Super-Sons

The Super-Sons were a pair of fictional characters in an alternate version of the DC Comics universe. The characters were created by Bob Haney and Dick Dillin (based upon Superman by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, and Batman by Bob Kane & Bill Finger). The duo first appeared in World's Finest Comics #215 (January 1973).^[1] They were based on imaginary tales about the sons of Superman and Batman with Superman's dark-haired wife and Batman's red-haired wife. Batman's imaginary son was seen first in Batman #131 (April 1960), Batman #145 (February 1962), and Batman #163 (May 1964). The Super-Sons first appeared together in World's Finest Comics Vol 1 #154 (December 1965). They later inspired the characters Joel Kent and Bruce Wayne Jr. in Superman & Batman: Generations I (January - March 1999).

The Super-Sons, Superman Jr. (Clark Kent Jr.) and Batman Jr. (Bruce Wayne Jr.), were college-aged versions of their superhero fathers. Their mothers are never fully shown (their faces either being hidden or turned away from the reader), and are never referred to by name. The Super-Sons look almost exactly like their fathers and wear identical costumes. The characters spoke with a slightly exaggerated version of the slang popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They regard each other as brothers, since both understand the pressures involved in being the son of a living legend. Like his father, Batman Jr. has no superhuman powers and relies on athletic prowess and gadgets. Superman Jr., only half-Kryptonian, has powers levels of only half that of Superman, Sr.

Although the very first Super-Sons appearance stated that these were actual stories in the lives of Superman and Batman, the final story in World's Finest #263, "Final Secret of the Super-Sons", written by Dennis O'Neil, revealed that the Sons had never really existed — they were merely computer simulations of what might have been, created by Superman and Batman on the Man of Steel's computer in his Fortress of Solitude.

Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series, Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. were erased from DC continuity. A Super-Sons story by Bob Haney was published in the rare comic special Elseworlds 80-Page Giant (1999). In "Elseworlds" tales, "heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places -- some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist." Thus, the Super-Sons continued to be viewed as "imaginary" characters outside mainstream DC continuity.

The Super-Sons (and their fathers) appear briefly during the Infinite Crisis limited series, during which time Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three warps reality in an attempt to restore the multiverse. Their planet (identified as Earth-154) and countless other Earths later contract into a single "New Earth".^[2] In the limited series 52, it is revealed that 52 identical parallel universes were created. During his subsequent attempt to consume the multiverse, the worm-like villain Mister Mind altered each of the parallel worlds, creating distinct histories for each.^[3] According to DC Nation #89, one of those worlds is Earth-16, home of the Super-Sons.^[4]

Following DC's The New 52 Multiverse reboot, the Super-Sons (Chris Kent as Superman and Damian Wayne as Batman) reside on Earth-16 as members of the Just—the sons and daughters of the classic JLA, who have inherited a crimeless, utopian universe, and so live as idle celebrities.^[5]

The Super-Sons stories

The titles of the individual 'Parts' of the stories are presented here as they were in the comic books. In other words, that of Part Two of Little Town With a Big Secret was actually shown in quotation marks, and the number of The Angel With a Dirty Name Part 3 was in numerical form rather than being spelled out as were the previous two parts. These variations have thus been reflected below, and are not mistakes.

Unlike the other stories, Saga of the Super Sons and Final Secret of the Super Sons were not divided into parts.

It should also be pointed out that 'Super Sons' was spelled both on the story titles and on the cover of DC Comics' trade-paperback collection without a hyphen, as here.

In World's Finest, the title of the series as given on the stories themselves tended to vary from issue to issue, i.e. Superman and Batman, Superman, Batman and their Super-Sons etc. These variations have been mentioned where they occur. Cry Not For my Forsaken Son bore only its story title and no series title was given at all.

Collection

In December 2007, DC Comics published a trade-paperback collection of the series entitled Superman/Batman: Saga of the Super Sons. It collects the stories from: World's Finest #215-216, 221-222, 224, 228, 230, 231, 233, 238, 242, and 263; and Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1. The story in World's Finest #263 is written by Dennis O'Neil, all the others by Bob Haney. ISBN 1-4012-1502-5

Batman Junior/John Vance

An earlier version of Batman Junior made one appearance in Detective Comics #231 (May 1956), in a story written by Edmond Hamilton, with art by Sheldon Moldoff. In the story, Batman Junior is John Vance, a boy who once helped Batman as sidekick long before Robin (Dick Grayson at the time), had arrived. John re-enters Batman's life to solve yet another case, making Robin feel that he is about to be replaced. Apart from a reprint of the story in Batman #185 (October–November 1966), John Vance has not reappeared.

New version in 2016

In 2016, DC Comics announced a new version of the Super Sons to appear in 2017. The two new super-kids will be Jonathan Kent, son of Superman and Lois Lane, and Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al-Ghul. The former will be ten years of age in this version, while the latter is thirteen years old (as of the 80-page DC Universe Rebirth special). The advance releases describe them as "best frenemies forever" who will save the world together, "if they don't kill each other first."^[6]

References

External links

• Operation Super-Sons
• Batman Junior's entry on Obscure Characters in the DC Universe
• Detective Comics #231 on GCD
• Detective Comics #231 Synopsis on DC Indexes
• World's Finest Comics #215 at the Comic Book DB
• Super-Sons entry at DC Comics Database, a Wikia database on DC characters.