In honor of the release of Superman (2025) (of which I will post a review eventually), I thought I’d focus my first Top Ten(ish) post in a while on my favorite Superman Family characters. It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that most of the list is characters who debuted in the Silver Age of comics, several of whom were regular features in the much-beloved (by me, at least) Superman Family title (my collection of which I have almost finally successfully rebuilt after selling them off years ago), and several of whom lived on the much-missed Earth Two of the Silver and Bronze Ages. I’ve chose to ignore the “Big Three” (the current Superman/Clark, Lois, and Jonathan Kent) and also to focus on heroes and supporting cast rather than the villains (hence, no Lex, Brainiac, etc. Maybe I’ll do a Superman’s Villains list down the road).
IMAGE: Superman carrying Lois Lane, alongside Supergirl carrying Jimmy Olsen. (c) DC Comics
MR. & MRS. SUPERMAN: While the wedding of the Golden Age/Earth-Two Superman and Lois Lane occurred in Action Comics (long before their Earth-One/post-Crisis counterparts tied the knot), most of their 1950s-set post-wedding adventures were chronicled in the pages of Superman Family, and I loved every one of them. The easy rapport between husband and wife, the updates and expansion of the Golden Age Superman’s rogues gallery (including the creation of an Earth-Two Insect Queen and frequent use of the Ultra-Humanite), and the guest appearances of fellow Justice Society members like Batman and Johnny Thunder made my eagerly await each issue. I really need to do a re-read and write a Series Saturday post about the series. DC really needs to give us a nice trade paperback collection.
POWER GIRL: When PG was introduced at the start of the 1970s All-Star Comics revival, I was shocked at how different this Kara Zor-L was from the Kara Zor-El of Earth-One. She was less powerful but surer of herself (or at least, better at pretending she was more secure in her identity). Her three-issue solo run in Showcase enhanced her origin and her supporting cast and further differentiated her from Supergirl. DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths cut all of her background and has resulted in multiple rewrites of her history. I am one of those relatively few folks who didn’t mind the rewrite that tied her to ancient Atlantis (and at least implied that she was the sister of at least one reincarnation of the Golden Age Hawkman, although that was never followed up on), but I’m happy to have her original history somewhat restored now that the Multiverse is back.
JIMMY OLSEN: If you know me, you are not at all surprised that Jimmy is on this list. One of my earliest fictional crushes and examples of my Catastrophic Attraction Complex for redheads, thanks largely to Kurt Schaffenberger’s art on Jimmy’s feature in Superman Family. Jimmy was “Mister Action” then, leisure-suit wearing ladies’ man. He had swagger and he had skills, and that’s still my favorite version of Jimmy. I also have a soft spot for his weird Silver Age transformations (Elasti-Lad, Turtle Boy, Werewolf-Jimmy, and more).
SUPERGIRL: I have an admitted soft spot also for Kal-El’s first cousin. By the time I was regularly reading comics, Kara/Linda Danvers was already known to the world (and bouncing from career to career and city to city, it seemed), so I remember being kind of shocked when I read Silver Age reprints where Clark shoved her off to an orphanage and made her hide her powers. I enjoyed her Superman Family stories and her later (always short-lived, it seemed) solo series. I was honestly devastated when she was killed off during the Crisis. That didn’t stop me from enjoying Peter David’s run on the character trying to make her various post-Crisis iterations gel, but I’m still happy so many aspects of her Silver and Bronze Age existence have been worked back into the character. I’m also a fan of the “she was Kal-El’s older cousin, but space warps got her to Earth after he grew up” addition to her lore thanks to the TV show.
NIGHTWING AND FLAMEBIRD: Originally super-hero identities Superman and Jimmy Olsen adopted when they visited the Bottle City of Kandor (where Supes didn’t have powers), these characters really took off for me when the mantles were passed to Kandorian former criminal Van-Zee and his sidekick Ak-Var – because it allowed the characters to just become a gimmick allowing Superman and Jimmy to play at being Batman and Robin, and there was some real pathos in their stories. There have been a few Kryptonian variations on these characters in the Post-Crisis world, but none of them have resonated with me the way Van and Ak did. (Special Mention: I wish DC had done more, post-Crisis, with Dick Grayson and Bette Kane as Nightwing and Flamebird – but that’s a post for another time.)
