An Open Secret
PART 2
by Mark Alfred
1) Action
#237 (February, 1958) tells of newspaper magnate Henry Furst’s greatest
scoop. Years of secret research have
convinced Furst that Clark Kent is secretly Superman. So the rich man uses a powerful drug to fake
his own death, conning Clark into revealing the secret to “a dying man.” Imagine the reporter’s chagrin upon receiving
a phone call from the “dead man” gleefully detailing the EXTRA! edition his
papers will be carrying.
Thankfully, by a strange twist of fate, the same drug
that induced Furst’s simulated death ends up scrambling his memories, to the
point that he eventually decides that the memory of Clark’s confession is a
muddled vignette from a clouded mind.
Sadly, just three years later, Superman falls for the
same dying-man trick, in Action 276. This time the trickster is wealthy
philanthropist John Kiley, really the head of the Anti-Superman Gang. He’s not after the journalistic scoop of the
century; he uses the info to spring a Kryptonite trap on the Man of Tomorrow, a
snare from which Superman (of course) barely escapes.
But how to reverse Kiley’s fateful knowledge? It takes the combined efforts of the Superman
Emergency Squad and (then-unknown) Supergirl to convince the mobster that he’s
seeing superbeings everywhere ... a sure sign of pharmaceutical delirium. It stands to reason that Kent couldn’t be
Superman, either. Whew!
2) Not all
who learn the Great Secret have criminal intentions, of course. Superboy #90 (July 1961) narrates
the momentous camping trip of Clark and best friend Pete Ross. A clap of thunder awaken Pete just in time to
reveal his friend Clark switching to Superboy.
However, in a refreshingly compassionate twist, Pete vows
silence. “I’ll never betray him or even
tell Clark I know! He mustn’t be
disturbed or hampered in any way by my knowledge!” Over the intervening years, Pete has even
“accidentally” provided opportunities for his friend to slip away and change,
undetected.
Years later, as told in 1976’s Action #457, a grown-up
Pete is divorced, living in Metropolis with his young son Jon. Superman arrives at Truman Memorial Hospital
to be told that Jon is dying, and has “lost the will to survive!” Pete takes the Man of Steel aside to inform
him, “Jon always said the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world
is to know your secret identity!”
So, in an attempt to save Jon’s life, Superman confesses
his secret to the boy. Imagine his
consternation when the youngster bursts into tears of disbelief, in the scene
shown on the cover: “How do you expect
even a kid to believe Superman is Clark Kent?”
Eventually, Jon gets better, and is convinced by a strange sight: Clark Kent’s empty medicine cabinet. After
all, Superman needs no toothpaste, aspirin, or bandages!
4) From 1959,
Action
#247 chronicles how the adult Clark is suddenly visited by the long-dead Ma and
Pa Kent, here for a day by means of a time bubble on loan from a scientist
friend. The subsequent evening of
reminiscences completely convinces Clark that they are truly the Kents, and he
freely discusses both identities with them.
It’s only after his beloved foster parents have departed,
that Superman recalls a flaw in their story.
Sure enough, the next morning he receives a phone call from Cedric and
Millicent Carson, who through shrewd research into Smallville town records have
deduced the secret. Superman has just
confirmed their theory! They demand five
million dollars as a down-payment for their continued silence.
In desperation, Superman fabricates a pair of Carson
lookalike robots with super-hypnotic powers, and each automaton catches its
opposite-sex Carson off-guard. The
result, as Superman thinks to himself:
“Thanks to my super-hypnosis, they’ll never remember having visited
Clark as Mom and Dad Kent! My Secret
Identity is safe!”
End of Part Two
See you next Monday for more!
