Thoughts on Superman

[Shawn Wilson]

I like superman, I really do. But the mythos is, as expected for something congealed together by hacks over nearly 80 years, some parts are good in themselves but don't fit with the rest.

So, here is my take on combing out the tangles to make a more cohesive whole. Much of my take is based on but not identical to John Byrne's version of the mythos.

Goals-

1) as little change as necessary, and that in backstory/exposition rather than events.

2) Not *requiring* any other stories. As in 'because of A we have to have story arc B to resolve this outstanding issue'.

3) Not necessarily canning any existing stories or story elements. They could be made to 'fit' (perhaps with some filing) but not eliminated.

4) Allowing as many stories/story types as possible.



So, Clark Kent aka Superman aka Kal El of the destroyed planet Krypton...

No, let's start with Krypton. It's ancient history. This is basically John Byrne's ancient Krypton (see 'World of Krypton').

Kryptinians are incredibly wealthy and advanced. They don't work themselves but have robots and AIs do it, all of it. Kryptonian technology is powered by Kryptonite. A powerful and self replicating energy source. Actually it doesn't self replicate, but exposure to kryptonite will under certain circumstances convert other substances to more kryptonite.

Aliens come and share their ideas, or maybe Kryptonians visit other worlds and bring their ideas back (or both). This leads to conflict, and ultimately civil war. I think one of the alien ideas they bring is living organ banks via cloning. "We could live forever!" vs "It's fucking cannibalism!".

1000 years of war later, good triumphs, but ancient Krypton is no more. It's a wasteland that they could recover, but don't bother because they don't care. Something of their soul is gone.

The Science Council decides on two things- cloning is bad, and contact with other races is bad. They solve these problems by altering the AI of their robots (and other AIs). Kryptonians aren't taught about these things, and they can't learn about them because anything they would do is sabotaged by the AIs (who are only obeying their directives in good faith). And eventually the Kryptonians forget that these directives (and others) are even there.

So, 'modern day' Krypton doesn't have space travel or cloning even though their technology is otherwise godlike (second only to Oans).

But, curiosity will out. Kryptonians are neither stupid nor dead. Modern Kryptonians invent the Phantom Zone Projector. It has yet unrealized potential, but for now it's a one way trip to hell. Literally one way- there's no way out. They use it only for condemned criminals of the worst sort (they don't have a death penalty) and continue their research in the hopes that one day they can visit other planets by walking there. The Phantom Zone Projector isn't covered by the no space flight directive.

Another Kryptonian decides to learn about other races by telepathy. Not personally, Kryptonians don't do things personally. He creates a telepathic AI. It's one hell of a first attempt. But of course it's flawed.

It is capable of contacting only a certain human circus mentalist with weak and eratic, but still real, telepathic powers. Yep, Milton Fein, the Amazing Brainiac. And the Kryptonian AI, filtered and altered (frequency shifted) through Fein's mind, further contacts another mind- Vril Dox of the planet Colu.

The Kryptonian AI was not created in the expectation of contacting another telepath, and Vril Dox wasn't expecting to contact the 'mind' of a machine. And all this is filtered and altered through the mind of Milton Fein.

The three minds interact and blend in unfortunate and unpredictable ways. None of the three are evil. All could even be said to be good.

But ultimately what we end up with is one mind in three disparate bodies that calls itself 'Brainiac'. Yeah, it's a villain... Somehow it leave Krypton at some point before its destruction. Nope, the 'no space flight' directive did not survive the process.

Back to Krypton. Jor El and his wife Lara. He's a hands on scientist, she's a software engineer. While he's doing his science stuff she is rediscovering the ancient directives buried in Kryptonian AI software and how to *remove* them. Some of them anyway, they aren't all bad. Yes, Kryptonian AIs are Three Laws compliant, including the '0th Law' (Thou Shalt Not Harm Krypton (people and society) Nor Allow Krypton To Come To Harm). Note, they apply to *Kryptonians* not other races... A non-Kryptonian landing on Krypton wouldn't live long enough to say 'hi' before a robot killed it. The directives are very specific about that.

Actually the software is built into the hardware, so it isn't a case of file editing. You need entirely new chips.

So, Jor El goes off to investigate some mysterious green radiation, and because he is just that good he does and reports back to the Science Council (who aren't evil or even foolish, but they are impotent against this crisis). "We'ams All Gonna Die Tomorrow!"

It seems that back in the war, someone (Black Zero, ironically fanatics on the 'good guy' side) deliberately destroyed the planet. It just took 100,000 years for it to 'take'. Exponentially replicating Kryptonite in the planet's core was finally reaching critical mass, and there was nothing anyone could do. They figured they could reverse it if they won (and if they lost "Krypton was better off dead than evil..." as I said, fanatics), but everyone who knew about it got killed...

