Last year we saw Pete Ross's son Jonathan on the verge of death unless Superman shared his secret identity with him; and I was surprised as hell to see him again in today's book, although I shouldn't have been. From 1976, Superman #304, "The Parasite's Prism of Peril!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Bob Oksner.
Jon seems to be enjoying some time as Superman's new pal, like a much younger Jimmy Olsen. Here, a visit to S.T.A.R. Labs goes awry as a super-laser nearly kills him and Dr. Klyburn: they're saved by Supes, but then an after-burst bounces off him and hits both of them. Still, it doesn't seem to do anything...yet.
The villain this month is the Parasite, who's back with some new jewelry: a "prism of power" he can use to drain Superman's power at a distance. He doesn't realize, though, that stray beams of light through the prism are transferring power elsewhere, like to the occasional hapless bystander or Jon and Klyburn, who then rampage. Eventually, he realizes he's losing power and cuts them off, but Supes is able to grab the prism, and the Parasite explodes. He'd be back.
So would Jon, at least a few more times: his DC wiki article mentions him meeting Mr. Mxyzptlk, for one thing. But I remembered he would appear in an issue of DC Comics Presents that was reprinted in the digest Best of DC #66. Wonder if I have that one still...
Wait, so how does Parasite wind up blowing up? Is it because the Prism kept all that energy he absorbed in check, but without it, it overloaded Parasite, causing him to explode?
ReplyDeleteAnd how humiliating for Supes to get his ass beat momentarily by his former best friend's kid, haha. I bet Jimmy Olsen was jealous AF after hearing about that one.