DC Elseworlds: Action Comics

Episode 1: Boy of Steel

His name is Clay Ramsay. He is a mine worker from Metropolis who is staying in Gotham City on vacation. Clay is a happily married man, or at least he thinks he is. Clay had saved up some money to afford the hotel suite in Gotham. As for the flight, he had his own custom-built two-man plane, allowing himself and his wife to fly to Gotham without paying for plane tickets.

The year is 1948. In this era, women are slowly gaining rights. World War 2 has ended and the economy has never been better. However, things aren't going well with Mrs. Ramsay. Clay is wearing a white sleeveless t-shirt with black slacks and black suit shoes. His wife is wearing a blue dress with black slippers. Clay is standing over her as she lies down on the floor, coughing from being punched in the stomach by him.

"I told you to bring me more whiskey! Why can't you just do like I asked?" Samantha Ramsay speaks up, the wind knocked out of her with a black eye and blood coming from her mouth. "Clay, I'm sorry, but you had too much to drink already!" Clay picks her up and holds her by the neck after slamming her onto the bed. "I'll stop drinking when I feel like it! All I asked of you was to do one simple thing, Samantha!"

"Clay, you're choking me!"

By surprise, someone smashes through the door of the hotel. Clay and Samantha Ramsay are completely caught off guard by the presence of the strange young man. Standing at 6'4, he has very nice short black hair, otherworldly blue eyes and wears a blue t-shirt with a red S logo surrounded by yellow. He wears blue jeans and dark brown work boots. The young man appears to be in his late teens, but Clay notices that the young man is staring right at him.

"Who the hell are you," asked Clay. The young man responds aggressively. "Pissed off, how about you? I overheard a police radio, saying that a guy was beating on his wife, and unless that black eye is make-up, I think that's you." Clay releases Samantha and walks over to the young man. "Get lost, brat! This is none of your..." Clay is cut off by the young man, grabbing his throat.

"You must think you're tough, beating on a helpless woman, don't you, Mr. Ramsay?"

"How... how did you know my name?"

"I've listened to rumors about you around town about you beating your wife." The young man begins to raise his voice in anger. "You like to attack defenseless women, Clay?!" The young man throws him against the wall with unbelievable strength, denting the wall. "YOU'RE NOT FIGHTING A WOMAN NOW!" Clay staggers to his feet, shocked by the young man's elephant-like strength, but now he has insulted him. Clay takes out a knife and lunges at the young man, but it shatters on impact. Clay looks down at the now broken knife in fear. "This can't be." Clay drops the hilt, and in one last desperate attempt, he puts his hands on the young man's throat, but can't seem to strangle him. The young man grabs him by the shirt and throws him out the window, into the docks below. Clay splashes into the water, but luckily he can swim.

The young man approaches the blonde Samantha and tries to comfort her. "Are you alright, Mrs. Ramsay?" Samantha buries her face into the young man's shoulder, crying. "I think he really was going to kill me this time." The young man hugs her. "The police are on their way. It's going to be fine."

The next day, the newspapers speak of a mysterious "Super Boy" who stopped a wife beater by tossing him into the Gotham River. The police are now trying to find him to bring him in for questioning. Kal sits inside of his apartment, still in uniform (so to speak) from yesterday. He's only been in Gotham for a few months and is already making the papers. Maybe now the police can try harder to keep the city safe. Carmine Falcone has bought off half of the police force and some of the judges, causing the city to become a cesspool of corruption, making it the perfect stomping ground for Kal.

As for living arrangements, Kal is able to provide for himself by using the Sunstone; this way, he can keep fighting crime while being able to pay his rent. The Sunstone will morph into any item he needs, and he has some of it in his t-shirt. With this, he can make diamonds to cash in to pay for his apartment way in advance. With his rent paid for a few years, he doesn't have to worry about being homeless.

During his night patrols, Kal has run into a few of Falcone's men. They have sold weapons on the black market, using stolen arsenal. After knocking them out and smashing their weapons, he called the cops to inform them. Of course, Carmine is now furious that the weapons deal was shattered and wants to kill Superboy.

It is Friday morning and Kal has just woken up. He rubs his eyes as he looks at the TV on the side of his bed. Though Earth's gravity is weaker than Krypton's, he can feel the weight of his own body. Kal remembers when he was just five years old back on Krypton. His cousin Kara would visit his house to read to him and play with him. Kara was eight years older than him, but sometimes she acted more childish than him. Three years later, their paradise world became a nightmare when the Doomsday creature appeared. A monster in both appearance and personality, Doomsday rampaged across their world. Their weapons were useless against him, so the Kryptonian military banished Doomsday into the Phantom Zone.

It was later revealed that Doomsday was summoned by Zod because he felt that Krypton had become lazy. With thousands of deaths mounted against him from Doomsday's rampage, Zod and his lieutenant, Faora, were sent into the Phantom Zone. Before his imprisonment, Zod gave a final warning: Brainiac is coming.

One month later, Zod's warning came true. Was Zod trying to toughen them up for Brainiac's invasion? It was too late to think about that, because Brainiac's forces had overwhelmed Krypton. Brainiac's ship had placed a dome over Kandor, Krypton's capital city. Kandor then vanished, joining Brainiac's collection on his ship. Immediately afterwards, Brainiac launches a solar detonator into Krypton's sun, causing it to flare up. Out of options, Jor and Zor rounded up Kal and Kara. The two cousins are placed in separate rockets right next to each other.

"Father," shouted Kara as she lays in her rocket nude. Zor answers his daughter in a saddened voice. "I had you to take off your clothes to maximize your exposure to Earth's yellow sun. Earth's gravity is ten times weaker than Krypton's, so you and Kal will have strength, speed and durability beyond that of a normal human." Jor now speaks to his son. "The Sunstone that my brother and I injected you both with will allow you both to gain powers beyond that of gravity based strength. When the time comes, you will use the Sunstone's power to remove any limits you have."

"Father, come with us," shouts Kal from inside of his rocket. Jor bows his head. "I am sorry, my son, but there is no time. These are the only two rockets available." The planet begins to erupt and the two rockets are launched into space. As they make their way into orbit, the planet explodes behind them. Blinded by the light, a mechanism activates and puts the two cousins to sleep.

Kal shakes his head, getting that terrible memory out of his mind. Wearing nothing but white boxers, he then generates Sunstone around his torso before forming a red House of El t-shirt. He walks over to the TV and switches it on, seeing a news report.

This just in. The Gotham Merchants Bank has just been robbed. Police are now in pursuit of the culprits on highway 90.

Kal forms blue jeans and work boots. Taking off in a blur, he goes after the bank robbers.

Next Chapter: Carmine Falcone puts a bounty on Superboy's head. With half of the police force in his pocket, the Gotham PD will stop at nothing to claim the prize.