Favorite Superboy: Kal-El or Kon-El?

[Last Son]

Ugh thats exactly what it is though,clark is superman,and superboy which is still him,just younger,nothing is different.kon has only been superBOY,but at the sametime he has been changed up a lot,there is noconsistent version of him.

I think my post made it clear that I realize the original Superboy is just a young Superman, you dipstick. My point is just because SuperMAN is an icon, does that necessarily mean the Muppet Babies version of the character is just as iconic? I doubt a lot of people even realize Superman was ever Superboy. It has never been acknowledged in live action except for a tv pilot and an obscure syndicated series that has never been in reruns.

[House of Rao]

Superboy is still iconic, not as Iconic as Superman obviously. There is a lot of people who grew up with Superboy and the Legion. Most people who know about Superboy are older adults. People closer to their 40s and older. Growing up, out of my friends who parents were comic fans, almost all of them loved Superboy.

[Lexrules]

Kal-El all the way. I Liked Conner but none of the other takes of the clone Superboy.

[Spiderboy12]

I checked "Both".

I grew up on Superboy (Kal-El), particularly as a member of the Legion, but I've enjoyed his solo adventures enough to get a nearly complete collection of Superboy v1--I'm only missing 16 early issues, and I've got a complete run from Superboy #33 to Tales of the Legion #354. I followed Superboy (and the Legion) since then, picking up all of New Adventures of Superboy, and following the Superboy TV series, along with the accompanying comic book series. I've likewise followed the LSH through their various incarnations and series, and have essentially a complete set of "Tales of the Legion" since Adventure Comics #300, so I have a complete set of "Superboy and the Legion" tales (including those in the second run of Adventure Comics and in the Elseworlds tale Superboy's Legion). Some good, some great, some not-so-great, some awful... but I've read them all.

However, I liked the "clone Superboy" as soon as first "met" him in comics, and I've followed his adventures through both of his pre-New 52 series, in Young Justice, Teen Titans, and Superboy and the Ravers, and in the revived Adventure Comics. Before the reboot last year, he was easily one of my favorite characters, and I particularly enjoyed Jeff Lemire's short series. Nothing can ever quite beat "Parasite Frogs", after all... I also like his "Young Justice" incarnation, and his brief appearance in "Smallville" was a favorite episode. I'm still not altogether enamored of the "New 52" incarnation of the character, but I've still enjoyed most of his appearances in his own comic and Teen Titans, so I'm still on board.

I do miss the old Conner, however. And young Clark in a costume...

[George Taylor]

I love both Superboys. I've read many of the pre-Crisis Superboy stories, mostly Legion stories, and enjoyed them. I've also read almost all of Kon's first series but lost interest on the character in Jonhs' TT until Lemire wrote him last year.

[C-Dot]

I vote for young Kal-El out of personal sentiment . . . Superboy-Prime during CoIE was also good, but after that was a train wreck of awful (I'm assuming courtesy of Geoff Johns).
As for the one I refer to as "clone boy", the "original" Kessel version also had his good points, but I don't recall if he was ever referred to as "Kon-El" when I was reading him, or if that was an identity that came into use later on (after I had stopped reading comic books for a while).

Superboy #59....."Kon-El" became his name after always being known as just Superboy or SB.

It was foreshadowed when Serling (Cadmus teen genius) made a joke about SB getting another name. Superman took Superboy to the Fortress and had him relive two lives on Krypton. The first was a Kryptonian man who fought clone terrorists and saved Superman's ancestor Van-L. Superman showed him the first life to show him how the abuse of cloning practices torn Krypton's people apart on both sides of the war. The second was the original Kon-El, Superman's cousin of the second House Of El (the man who saved Van-L was adopted into the House of El and started the second one). Kon-El rushed over to check on Jor-El after a tremor and was the last person Jor-El talked to before he and Lara launched Kal-El. He spoke highly of Kon showing compassion (frowned by most Kryptonians) and wished Clark would grow up to be like him as he was proud of Kon being his cousin. Superman showed him the second because Superboy reminded Kal of his cousin in spirit Kon. He told him wearing the "S" meant that he could do the job, but he considered Superboy family and wanted give him the name Kon-El. It was a good story.

Now "Kon-El" means "abomination" in the New 52......

[MajorHoy]

Superboy #59....."Kon-El" became his name after always being known as just Superboy or SB.

Ah, thank you for clarifying. I gave up on comic books in general back around Superboy #15.

[stephens2177]

I would first like to say you can like both without losing loyalty to the other.

The kesel superboy book was such a great book,i looked forward to it every month,i really wouldnt mind the old team back together sometime in the future doing the new book,course it would be different,because the SBs are so different,but they really crafted a great book together.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

One thing that bugs me about the costumed side of Superman's family is a certain lack of elegance in how they were introduced and how they function in relation to Superman. On the non-costumed side, the family is in good shape. It's easy to understand the roles that Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Ma, Pa, Lana, et all all play and why they are there. But Superman's costumed family is weirdly inserted. Even for that matter--much as I like him--Kal-El Superboy was introduced in an awkward fashion--and unlike his counterpart, Captain Marvel Jr.--he couldn't have adventures with the grown up Superman, without bending time, because he's the same guy.

Then the first version of Supergirl comes to Earth--but they have to mangle Kryptonian logic to do that. And subsequent attempts at redoing Supergirl are just as awkward--and sometime much moreso--with convoluted back stories to explain how she gets to be Supergirl. They even seem to have demoted Kal-El and given Supergirl a superior placement in relation to her cousin.

And then you have this mangled logic with Kon-El Superboy's origins. And they try to make him "interesting" by borrowing from everywhere--taking stuff from Kirby or the Legion or Smallville--and trying to graft it onto him.

On top of that, where the civilian part of the family can exist in the Superman stories and support Superman and Clark--the costumed characters have to be split off from Superman, to have their own adventures. And they often are living in completely different locations from Metropolis. So they don't benefit from a close association with Superman. There isn't a magazine for them--like there was for the Marvel Family--where they all get together on a regular basis and fight crime together. There are crossover stories, but these almost feel forced.

[stephens2177]

Hell if they ever cancel superboy and supergirl i would support a 80 page giant super family book with individual stories,but alsonteamup stories for kon,kara,steel,even krypto.