I finally picked up a copy of The Krypton Companion, an in-depth guide to Superman (1958-1986) chock full of fascinating articles and interviews. My jaw fairly dropped when I read this passage from the Elliot S! Maggin interview conducted by Michael Eury:
Eury: You co-wrote, with Cary Bates, a four-parter in Superman #296-299 (Feb-May 1976) where the Man of Tomorrow evaluated the importance of both his identities. He temporarily hung up his cape to be "Clark Kent Forever-Superman Never!" (issue #297), a story that hinted at Clark's intimacy with Lois Lane. In those days before Superman II's Superman/Lois Fortress sleepover and the current comics' marriage of Clark and Lois, did they actually consummate their relationship?
Maggin: Of course they did.
Wow. Looks like Lois had a little trouble applying her lipstick correctly that morning!
6 comments:
Super cold-sore?
I always adored this whole story arc!
Maggin's original dialogue for Steve Lombard in the fourth panel was "Hiya Lois -- same dress as yesterday, huh?", as seen in this interview: http://superman.nu/tales2/whotook/maggintalks.php
Gosh, I didn't pick up on that at all when I read that comic. 'course, I was ten years old.
This was a great story. It demonstrated that Clark was the real person and Superman was the fake persona. For some reason, the comics have always treated the secret identity the other way around.
Ted, there has always been debate about who is the real persona, Supes or Clark. I like Maggin's take (taken from the same interview found in the Krypton companion) that "the hero is, by definition, the best self that the character is capable of being."
Good end for the arc too. In the Byrne reboot, Clark was made the real persona and Supes was the the Secret ID.
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