An Open Secret
PART 4
by Mark Alfred
9) In June, 1968,
the Secret Identities of both Batman and Superman collapse before a relatively
simple trick of technology. As told in World’s
Finest #176, the brilliant scientist Desmond Jason lets his actor
brother Ronald in on an astounding discovery:
“I’ve been working with voice prints ... which are as distinctive as
fingerprints!” The researcher’s simple
comparisons have proved that Clark Kent is Superman, and that Batman is
secretly Bruce Wayne.
As if in fateful retribution, an unstable radioactive
element in Desmond’s lab explodes with horrific results. The dying scientist gasps to his brother,
“You can’t help me ... or yourself!
Radiation will kill you ... within four weeks! No cure ...”
Holding his brother’s body, Ronald Jason resolves to use
this blood-bought, unsought knowledge to “make these last weeks the most
exciting of my life! I planned a
performance to fool Superman and Batman!”
By the end of the story, Jason’s deceptions involve dual impersonations
of aliens, while bringing Supergirl, Robin, Batgirl, and Jimmy Olsen into the
mix.
Jason’s affliction finally brings a collapse. He confesses his ruse, dying in happiness at
his bizarre achievement. After he’s
gone, Superman and Batman declare, “He’ll always be remembered for his great
screen roles! But his greatest
performance was a private one ... just for us!
That’s a memory we can all treasure!”
Just between thee and me, dear reader: The heroes are much more forgiving of this
heartbreaking con, than I would have been.
I might have wished I could bring this jerk back to life, just to kill
him again. What right did he think he
had, to cause such an Identity Crisis, just to serve his twisted, vainglorious
urge for duplicitous double-dealing?
Such turncoat treachery! Such
conniving counterfeit! Such
alliterative aberrance
10) In
November, 1973, Clark Kent comes across a very unsettling thing, in a most
prosaic place. As told in Action
#429, Clark is visiting the Daily Planet “morgue” and its
curator Ryan Lowell. On impulse he uses
his super-vision, reading his own file.
What a shock when he discovers that:
“the file holds an obituary for Clark Kent – in Kryptonese language –
which includes an entire life history ... and detailing every event in my
‘double’ life up to the present.” How
hipsterly recursive, I say!
Superman investigates and learns that Lowell’s news
ticker has somehow become “linked to my diary through an electronic
fluke.” After teaching himself
Kryptonese via English transliteration, Lowell has been updating this chronicle
of Superman’s feats. As the story
concludes, Superman asks the fellow, “What do you suggest I do about the fact
that you know my Secret Identity?”
“Why do anything?” Lowell replies. “After all, I’ve known it for a long time!
... A good reporter doesn’t tell privileged information for any reason.”
In a response entirety consonant with this story’s
Watergate, power-to-the-pen era, Superman surprisingly agrees. “If I can’t trust a fellow journalist, who
can I trust?”
Similarly, it was a good bet to trust this tale of
meta-commentary to the scribes Elliot S! Maggin and Curt Swan.
As you have learned by now, friends and acquaintances, as
well as total strangers, have come across Superman’s secret. His three closest friends on the planet – and
on the Planet – have also uncovered the truth from time to time. Of course, for continuity’s sake the
revelation can’t hang around for long. A
few examples:
In Action # 297, cover-dated February,
1963, Perry White has gone undercover for a story, only to be stricken with
amnesia. An underworld kingpin
recognizes White and takes him into his employ, figuring, “He could be just the
man we’ll need to uncover Superman’s Secret Identity!” Astoundingly, Perry accomplishes the
assignment; he unmasks Clark in Metropolis’s Hall of Fame, as shown on this
issue’s cover. But Superman’s desperate
ruse (involving the levitating statue of “Great Caesar’s Ghost”) snaps Perry
back to himself, and out of his discovery.
Clark ruminates, “Little does he realize that he had the greatest scoop
of all time ... and now he’s forgotten it completely!”
Lois Lane has likewise caught onto the Secret, and more
than once. As told in the September,
1958 story “Mrs Superman” (Superman #124), Lois and Clark
become trapped on a small island, surrounded by a Kryptonite cloud which
prevents Superman’s departure. “I’m
marooned here for life!”, Clark quickly decides, and immediately proposes. He convinces Lois he’s really the Big “S” by
showing off his weakened powers. Soon
afterward, of course, the Green-K cloud dissipates and Superman must come up
with a way to prove his confession a lie.
In issue #35 of her own magazine, Lois stumbles across
the secret – twice! In one story, a
super-computer devised by Professor Potter deduces the secret in order to help
her marry Superman; but the crucial paper printout blows away just before
anybody can read the thing! In the
second tale, one of those pesky blows on the head transmogrifies Our Girl into
the alter ego Sheila Dexter, who comes on to Clark and despises Superman. The Kryptonian Crusader decides that the best
therapy is an overdose, so he snatches Lois/Sheila to his Fortress, where he
boggles her mind with quick-changing between identities. This snaps her back to herself – “And, just
as I’d counted on, she doesn’t remember anything that happened during the
period of amnesia!” It seems that
on-again, off-again, instant amnesia was as popular in the 1960s as the evil
twin became in the 1980s.
Of all Superman’s friends, Jimmy Olsen may have learned
and lost the secret more times than any other.
The August, 1957 issue of Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, #22, included
“The Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen,” a story later reprinted at least twice in
latter comics. an Evolution Accelerator
gives James the intellect of a man from 1,000,000 AD. Along with such powers as levitation and
telepathy, he also acquires X-ray vision.
This enables him to blackmail Superman, to avoid an earth-shattering
“kaboom.” In Jimmy Olsen #81, the
Transparo-Scope, a Professor Potter device, bestows X-ray-like vision powers, unveiling
a Superman/Clark switch to the lad.
While in “Super-Brain,” the Secret fades when the future mind fades, in JO
#81 Jimmy gallantly takes some “amnesia drops” to forget the whole thing.
In the cover story of Jimmy Olsen #121, Jimmy
extracts one of those tell-a-dying-man revelations from his Super-Pal. But a swift recovery jeopardizes their
friendship as well as the Secret, until Jimmy jumps to a helpful assumption as
to why the confession happened in the first place.
As you’ve seen from this brief survey, some of the tales
are more-or-less light-hearted, some more somber. In some, the big reveal is a central plot
element; in others, it’s merely a bridge to spotlight the character who has
possession of this bit of inside knowledge.
What makes the Secret Identity trope so resonant? I think part of its fascination lies in the
fact that Superman’s situation is the reverse of our own.
After all, each of us at times fancies himself a hero, a
noble being, whose true worth is hidden inside.
If only we could reveal our best side to the world! If only I could behold the true hero at the
heart of your best intentions!
Superman’s state is the converse. He cloaks his surpassing abilities with the
persona of the humdrum Clark Kent. Ironic, isn’t it?
And how wonderful if the hero inside us could be revealed
by a simple change of clothes! Wouldn’t
we have it made?
The
End
See you on Thursday with a new music compilation!
