By 

Michael Doran

A preview of Action Comics #1050 may have given away how the world forgets
both Superman's secret IDs

For months DC has been teasing December 27's Action Comics #1050 as a
"milestone" and the launch of a new era for both the Superman Family of
characters and the Superman family of comic book titles.

And just a few weeks ago it revealed at least one of the ways an attack from
Lex Luthor will has the potential to alter everything and "change the planet
itself."
The world will forget Clark and Jon Kent are the Supermans.
That's right, once a long-time core tenet of Superman's mythos, his secret
identity is going to be restored. And Jon will get one for the first time.

Action Comics #1050 main cover by Steve Beach (Image credit: DC)(opens in

new tab)
"Some elements of the Lois and Clark dynamic can only be there with the secret
identity," revealed writer Philip Kennedy Johnson to Comicbook.com last month.
"The truth is a very important thing for Clark Kent," added upcoming Superman
writer Joshua Williamson.

"For someone to steal that from him is a tragic moment and created a lot of
interesting drama and story possibilities for the Superman line in 2023. We
wanted to play with all the pieces of the great and iconic Superman mythology
that we all love. When this challenge was presented to us, we wanted to make
sure it was not just magically being put back in the box. There are dangerous
repercussions to how this happens that lead to more story to explore. And you'll
see the start of that in Action Comics #1050!"

And now a preview of the opening pages of the 48-page issue might have
revealed exactly how Lex does it.

As you can see by the preview pages below, Lex has got former Superman
adversary and more recent Superman ally Manchester Black hooked up by the
brain to a nasty old-school science-y machine straight out of Frankenstein's lab.

After some tough talk between the two, Lex throws the lever, turning on the
machine that seems to amplify and broadcast Black's telepathic and/or
telekinetic abilities around the globe (and maybe killing him in the process).

What metahuman powers does Manchester Black have that fit into the secret
identity scenario? Well, he just so happens to be able to create psychic
illusions, erase memories, and control people telepathically at a vast scale.
See where we're going with this? Check out the preview to peer review our
theory:

And if there's anything to this, last week's Superman: Son of Kal-El series

finale might play a key role in how it all plays out. Look at the
story very carefully for a clue as to where this might be going.
Image 1 of 6

(Image credit: DC)

Action Comics #1050 is written by Johnson, Williamson, and Tom Taylor, with
art by Mike Perkins, Clayton Henry, and Nick Dragotta, colors by Frank Martin,
and lettering by Dave Sharpe. 

The issue features a main cover by Steve Beach and more than 25 variant
covers which you can check out in the gallery below.