"Knave" is a rather outdated word, even for comics; I'm surprised they didn't go with "rogue" or even "scofflaw." Except alliteration, duh. "The Juvenile Delinquent from Krypton!" wouldn't exactly sing on the page either, but that's Dev-Em in a nutshell. Living next-door to the El's before Krypton exploded, Dev-Em was a troublemaking, thieving vandal who had his parents snowed into thinking he was a genius, by stealing inventions and passing them off as his own for a laugh. (I guess your parents might go easier on you if they think you're a genius, maybe.) Dev even babysat a young Kal-El, who we see playing with Krypto, and they catch the knave later breaking into Jor-El's lab. Jor-El gives him the boot, but doesn't report him to the Science Police or his parents out of respect for said parents: Kryptonian privilege. Still, Dev-Em had seen that Krypton was going to explode, and decides to save himself and his family, which puts him two up on Jor-El.
Years later, Dev-Em's makeshift spaceship lands in Smallville--like 90% of everything from Krypton. Waking up with super-powers (and leaving his folks sleeping in suspended animation) he wastes no time utterly destroying Superboy's life; banishing him to the Phantom Zone, then disguising himself as S-B and going on a rampage. (Dev-Em seems to stop just shy of murdering anyone, probably because this isn't a modern DC story...) Afterwards, when humanity hates Superboy, Dev-Em releases him from the Zone, knowing that would be unbearable torment to the Teen of Steel; then promptly pisses off to the future, sleeping parents in tow. There really isn't any reason given why he should go to the future, except then he could show up in a Legion of Super-Heroes story. Superboy is up a creek, until supporting character MVP Chief Parker tells the public it was red Kryptonite that made Superboy temporarily bad; knowing the real truth would be too hard to swallow.
Recapping Dev-Em's first appearance takes up about five pages in this one; but Superboy is surprised to catch Dev-Em in the future, breaking into the Legion's headquarters! A serious crime, which would normally get the perp turned over to the Inter-Stellar Counter-Intelligence Corps; except the
Disguising himself as Dev-Em, Superboy takes some Legion trinkets, to pass off as "security measures" to Molock. Molock double-crosses "Dev-Em" almost immediately, removing his powers with gold Kryptonite, which permanently removes a Kryptonian's powers! (Which I always thought was too much; not just because if it did, Lex Luthor would've gotten himself a grill of the stuff...) Except Super-Pet Proty, having read a warning in Dev-Em's mind, tagged along and subbed himself in for the gold-K, and Superboy wipes the floor with the Cosmic Spy Legion, which might just be four guys. Dev-Em is offered Legion membership (even though in theory, duplicate powers aren't allowed) but he declines. He would appear occasionally in Legion comics over the years, but only sparingly; of course there are post-Crisis, post Infinite Crisis versions that are more criminal or depraved than the original, but Dev-Em hasn't appeared post-New 52 yet. Considering how evil the average Kryptonian has been getting, that might be for the best. Worse, I'd be afraid they'd bring him back as "the Millennial from Krypton!" I don't know if he ever woke up his parents, either...
2 comments:
Yeah, he really sounds like a dick alright. I guess he'd really be perfect then for that Millennial gimmick then;)
I blame John Byrne. He's the one who made Krypton such a harsh place. It used to be such a big part of Superman was, but now he's two-dimensional instead of three. Makes him too much like Batman, not having a community to be part of.
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