Superboy (Volume 6) #4 is an issue of the series Superboy (Volume 6) with a cover date of February, 2012. It was published on December 14, 2011.
Synopsis for "Wise Men Need Not Apply"
Caitlin 'Red' Fairchild gets mad and her muscles grow to a point where she can grab hold of Superboy's neck.
She reveals to Superboy that she's a Gen Active, one of thirteen, and the only person on his side that had been covering up his mistakes and crimes. Superboy wrongly assumes it's all for and about him though Caitlin is about to reveal more, like the fact she is immune to his TK. Her mistake was activating her Gen powers because doing so enabled N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to uncover her existence. While Superboy incapacitates her with debris, a retrieval team headed by a one-eyed man named Centerhall arrive and whisk Red away.
Centerhall tells Superboy that Caitlin was a mole using the company's resources against them. He also refuses to reveal Caitlin's ultimate fate but offers something new... The 'truth' about his origins AND the freedom to come and go from N.O.W.H.E.R.E as he pleases. Zaniel and Caitlin treated Superboy as a prisoner, Centerhall instead is offering a deal. His freedom for a mission to capture Wonder Girl.
Centerhall reveals that the many factions of the company developed each strand of Superboy's DNA independently using Kryptonian DNA and an unknown human donor's DNA.
Superboy asks for time to think about it all and is taken aback when Centerhall agrees, as long as when he's ready he activates an electronic key. So Superboy sets off and seven days later he arrives in New York, puzzled as to why Centerhall did everything he did in opposition to what he'd always been accustomed to.
He doesn't realize it's the Christmas season and when carolers sing to him he uses his TK to slam them into each other and then the snow because they were annoying him. Superboy finds faith absurd, especially as he runs off cold facts about the human race to the frightened people.
Looking at the city now from above, Superboy admits he is as puzzled about people as people are about him. He questions people's need for faith rather than fact, and upon seeing a Christmas tree he promptly sets it on fire while onlookers stare shocked at the scene.
While Superboy ponders his life questions, the two teens that had robbed a convenience store now sit in a crowded restaurant - crowded with dead bodies. The two are enjoying a dinner in a top floor eatery entertained by a terrified classical band.
As boredom strikes they pick a band member and hurl him out of he window just as Superboy is hovering by. Although he shouldn't care Superboy feels a compulsion to intervene and stops the man from dying and heads towards the restaurant.
The two diners laugh off Superboy's puffed up chest routine and prepare for a face off. They reveal they too are metas. He can stretch like Plastic Man while she has pyro powers. Superboy enjoys the fight that ensues unsure why his unleashing power makes him feel so good, equally so as when he fights for justice for the dead people in the restaurant.
Superboy used the electronic key and explains to Centerhall that he's not completely ready to be free and that he will honor the deal to hunt down Wonder Girl.
Appearing in "Wise Men Need Not Apply"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- N.O.W.H.E.R.E.
- Doctor Caitlin "Red" Fairchild
- Centerhall
- Zaniel Templar (Mentioned only)
Villains:
- Miss Attigan
- Mr. Bryce
Other Characters:
- Teen Titans (Mentioned only)
- Wonder Girl (Mentioned only)
- Red Robin (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
Continued in Teen Titans #4 with a prequel in Superboy #5.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Superboy Recommended Reading
- Adventure Comics (Volume 1)
- Superboy (Volume 1)
- Superboy (Volume 2)
- Superboy (Volume 4)
- Superboy (Volume 5)
- Superboy (Volume 6)
- Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 1)
- Superboy and the Ravers (Volume 1)
- Young Justice (Volume 1)
- Young Justice (Volume 3)
- Teen Titans (Volume 3)
- Teen Titans (Volume 4)