The Superman Monster

"The Superman Monster" is an "Elseworlds" tale, combining the elements of the "Superman" mythos with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". It was written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, was pencilled by Anthony Williams, and was published by DC Comics in 1999.

Characters

*Klaus Kant: Klaus is an artificial human being made from stolen body parts by Vicktor Luthor. He demonstrates superhuman strength, the ability to fly, and the ability to withstand bullets. The only thing that causes him pain is the green stones that were identified as leftovers from Krypton's destruction.
*Vicktor Luthor: A scientist with an inflated ego who believed he could influence the laws of nature by overcoming death.
*Peregrine White: A newspaper editor who retells that tale of Klaus Kant and Vicktor Luthor to his friend James Gordon at the Gotham City Iceberg Lounge.
*Eloise Edge: The daughter of Burgomaster Edge who was engaged to Vicktor Luthor. Eloise was saved by Klaus Kant early in the story, and has shown that she is not afraid of him.
*The Kants: Johan and Martha Kant were a kind old couple who took in Klaus as a son after their birth son died in a war.
*Jor-El: Jor-El was once the leading scientist on the planet Krypton. When he predicted that his planet was doomed, he sent his only son, the infant Kal-El, in a rocket on a course for the planet Earth, along with recordings containing the history of Krypton and of himself.
*Kal-El: The infant Kal-El was sent in a rocket to the planet Earth. Unfortunately, due to some unknown cause Kal-El died before he could reach the planet. By the time the rocket arrived his body had already decayed into a skeleton.
*Burgomaster Edge: Burgomaster Edge is the father of Eloise Edge and the Burgomaster of Ingolstadt. He was always opposed to his daughter marrying Vicktor Luthor and would've done anything to stop their marriage.
*James Olafson: James was a friend of Vicktor and Eloise, and helped Klaus to try and stop Vicktor.

Plot

At the Gotham City Iceberg Lounge in 1888, newspaper editor Peregrine White entices his friend, Constable James Gordon, with a tale set five years ago in a small town in Switzerland, called Ingolstadt.

Philosophy student and scientist Vicktor Luthor is kicked out of Ingolstadt College after it is revealed that he had been conducting unorthodox and rather sacrilegious experiments as misguided attempts at reviving the dead. Afterwards, he began isolating himself from the world, and from his fiancé Eloise Edge, the daughter of Burgomaster Edge, in order to conduct his experiments away from prying eyes.

Two weeks later, Vicktor storms out of his engagement party when he witnesses a strange object fall from the sky and crash in the woods. The object is in fact a rocket from a doomed planet named Krypton, and inside is the dead remains of an infant. A recorded projection from the rocket reveals itself to be a projection of Jor-El, a scientist from Krypton who knew of his planet's certain destruction, so he sent in his son, Kal-El, to another planet in order for him to live. Jor-El programmed the projection to teach his son about Krypton's history, its science, and its technology. Vicktor decides to use this to his advantage, and constructs a Revival Matrix, meant to bring life into that which is dead. Buying body parts from a graverobber, whom he later kills, Vicktor builds a brand-new human being and brings it to life. Unfortunately, the process does not go as he planned, and his creation bears less a resemblance to a human being and more to that of a monster with chalky white skin. Horrified by his creation, Vicktor accidentally starts a fire in his lab, when the creature saves him from destruction using superhuman powers, and flies both his creator and himself away, only to be struck by lightning and cast into the forest.

The creature wanders off into Ingolstadt the next day, frightened by all the sounds and sights of everyday life, when he saves Elois Edge after her carriage loses control. She is not afraid of the creature, but the townspeople frighten him away, thinking him to be a savage brute.

The creature wanders back into the forest, where he meets Johan and Martha Kant, a kindly old couple whose only son had just died in a foreign war. The Kants take the creature in as their son. They feed him, cloth him, and educate him until he can function like a normal human being as his appearance slowly heals. They name him Klaus, and he uses his abilities to help them with their work, when a passerby witnesses Klaus' strength, and reports it back to town.

That night, Klaus discusses with his parents that he wishes to find his creator, when Vicktor brings a mob to the Kants home, and in the fight Johan dies of a heart attack and Martha dies inside their burning home. Klaus tries to attack Vicktor, but is weakened by a green stone that he wears on his cane, which came from Krypton. It is having an ill effect on Klaus because, as they say "like forces repel." That same night happens to be the night of Vicktor's wedding to Eloise, but Klaus interrupts the ceremony, wanting only for Vicktor to face justice. Vicktor fires a gun at Klaus, but the bullets ricochet off him and wound Burgomaster Edge in the arm and kill Eloise. Vicktor then beats Klaus with his cane until he passes out.

After the guests have left, Vicktor's friend, James Olafson, discovers Burgomaster Edge smothered to death. James returns to Vicktor's home, only to find Eloise's body suspended over the rebuilt Reviving Matrix. He tries to stop Vicktor, but he is shot and thrown into the cellar, where Klaus is subdued by a chain of the same green stones that Vicktor wears on his cane. James removes the stone, but Klaus is too late to stop Vicktor from reviving Eloise. Eloise and Klaus soon leave together, realizing that they were made for each other. At this point, James Gordon stops the story and asks Peregrine how he learned it. Peregrine reveals that when he was on a boat near the north, the crew discovered a babbling Vicktor Luthor wandering in the cold, until he finally died from exhaustion. Klaus then appeared to Peregrine, now angelic in nature, and took Luthor's body with him back to his home.

Connection to "Superman" and "Frankenstein"

*The character of Vicktor Luthor is a combination of Lex Luthor and Victor Frankenstein. The megalomaniacal traits of Luthor are mixed with the more sympathetic traits of Frankenstein.
*The character of Klaus Kant is a combination of Clark Kent, Superman, Bizzaro, and Frankenstein's monster. However, Klaus is not the revived Kal-El, as he is merely a creation of dead body parts.
*The character Eloise Edge is a combination of Lois Lane, Elizabeth, and the unfinished Bride whom Victor Frankenstein builds for the Monster but destroys halfway in the process.
*Peregrine White is a combination of Perry White and Captain Walton.
*The Kants are a combination of Jonathan and Martha Kent and the peasant family who take care of the Monster.
*The final scenes in the Arctic combine the framing story of "Frankenstein", in which Victor pursues his monster through the Arctic wastes, with Superman's Arctic Fortress of Solitude.

Trivia

*The Iceberg Lounge, where James and Peregrine meet, is a club owned by The Penguin in mainstream continunity.
*The story is another "Elseworlds" tale which uses Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and combines it with a well-known character. The first one, which was written four years before "The Superman Monster", is called "Batman: Castle of the Bat".
*The story is a loose sequel to another "Elseworlds" tale written by Dan Abnett, called "Batman: Two Faces", which combines the "Batman" mythos with elements from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". The connection between the two is that Peregrine mentions that he listened to James' "tale of the bat".
*The graverobber from whom Vicktor buys stolen body parts bears a resemblance to Resurrection Man.

Publication

* "The Superman Monster" (by writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with pencils by Anthony Williams and inks by Tom Palmer, one shot, "Elseworlds", 1999)

ee also

*"", the "Frankenstein" story as retold as a "Batman" story
*"", "The Superman Monster" is the sequel to this story
* Frankenstein in popular culture
* List of Elseworlds publications