Chapter Three:
The Exposure
The Man Of Steel # 1
July 1986
Written and drawn by John Byrne
'Superman' created by Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster
A few years later�
Cut to the Kent Farm. Martha is sitting at the kitchen table cutting out newspaper clippings. Suddenly, Jonathan walks in.
JONATHAN: Good morning, honey. And what are you doing up so bright and early on a Saturday?
She turns and smiles at him.
MARTHA: Oh, good morning, Jonathan. You were so sound asleep when I woke up I thought I'd let you have a lie-in, and come down and finish updating Clark's scrapbook.
Jonathan puts on his glasses and grins.
JONATHAN: Your scrapbook, you mean. I still have my doubts that Clark would even approve of this.
MARTHA: Oh, tish tosh, Jonathan! A mother's got the right to be proud of her own son, hasn't she?
Jonathan sits down at the table with her.
JONATHAN: Maybe. But what do you suppose would happen if some burglar broke in here and found this scrapbook? What would he make of it, Martha?
MARTHA: You've got to stop reading all the big city news in these papers, Jonathan. Things like that just don't happen in Smallville�
Martha picks up the scrapbook and starts looking at it.
It is filled with different newspaper clippings: "Flood Waters Diverted", "Bridge Holds Till Last Minute", "Earthquake Does No Damage", "Diver Saved As Vessel Refloats", etc�
MARTHA: And if one did�why, all he'd find is the scrapbook of a strange old lady who likes to collect stories of disasters that didn't quite happen! Besides, no one has uncovered my little secret in the seven years since Clark left, so why should we worry? You just read your paper�and I'll fix you a nice breakfast!
She gets up and goes over to the stove.
Jonathan grins and picks up the paper.
JONATHAN: Ah ha! Bribery! Trying to buy me off with steak and eggs! Well, they do say every man has got his price�
He looks at the paper and his face falls.
JONATHAN: Uh, oh�Martha�I think we have another piece for your scrapbook. But not one we ever wanted to see! Look!
He turns the paper towards Martha so that she can see the front page.
On the cover was the headline "Mysterious Superman Saves Space Plane" with a picture of a blured figure flying away.
MARTHA: Oh, no!
At that moment, they hear a creaking noise coming from upstairs.
*****
Cut to upstairs.
Jonathan slowly walks towards Clark's old room, a wodden chair leg in his hand. Martha follows close behind him.
MARTHA: Be careful, Jonathan!
JONATHAN: (whispering)Shhh! Listen! There is someone in there�
He slowly opens the door to Clark's room, and sees a man sitting in the dark by himself.
JONATHAN: S-son?
It is Clark. He is older than when we last saw him. More muscled, broader shoulders� And he had a horrified look on his face. Maybe even a little scared.
CLARK: They wanted a piece of me, Pa. They all wanted a piece of me�
*****
You know I've been making Metropolis more or less my home base for about three years now, pa. It's a great town. Big. Exciting. It really feels like home.
And that it was. Metropolis was a sea-side town, with sky scrapers to rival places like New York, Toronto, or Gotham. It was almost majestic.
*****
Cut to a jetplane, flying across the skyline�
Well, yesterday Metropolis was all set to cap off the celebrations for her two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. Special arrangements had been made to have the experimental space-plane Constitution land at Metropolis International. I went out to the airport myself to see that. Everything seemed to be going perfectly�
Until a small, civilian craft somehow slipped through the security cordon. It all happened so fast even I wasn't sure what we were seeing�until the little plane flew too close, and�
The smaller plane crashes into the back on the constitution. The Constitution, damaged, starts to plummet towards the ground.
For one long, terrible moment they just seemed to hang there, in mid-air, fused together, not seeming even to move�
It was as if a movie projector had suddenly stopped on one frame of film, freezing a fraction of a second into an eternity.
Then the projector started up again, and the two ships were plunging, screaming out of the sky�still locked together like dancers in some obscene ballet.
*****
Cut to on the ground. A crowd witnesses the planes start to fall�Clark Kent in the middle of it all.
Almost as a single being, the crowd surged-shouting, yelling, panic raging through them.
And right in the middle of that torrent of humanity, I knew, suddenly knew, that fate had taken ahold of my life, that I was no longer captain of my own destiny.
Without warning, without thinking, Clark jumped into the air�and started flying towards the Constitution. The entire crowd gasps, their eyes never leaving him for a second.
I took off. There was no point in trying to b secretive about it. I was going to have to catch that ship and guide it safely to the ground.
There was no hope at all of pulling that off, unseen, unphotographed. I could only move fast enough so that my features would be a blur.
*****
Cut to inside the Constitution. Onboard, is a woman wearing a NASA jumpsuit. She has long brown hair, and she is attempting to remain calm.
SKIPPER: Well�uhh! You came on board to�ungh�get a story, Miss Lane�looks�unf�like you're gonna get a biggie!
She turns towards the pilot.
LOIS: If I survive to turn it in, Skipper. Isn't there�uhhgh�anything you can do?
SKIPPER: We can make a very large hold in down-town Metropolis�unless you know some prayers that come with instant answers, Lois. This thing is a brick right now�and it's going to hit like a�wait a minute?
The plane suddenly starts to slow down.
SKIPPER: We're leveling! We're slowing down! Calahan! Did you�?
CALAHAN: Not me, Boss. We're still dead stick and power down. I don't know what's�
Another scientist onboard goes calls out to them.
WOMAN: I do. I've got it on our belly camera. But I don't believe it for a minute!!
They all look towards the screen, and see Clark holding the plane up in mid-air.
CALAHAN: It can't be! A flying man?!?
SKIPPER: Don't argue with it! He's saved us! Get the gear down.
I brought the Constitution down to the smoothest landing I could manage.
Clark brings it to the airport, where he brings it in for a smooth landing.
And before I could decide what to do next�
The second the door is open, Lois runs right out it and towards Clark.
LOIS: HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, BUSTER!!!
It was Lois Lane. I'd seen her on talk shows, been reading her columns in the Daily Planet. Now she was right in front of me, and I knew I couldn't escape her questions.
She grabs Clark by the wrist and turns him around to face her.
And�somehow I didn't want to.
The moment their eyes connected, they were drawn to each other. They gazed at one another, their jaws slowly hanging open.
She's�I don't know�not as beautiful as a movie star, but she has�a quality. Something I've never seen in any other woman. Almost a fire in those big, dark eyes.
For just a moment it seemed as if something passed between us. A spark�
Slowly, Clark begins to smile at her. But the moment was soon broken by a crowd starting to form around them.
Whatever it was, neither of us had the opportunity to react to it. Because that was when the mob arrived
*****
Cut to the Kent's kitchen table. Clark has his head in his hands as he continues to talk to his parents.
CLARK: They were all over me! Like wild animals. Like maggots. Clawing. Pulling. Screaming at me. And it was all demands! Everybody had something they wanted me to do, to say, to sell! It was as if my first public appearance had unleashed the worst, the greediest, the most covetous part of everyone.
Martha walked towards him, carrying a cup of coffee.
CLARK: So I flew away. Far, far away. I sat on a mountaintop in Tibet, and just shook. With outrage. With fear! They'd taken everything you've ever taught me and ripped it apart. I�I know I still have to use my powers to help people who really need me�but now they're going to be looking for me. Expecting me. And I just don't know how to deal with it!
Slowly, a smile crept on Jonathan's face.
JONATHAN: I think I do.