Ask Chris #333: The Three Faces Of Superboy
Q: Is Superboy conceptually better as adolescent Clark, a cloned Superman, or Superman's son? — @chan_180
A: Here's the thing about Superboy: he's one of those characters who had to happen. It's like the Royal Flush Gang, or the Wrecking Crew. Sooner or later, someone was bound to put pencil to paper to come up with a bunch of playing-card themed villains or evil construction workers who tear everything up with crowbars and wrecking balls, and if Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster hadn't sat down to answer the question of what their most famous character was like when he was a kid, someone else would've had to. It's right there.
And I think there's evidence of that in the fact that over the past 72 years, we've gotten three completely different versions that actually all work. So let's see if we can't figure out which one works best.