smallville, and would eventually end up dealing with young Lex Luthor and joined up with the Legion of Superheroes. Superboy was one of DC’s bestselling comics, and fans loved his adventures with the Legion. However, post-Crisis DC decided to completely change Superman’s history. Gone were the days of Superboy, and this lasted until 2005-2006’s Infinite Crisis, which ended with the re-establishment of Superman’s time as Superboy. This lasted until the New 52, when Superman’s past as Superboy was again wiped from canon, as it was established in this new universe that he didn’t start superheroing until he got to Metropolis. After the re-establishment of the post-Crisis Superman in the DC Universe, it wasn’t known whether he had his adventures as Superboy. Action Comics re-establishing this little piece of Superman history has made a lot of fans happy, and the current storyline is playing it for all its worth.

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Back in the pre-Crisis days, Clark and his family came up with the name Superboy and that makes sense. However, Action Comics #1088 changes all of that. The issue kicks off in the offices of The Daily Planet, with Perry White discussing what to call the young hero. They try several rather bad names — Stronglad (which feels like a Legion of Superheroes name, which is awesome), Strongboy, Mightor, Blue Star, and Wondro — all because White wants to make sure that the Planet names the hero. Perry brings up the fact that Superboy had an “S” on his chest and that Charlie Lane’s niece Lois, at the Planet for a take your kids to work day, coined the name Superboy. This is beyond perfect. At this point in time, we don’t need more links between Lois and Superman, but this works so well because in multiple other versions of Superman’s history, Lois is the one to name him, especially post-Crisis DC. Having Lois name him “Superboy” is a callback to all of those times, and links post-Crisis ideas with the pre-Crisis idea of Superboy. It’s an excellent little callback and a moment that makes total sense. Superman’s supporting cast is very important to him, and this development makes sure that Lois gets to stay at the top of that list.

Lois Lane Is Always the Most Important Superman Character

It goes without saying that Lois Lane is the most important member of Superman’s supporting cast. She’s his wife, the one human being who he loves more than even his parents. She’s always played a huge role in defining who he was to the general public, and so it makes a ton of sense to have her be the one who came up with the name Superboy. It’s even cooler that she did it as a middle schooler, because it shows what level has always been working at.

It’s also cool that writer Mark Waid, a Superman historian if there ever was one, is the one to make this change. Waid grew up with the pre-Crisis Superman, and has also played a big role in defining who Superman is in the post-Crisis DC Universe — he wrote Superman: Birthright, one of the defining Superman origins. Him giving Lois the honor of coming up with the name Superboy means a lot more than if any other writer did it, and it’s yet another perfect Superman moment in a year full of them.

Action Comics #1088 is on sale now.