Jonathan Kent: Encyclopedia II - Jonathan Kent - History

Jonathan Kent - History

Jonathan Kent - Golden and Silver Age versions

While a "passing motorist" was described as having found the infant Kal-El (or "Kal-L" as the earliest comics stated his Kryptonian name) in Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 in 1938, Superman #1 in 1939 is the first story to introduce Superman's adoptive parents to the mythos. Pa Kent's first name remained in flux during the 1940s, however; a 1942 Superman novel named Pa "Eben Kent," while the first extensive retelling of Superman's origins in Superman #53 in 1948 named Pa "John Kent." In 1951, however, Pa Kent's name was definitively given as being "Jonathan Kent," and has been as such ever since.

Later stories, after the early 1960s introduction of DC's multiverse system, declared that the earliest versions of Pa was named "John Kent" and lived on the world of "Earth-Two" (home of the Golden Age DC superheroes), while the more familiar Jonathan Kent lived on the mainstream world of "Earth-One" (home of the Silver Age DC superheroes).

Jonathan made few appearances in Superman stories until the introduction of the Superboy comic in 1949. In this series, Pa Kent made a lasting mark, being a regular supporting character of the teenaged superhero.

It is the Superboy stories that fleshed out Jonathan's backstory. There, it is revealed that Jonathan, a former race car driver, was a farmer on a farm just outside of Smallville. After he and Martha found the toddler Kal-El in his rocket, they took him to the Smallville Orphanage and, several days later, formally adopted him. Renaming him "Clark," Jonathan and Martha took him back to their farm to raise him; there, they soon discovered that Clark possessed a fantastic array of superpowers (gained, as Jonathan learned years later, from exposure to Earth's yellow sun and its lower gravity).

Around the time Clark started school, Jonathan sold the Kents' farm, and the family moved into Smallville where Jonathan opened a general store. During Clark's early grade school years, Jonathan also assisted in training young Clark in the use of his superpowers to the best of his knowledge (including helping him learn how to fly properly), while urging him to keep the use of his powers a secret. At the age of eight, Clark began a superhero career as Superboy, with Jonathan helping him to come up with a means of making Superboy and Clark appear to be different people, by helping to develop Clark's secret identity as a mild-mannered, reserved individual. Jonathan continued to assist his adopted son on various adventures as Superboy over the years.

In Superboy (volume 1) #145 (March 1968), Jonathan and Martha Kent were rejuvenated physically into appearing younger, due to the influence of an alien serum. After this, Jonathan and Martha were drawn by artists as late middle-aged (versus elderly) in appearance until Superman's 1986 origin reboot.

Late in the run of the New Adventures of Superboy comic (which was published from 1980 through 1984), a storyline emerged where Jonathan Kent was approached by others in Smallville to run for the city council, as a means of preventing Smallville from having its first shopping mall built, which would have spelled potential ruin for Smallville's locally owned businesses, including the Kent General Store. As it turned out, the owner of the land where the mall would've been built (who was also a member of the city council) apparently had criminal reasons as a motive. While this storyline remained unresolved (with the abrupt cancellation of the Superboy comic), it was presumed that both Jonathan and Superboy helped to bring the council member to justice (and halted the mall construction project as a result).

After Clark graduated from high school, Jonathan and Martha took a vacation to the Caribbean Islands, where they contracted a fatal and rare tropical disease after handling materials from a pirate's treasure chest they had exhumed; despite Superboy's best efforts, Martha passed away, with Jonathan dying soon thereafter. Before passing on, Jonathan reminded Clark that he must always use his powers for the benefit of humanity. After Jonathan's passing, Clark mourned his parents' loss, before eventually moving to Metropolis to attend college.

Jonathan Kent - Modern Age version

After comics writer John Byrne rewrote Superman's origin in his 1986 Man of Steel miniseries, one of the key changes he made was in keeping Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood. Jonathan still had a similar role as in the earlier stories, however, of instilling within Clark the morals needed to become a strong figure.

In this version of events, after Kal-El's "birthing matrix" landed on Earth, Jonathan and Martha found a newborn-aged infant inside. Taking the infant in just before a major snowstorm struck (that buried Smallville in snow for some number of months and cut off outsiders' access to the Kent family farm), the couple decided to pass the infant off as their own natural child, naming him "Clark."

Clark's powers slowly developed over time in this version, with all of his powers fully emerging once he reached his late teen years. After Clark's high school graduation, Jonathan told Clark about his extraterrestrial origins, after which Clark soon left Smallville to explore the outside world. After Clark moved to Metropolis, Jonathan had a hand in helping Clark create a superhero identity as Superman.

Another change in this version was that Jonathan remained a farmer through Clark's adult years, though a recent comic storyline featured Jonathan having opened a general store in Smallville.

Jonathan's post-Crisis history was more fully fleshed out in the late 1980s miniseries The World of Smallville, with his ancestors' history revealed more fully in the 1990s miniseries The Kents.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki