kayuucee@cvl.UUCP (Kenneth W. Crist Jr.) (09/02/85)
Here is the second of the two articles I am copying from Fantastic
Films #2, June 1978. This article attempts to explain how Superman's might
work. You may not agree with it, but read it all the way through as the
author does come up with some interesting points. I still like to believe
that Superman's powers work the way the comics tell us, but this does make
you think. I'm sorry this took so long to come out, but I only type with one
finger and tend to make a lot of mistakes. Anyway, read and enjoy.
The Powers of Kal-El
Speculation by Clyde Jones
What do we really know about Kal-El of Krypton, the "Superman" that
flies through our lives? We have vague reports that he arrived on our Earth as
an infant, was raised by a rural family (as is obvious by his speech patterns,
midwestern U.S.-- Kansas or Illinois) and lives --somehow-- in the vacinity of
Metropolis City. We also have undocumented information that his home world--
if he is in fact from off world-- was destroyed in some cataclysm and that he
is one of the very few survivors. We also have eyewitness accounts, possibly or
probably garbled, of his capabilities. From what is known, we shall attempt to
construct the profile of a most unusual and unique man.
*******************************************************************************
Flight
*******************************************************************************
The ability that most impresses the minds of those who have witnessed
it is his power of flight. Man has longed dreamed of being able to course with
the eagles, flying on his own wings or with the aid of magic. Superman DOES IT.
Thousands have witnessed his human form flashing through our skies, curvetting
and turning Immelmanns around various villians. Many have witnessed his aerial
interception of objects and people, catching them in mid-flight: he stops roc-
kets and bombs and people and hurls them away or carries them to safety, as
required; he smashes meteoroids, batters dragons, tethers dirrigibles, sky-
writes, convoys, conveys and hovers tirelessly. He has been tracked by the
SPADATS network, journeying into near and deep space, and returning. He has
been seen cavorting with strange beasts and people in mid-air.
How is this possible?
The popular press tries to tell us that Kal-El simply LEAPS. He takes a
running start and then JUMPS to his destination, because he is so much stronger
than we are.
O.K. Try an experiment. Find a park or athletic area and try the run-
ning broad jump. Mark your take off and landing points, and then mark the mid-
point of your `flight'. Now go back and try your jump again, but this time,
when you reach the middle of the flight, change course 90 degrees. Right or
left, it doesn't matter.
Problem? You CAN'T materially change direction while in mid-air? In
that case, neither could Kal-El, were he merely jumping.
Another problem. Have you ever jumped off something and had that some-
thing move BACKWARD with as much energy as you moved FORWARD? In terms of
physics, you have hit the problem of action and reaction. To throw yourself
20 feet forward you must apply force to what ever you are pushing off from. If
it happens to weigh the same as you do and is free to slide, you will travel
only 10 feet, and IT will travel backward 10 feet. Now, if you jump off with
the force to carry you from Metropolis to Sheboygan, you are exerting one tre-
mendous amount of force on your starting point. If you should happen to try
this from a building, you are apt to find yourself in Des Moines instead, and
your building in six different counties: it would disintegrate.
Jumping is NOT a viable mode of transport for Kal-El.
But he DOES fly, and well, and does perform mid-course maneuvers.
The secret may lie not in his super-musculature, but in his super-mind.
For centuries mankind has been seeing strange floating apparitions.
Some of these seem to be people or bodies wafting gently along on the evening
breeze. Modern investigators looking into such phenomena have been quite inter-
ested in these visible effects and their probable causes.
Research has shown that man, under certain stimuli, CAN change his
apparent body weight. In some cases, men have seemed to mentally their velocity
in freefall: several skydivers and military personnel have experienced total or
near-total failure of their parachute systems at great altitudes, and yet have
walked away from their touchdown points with little injury. One explanation of
their survival has been that a body falling freely will only accelerate to a
certain speed, and then wind resistance will balance gravity. You can not fall
faster than terminal velocity.
That maximum velocity is approximately 120 m.p.h. Hitting anything more
substantial than a mountain of cotton at that velocity will definately BE ter-
minal. Yet, people have fallen free for thousands of feet and walked away. How?
Research into extra-sensory phenomena and para-normal abilities has
produced at least a name, if not a detailed Modus Operandi: levitation. Levi-
tation is simply the power of the human (or alien) mind to free the body from
the bonds of gravity, the power to float, if not to fly outright. Under extreme
conditions of jeopardy, or in deep trance, men have been known to levitate.
From simple free floating to actual flying is a RELATIVELY small step. Or leap.
Even that starting leap Kal-El uses to begin his flights tends to make
sense in this fashion: it gives his mind a definite sense of initial direction
to his flight. A starting vector to follow with mind power.
*******************************************************************************
Super Strength
*******************************************************************************
Another key to the powers of the Kryptonian is his ability to affect
large objects. To deflect or reverse the course of 20 tons of granite, per-
sonified in say, a statue of General Grant, considerable outside force must be
applied. To simply lift such a weighty object takes considerable energy, yet
Kal-El has been seen and photographed doing just that. Assuming that he were to
hold the 20 ton statue over his head with just incredible body strength, he
would encounter problems. Just standing, his feet would tend to sink into the
earth, or asphalt or even solid concrete (assuming a standard sidewalk). Catch-
ing such an object incorrectly while it was falling would shatter it, leaving
MANY large, heavy falling objects, instead of one. Yet, we have pictures of
Kal-El apparently catching it by the base, while the whole thing was at a
angle, and it did not shatter.
He has been seen and photographed catching aircraft by projecting
appurtenances (wing tips, tails, wheels) and drastically deflecting the ob-
ject's course. While an aircraft may be strong enough to take the normal
stresses encountered in flight, they tend to break when handled carelessly, by
wing tips, tails and wheels! Yet these craft held together. HOW?
Just HOW much stronger a native Kryptonian would tend to be than a Ter-
ran would depend on the difference in gravity, of course, and on that we have
little direct evidence or information. I would tend to say that the differences
would not be too extreme, or the physical structure of Kal-El would differ
markedly from ours. There is only so much variation possible, by evolutionary
principles, for an organism that eats the kind of food we do and, thrives.
Kal-El must therefor be structurally and organically much like us. Thus, his
strength and his other capabilities must rely on a superior MENTAL structure.
Para-normal research has given us another label and definition: Tele-
kinesis--the ability of the mind to manipulate physical objects DIRECTLY,
without physical contact. A telekinetic can cause furniture or other objects
to sail around the room by force of mind alone. This is the (or one of the)
easiest explanations of the `poltergiest' phenomena; objects flying wildly
about the home without being physically touched. This is the phenomena commonly
attributed to `ghosts' in folk lore. Many modern researchers, however, have
traced the effect to minor inhabitants of the victim houses. Disturbed children
seem to be the cause; the poltergiest effect is their way of releasing hostil-
ities and achieving childish ends.
What if this effect could be harnessed by an adult mind of good will?
Used by a benevolent mind, it could halt crashing aircraft, or falling General
Grants.
Apply the power of telekinesis to Kal-El's observed abilities. Mind
Force, or T.K. (a short form for telekinesis) could grasp ALL of an object at
once and manipulate it. Perhaps being in contact with an object helps Kal-El's
mind to `tune in' on it. He is not really grasping General Grant's statuesque
base, he is simply maing physical contact the better to get a MENTAL grasp on
it. The same would apply to other cases of `super-strength'. `Lifting' a large
object, Kal-El would touch it to get its mental `feel', and then telekinetic-
ally manipulate it.
This power would ALSO BE AN ASSIST IN HIS OWN `flying'. He could use
his T.K. to boost his aerial velocity past that of sound. He could change
course by manipulating his own body as he manipulates other objects, or use it
as an extremely long `arm' to grasp hold of some remote object and pull himself
around.
*******************************************************************************
Super Breath
*******************************************************************************
T.K. would also explain the observed capacity for a `super shout' or
`super breath'. Given a body much like our own, he would only have so much
available lung capacity. He could only inhale about the same amount of air as
we can. He could thus only EXPELL as much air as a normal human could. Extreme
strength could allow this air to exit at great pressure, but there would still
not be much of it. Also he could not inhale enormous volumes of air as he has
been reported to have done.
Kal-El COULD, however, use his T.K. to manipulate large masses of air
and seem to be inhaling or exhaling on a grand scale. The effects would be
about the same.
*******************************************************************************
Heat Vision
*******************************************************************************
Another skill the Man of Steel seems linked to the T.K. effects. Kal-El
has been observed, on occasion, to ignite objects or warm them seemingly by
looking at them. Media representatives have revealed to us THEIR interpretation
of this effect: he uses his `heat vision' to project light or heat (much like
an organic searchlight) toward a remote object. If this were truly the case, he
would have to generate tremendous temperatures in the retina of each eye, focus
the resulting infra-red light or energy with his corneas, and stare at the tar-
get. Keeping in mind that Kal-El seems to have melted steel in this way, the
amount of heat his retinal areas would have to generate would be fantastic. All
of the heat reaching a remote beam or wall would start in a 1/2" diameter area
then beam forth. Allowing for losses in the air and reflection, the temperature
of Kal-El's retinae would exceed 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. He would indeed have
to be made of incredibly tough stuff to survive this, aside from the fact that
most retinae do not generate heat in ANY appreciable amount.
A more rational answer would seem to lie in telekinetically increasing
the energy levels in matter in random directions to give the same effect as
applying direct heat. The mind could serve as a control center aligning outside
energy, say tapped from sunlight or circumambient heat, rather than having to
originate such energy within itself.
Even beyond that, Kal-El's mind could simply weaken the looser molecu-
lar bonds in matter and allow it to temporarily change into a semi-fluid state,
rather than a thermally active molten state.
Either explanation seems better than the idea of a man with incindiary
eyeballs.
*******************************************************************************
X-Ray Vision
*******************************************************************************
A second vision-linked capability is `X-Ray vision'. Media man describe
the effect as like that achieved using X-ray examining equipment to see through
walls and into objects. Except for the small problem of generating a source of
X-rays BEHIND the object to be examined, this is not too completely wild. The
human eye is capable of picking up images formed by many different frequencies
of electromagnetic radiation. Extending this sensitivity is quite possible.
Devices to see by infra-red or ultra-violet light are in common use today.
Radar `sees' ultra-high frequency radiation. Unfortunately, strictly organic
substances do not seem that adaptable to sensing and interpreting data from
ultra-high frequency sources. An organic phosphorescent substance or fluores-
cent material COULD be incorporated into Kal-El's retinae, and could respond to
X-rays, but his corneas would still have to focus them. The geometry of the eye
is not suited to such manipulation, nor is it sufficiently dense to materially
effect the course of X-rays.
In short: there are large problems with true `X-ray vision'. A differ-
ent effect does seem to fit the pattern, however. For millenia some people have
claimed to be able to see events happening at tremendous distances, around the
curve of the Earth, or inside distant buildings or mountains. This effect is
commonly called Clairvoyance in the world of psychic research. It means,
simply, the ability to sense directly with the mind, or optic system, events or
objects at a distance, OR hidden from the observer. This is one of the basic
abilities tested for with the use of the famous Rhine Card Deck.
The cards are printed with circles, wavy lines, squares, stars, etc.,
and can be used to test many types of Psi abilities. In testing for clairvoy-
ance, the dealt cards are not seen by anyone, but receive the concentrated
attention of the testee. He then attempts to state the pattern on the card.
Different techniques are used to make sure he is simply sensing the
cards at that time, rather than merely foretelling which will be revealed in
the future. That is a different power and the two are sometimes tricky to dif-
ferentiate.
Clairvoyance would tend to provide the same effect as X-ray vision and
would also seem to cover telescopic vision, or the ability to see things at a
distance. The latter is also in the catalogue of super-powers, and accurately
fits the analysis of Kal-El's REAL abilities.