They can't escape. No space travel allowed. Lara has only built one 'fixed' AI (called the 'Eradicator') and there isn't time to build another. It's software can't just be copied over other AIs. If their robots were on their side they could probably build enough ships to save the planet. In a day. (I said they were advanced...)

And their only alternative is 'go to hell, go directly to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200'... (ie the Phantom Zone)

Jor El has the Eradicator build what it can- one ship, only large enough for one birthing matrix... And itself. (to be fair, it's only football sized)

Jor El's brother tries to build another ship, but his robots sabotage it. In desperation he renders his daughter unconscious (is it hell if you aren't aware of it?) and projects her (and it, but it doesn't work) into the Phantom Zone anyway.

Another great Kryptonian scientist in Kandor gets desperate. He knows more about the Phantom Zone than anyone and He Has An Idea. He creates an 'eddy' in the Phantom Zone and partially projects the entire city into it. It's a city sized bubble in the Phantom Zone that isn't hell, but you can't leave. Its real universe 'opening' is bottle sized. At some point of course Brainiac learns of and gains control of the city (but can't enter it) and the technology, which he applies elsewhere as part of a deranged 'gather information' directive.

Krypton is destroyed, Kal El is found by a kindly couple (who take his space ship as a deranged *human* experiment and keep it all secret) and named Clark.

Superpowers, good deeds in secret, public saving of a space plane, Superman!

At some point Jonathan tells him about the ship and Clark hides it in the arctic. The Eradicator builds the Fortress and its contents without his knowledge or consent, to be discovered next time Clark checks up on it. At which point I think he learns all his Kryptonian heritage.

The Fortress AI (the Eradicator AI Lara modified) still has its built in directives, along with whatever administrator level directives Jor El or Lara may have installed (story hooks, because Kal El only has *user* level access, so he can't change or override them...)

Because of its directive to 'save' Krypton (people and culture, remember?) it starts investigating cloning. It *can* because that directive was removed, but it still has no data on the topic. It hooks up with Project Cadmus, and shares what Kryptonian medical knowledge that might be useful in return for their cloning data.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, human cloning techniques don't work on Kryptonian 'DNA'.

Experiments ensue. You know them- Streaky the supercat, comet the super horse, Krypto the dog, beppo the monkey. They variously work or partly work.

Penultimate experiment. Based on Kal El's DNA. Doomsday. Ooops... He's ultimately neutralized and 'fixed', to the extent he can be. The fixed version is... Bizarro. The Fortress won't kill him because as far as its concerned Bizarro is Kryptonian and 1st Law... It can't contain him because Bizarro is too powerful. It won't keep him unconscious because that would also be a 1st Law violation. The solution is a maintained artificial (dream) reality called... Bizarro World. His body is (usually) inert, but his mind is active.

But, the experiment was successful. The Fortress learned what it need to. The final experiment is...

Creating a perfect clone body for...

Kara Zor El.

Who can be (and is) permanently extracted from the Phantom Zone via quantum entanglement technobabble into her cloned body. The Fortress knows how now. But the people there are pretty much all condemned criminals...

BTW, the Fortress has the complete DNA of every Kryptonian ever. The Science Council uploaded it to the Eradicator, along with every other byte of data they could.

General Zod et al? Not criminals, not even really evil. They deliberately projected themselves into the Phantom Zone to have even a slight hope of saving Krypton. The Phantom Zone is a bad place, their minds suffered, and they were desperate fanatics to begin with. If released somehow from the Phantom Zone their actions may not have Kal El's (or the Earth's) best interests at heart. But they don't *have* to be villains.

Kandor? The eddy is unstable. People can enter or leave under certain circumstances, but the whole rig is unstable. Stress it and you risk destroying the entire city. It was created under desperate circumstances after all.

Mr Mxyzptlk? Same as he always was. Perfect as he is. BTW, red kryptonite is a thing (the good stuff, from the comics), and yep, Mxyzptlk made it.

Lex Luthor? Hard. Started from nothing. Killed his parents for the insurance money. That much is easy. But if he is the same age as Superman he is far too young to be as rich and powerful as he is. And there is something special about having them be contemporaries/friends.

Borrow from Smallville, only swap Lex and Lionel? Classic Lex Luthor is the father and a generation older. Young Lex (II) is Clark's contemporary/classmate/Morally Ambiguous Friend?

...

No.

Have to do without young Lex-young Clark interaction. Classic Lex all the way.

Everything in his life was about rejecting the premise that some people are just born great. He is the ultimate self made man. And then that fucking alien shows up...


Superboy? Sure. 'Pa' Kent's real name is... Clark. Superboy is Clark's (and Lois's) son in the future. His best friend? Oh, YEAH... the morally ambiguous Alexander Luthor II!!! (played by Michael Rosenbaum because he was fucking PERFECT)

[Kevrob]

On Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 6:15:24 PM UTC-4, Shawn Wilson wrote:
> I like superman, I really do.

