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Superman: Why are there so many characters with LL initials?

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Hulk Hogan

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Jan 14, 1991, 11:20:39 PM1/14/91
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Just caught the last 5 minutes of "Supergirl" movie on TV the other night
and it had the usual LL initials. I got to wondering why the hell
there were so many LL's in the Superman Universe (Lois Lane, Lana Lang,
Lex Luthor, Supergirl's secret identity etc etc.) Anyone know?
(Clark Kent only got aliteration, so maybe his real name is Lclark Lkent :)

Apologies is this is in the FAQ, I usually don't read rec.arts.comics.

/\ndy
--
Andrew M. Jones, Systems Programmer, Internet: an...@lingua.cltr.uq.oz.au
Centre for Lang. Teaching & Research, Phone (Australia): (07) 365 6915
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"No matter what hits the fan, it's never distributed evenly....."

Cisco's Buddy

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Jan 15, 1991, 2:34:01 AM1/15/91
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In article <1991Jan15.0...@lingua.cltr.uq.OZ.AU>, ro...@lingua.cltr.uq.OZ.AU (Hulk Hogan) writes...

} Just caught the last 5 minutes of "Supergirl" movie on TV the other night
} and it had the usual LL initials. I got to wondering why the hell there
} were so many LL's in the Superman Universe (Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lex
} Luthor, Supergirl's secret identity etc etc.) Anyone know?

I'm not positive what the scoop actually is, but I think it started out as
coincidence (with Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, who were the first of the LL
characters created). Somewhere down the line, someone probably noticed that
there was a lot of LL characters, and it got to be sort of a running joke
and an integral part of the Superman mythos (sort of on the idea of the
old programming rule: "Document a bug, and it becomes a feature").

--

"What gang are *you* with?" "Ah...the Survivors."

"Never heard'a them." "I'm the only one left."


--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA)
UUCP: ...!decwrl!ruby.enet.dec.com!boyajian
ARPA: boyajian%ruby...@DECWRL.DEC.COM

Abhijit Khale

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Jan 15, 1991, 8:08:09 AM1/15/91
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In article <1991Jan15.0...@lingua.cltr.uq.OZ.AU> ro...@lingua.cltr.uq.OZ.AU (Hulk Hogan) writes:
>I got to wondering why the hell
>there were so many LL's in the Superman Universe (Lois Lane, Lana Lang,
>Lex Luthor, Supergirl's secret identity etc etc.) Anyone know?

I remember the cover of a long-ago Superman comic in which Superman
thinks something like : Curious how all the women I've loved have
the initials LL ( Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris) etc. And now
the woman I am planning to marry is <Dont remember the name ,
but the initials were LL>.

As for the LL connection, I believe it was intended to be a joke
of some sort at DC. Although we havent seen a new LL character
for decades, I think.

Abhijit

Rob Kracik

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Jan 16, 1991, 7:18:28 PM1/16/91
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I'm not much of a Superman fan, but I recall that
Jor-el (Jor-"L" -- get it) was Supe's father
Kal-el was Supe's Kryptonian name and
Mon-el (Mon-"L" -- One "L") was a Superman-like character from the future
(I think he's a Daxamite on the "Legion of Superheroes").

-- Rob
P.S. I'm sure I'll be corrected about Mon-el, so just e-mail me
at kra...@johnnyfive.cs.uiuc.edu.
:-) The name of Superman's Cockney cousin: Bloody-Ell :-)

Dan'l DanehyOakes

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Jan 16, 1991, 12:36:05 PM1/16/91
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Well, the traditional answer is that it's because of his Kryptonian family
name, "El," as in "Jor-el," "Kal-el," etc.

Some sort of variation on numerology, I guess...


You got to dance your dance, and do your act,
And get His Big Attention, it's a natural-born fact.
I'm on my knees, one question, please,
Will the real God please stand up?
--Todd Rundgren, "Eastern Intrigue"

The Roach

Larry Larrivee

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Jan 17, 1991, 8:53:28 AM1/17/91
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Characters with LL initials? You know, I kind of like it.....:-)

Larry Larrivee
IRIS, Brown University

Cisco's Buddy

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Jan 18, 1991, 1:05:15 AM1/18/91
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In article <19...@shlump.nac.dec.com>, boya...@ruby.dec.com (Cisco's Buddy) writes...

} Yes, we "get it", especially since "Jor-L" was the *original* spelling
} of the name (and was thus later used as the spelling of the father of
} the Earth-2 Superman).

Faulty memory at work here, folks. I checked the 1948 origin story (in
THE GREATEST SUPERMAN STORIES EVER TOLD -- I *don't* have the original :-))
in which Jor-El is named for the first time, and it indeed has the "e".
"Jor-L" as the name of the Earth-2 Superdad must've been a revisionist
addition.

Cisco's Buddy

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Jan 17, 1991, 1:07:50 AM1/17/91
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In article <1991Jan17.0...@cs.uiuc.edu>, kra...@cs.uiuc.edu (Rob Kracik) writes...

} I'm not much of a Superman fan, but I recall that Jor-el (Jor-"L" -- get it)

} was Supe's father [...]

Yes, we "get it", especially since "Jor-L" was the *original* spelling of the
name (and was thus later used as the spelling of the father of the Earth-2
Superman).

--

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