*******************************************************************************
Super Hearing
*******************************************************************************
Another sense related capability is `super-hearing' or the ability to
hear a pin drop in a boiler factory a half-mile away. Some of the events of
super-sensing involving sound indicate incredable sensitivity to sound, as well
as incredible information-processing abilities on the part of the auditory cen-
ters of the brain. To hear very soft sounds, acute hearing is mandatory. Unfor-
tunately, in living beings, many slight sounds are masked by the body's inter-
nal noise: blood pumping, breath hissing, muscles sliding, etc. Extremely com-
plex auditory filtering is necessary in the centers of the brain to get rid of
the background noise and pick out meaningful intelligence. All of this is quite
within the realm of physical possibility. However...
Krypton is rumored to have been a higher G world than Earth. It was
supposed to have a greater gravitational pull than our planet. It would then
tend to also have a denser atmosphere. Gravity, after all, tends to collect
gasses and vapors released by volcanic activity, or passing by on the solar
wind (this is what turns Venus into a virtual furnace): gravity collecting
gasses which cause tremendous pressure and temperature. Krypton, then, could
be expected to have an atmosphere denser than our own.
Dense gasses transmit sounds better than thin ones. This is a simple
and observable fact. Krypton's atmosphere would then tend to conduct sound bet-
ter and more quickly than Earth's. This would probably place less evolutionary
emphasis on extreme sensitivity of hearing, and would probably allow a Krypton-
ian to hear, in his own atmosphere, about as well as a Terran in his.
Unfortunately, when you transplant a Kryptonian to Earth, his less
developed sense of hearing would be LESS acute than ours.
Oops.
CLAIRAUDIANCE is the Psi power that allows a person to hear things that
are happening at a distance. It is documented as existing, but rather less
often than most other extraordinary phenomena. Clairaudiance, however, would
explain the extraordinary hearing abilities in our expectably hard-of-hearing
Kal-El. Sensing with the mind, rather than the ears, Kal-El would indeed have
acute hearing.
*******************************************************************************
Super Speed
*******************************************************************************
One definite effect of evolving in a heavier gravity field than Earth's
would be a heightening of innate speed in reflexes. In a higher G environment,
things fall faster within a given distance. An apple rolling off a table on
Krypton would hit the ground sooner, and be moving faster than an identical
apple from an identical table on Earth. To cope with this greater speed, a
Kryptonian would tend to develop faster reflexes to be able to scoop up that
apple before it hit. How much faster, of course, depends on how great the grav-
ity difference is. This would tend to account for the reports of Kal-El's
`super-reflexes': a genetic heritage from his home world, couple with practice
and experience on Earth.
*******************************************************************************
Invulnerability
*******************************************************************************
The last outstanding capability of the Man of Steel is that of his
invulnerability. From films and photographs, we have seen Kal-El surviving
things that would totally destroy any normal human.
He has stood in the midst of fires and ignored them. He has been immer-
sed in molten metal and later broken out. He survives avalanches and volcanic
eruptions, the pressures of the deep sea bottoms and the airless void of space.
He shrugs off lightning bolts and handles high voltage lines without harm. And
thrives. Bullets seem to bounce off him and knives shatter against his body.
Invulnerable. How?
Combine all his observed mental powers. Levitation, telekinesis, clair-
audiance, clairvoyance and stringly developed reflexes. THEY are the explana-
tion. His powers can turn away heat and deflect molten metal and boulders. He
can surround himself with atmosphere in deep space, hold off the ocean and fil-
ter out oxygen, shatter objects and stop their pieces in mid-air, sense bullets
or other objects moving toward him and cancel their momentum so they fall,
spent, at his feet.
*******************************************************************************
Kryptonite
*******************************************************************************
The combined mental forces of Kal-El render him impervious to physical
harm. But do they leave him open to other forms of injury?
Kryptonite: a green or red glowing substance, apparently fragments of
shattered Krypton, seems to have the power to render Kal-El helpless or to work
strange changes on his body and mind.
The green form seems to be deadly to him, acting like a dampning field
to his life force. Many times this substance has nearly done in Kal-El, both as
randomly encountered fragments and as intentionally manipulated by his enemies.
The red form seems capable of altering his physical capabilities and
altering his mental power by its mere presence. Such changes are unpredictable
and erratic, and usually reversable.