So do I.

I understand why you might want to discuss the Big Red S here.

rec.arts.dc.universe, rec.arts.sf.superman and alt.comics.superman exist, but they are moribund. A little of chatter about films and TV shows based on the
DC characters.

I think I made the last post in alt.comics.superman, on May 19.

And rec.arts.dc.universe, but that was Jun 23.

Put me down as preferring the prima facie utopian Krypton,
doomed by its complacency, rather than the sick, twisted version
that started with the 1978 film and metastasized through the comics
over the last 4 decades.

Kevin R

[Quadibloc]

On Thursday, June 25, 2015 at 2:37:23 PM UTC-6, Kevrob wrote:

> Put me down as preferring the prima facie utopian Krypton,
> doomed by its complacency, rather than the sick, twisted version
> that started with the 1978 film and metastasized through the comics
> over the last 4 decades.

I like the Silver Age version better too. However, I would be willing to make
it 'grittier' and 'more realistic' by having Superboy secretly work to
undermine Jim Crow in the South, given that he was growing up during the
Depression.

Of course, _that_ is based on the notion of Superman as period piece. If
Superman is 29 years old *today*, he would have been Superboy rather more
recently, like in the seventies.

I mean, since he's invulnerable, you can hardly freeze him in a block of ice
like Captain America...

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

On Thursday, June 25, 2015 at 2:37:23 PM UTC-6, Kevrob wrote:

> I understand why you might want to discuss the Big Red S here.

The S itself may be red, but he's really the Big *Blue* Superman. It's the
*other* guy who is the Big Red Cheese.

And then Warner Brothers bought Dennis the Menace and Mechanix Illustrated... so
he was able to re-appear out of lawsuit limbo.

John Savard

[David Johnston]

On 6/28/2015 9:39 AM, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Thursday, June 25, 2015 at 2:37:23 PM UTC-6, Kevrob wrote:
>
>> Put me down as preferring the prima facie utopian Krypton,
>> doomed by its complacency, rather than the sick, twisted version
>> that started with the 1978 film and metastasized through the comics
>> over the last 4 decades.
>
> I like the Silver Age version better too. However, I would be willing to make
> it 'grittier' and 'more realistic' by having Superboy secretly work to
> undermine Jim Crow in the South, given that he was growing up during the
> Depression.

Given his limited sphere of operation as Superboy that would have been a
bit out of his wheelhouse. But Superman in the radio drama did fight
the Ku Klux Klan aka "The Clan of the Fiery Cross", and that the serial
revealed a whole bunch of Klan "secrets" is supposed to have devastated
the Klan's ability to hold a membership.

>
> Of course, _that_ is based on the notion of Superman as period piece. If
> Superman is 29 years old *today*, he would have been Superboy rather more
> recently, like in the seventies.
>
> I mean, since he's invulnerable, you can hardly freeze him in a block of ice
> like Captain America...

I could have him save the Earth from a black hole...somehow. His
ability to fly faster than light lets him escape the event horizon but
the few seconds he spent there was x many years outside...

[Kevrob]

On Sunday, June 28, 2015 at 11:41:55 AM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Thursday, June 25, 2015 at 2:37:23 PM UTC-6, Kevrob wrote:
>
> > I understand why you might want to discuss the Big Red S here.
>
> The S itself may be red, but he's really the Big *Blue* Superman. It's the
> *other* guy who is the Big Red Cheese.
>

He's the Big Red "S", Big Blue, The Man of Tomorrow, The Metropolis Marvel,
The Man of Steel, The World's Greatest Adventure Strip Character, The Action
Ace, The Last Son of Krypton, and to his JLA pals, "Supes."

Just don't call him "Supey." He hates that.

> And then Warner Brothers bought Dennis the Menace

Nope. King Features Syndicate got it from Post-Hall. CBS did buy Fawcett,
and CBS was the network that ran the Dennis TV show, but that was years
earlier, and under a license.

> and Mechanix Illustrated... so
> he was able to re-appear out of lawsuit limbo.

DC's 1970s SHAZAM! title was also done under license.
DC didn't buy the Marvel Family, related characters,
and the other Fawcett heroes outright until the 1990s.

Mechanix Illustrated has had various name changes, and when it
ceased independent publication its successor, Home Mechanics,
was folded into THIS OLD HOUSE. Sorta like IF and GALAXY.

Kevin R

[William December Starr]

In article <a9450462-3b7c-46e7...@googlegroups.com>,

Kevrob <kev...@my-deja.com> said:

> He's the Big Red "S", Big Blue, The Man of Tomorrow, The
> Metropolis Marvel, The Man of Steel, The World's Greatest
> Adventure Strip Character, The Action Ace, The Last Son of
> Krypton, and to his JLA pals, "Supes."
>
> Just don't call him "Supey." He hates that.

