Superman: Secret Origin #1
Superman: Secret Origin #1, cover-dated November 2009, launched the third major retelling of Superman's origin in the post-Crisis era and served a specific editorial purpose: resolving a genuine continuity vacuum left by Infinite Crisis, after which DC had no single agreed-upon canonical origin for its flagship character. Writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank shaped an approach that was deliberately Clark-centric — no scenes set on Krypton, the entire story framed as his 'self-discovery' — a structural choice that set this retelling apart from both John Byrne's Man of Steel (1986) and Mark Waid's Superman: Birthright (2003–2004). The series also restored Clark Kent's identity as Superboy in the post-Crisis continuity, a concept erased by Byrne and only patchily reinstated in the years between Infinite Crisis and this miniseries, making issue #1 the narrative foundation for re-legitimizing that cornerstone of Superman and Legion of Super-Heroes history. The series was embraced by critics as a confident synthesis of comics tradition and pop-cultural touchstones, earning an 8.6 average rating across 47 reviews on Comicbook Roundup.
"The Boy of Steel" kicks off Superman: Secret Origin with a heartfelt, grounded look at Clark Kent’s early days in Smallville. Written by Geoff Johns and brought to life by Gary Frank’s dynamic art—both interior and on the cover—this pivotal issue captures Clark’s first terrifying glimpses of his powers, from x-ray vision to heat vision, all while navigating friendship, family, and the growing mystery of his origins. When a fateful encounter with a green rock and a tornado at the county fair pushes Clark to embrace his destiny, a homemade costume made from the blankets he was found in becomes the symbol of a hero just beginning to rise.
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Johns and Gary Frank conceived Secret Origin during their celebrated run on Action Comics, recognizing that their own stories — including 'Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes' and 'Brainiac' — had already been building toward an origin that didn't yet exist in a clean, collected form for the post-Infinite Crisis DCU. DC executive editor Dan DiDio made the key production decision to publish the story as a standalone six-issue miniseries rather than folding it into the monthly Action Comics or Superman titles, explicitly so the team would have breathing room from ongoing scheduling pressures. Frank publicly cited 'clarity' as his personal motivation — wanting readers to simply enjoy the book rather than argue over what was or wasn't canon — and deliberately modeled his visual Clark Kent and Jor-El on Christopher Reeve and Marlon Brando from the Richard Donner films, a choice that became one of the run's most talked-about artistic signatures. The collected trade paperback edition, which reprinted the full six issues, included an introduction by screenwriter David S. Goyer.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue #1 carries a cover date of November 2009 and a story title of 'The Boy of Steel'; it was released on September 23, 2009, as an oversized 40-page debut issue.
- Written by Geoff Johns with pencils by Gary Frank, inks by Jon Sibal, and colors by Brad Anderson — the same creative team that produced the acclaimed Action Comics arcs 'Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes' and 'Brainiac' immediately beforehand.
- The series was DC's official response to a genuine post-Infinite Crisis continuity gap: then-monthly Superman writer Kurt Busiek had publicly acknowledged that Superman had no single 'official' origin story at the time.
- Issue #1 is the first post-Crisis origin chapter to establish Clark Kent as Superboy in the main continuity — the Byrne revamp (1986) had erased that history, and this series formally reinstated it, though here Clark acts entirely in secret while in Smallville rather than publicly.
- The issue introduces young Lex Luthor as a Smallville resident and peer of Clark's, incorporating elements drawn from the Smallville TV series — including naming Lex's father 'Lionel Luthor' — while also incorporating a Kryptonite encounter that plants the seeds of their lifelong rivalry.
- A narrative easter egg in issue #1 references Chloe Sullivan — a character invented for the Smallville television series — by including the name 'Chloe S.' on Pete Ross's cast, one of multiple deliberate nods to the contemporary live-action Superman landscape.
- Gary Frank modeled his Clark Kent/Superman visually on Christopher Reeve, and his Jor-El on Marlon Brando, consciously connecting the comics origin to the Richard Donner film era in a way that became a defining aesthetic of the entire run.
- The six-issue miniseries was collected in a standard trade paperback (with an introduction by David S. Goyer) and a deluxe hardcover edition; the story was rendered non-canonical by the 2011 New 52 relaunch but was restored to continuity by the DC Rebirth 'Superman Reborn' storyline.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Supergirl #44 (2009), Superman Annual #14 (2009), Superman: Secret Origin The Deluxe Edition #[nn] (2011), Superman: Secret Origin #[nn] (2012), DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection #32 (2015)
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