How do they work on Kal-El? Are they really parts of lost Krypton?
Allow that Kal-El has extremely advanced Psi capabilities. He can sense
things ordinary men cannot. He is extremely sensitive to Psi phenomena. And he
is one of the very few survivors of his entire race.
In any normal human, being the survivor of some great disaster imposes
severe mental strain. Guilt is a common manifestation, as is suicide, or ex-
treme dedication to some outside or altruistic cause in an attempt to justify
the survival. This may account for Kal-El's crusade on Earth: guilt for surviv-
ing.
In a para-normal human, this psychological effect could be amplified.
The presence of some fragment of his dead and blasted homeworld could effect
Kal-El violently and possibly fatally. Mental shock would result -- a terrify-
ing psychological blasting. This would be sufficient to account for his reac-
tion.
But he is also Psi sensitive.
In the death by violence of an entire race of sentient beings, their
emotional scream of mortal agony would impress itself on the very rock of their
world. The terror and death-shock would permeate every atom of Krypton, and
remain to haunt anyone sensitive enough tp pick it up from a piece of Krypton.
To a native of this world, somehow surviving, THIS, in itself, would be enough
to kill. That would seal the fate of Kal-El, should he remain to long in con-
tact with it. His best hope of surviving would be to get away from the stuff,
or get it away from him. Distance seems to provide a buffer, as does lead.
(This lends support to the observation that his powers do not work well through
lead: he cannot clairvoy into a lead box for example.)
The effects of red Kryptonite may be due to the differences in chemical
composition or atomic structure since it passed through a res space cloud, com-
bined with Kal-El's sensitivity. Or the effect might be a psychological vara-
tion.
Consider: the planet Krypton was composed of a finite amount of matter.
Given its violent disruption, much of that matter could have been thrown out of
its solar system. Given escape velocity relative to the Kryptonian sun, the
fragments could spread throughout a large volume of space.
However, the dispersion of matter would leaver very little actual mass
in any given volume of space, and that matter would be moving at sub-light
velocity. Unless fragments were somehow pulled along with Kal-El's escape
craft, it is highly unlikely that much but micropowder would ever reach Earth's
solar system. It is possible that some part of Kal-El's escape ship broke free
during the trip, or that part of the ship was expendable like our own space-
craft. Or that fragments of Krypton were somehow induced to follow his ship's
path. That would be one explanation for ANY part of Krypton reaching Earth in
any man's lifetime. (Unless, of course, Kal-El traveled at sub-light speeds all
the way in some sort of suspended animation).
One small piece, however, would be enough to trigger a mental panic
effect in Kal-El that would scar him for life. Later, any similar glowing rock
would tend to produce an echo of that first shock. The first traumatic contact
would be founded on actual psychic shock, while the rest would be reflections
in a para-normal mind.
*******************************************************************************
The Mind of Kal-El
*******************************************************************************
The key to the man: his mind.
We have evidence that Kal-El possesses a stronger, brighter mind than
the average Earthman, and controls a science and technology far in advance of
ours.
His Fortress of Solitude seems full of advanced wonders and artifacts,
from the few reports gleaned about it. He seems to understand any Earthly
device he comes in contact with, and has dealt with many alien artifacts with
the same facility.
Does this mean that he is mentally to us as we are to the apes?
Not necessarily. It is certain his homeworld possessed science far in
advance of ours. We are now on the threshold of being able to implant informa-
tion directly into the human mind. Kryptonians were probably quite proficient
at this. Kal-El amy have had whole libraries of advanced scientific data and
engineering techniques implanted in his mind before he left Krypton, or it may
have been implanted directly, mentally, at birth, in much the same way as Hein-
lein's Martians in STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, as part of their evolutionary
process. As he grew on Earth and his mind matured, he would have come into more
and more complete and effective control of this data to use to his own ends.
While he would have this raw data inherent in his mind, he would still have to
grow and mature mentally in order to be able to use it, as did Heinlein's Mar-
tian Earthchild.
While does Kal-El incourage the incorrect assessment of his capabili-
ties? By remaining silent, he is countenancing the erroneous explanations fois-
ted off on the public by the media. He is aiding in the misinformation. Why?
