DC Comics Rebirth came and went, and still, there was no sign of Ma and Pa Kent. The new story is that they died in a car accident on the day of Clark Kent’s prom; before that, Jonathan had died of a heart attack well into his son’s costumed career, and before that they both passed away due to old age. Recent issues of Doomsday Clock have implied that Doctor Manhattan may have been responsible for the accident that took their lives, offering fans some level of hope that perhaps they’ll be retconned back into existence once the Watchmen-based event wraps.

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As nice as it would be to have Jonathan and Martha Kent back, Action Comics #1000 put it all in a perspective that seems to shut the door on the idea forever. Wanting to thank the two who raised Superman to be the man he came to be, or perhaps intrigued by the lost potential these two could bring to modern comics, Tom King and Clay Mann say goodbye to the Kents in the story “Of Tomorrow.”

In the far, far future, the Earth is about to be consumed by the sun, but Superman wants to pay his respects to his parents one final time. He may look as good as ever, Lois Lane and Jon Kent may still be alive four billion years later, but this is very much a story about letting go of the past. The Earth has been uninhabited for a long time, yet Superman still comes back to visit. Now, the planet is about to be destroyed once and for all, so he knows this is the end.

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Some fans have hated the idea of the Kents not being around in recent Superman stories, but King and Mann’s story teaches us that you can love the past without letting it hold you back, and that when one story ends, there’s always another waiting to be told. How long can the Kents really live on in their old age before we learn to move on? In Spider-Man, Peter Parker has done the unthinkable just to hold onto Aunt May and his past. Not Superman, though. But no matter how long it has been, Superman can never forget the people who raised him, who taught him right from wrong, and showed him how to embrace hope.

It would be fascinating to see the Kents return to the modern day DC Universe. In a way, they were all that was missing from Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason’s run on Superman to make it a truly perfect Superman Family story. The man himself even says as much to his son. As we head into the Brian Michael Bendis era of Superman, it’s certainly possible that continuity could change again. Doomsday Clock isn’t even halfway through its 12-issue story, after all, so there is some hope of a return by the end of it.

However, as “Of Tomorrow” informs us, there comes a time for every story to end. All you can do is press forward and remember the past for everything it gave you. It’s bittersweet, and it certainly sucks, but there’s no way around it