One of the main reasons people read comics is for the wish fulfillment. It's not the only reason, but who hasn't thought about what they would do with a power ring or Kryptonian DNA? Hasn't everyone tried to say, "Shazam" once or twice just in case? That's what these books have going for them; the wish is fulfilled.
Both of these books are products of their times. DC Comics Presents came out at the time of the Crisis as the crossover logo on the cover shows.
Crisis on Infinite Earths was an attempt to simplify the DC Multiverse. The claim was that all of the alternate Earths that they had were too confusing for new readers. Unfortunately, the result of this was just to remove some interesting plot options. The new, improved post-Crisis universe ended up being even more complicated than the old one.
How complicated was the Multiverse? Superman manages to explain the entire idea in two panels:
Anyway, our story. Superman is freaking out over the death of Supergirl in Crisis. While standing on the moon, he gets zapped by some ray from the Superman Revenge Squad - a group of people who are so mad about their plans being thwarted by Kal-El, that they devote their entire lives to destroying him. They figure that they can take credit for Supergirl's death, so they just push some random button to see what it does. That's what transports Superman to Earth Prime.
About five minutes after he arrives, he meets up with Clark Kent. As explained in the origin story in the back of this comic, Clark is a Kryptonian survivor (Jor-El is believed on Krypton Prime, but the Science Council is as useful as the post-Katrina FEMA.). He gets mocked a lot for his name, but he has no obvious powers.
To be honest, there really isn't much of a plot in this issue. Superman goes to Earth Prime, Superman meets Superboy, the two of them leave. What makes this such a great comic is the reaction to Superboy to having powers.
Most of his time he has to pretend. He knows so much that no one else does. He really dumbs down his intellectual superiority. Here though, the powers and the big S on Superboy's shirt makes him think that he doesn't have to. We get to see what Superman really thinks of humanity. He constantly must be saying, "What, you didn't know that?"
Come on, Clark, they're obviously tourists
Come on, Clark, look at their equipment!
So you create a pretty cool character. He has all of the powers of Superman but the attitude and knowledge of a comic book fan suddenly transported into a world of superheroes. The gimmick might have become old, but it would have been cool to see what would have become of the Man of Earth Prime Steel. However, the theme of the age was to get rid of concepts like this, not add to them.
A few months later at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superboy found himself with the Earth 2 Superman. Figuring he had nothing really to live for, he stayed behind to fight to save what was left of the universe. He ended up in some undefined limbo universe, never to be see again. It's too bad.
Return to the comics page
Simply, there are many alternate universes out there. Earth One is where the mainstream superheroes of the Silver Age lived. Earth Prime - where most of this story takes place - is supposed to be our world. Of course seeing how The Flash and Superman have visited this world - not to mention a gazillion heroes in the infamous Crisis on Earth-Prime - that's a little hard to believe, but that's the idea. The stories that the writers here write are real events in the other Earths. Is that really that complicated?
Some pseudoscientific argument involving sunspots suddenly activates his powers. Fortunately, Clark was wearing a Superboy costume already for a costume party. He jumps up and suddenly starts to fly.
Let's face it, if you live on Earth Prime and you're named Clark Kent, you're going to be a comic geek. If you're told that Supergirl is dead, who wouldn't react this way?
The other thing I love about this comic is the insight into Superman's mindset. The Silver Age Superman is incredibly powerful. He can fly faster than light and can be exposed to the vacuum of space with no ill effect. As if that's not enough, he also has immense intellectual powers. So if you have someone who has a photographic memory and can travel anywhere, he'll end up knowing quite a bit.
Time passes and things change. Mere weeks after I wrote the above page, the Earth Prime Superboy suddenly returned. For a brief period of time, I was quite excited. Too bad they turned him evil...
Page 2: Secret Identity
All characters and images here are trademarks of DC Comics. None of them are the property of me. Alas for me