History: (New Adventures of Superboy #3, 4) – Joe Silver grew up in Smallville and his timid nature led him to develop a massive inferiority complex. He graduated med school and received numerous grants for his dream research at the Silver Institute, but he still felt useless, and was jealous of his former classmate Clark Kent, who was a successful news personality. He started Project Trackback to give himself a chance to remake his younger self into a dynamic, confident man. Using what he’d learned from dream research he hooked himself into the backtrack machine and astrally projected his dreamself into the past. He could briefly take over his highschool self, although his younger self never remembered what occurred during the possessions. His first act was to stand up to bullies “Bash” Bashford and “Hunk” Wales, who were picking on Clark Kent, and  he demonstrated an unforeseen confidence with women by manning a kissing booth at the Smallville County Fair. When the British band the Doodles played at the Smallville Bowl he made his debut as the superhero Astralad. Superboy wanted to know what Silver was up to, and he warned Superboy he was going to steal his thunder, and pitched the hero into space. He was eager to let the world know his identity and tried to unmask before Lana Lang, but Superboy used his heat vision to blur his face, and when he tried to shout his name Superboy disrupted his voice using superspeed. Astralad apprehended crooks making a getaway in a hot-air balloon, but Superboy knocked him into the next state and delivered the crooks to the police himself. Astralad had enough, and kidnapped Clark Kent, hoping Superboy would come rescue him. He explained the source of his powers, and Clark convinced him that manipulating both reality and the past was far too dangerous. Astralad saw reason and returned to the future, leaving his 16 year old self with no memory of his heroic career.