So... 90s Kon's nightmare in YJ98 01??
Confusing. I've read a bit of Kon's 90s solo comics as well... but maybe I just don't get it?
Pls someone who's read Kon's 90s comic solo chime in. LIKE HELP.
it's supposed to be considered horrifying to Kon! He wakes up with a scream AND the box narrator is like, "The horror..." but I can't really see how this... would be horrifying in a meaningful way?
Im gonna TRY, but... it's not gonna be good.
Kon's back abruptly bursts out with fiery wings as he flies around metropolis alongside Superman.
He exclaims in confusion, only for Superman to chastise him.
It was inevitable, Superboy. That's what happens when you're so holier than thou...
....
So. According to nightmare Superman, Kon's fear is connected to being holier than thou. In comparison to who? And in what way? How does he try to prevent that fear???
And how are the wings a representation of fear? Is it using Icarus imagery? Or phoenix imagery?
It being icarus imagery is a lil weak...Because the wings are made of fire, not ON fire or melting from fire. But if it is,
Rather than a nightmare, it feels more like a weird dream for Kon but foreshadowing for the readers, especially when compared to Bart and Tim's nightmare.
With Icarus symbolism combined with the "holier than thou" expression: Kon is PLENTY prideful. He tends to think that his way is best, especially when it comes to what he considers "his specialty" when he deals with aliens and metas.
This is kept up throughout the next issues until the Apokolips—where his pride and ambition ARE LITERALLY his and his team's downfall via planetary crash. (Superboy 91, his letter to Sterling hurts so much, don't look at me)
So maybe his fear comes from confusion? Because he doesn't understand yet what this means for him.
Still... would that merit the narrator box to say, "the horror" and have Kon waking up in sweat with a shout in the next panel? CLEARLY, this dream stuff caused him horror!
Young Justice
Although... I guess his expression could also convey some confusion.
The phoenix imagery is shaky too, but maybe this one is more about his own fear of his place in the world?
He doesn't even have his own actual name yet. I'm referring to him as Kon right now, but at this time... he hasn't even been given that name yet! And in-universe, he's been in the outside world for at LEAST a year now.
He can't even age any older with him being stuck at 16.
Even more...
With pheonix being symbolism for the natural cycle of life and death... at times representing a break in that cycle by also being a symbol for immortality...
Maybe this is alluding to that one scene in "Mother of all Battles" where he half dreams slowly becoming alone with even his shadow leaving him. There he quotes peter pan, "to die would be an awfully big adventure." (Don't look at me I'm so sad)
He came to be as a replacement in the case of Clark's death. He was supposed to be the second stage of Superman, the one that comes after Clark kicked it. But Clark is alive, and Kon is here. He was Superman for a little bit, but now he'll never fulfill the purpose of a new reinvented Superman leaving him stranded outside the natural cycle of life and death, doomed to never age or change.
So what happens to someone like him stuck in limbo? What happens if he develops this holier-than-thou attitude that will keep him from relating to those around him when his existence is already SO out of the ordinary?
He'll burn. He'll be betrayed by his own attitude that is slowly becoming more and more isolating.
All that being said...
None of it FEELS RIGHT? Pull any thread here, and it ALL comes undone.
And I know it's just a comic and writing slips a lot, but I want a through line for Kon's character development in my brain. The closest to that though, would be him outgrowing his pride, i guess? I didnt read core four's Titans run fully or the issue where he dies, so I know I'm missing things here.
He seems much more careful and subdued after Apokolips, but I'm not sure if that carries into Titans/the Superboy Prime deatg.
TLDR: I dont get what Kon's nightmare means. Help.
Tim's Nightmare Analysis
Bart's Nightmare
