DC Comics second ongoing series following the Cadmus made clone Superboy, Kon-El, introduced during the The Death of Superman storyline. By this point Kon-El's original status as a mostly human clone modified to imitate some Kryptonian powers had been retconned into him being the half-human clone of Superman and Lex Luthor who has developed true Kryptonian powers as he ages in addition to his telekinesis.
This series is the sequel series to Superboy vol. 4, published eight years after that series end. Following the erasure of this version of Superboy in the New 52 reboot Kon reappeared in Convergence and is on the slate to return to the DCU in DC Rebirth as a member of Young Justice.
Superboy vol. 5 provides examples of:
- The Cameo: The rest of the Teen Titans show up for Conner and Bart's charity race, minus Wonder Girl to Conner's dismay. He and Bart also come across his old enemy King Shark during the race.
- Canine Companion: Krypto the Superdog is now clearly Conner's loyal dog.
- Civvie Spandex: Kon has never really gone for traditional costumes, liking to pair his spandex with leather jackets and sunglasses but these days he doesn't really have a costume at all, he just changes to a Superman T-shirt.
- Close-Knit Community: It's still unclear how the Kents are able to keep such a big secret in such a small town, though there are definitely members of the community who are in the know.
- Crossover:
- Though Impulse had long since been canceled Bart shows up frequently, he doesn't see any reason to talk over the phone so if Conner calls him he generally just zips on over.
- While trying to sort out if he really wants to stay in Smallville and how he and Cassie can patch up their ruined relationship he travels to Gotham to get advice from Red Robin.
- The Phantom Stranger is key to the only ongoing plot this book had any time to resolve prior to its cancellation, as he's trapped under Smallville and is trying to communicate with Kon so he can escape and take out the sorcerer threatening the town.
- Cut Short: By Flashpoint and the New 52 reboot which occurred in 2011.
- Everytown, America: Smallville of course.
- Future Me Scares Me: Simon Valentine's future evil self the Prime Hunter, though he's not aware that the Prime Hunter is himself he's still unsettled by him.
- Generation Xerox: While Kon's beginnings may be vastly different from Kal's he's now living in Smallville on the Kent farm, being raised by Superman's adoptive parents, acting like an all-American boy rather than his former surfer-dude Totally Radical characterization, and he's even got an incredibly smart red-haired friend who he's been told is destined to become his greatest enemy like Lex became for Superman.
- Golem: The Hollow Men are zombie golems controlled by the evil sorcerer Tannarak.
- Heroes Love Dogs: While Conner has had trouble with dogs in the past he gets along quite well with Krypto, and most of his previous trouble was caused by the dog not liking him more than the other way around.
- Hive Mind: The Hollow Men are a group of zombies who have plagued Smallville for centuries, though they'd spent a long time dormant and waiting prior to the series.
- Imagine Spot: In issue one Conner briefly tries to imagine what kind of child he would have been if he'd been allowed to grow up at a normal rate while watching a kid wearing a makeshift cape running through a wheat field with his arms spread out and his hands brushing against the grains.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: Superboy says caution is his middle name in issue 7.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The Hollow Men, who are a hive-mind collective made out of mud to resemble Eben Took and his sons, have a creepy underground hideout beneath the Luthor farm and whom the Phantom Stranger is hunting.
- Secret Chaser: Conner's friend Simon Valentine, who to Conner's displeasure has figured out that Conner Kent and Superboy are one and the same by the first issue. Maybe he shouldn't have spent his early years trying to get as much media coverage as possible while not bothering with a secret identity, even if he had a good reason for it at the time. His complete lack of costume as Superboy currently doesn't help matters either as he's running around saving the day wearing the same thing he wears as Conner Kent with only a t-shirt change.
- Secret-Keeper: Both Lori Luthor and Simon Valentine end up knowing Kon's secret identity. He's not terribly good at hiding it.
- Sequel Series: To Superboy vol. 4.
- Shout-Out: Conner decides to call Tannarak Voldemort and says he's going to free the Phantom Stranger so the two of them can banish him back to "Hogwarts or wherever".
- Tangled Family Tree: Conner's causes him a bit of grief since his sort of cousin Lori Luthor would really like to date him which makes him incredibly uncomfortable.
- Temporal Mutability: By the start of this series Conner had technically become a time traveler, every bit as out of place in this era as Booster Gold. His "current" self is still a essentially a corpse, slowly recovering within the Fortress of Solitude. Kon-El is careful not to disturb the body resting there, as he isn't quite sure what will happen to himself if he does. Other than that, though, the DC universe's rules on time travel are malleable enough to allow Conner to exist in the present without worrying too much about screwing up the timestream.
- Time Travel: Psionic Lad/Sajan Mehra travels from the future to ask for Superboy's help, though he's really been sent back to kill Simon before Simon can become the supervillain responsible for the Bad Future he's from.
- Underground City: Hollowville, though it's more of an underground shanty town, the underground base of the Hollow Men beneath the Luthor farm.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Conner is seriously unimpressed with The Phantom Stranger's cryptic warning about his future in issue one.
- Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: Conner is a high school student and one of the most powerful active superheroes on earth.
- Walking Wasteland: Parasite shows up in Smallville in issue one, and drains the life from numerous farm animals as he walks towards town, leaving a trail of corpses behind him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Kon-El used to have another dog generally called Krypto, an earth dog saved from drowning by Bibbo Bibbowski, that seems to have gone missing. While it's true that Kon did not at all get along with the dog and the dog acted more like it belonged to Dubbilex the D.N.Alien has been murdered so he's not keeping an eye on the mutt.
- Yo-Yo Plot Point: Despite what Conner says to Bart in issue 3 it's not the first time the two have raced, they did so back in Superboy and the Ravers. It is however the first time they've raced publicly for charity and the first time they've done so since Bart took up the Kid Flash mantle.