Isn't there also something about a Big Boy Scout on the list?

-- wds

[Brenda]

On 6/28/2015 1:14 PM, David Johnston wrote:

>
> I could have him save the Earth from a black hole...somehow. His
> ability to fly faster than light lets him escape the event horizon but
> the few seconds he spent there was x many years outside...
>
>

My theory is a sphere of time stasis. A time bubble, as it were. Because
it is not only Superman who does not age. Everyone around him slides in
time with him: Pa and Ma Kent, Lois, even Jimmy and Perry. I remember
when Pa Kent was a veteran of WW2. Which shows I am not old enough to
remember when he was a doughboy in WW1. Nowadays he was in the Vietnam
war. I do not doubt that in another decade he will quietly be upgraded
to being a Gulf War vat.

Brenda

[David Johnston]

Bah. Superman's supporting cast was not so great that I'd feel any more
need to haul them all along with him any more than anyone felt the need
to bring back Captain America's old commanding officer. Ma and Pa Kent
weren't even there back in the day because they were in their fifties
when they first found Clark so they died shortly before he made his
debut. That the first version. The public would probably demand Lois,
but there are workarounds for a single person. For example the Door
Into Summer approach.

[David DeLaney]

On 2015-06-28, Quadibloc <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
> I like the Silver Age version better too. However, I would be willing to make
> it 'grittier' and 'more realistic' by having Superboy secretly work to
> undermine Jim Crow in the South, given that he was growing up during the
> Depression.
>
> Of course, _that_ is based on the notion of Superman as period piece. If
> Superman is 29 years old *today*, he would have been Superboy rather more
> recently, like in the seventies.

... and could STILL be working to undermine Jim Crow in the South...

> I mean, since he's invulnerable, you can hardly freeze him in a block of ice
> like Captain America...

Just make it _Kryptonian_ ice, in some hideously-gone-wrong malfunction of the
refrigerator in the Fortress of Solitude... [*]

Dave

[*] "But that's at the North Pole! Why does it NEED a refrigerator??" I hear
you cry. You certainly didn't think Kryptonian pizza rolls would stay frozen
in puny EARTH cold temperatures?
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://gatekeeper.vic.com/~dbd/ -net.legends/Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

David DeLaney <davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote in
news:99udnaTU0fZTTwzI...@earthlink.com:

> On 2015-06-28, Quadibloc <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>> I like the Silver Age version better too. However, I would be
>> willing to make it 'grittier' and 'more realistic' by having
>> Superboy secretly work to undermine Jim Crow in the South,
>> given that he was growing up during the Depression.
>>
>> Of course, _that_ is based on the notion of Superman as period
>> piece. If Superman is 29 years old *today*, he would have been
>> Superboy rather more recently, like in the seventies.
>
> ... and could STILL be working to undermine Jim Crow in the
> South...
>
>> I mean, since he's invulnerable, you can hardly freeze him in a
>> block of ice like Captain America...
>
> Just make it _Kryptonian_ ice, in some hideously-gone-wrong
> malfunction of the refrigerator in the Fortress of Solitude...
> [*]
>
> Dave
>
> [*] "But that's at the North Pole! Why does it NEED a
> refrigerator??" I hear
> you cry. You certainly didn't think Kryptonian pizza rolls
> would stay frozen in puny EARTH cold temperatures?

You're starting to sound like the 60s Batman show, where all nouns
had to start with "bat-".

--
Terry Austin

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Kevrob]

I'll have mine with extra cheese and thought-beast.

DC has actually played with this. See "THE IMMORTAL SUPERMAN" in
ACTION COMICS #385-387.

Summary from the Grand Comic book Database for #385:

"After promising the President not to travel through the time-barrier using his powers, Superman must use a defective Legion time bubble to answer a call for help from the future. When he arrives in the year 101970 he finds that he has aged a hundred thousand years, and that he is unable to return to his own time because the Time-Trapper has secretly blocked the way."

http://www.comics.org/issue/23266/

I don't think the current version of Superman has been capable of
unaided time travel since the post-Crisis reboot, but I haven't been keeping up.
Putting the Big Guy out of commission for a decade or two could be done
with Kryptonian weaponry. A stint in the Phantom Zone would do it. Mon-el
aka Lar Gand, the Daxamite Legion of Super-Heroes member was stuck in the
zone for a millenium. Somehow he emerged sane.

Kevin R

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Kevrob <kev...@my-deja.com> wrote in
news:c8fa9610-f21a-477e...@googlegroups.com:

That would be bat-cheese and bat-thought-beast (and both clearly
labeled with signs).