DC Comics has killed off Clark Kent's Earth father with a heart attack. In Action Comics No. 870, out Wednesday, Superman can't hear his mom's cries for help in time to save Jonathan Kent.

The TV Jonathan -- played by John Schneider -- died long ago on CW's "Smallville."

In the original Superman tales of the 1940s, Clark Kent's parents died while he was still a teen. And in the 1978 "Superman" movie that starred Christopher Reeve, Jonathan Kent, played by Glenn Ford, also died of a heart attack