![]() ![]() In his spare time, you can find him entertaining kids as Spider-Man or Darth Vader at birthday parties or scaring the heck out of them at haunted houses. Thanks to a life spent immersed in comic books and movies, Michael is always ready to infuse his articles with offbeat bits of trivia for an extra layer of fun. Michael’s background in storytelling draws him to find the most fascinating aspects of any topic and transform them into a narrative that informs and entertains the reader. A graduate of Arizona State University with a PhD in 20th Century American Literature, Michael has written novels, short stories, stage plays, screenplays, and how-to manuals. His work has been featured in Screen Rant, ASU Now, Sell Books Fast,, and Free Arts among others. Michael Jung is a mild-mannered freelance writer-for-hire, actor, and professional storyteller with a keen interest in pop culture, education, nonprofit organizations, and unusual side hustles. While shows like Smallville and The Flash are credited with making the superhero genre popular for television, it was actually a largely-forgotten show like The Adventures of Superboy that laid much of the groundwork for currently popular superhero television shows today.Ĭonner Kent’s version of Superboy would go on to make several small screen appearances, both in animation ( Young Justice and Regin of the Supermen) and live action ( Smallville and Titans), but now fans can add another live action appearance (of sorts) that precedes even his comic book debut. Unfortunately, The Adventures of Superboy was cancelled after its fourth season, despite offering some truly innovative storytelling for its time. Moore’s co-writer Stan Berkowitz also wrote many popular scripts for DC animated series like Batman Beyond, The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, Legion of Super Heroes, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Tellingly, one of the episodes’ writers, John Francis Moore, went on to write alternate reality Elseworlds stories for DC Comics. ![]() While it’s possible that Conner and the alternate live-action Superboy could have developed on separate lines, the fact that DC Comics writers were so involved in writing scripts for the show could indicate that several ideas from the TV show could have influenced later comics. “Roads Not Taken” was released in November, 1990 – a full two years before the Death of Superman storyline began in DC Comics (and three years before Conner Kent made his debut in 1993’s The Adventures of Superman #500). Fortunately, Superboy is able to reawaken some of the other Superboy’s humanity, and he switches back to his original costume, promising to repent for murdering Luthor and help his own world once again. Although this alternate Superboy (also played by Gerard Christopher) is not a clone like Conner, he does display Conner’s early arrogance and apparent disdain for authority. Superboy later meets his alternate self who has taken to… dressing in a leather jacket and sunglasses just like Conner Kent did in his first appearance. Decades before the CW’s Arrowverse began telling stories about the multiverse, Superboy offered a two-part story entitled “Roads Not Taken.” Written by DC comic book writer John Francis Moore and Stan Berkowitz, the story had Superboy enter a dimensional portal that sent him to an alternate universe where Superboy had killed Lex Luthor, plunging the world into chaos. However, it was in Season 3 that the show, now called The Adventures of Superboy, began telling truly outrageous stories. One two-part episode even had Superboy meet aliens masquerading as his Kryptonian parents Jor-El and Lara (played by former James Bond actors George Lazenby and Britt Ekland!). Superboy began fighting live action versions of Bizarro and Metallo as well as Lex Luthor. This caused the show’s plots to reflect comic book-style storytelling. ![]() DeMatteis, Mark Evanier, Denny O’Neil, John Francis Moore, and Cary Bates. Most importantly, the show’s scripts began being written by seasoned comic book writers, including J.M.
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