Probably because he grew to mature sensitivity amongst us, seeing how
people react to the unusual and the bizarre. He learned our reaction to that
which we don't understand: fear.
Man fears the alien and unknown, and would react to an alien of incred-
ible mental powers with sheer panic. A man who can move mountains or statues
with a gesture or a touch of his hand would tend to frighten people. A man far
beyond us in certain phases of evolution would be reguarded as a freak or mon-
ster and destroyed if possible or shunned if not.
Unless he came as a helpful benefactor. Unless he appeared as merely a
stronger, faster, nobler version of normal man. Strength we can understand. A
man pulling a car is wonderful: his strength is something to work for, to
attempt to attain, it is merely the norm, extended a bit. It is something nor-
mal and understandable.
But a man who merely gestures and causes a car to move, or a weight to
float, that is mysterious. That tends to terrify the ape in all of us. It is
NOT merely a slight extension of normal abilities. It breeds fear.
The same applies to the other powers of Kal-El. If people see them as
merely an extension of what they can do, they might be envious, but not espec-
ially fearful. If a man can blow out a candle, why can't a stronger MAN blow
out a forest fire? It is just the familiar writ large, and therefor less
frightening.
Perhaps this is the greatest power of the Man of Steel: the power to
understand OUR weaknesses and fears. He has powers he can no more ignore than
we can ignore sight or hearing: he must use them, so he uses them in a way
that is approved of by most of the world: helping others.
He is accepted by most of the world as a friend. He is not totally
alone. He can pass as a normal man amongst us most of the time, but also can
be larger than life when needed. And perhaps he can also work off the subcon-
scious debt that he may feel that he owes: that of living while his world is
dead. He works, then, for the good of THIS world.
We are indeed fortunate that he was raised to think well of us.
Kenneth Crist
Computer Vision Lab
University of Marylandharry@UCBARPA (Harry I. Rubin) (09/12/85)
Subject: Re: The Powers of Kal-El Newsgroups: net.comics In-Reply-To: <793@cvl.UUCP> Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <793@cvl.UUCP> kayuucee writes: > > Here is the second of the two articles I am copying from Fantastic >Films #2, June 1978. This article attempts to explain how Superman's might >work. ... > > The Powers of Kal-El > Speculation by Clyde Jones >... This sounds just like Gladiator of the Shi'iar Imperial Guard. In one book (I think a Fantastic Four Annual or Special, perhaps about 2 years ago) he runs into the FF and of course there is a misunderstanding and Gladiator starts beating them up. Good old Reed figures out that there is no possible way Gladiator could do what he does physically and deduces that he must be doing it mentally. He then rigs up a device to fool Gladiator into believing that his powers aren't working. What planet did you say Gladiator is from? Is there some sort of Gladiator-ite that effects Gladiator the way Kryptonite effects Superman? Come to think of it, is there anything that slows Gladiator down?
bobh@pedsgd.UUCP (Bob Halloran) (09/12/85)
In article <8509112319.AA06106@ucbarpa.ARPA> harry@UCBARPA (Harry I. Rubin) writes: >Subject: Re: The Powers of Kal-El >In article <793@cvl.UUCP> kayuucee writes: >> >> Here is the second of the two articles I am copying from Fantastic >>Films #2, June 1978. This article attempts to explain how Superman's might >>work. ... >> >> The Powers of Kal-El >> Speculation by Clyde Jones >>... > >This sounds just like Gladiator of the Shi'iar Imperial Guard. The 'Imperial Guard' was a Claremont/(Byrne?? - I forget who was drawing then) take-off on the Legion, with Gladiator intended to be the Mon-El parody. I seem to recall that John Byrne made similar comments on the nature of Kryptonian/Daxamite powers before Jones' article. The X-Men/ Titans teamup magazine that was done was originally planned with the Legion; when that fell through, Claremont et al. decided to have the X-Men face the 'Legion' anyway. Bob Halloran Sr MTS, Perkin-Elmer DSG ============================================================================= UUCP: {decvax, ucbvax, most Action Central}!vax135\ {topaz, pesnta, princeton}!petsd!pedsgd!bobh ARPA: petsd!pedsgd!bobh@topaz USPS: 106 Apple St M/S 305, Tinton Falls NJ 07724 DDD: (201) 758-7000 Disclaimer: My opinions are my own. Quote: "History is made at night. Character is what you are in the Dark."
