A story where Superman is a lonely child in Kansas. Coincidentally, his name is Kent, Clark Kent. Superman: Secret Identity is a comic book by Urban Comics, written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Stuart Immonen. In this story Clark Kent is a shy teenager who is mocked by his high school classmates. His parents thought it was funny to name their son as the famous DC hero. Clark finds the joke much less funny, especially since the Man of Steel doesn't interest him that much. In this universe Kurt Buisek has not put any superheroes and those existing are only fictions. It uses the same principle as in Batman Creature of the Night.
From shy to hero
A night under the stars after a day of hiking, Clark discovers the same powers as Superman, the one to whom he has always been compared. Once the intoxication of novelty has passed, the teenager often isolates himself above the clouds. But, as if his name forced him to be heroic, he can't help but rescue a person who was about to drown. The story is known and the media begins to come to his small town. He even gets in touch with a journalist to get the press to talk about him. But can he trust her completely in order to keep his identity secret? For him begins the beginning of his double life as a superhero. In order not to be recognized, he puts on the blue and red costume of the Kryptonian. Fate seems to catch up with him, Clark Kent has become Superman. Questions jostle in his head, he wonders if he is an adopted alien or just the fruit of evolution. He asks Wendy Case, the journalist, to help him solve the mystery of the origins of his powers. She agrees, on condition that her newspaper has the royalties of her story and the possible rights of adaptation. A future far from what the young Kent, writer, wanted to become.
Busiek and Imonnen, a complete harmony
Kurt Busiek uses the same storyline recipe as Batman creature of the night. An ordinary child with many points in common with a well-known hero, whose life turns upside down. As with Bruce Wainwright, Clark Kent's adventure spanned several years. But the commonalities between the two narratives end here. Clark will try to make his love life, his professional life and his secret life coexist. Busiek is a master at making this kind of story thrilling. Without there being twists every three boxes, he manages to make us travel and hang on to the plot. Suart Imonnen who we know for All-New X-Men and Nextwave participates as much in the success of this comic as its author. Its landscapes are breathtaking and make us want to contemplate them. His pencilled style, very different from Nextwave, is a feast for the eyes. We can see an artist who blossoms to his full potential and the result is a work of 208 pages. For this volume, it could be compared to the drawings of Juan Jimenez, the draftsman of the Meta-Barons. In addition, Imonnen also deals with colors, so he completely masters the graphic aspect of this one-volume story. Superman Secret Identity is a very good comic for all audiences. It puts Superman's story in a new light. We quickly empathize with this teenager who taps on his father's old typewriter in his "fortress of solitude". Drawings and history blend perfectly to give birth to an indispensable volume. Surely one of the best Urban comics releases of September.