MA AND PA KENT: One of the few things I appreciated from John Byrne’s post-Crisis revamp of Superman was the decision to have the Kents still be alive and supportive of their super-son. They are best when written as down-home, loving, supportive everyday people; their post-Crisis involvement in helping to raise or influence Supergirl, the Connor Kent Superboy, and their grandson Jonathan (and presumably more recently, the Super-Twins) has been a great enhancement to their history. To me, they were best personified by K Callan and Eddie Jones on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
KRYPTO: Superman’s best friend (sorry, Jimmy, but it’s true), his stories in Superman Family were always fun. Sure, his super-intelligence compared to normal dogs and his detailed thought balloons could be overdone, but that was half the fun. The current comics mini-series seems to be downplaying it, but I always enjoyed it.
THE LEGION OF SUPER-PETS: Krypto was eventually joined by Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, and Comet the Super-Horse (not all of whom originated on Krypton), and the occasions when the animals teamed up to save the day always made me smile. Silver Age Silliness, yes. Silliness isn’t always a bad thing, despite what the cynics will tell you.
SUPERBOY (CONNOR KENT/KON-EL): One of my two favorite characters to come out of the “Death of Superman” / “World Without a Superman” storylines. I admit, he annoyed me at first. But the Karl Kesel/Tom Grummet series went a long way to adding depth to the character and endearing him to me, as did his time in Young Justice and the Geoff Johns-scripted New Teen Titans run. I do wish DC would decide how old he’s supposed to be/look and commit to it (I don’t mind the alternating between variations on his first costume and the black tee-shirt/jeans look – but why does he look 13 in one costume and 18 in the other?)
STEEL: My other favorite character to come out of those storylines. It didn’t take me long to get over the co-opting of the name of one of my favorite Bronze Age/DC Implosion-era D-listers (Steel, the Indestructible Man), and I appreciate John Henry Irons for who he is and what he adds to the Superman Family: a character easily as intelligent as Lex Luthor who uses that intelligence to aid the Man of Steel rather than destroy him. I enjoy Natasha Irons as well, especially her appearances in the recent Power Girl series and her camaraderie with Lilith/Omen.
MON-EL: Lar Gand wasn’t the first amnesiac space traveler to be mistaken for Kal-El’s long-lost older brother, but he proved to be the one with the most staying power (thanks largely to Jim Shooter adding him to the Legion of Super-Heroes). Something about the tragedy of Lar spending 1,000 years in the Phantom Zone waiting for a cure for his lead allergy to be discovered really spoke to me. As with Power Girl and Supergirl, I was okay with the post-Crisis attempts to make him a viable character without his connection to Superman but I’m happy to have his pre-Crisis history restored (as seen in the recent “Phantoms” story that ran in Action Comics).
NEW SUPER-MAN (KONG KENAN): I was not reading comics regularly during the New 52 through Rebirth phases of DC, so I’m only just now reading this character’s original solo run (in trade paperback form). I like his origin and his character growth from selfish jerk to someone more aligned with the Super-Family’s code of conduct, and I look forward to seeing more of him.
THE SUPER-TWINS (OSUL-RA and OTHUL-RA): Another addition to the Super-Family that I missed the introduction of, having not been reading most of the Super-Titles during the “Superman on WarWorld” storyline. But anything that enhances the history of Krypton and allows Clark and Lois to show off their parenting skills (after Brian Michael Bendis unnecessarily ages Jonathan Kent up to adulthood) is alright be me. I don’t hope the twins, along with Kong Kenan, don’t get lost in the shuffle of so many Super-family characters.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: THE OTHER SUPER-TWINS: It is no secret that Superman & Lois is my favorite live-action Superman TV series and how sad I was that it got cancelled after only four seasons (another show I need to do a Series Saturday post about eventually). I loved the work that Alex Garfin and Jordan Elsass/Michael Clive Bishop did as Jordan and Jonathan Kent. I wish there was some way for them both to exist in comics continuity without negating the history established for the comics Jonathan (who I enjoy as a character even after the unnecessary aging-up).
Top Ten(ish) is a feature where I identify my personal top ten (or so) favorites in a given category. The key words there are “my” and “favorites.” My favorites may not be your favorites, and I’m not claiming that my favorites are necessarily the best in a given category. Everyone’s tastes are different, and “best” is subjective. I welcome polite discussion on these lists.