gino@sdchema.UUCP (Eugene G. Youngerman) (09/12/85)
>> >> The Powers of Kal-El >> Speculation by Clyde Jones > >This sounds just like Gladiator of the Shi'iar Imperial Guard. >In one book (I think a Fantastic Four Annual or Special, perhaps about 2 years >ago) he runs into the FF and of course there is a misunderstanding and >Gladiator starts beating them up. Good old Reed figures out that there is >no possible way Gladiator could do what he does physically and deduces that >he must be doing it mentally. He then rigs up a device to fool Gladiator >into believing that his powers aren't working. What planet did you say >Gladiator is from? Is there some sort of Gladiator-ite that effects >Gladiator the way Kryptonite effects Superman? Come to think of it, is >there anything that slows Gladiator down? It seems to me that this series of speculations has been discussed before, and that Byrne and Claremont used it for a model when they created Gladiator. I don't remember where I saw this, but I think it was actually printed somewhere that Gladiator was supposed to be Superman. Along those lines, how many other characters have been "Superman"? I can think of 4. Gladiator, Hyperion, Captain Marvel, and Marvelman (I mean Miracleman). GINO -- gino@CHEM.UCSD.ARPA gino@CHEM.UCSD.UUCP sdcsvax!gino%chem.ucsd
scott@hou2g.UUCP (Racer X) (09/12/85)
>>> The Powers of Kal-El >>> Speculation by Clyde Jones >>>... >>This sounds just like Gladiator of the Shi'iar Imperial Guard. >The 'Imperial Guard' was a Claremont/(Byrne?? - I forget who was drawing >then) take-off on the Legion, with Gladiator intended to be the Mon-El >parody. Actually, I believe it was (solely?) Dave Cockrum's idea. He was drawing the Legion when they began to "take over" the Superboy book (the original one), and was responsible for much of the re- surgence of the group at that time. The most striking similarities between the Legion and the Imperial Guard are the *visual* ones... I really loved Cockrum's work on the Legion (followed incidently, by my first exposure to Mike Grell). I think all his recent stuff pales in comparison--even his work on the X-Men. Who was inking Cockrum on the Legion? Himself? Or did his style change THAT much in a short period? (This was before inkers were routinely creditted on the splash page...) Query: "Pokey?" Scott J. Berry Somewhere on the five Earths...
kayuucee@cvl.UUCP (Kenneth W. Crist Jr.) (09/12/85)
> This sounds just like Gladiator of the Shi'iar Imperial Guard. I think you mean the Shi'ar. You know how mad Deathbird gets when we pitiful Earthlings get her people's name wrong. > He then rigs up a device to fool Gladiator into believing that his powers > aren't working. What planet did you say Gladiator is from? I would guess that he is from the Shi'ar homeworld, whatever they call it. > Is there some sort of Gladiator-ite that effects Gladiator the way Kryptonite > effects Superman? I have never seen anything that would effect Gladiator in the same way, but then again, I don't think Gladiator has had to live through his world blowing to pieces. > Come to think of it, is there anything that slows Gladiator down? I can think of one thing, the device that Reed invented to stop Gladiator. I'm also sure that Thor, the Hulk or Wonder-Man would give him a hard time. Kenneth Crist kayuucee@cvl
boston@celerity.UUCP (Boston Office) (09/18/85)
In article <8509112319.AA06106@ucbarpa.ARPA> harry@UCBARPA (Harry I. Rubin) writes: >In article <793@cvl.UUCP> kayuucee writes: >> >> The Powers of Kal-El >> Speculation by Clyde Jones >>... > >This sounds just like Gladiator of the Shi'iar Imperial Guard. ...because it matches John Byrne's ideas of how Kal's powers work, and since nobody let John write Supes, he needed an outlet. ...Roger Klorese