The Kents is a 12 issue series published between August 1997 and July 1998 written by John Ostrander, and acts as a Distant Prequel to the Superman mythos by following the lives of the Kent family in the 19th century.
Starting in 1854, it shows the Kent family moving to Kansas for the first time and is told through journal entries discovered by Jonathan Kent which he mails to Clark. Spanning twenty years, it shows how the Kent family and their friends were impacted by the American Civil War, and it places a strong focus on brothers Nathaniel “Nate” Kent and Jebediah “Jeb” Kent as they find themselves on opposite sides of the war and eventually the law itself. Other journal entries belong to Joshua Freeman, the son of freed slaves who befriends Nate, and Mary Glenowen, Nate’s sweetheart.
See also World of Krypton and The Krypton Chronicles, which explores the lives of Superman’s Kryptonian ancestors.
Tropes found this comic
- Action Dad: Silas Kent was part of the Railroad and was introduced alongside his sons as shooting at slavecatchers. Nate becomes this himself when he becomes a father, as he’s a sheriff at Smallville when his children are born.
- Cain and Abel: Nate is older than Jeb, but he’s the kind hearted Abel while his brother is the Cain who actually shoots Nate first. However it’s ultimately played with as Nate becomes vengeful after this and spends many years wanting to kill him while Jeb ultimately regrets what happened, and when they finally reunite in 1874 Jeb is killed by his son while having a brief reconciliation with Nate.
- The Cameo: Several Wild West era DC characters appear in minor roles such as Jonah Hex, Brian Savage/Scalphunter and Matt Savage.
- Child of Two Worlds: Mary is half-Native American, her mother having been part of the Delaware tribe, and struggles throughout the story about finding her place in the world. When her father was alive she dealt with racism from people who call her a half-breed, but after her father’s death and angry over how John Lane was treating her she left to join her mother’s family. However she found that she didn’t fit in there either, as she wasn’t raised in that culture and tearfully admits to Nate when they reunite in 1871 that there are even basic things about her mother’s culture that she gets wrong.
- Distant Prequel: The story covers the events between 1854 to 1874, and the final journal entry is in 1894 which is 104 years before the present day.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Mary gets treated unfairly by many white neighbours, but also tells Nate that some of her mother’s people think she too white to properly be one of them. Even before this Bill Hickock’s family convinced him to break off his relationship with Mary because of her race.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: After more then a decade of being an outlaw, Jeb decides to go straight due to Jesse James becoming more uncontrollable. He first attempts to be a cattle driver, but after almost running into Nate and nearly shooting him in the back out of fear, he resolves to track down his son Taylor and become a good father. However his son turns out to be worse than him and drags him back into the life of an outlaw. He warns Nate of when his son is coming to Smallville which earns him some redemption, but he still ends up being killed by his son.
- Historical Domain Character: The Kents meet and even befriend several noticeable historical figures, with Nate becoming friends with Wild Bill Hickock while Jeb becomes part of Jesse James’ gang. Jeb’s son was also childhood friends with John Wesley Hardin, who would eventually kill Joshua’s father, while John H. Lane, who’s revealed to be a distant relative of Lois’ family and had an antagonistic relationship with Nate, seems to be based on James H. Lane.
- Love Triangle: Early in the comic there’s one between Nate, Mary and Bill with Nate having feelings for Mary despite her being courted by his best friend. This is resolved when Bill ends things with her while Nate and Mary would eventually get married years later.
- One True Love: Nate eventually tells Mary that she’s the love of his life after he spent years searching for her. He’s never shown to have been interested in anyone other than her and cares deeply about her personal happiness over his own.
- Parental Substitute: As Jonathan notes, in many ways Nate was a father to Joshua as well as a friend following the kidnapping of his parents.
- Shadow Archetype: Jeb’s son Taylor is this to him, as he notes in his letters that Taylor is what he would have been without his father’s good influence on him. While Jeb remains conflicted over his decisions throughout the story and has several moments which make him sympathetic, Taylor is nothing more than a psychopath.
- Small Role, Big Impact: In regards to the comic itself, Brian Savage only appears in a few issues, but he's responsible for reuniting Nate and Mary while later attending their wedding, which he did simply because he had befriended Nate and wanted to help him. In the grand scheme of the DCU, he's a very minor and obscure Wild West era character who is indirectly responsible for Jonothan Kent's existence and how Superman turned out.
- Teens Are Monsters: Taylor Beaumont is implied to be in his late teens, but laughs when he kills a child.
