I grew up a Marvel snob. I thought the DC comic heroes were incredibly lame. I mean, come on, Superman's disguise is a pair of glasses? Aquaman's power is he talks to fishes? But I am always fascinated by how incredibly dense comic book origin stories become. I mean, jeez louise, you almost need a PhD to parse some of this stuff. (All the X-Men permutations just make my head hurt).
~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@...> wrote: > > Sorry if this is long and confusing, but as the character is 80-plus years > old, he's got a *lot* of different stories. I can recall at least five > different major incarnations of Superman in the comics: > > One: from creation in the 30s to the 50s. Later retconned as "Superman 2". > The one who originally couldn't fly, had to jump everywhere, and whose powers > were based on body density and inherit superpowers. Superman 1 originally was > very weak compared to his successor and his own later powers. For example, > this one could be hurt by something like an exploding weapon fired from a > tank. Also called the "Golden Age" Superman, he was a member of the Justice > Society. Clark Kent thought of himself as more the real person, and just wore > the costume on the job. > > Two: the "Silver Age" Superman from the 60s to the 80s. Officially "Superman > 1", the model for the movies. This one is the godlike Superman who could push > Earth out of orbit, and whose powers were a strange mix of molecular density > and yellow sunlight. This is the one who used a lot of Kryptonian tech. An > interesting aside, this Superman thought of himself as Kal-El, who used Clark > Kent as a mask to hide his identity. This is also the superman who had major > powers as Superbaby and Superboy. > > Three: the post-Crisis Superman of John Byrne and the cartoon from the 80s. > Often called the "weak" superman, this one originally was much weaker, powers > back closer to Superman 2 at the beginning. He could fly, but couldn't reach > light speed, could only hold his breath for a couple of hours, and could lift > maybe a building, not the Earth. This Superman had no super dense muscles, > owing all his power to absorption of yellow sunlight. Gone were a lot of the > things from the Silver Age Superman: the androids, the super cats, monkeys, > and horses, all colors of Kryptonite except green. Superbaby and Superboy > never existed, this version's powers developing slowly over years, not > reaching full potential until adulthood (the last power he developed was > flight, when he was somewhere around 16 - 18). Byrne's take on this character > was that he thought of himself as Clark Kent, who used the mask of Superman > to hide his identity. Clark Kent was also a very confident, successful guy, > not the nerdy wimp of the old days (think Clark on "Smallville"). > My personal fave of all the incarnations, closely followed by Superman 2. > > Four: The post-Infinite Crisis Superman. I don't know much about this one, > not having read the books for two years now (thanks to Civil War, House of M, > Secret Invasion, Siege, etc.). It appears that the writers are moving him > back closer to the Silver Age Superman. His powers are going way up again > (which I don't like), the various colors of Kryptonite are back, a lot of > Kryptonians are back (from kandor I believe?). Clark is back to being a > nerdy, wimpy guy, and it appears Superman is closer to being the "real" > person. Not my fave version... > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@...> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 9:57:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] The Five Most Insane Celebrity Comic Book cameos > > > > > > > Hmm that is interesting. Sounds like a good read. I remember seeing the > leaping to the top of buildings in the first issue but not much of the > details. > > I always wondered why they never gave superman psychic or other powers. Here > is another question. Why didn't superman have more technology? Wouldn't he > have been trained by the crystals with all of the knowledge of krypton? > > > On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 6:42 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@... > wrote: > > > > > > > Depends on what version and who's writing the origin story. In the original > premiere way back in 1936 (?), *all* Kryptonians had powers, even on their > home planet. They traveled by leaping up to 800 feet at a time. At that time, > the basis of their powers was that they were genetically advanced and > superior to humans, and had denser, stronger bodies because Kryptonian was > larger and denser than Earth, with a higher gravity. That Superman was later > retconed to be said to be the Superman of Earth 1. > Th Superman we grew up reading about had an odd mix of powers, based on super > dense body as well as absorption of yellow sunlight. This one, to my memory, > came from a Krypton where no one had superpowers because the sun was red > (they somehow never got it straight with the superdense molecules). So i > don't think his dad knew he'd have powers. > In the movies, Jor-El states that Earth's son and lighter gravity would give > Kal an advantage over humans. > In the post-Crisis Superman, i don't believe Jor-El knew that the yellow sun > would give Kal-El powers. He chose Earth because he felt that, though > primitive, humans still had the passion and emotions that Kryptonians had > lost. In this telling, Kryptonians wore full body suits that monitored and > cared for their bio functions, didn't touch each other, didn't have sex > (babies were conceived in the lab and then grown in artificial wombs), and > didn't express affection. Jor-El wanted Clark to grow up on a planet not so > sterile. > Now that we have yet another Superman another the second Crisis, I'm not sure > what his origin story is... > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mr. Worf" < hellomahog...@... > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > > > > Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 9:28:33 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] The Five Most Insane Celebrity Comic Book cameos > > > > > > > Here's a question. When Superman's dad sent him to earth, did he know that > his son would have superpowers? > > > On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 6:18 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@... > wrote: > > > > > > > It's stuff like that that made me celebrate The Crisis on Infinite Earths, > the aftermath of which saw John Byrne's revamping of Superman. Still some of > the best Superman books of the last twenty years came in the couple of years > after the Crisis. I especially loved it when Byrne had Superman kill for the > first and only time (He killed Zod and his cohorts, who'd come to his Earth > from an alternate reality Earth. They actually came from the universe of the > pre-Crisis Superman, and were thus dozens of times stronger than Byrne's > Superman. He had no choice but to kill them). That ultimately led to him > exiling himself to outer space for a time to work on a mental issue (he > developed a split personality due to the guilt). That's where he met Mongol > and the device that became the Eradicator. It was also during that period > that Krypton as a planet of cold, dispassionate people was revealed. Good > mature stuff! > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mr. Worf" < hellomahog...@... > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 9:13:44 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] The Five Most Insane Celebrity Comic Book cameos > > > > > > > > > > I actually remember reading Ali vs Superman when I was a kid. That's how you > know a book has jumped the shark. :) Almost as bad as the Harlem > Globetrotters on Giligan's Island. > > > On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 7:42 AM, Kelwyn < ravena...@... > wrote: > > > Every so often, famous folks appear in comic books to lend some real-world > veracity to the spandex-clad antics. Sometimes the cameo works and everyone > has clean, kitschy fun. Other times the cameo fucks up the plot beyond all > comprehension. > > These are some of those "other times." > > http://www.cracked.com/article_16031_the-5-most-insane-celebrity-comic-book-cameos.html > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Post your SciFiNoir Profile at > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo > ! Groups Links > > > > (Yahoo! ID required) > > > > > > > > > > -- > Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! > Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! > Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! > Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ >
