Martha Kent
62 years ago - Martha Clark is born in Smallville, Kansas.
48 years ago - 14-year-old Martha attends Smallville High School. She begins dating Daniel Fordman, although she also has a crush on Jonathan Kent.
44 years ago - 18-year-old Martha graduates high school. She begins taking classes at Central Kansas A&M.
43 years ago - 19-year-old Martha marries her boyfriend Daniel Fordman when his illness is diagnosed, helping in his family store.
40 years ago - 22-year-old Martha becomes close friends with Jonathan Kent when he returns from the army.
39 years ago - 23-year-old Martha's husband Daniel Fordman dies. In her grief, she leans on the friendship of Jonathan Kent.
37 years ago - 25-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent are married. They are eager to start their family.
35 years ago - 27-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent, after years without success having kids of their own, find Kal-El's crashed ship in the North 40 during a blizzard. Thinking that he is a human victim of a cruel experiment, they pass off the boy as their own, naming him Clark after Martha's maiden name and hiding the craft under their barn.
27 years ago - 35-year-old Martha is diagnosed with cervical cancer, and undergoes chemotherapy.
26 years ago - 36-year-old Martha's parents die peacefully within several months of each other.
19 years ago - 43-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent's son Clark Kent's powers begin to manifest. Jonathan shows him the space pod that brought him to Earth. The ship's core recognizes his DNA, and syncs with him to teach him his Kryptonian heritage. She helps him come to understand his place in the world.
17 years ago - 45-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent's son Clark Kent leaves the farm and begins to travel the world.
13 years ago - 49-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent's son Clark Kent returns to the farm after he is revealed in Metropolis. Together the conceive of his Superman Identity. Martha makes his first costume using the fabric found in his space pod.
10 years ago - 52-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent help Clark Kent understand his conflict with General Zod.
7 years ago - 55-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent first meet Lois Lane during Lana Lang's wedding, where she learns Clark Kent's secret.
6 years ago - 56-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent agree to take in Kara Zor-El when Clark Kent recovers her from Argo.
5 years ago - 57-year-old Martha Kent & Jonathan Kent mourn the death of Clark Kent alongside Lois Lane, especially after Jonathan Kent's heart attack. They stay with Clark for two months after his return.
2 years ago - 60-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent see Clark Kent framed by President Lex Luthor for attacking the Earth. When he is exonerated and Luthor loses the presidency, they visit him when they help Kara Zor-El move to Metropolis to attend Metropolis University.
now - 62-year-old Martha & Jonathan Kent take in Cassie Sandsmark for a time as they grieve for Connor Kent until he returns to them from the future, now able to age.
Superman has been around for a LONG time. The earliest Superman comics that I read in the early 80s feel ancient to me, but even then the character had 40+ years of publication history, and had actually already undergone several major shifts in his status quo. It's hard to imagine a character like Superman, who feels so intractable, changing at all, but that's probably why it stands out so much when the version of the character you're reading is somehow something other than what you expect. It just seems WRONG.
Why mention this here? Because one element of Superman's story that has proven to be suprisingly devisive is the role of his parents, Ma & Pa Kent. A casual fan might just think of them as an element of his backstory and not a core part of the telling of his regular adventures, but there are a lot of readers, myself included, who consider them not just a vital part of Clark's story, but a vital part of the world of DC.
Why mention this here? Because one element of Superman's story that has proven to be suprisingly devisive is the role of his parents, Ma & Pa Kent. A casual fan might just think of them as an element of his backstory and not a core part of the telling of his regular adventures, but there are a lot of readers, myself included, who consider them not just a vital part of Clark's story, but a vital part of the world of DC.
Martha Kent's Comic HistoryMa & Pa Kent appeared on the first page of Superman #1 in 1939. NOT Action Comics, Superman's actual first appearance from 1938, because in the earliest Superman stories no real thought was given to how he got his powers. Even once the whole 'rocketship from another planet" idea was solidly canon, the first episodes of the radio show The Adventures of Superman describe him aging to adulthood while in that rocketship and springing out of it on Earth a full grown man. Superman #1 first introduced the story that became cannon, however; that the Kents found him as a baby in his rocket... took him to an orphanage, and then later adopted him. Which seems wrong, doesn't it? Like I said... these stories have changed a LOT. Regardless, one fact remained consistent for decades; When Clark was a grown man but not yet Superman, his parents died, and his father on his deathbed made Clark promise to use his powers to help fight injustice.
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As far as Superman is concerned, Ma & Pa Kent really only ever appeared in stories that explored his origins. in 1945, however, we started to see stories about Superboy published. Superboy became almost a co-feature of Superman Comics, with just as many stories featuring this version of the character as his adult counterpart. In these stories, of course, Ma & Pa are still alive, and we get to see them both playing an active role in helping maintain his superhero identity.
Still, for decades, it was understood that Clark's parents were dead. This was true when Richard Donner made his Superman Movie, and in comics running all the way up to the Crisis in 1985. When John Byrne fully recreated the Superman mythos, one key idea was the complete removal of the concept of Superboy. It was now understood that Clark first donned his Superman costume in Metropolis as an adult. Interestingly, however, Byrne actually took lots of concepts that were prevalent during the classic Superboy comics and moved them into Clark's adult life. He now regularly visited Smallville where his old high school best friend Lana was still around, and crucially, so were his parents. They were a regular part of his story for decades, proving to be hugely important both to Clark and to his expanding cast of characters. |
What Ma Kent taught SupermanIt's probably not necessary for us to get into why we think Jonathan & Martha should still be alive; the cases for both ways of thinking are pretty obvious. It comes down to whether you believe that the formative event of being told to go be a hero on his parents deathbed is more important that the constant support and love Clark gets from his parents in shaping who he is today. We obviously fall in the latter camp.
So instead, we wanted to just talk about what makes the Kents so special. Superman is basically just a power fantasy, but what makes him interesting is to deep dive into his motivations and understand how this man can be who he is... and that comes directly from these two people. While we imagine that Pa Kent taught him a lot about responsibility and about his perspective on helping people, To us, what he got from Ma was his sense of empathy. More than anything else, this is probably the defining characteristic of Clark as a superhero. His ability to truly care about people and understand them is perhaps the most important thing about Superman, and it has nothing to do with him being Kryptonian. It comes entirely from his mom... which suggests in a lot of ways that Martha Kent is one of the most important figures in the whole DC Pantheon. |
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Our Martha Kent StoryThis idea of the Clarks still being around has proven to be a little controversial in more recent years, particularly among creators of a certain age. Notably, Geoff Johns was actually Richard Donner's assistant on Superman and seems dedicated to restoring Donner's vision as the cannon Superman. Like we said earlier... Superman feels like such a monolith of a character, It just feels WEIRD when the version of him you're reading doesn't match what's in your head.
We found a few minor stories about the Kents lives when they were younger that we mixed together a little into what we felt was a kind of sweet but tragic little story that makes them feel like they are bonded together in a way that gives them a mutual shared wisdom about the world that can help them be a little bit special in their approach to raising their son. We also have grabbed an idea from an INCREDIBLY recent comic; Action Comics Annual #1 from 2022, that introduces the idea that Martha actually underwent chemotherapy while Clark way a child. The idea that she would go through that, and still be the kind, empathetic, caring woman she'd always been would stay with Clark for his whole life... and in a lot of ways influence what he thinks real strength looks like. |
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