Summary[]
After being grounded for missing out on his chores, Clark runs out while Jonathan wants them to protect the farm from a flood. He finds himself in an Amazon village having to help the villagers against a threat by the name of Lowtax.
Recap[]
Clark has been up all night, chasing a guy who spits Kryptonite acid. That's his power. Or at least, it's really green acid.
The Spitter wounds his shoulder.
Clark spins around him, melts the ground beneath him at super speed, and laments that he hasn't done his studying for a test yet. He slaps some metal around the guy's mouth and takes off as the police pull up.
At home, Ma offers to mend the jacket, and Pa gets angry with him for missing chores. He tells Clark a flood is coming, and grounds Clark.
Clark takes of into the rain for a run.
He ends up in a South American country, slipping and falling before a monolith with a chunk of Kryptonite embedded in it.
A giant cat man is attacking villagers, who are fighting the giant cat man.
One sees Clark and drags him off, as he is in pain from the Kryptonite. As they do, the giant cat man, "Lowtax", slams a claw into Clark's back.
On the farm, Ma tells Pa that the floodgates are about to be opened. They'll be sacrificing the lower farmlands to save the town.
Both wonder where Clark is.
At camp, a man named Remy wakes Clark up, and they tell him of the horrors of Lowtax, a former member of the village who is prophesized to be destroyed by one such as Clark. Clark says he has to go home.
At the farm, they are about to be flooded, but Lex arrives with a private army of construction workers.
Back at the camp, the Chief of the tribe explains Lowtax. Basically, he was a villager with special powers granted by the monolith, who tried to kill the old chief. The new chief (then just a villager) tried to stop him, and succeeded. They banished Lowtax, who got in a fight with a giant cat just as the meteor rocks fell. He became the giant cat man, and the villager was named the new chief.
Lowtax began attacking, and Clark arrived.
Clark tries to tell them that he has to leave, but then changes his mind and goes to take care of Lowtax.
They fight, and Clark loses the upper hand. The new chief comes up from behind, stabs Lowtax through the chest, and Lowtax separates into cat and man again. The cat runs away.
Back at the farm, Clark finds the crops ruined.
Lex consoles him, and the disappointment is played against a letter from the village thanking Clark for being heroic.
Clark goes to work putting the crops back together with his super-powers.
Title[]
- Nature is a primitive state of existence, untouched and uninfluenced by civilization or artificiality.
- In this story, Clark travels to an area of nature (specifically a village in the Amazon).
Note[]
- Before fighting Lowtax, Clark is given a shirt to wear as his current clothing is embarrassing for a deity. The shirt is blue, with two red and yellow stripes around it (with an upside down triangle similar to the S emblem on the Superman Costume).
Continuity[]
- Though its place in the canon isn't specified, it takes place sometime after Devoted as Clark is on good terms with Lex. Clark being on the team places it sometime before Recruit. It is the only comic book story to be placed within the 4th season.
Quotes[]
- Jonathan: There you are...
- Clark: I'm hearing that a lot.
- Jonathan: You missed your morning chores.
- Clark: I had some other stuff I had to take care of.
- Jonathan: It's that other stuff we need to talk about.
- Clark: Can I explain
- Jonathan: It's not just this morning's disappearing act... It's football, the parties, girls...
- Clark: What about my side of the story?
- Jonathan: Save it. Right now we have a bigger problem. They're forecasting a foot of rain by sunset. They may not have to open the dam's floodgates, but we'll still need to build a retaining wall to keep the crop's safe. We'll have our hands full. It's a good thing I'm grounding you.
- Clark: What?! This is ridiculous.
- Jonathan: Don't walk away from me, Clark.
- Clark: I'm going for a run, dad. To clear my head.
- Jonathan: This is no time for a tantrum.
- Clark: Don't worry, I'll be in my seat by the first period bell. I'm not allowed to let anyone down.
- Lex: (Lex is arriving in his limo with a truck and 3 bulldozers behind him.) When I heard they were flooding the valley... I knew you'd consider it to be a surmountable challenge. If it weren't for the respect I have for your maniacal stubbornness, I'd be relaxing safetly by my fireplace.
- Jonathan: I'm not sure I'll live it down with my son if I take help from a Luthor.
- Lex: Speaking of Clark, I didn't expect the family hero to be absent for this courageous last stand.
- Jonathan: We don't know where Clark is.