Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Superman Chronology | Legion-Relevant Stories Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Edmond Hamilton Penciller: Curt Swan Inker: George Klein Feature Character: The Superman of 2965 (Klar Ken T5477) Supporting Characters: In the future: Jay Senohl (later known as Jay L-3388, see comments below), PW-5598 (the computer editor), Lyra 3916 Villains: In the future: two scientific criminals, Muto (mentioned only) Other Characters: The original Superman (seen on a view-tape); in the future: students (one speaks) and their teacher, citizens of Earth, politicians of the Federation of Planets (representatives of Saturn, Earth, and Mars speak), Than Quor (chief astronomer of Pluto), citizens of Pluto (one speaks), citizens of Mars (one speaks), audience and official at a criminal trial, a super-computer judge, operator of the slowdown machine, citizens of Atlantis (in flashback; one speaks), employees of the Daily Interplanetary News "The Superman of 2965" (8 pages) In the 30th century, students watch a view-tape of the Superman of 1965 saving a falling jet. Suddenly, a late student rushes into the class, telling them that their contemporary Superman is about to be desputized as a lawman on all worlds of the Federation of Planets. The students watch the ultra-news, where reporter Jay Senohl covers the event. The Superman of 2965 takes a vow to use his super-powers to uphold the law, just as his ancestors did before him, and his super-career begins. The next day, the chief astronomer of Pluto alerts Superman to a rogue planet entering the solar system. Since Superman sees with his x-ray vision that he can't simply push the planet aside due to its thin crust and cor of molten iron, he fashions a device from a derelict cruiser to magnetically pull the planet into a new course. Meanwhile, two scientific criminals search for Superman's Fortress of Solitude, which is a hidden satellite orbiting the Earth. Their instruments locate a large, invisible object ahead, and when they approach, it suddenly becomes visible; a field of retractive force surrounds it, which makes it invisible until you get close. Entering, the two criminals encounter a corridor emanating tremendous heat and a powerful electric force, causing them to turn back - and run right into Superman! He takes them to court, where the computer judge sentences them to one year in the slowdown - the device changing their body metablosim so they will move and live at a far slower pace than normal humans. This way, they can be spotted instantly as criminals and are unable to pull any crimes since they move too slowly to get away. Superman checks his Fortress to make sure nothing was stolen, but everything remains, including a chunk of green kryptonite. He is immune to kryptonite, but now the descendants of the original Superman have a new weakness - sea water, which is now contaminated with a chemical residue left over by a past atomic war. Once, this Superman had gone underwater to test this weakness and had to be saved by the descendants of the people of Atlantis. Superman then changes to his secret identity of Klar Ken T5477 and goes to work at the Daily Interplanetary News. The computer editor, PW-5598, tells reporter Jay Senohl to stop calling him chief and to go out and get better pictures. It then tells Klar to go to Neptune, since the villainous Muto has just robbed a treasure-bank there. As he is leaving, Klar runs into fellow reporter Lyra 3916, who hurried home from her assignment so the two could go dancing. Klar apologizes, since he has to go on an assignment and may run into Superman. Lyra thinks it's ridiculous how much the world glorifies Superman, but Klar has no time to ponder how much she dislikes his other identity, as he must now change into it and go forth to duel with Muto.
For various reasons, this story must take place in an alternate 30th century from that of the Legion of Super-Heroes; for details, see our essay "The Superman of 2965: A Legion-Less Future". On the cover, he is called "Klar Ken T-5477" but in the actual story (and in subsequent tales) it is "Klar Ken T5477" - with no hyphenation. On the splash page, a caption says that this story is "No. 1 of a New Series". The adventures of the Superman of 2965 continue into 2966 in Action Comics No. 338/1 and 339/1, and then into 2967 in World's Finest Comics No. 166. Also on the splash page, statues can be seen on Superman I, Superman II, Superman III, Superman IV, Superman V, and Superman VI. The statue of Superman I has partially obscured dates representing the years of his birth and death; his birth year looks to be 1920 and his death date is 19XX, some time before the year 2000. The 30th century descendant is Superman the 20th, according to World's Finest No. 166. In this story, Jimmy's counterpart is known as Jay Senohl (with "Senohl" being a scrambling of the two syllables in "Olsen"). In the later stories, he is known as J L-3388. On page 3, panel 2, the future Superman's tights are colored green instead of blue. One of the criminals who tried to inflitrate the Fortress comments that he tangled with the father of the new Superman. The mermaid helping Superman on page 6, panel 5, with her back towards us, is colored as if she wasn't wearing a top, although you can see a sleeve line drawn around her left wrist. The Daily Interplanetary News's editor computer is said to have been designed by a descendant of the original Perry White named Per Wye T7357. The origin of Muto is given in Action Comics No. 338/1. According to a caption, "piffle-diffle" is future slang for "a conceited person." Although the last caption says to "watch for ... the next tale of the future Superman ... in an early issue!", this story isn't continued until Action Comics No. 338/1, which came out seven months after this one. Superman No. 244 (Nov. 1971) Superman: Past and Future |
