boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (05/09/84)
> Therefore, the "suppress all super powers" is either VERY temporary > or Forge was lying, or Clairmont [sic] is jerking off again. > Hutch The other possibility is that Forge has no idea of what he's talking about. From what was said in the issue, I inferred that the gun had't been tested *at all*; maybe it won't even work. His "mutant scanner" either doesn't work or he was playing an elaborate joke and didn't have it turned on, otherwise, he *should* have been able to detect that Raven was a mutant. No, waitaminute, it could be that it only detects the presence of a mutant, but can't specify. If he is in- deed a mutant himself, then his presence might have masked hers. In that, he could well be kidding, though, otherwise why would he reveal the fact that he was a mutant, knowing what the government has in mind for mutants (or does he)? > Marvel Comics has NEVER paid even the lip-service to real > scientific knowledge that DC pays. They never let a little thing like > credibility (or POSSIBILITY) get in the way of their plot twists. > Hutch What?? You have to be putting us on! ALL comic book science is bullshit, but it has to be, or we wouldn't have any superheroes to kick around. However, it's al- ways been my impression that Marvel has always tried to be more plausible in its science than DC. Try reading THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. They at least try to make the various powers *sound* scientificly credible. Could you maybe give us some examples of DC scientific lip-service? How about the fact that Gerry Conway is probably the least scientificly literate writer in comics? How about the very nature and/or origins of the powers of Superman, Flash, or Green Lantern? Are these really any more plausible than those of Spiderman, the Hulk, or the FF? Furthermore, my nomination for the Scientific Idiocy of All Time in the Comics goes to an early issue of GREEN LANTERN (I know it's perhaps not fair to pick on something that old, but...) GL is fighting an orange-colored monster, but his ring is powerless against it. He surmises that the beast is surrounded by an "aura of infra-yellow light". An editor's note (from Julie Schwartz, who should have known better) says: "Infra-yellow light is invisible yellow light, just as infra-red light is invisible red light". Right. Well, I suppose that orange can be called "infra-yellow" --- it is just below yellow in the spectrum. I'm not trying to hold Marvel writers up as Paragons of Scientific Aca- deme, but to say that DC "does it better" is ridiculous. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA *NOTE CHANGE IN ADDRESSING*
hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) (05/10/84)
[ my turn again ] | > Therefore, the "suppress all super powers" is either VERY temporary | > or Forge was lying, or Clairmont [sic] is jerking off again. | > Hutch | | The other possibility is that Forge has no idea of what he's talking | about. From what was said in the issue, I inferred that the gun | had't [sic] been tested *at all*; maybe it won't even work. | jayembee Geeesh, how embarrassing, like, waow! Misspelling Claremont! Sorry, I was thinking of Ford Fairmont when I wrote the article!! (E-Man readers will understand, the rest of you deserve to remain confused.) I don't think it's too likely that Forge was lying (else why bother with him at all? Other writers might do something that silly but ol' Chris seems to take himself more seriously than that) and I inferred that he HAD tested the gun. But possibly only on himself. Incidentally, about the "non-normal" detector [quote not extracted] I thought the whole thing was REAL unlikely. How could such a thing work? Genetic scanning from a distance? Passively? Nondestructively? Must be magic! | > Marvel Comics has NEVER paid even the lip-service to real | > scientific knowledge that DC pays. They never let a little thing like | > credibility (or POSSIBILITY) get in the way of their plot twists. | > Hutch | | What?? You have to be putting us on! ALL comic book science is | bullshit, but it has to be, or we wouldn't have any superheroes to kick | around. However, it's always been my impression that Marvel has | always tried to be more plausible in its science than DC. Try reading | THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. They at least try to | make the various powers *sound* scientificly credible. Could you maybe | give us some examples of DC scientific lip-service? | jayembee Hey, I did say LIP SERVICE. Actually, what I recall are the little timeouts that DC used to put in their mags "explaining" the scientific reasons for some of their wierd little plot twists. This was the stuff they did in the sixties - do you remember any of that? Anyway, that was what I meant by lip-service. Now, the OffHand, well, they may have tried to make things sound credible, but since you brought up the "infra-yellow" I get to bring up the amazing way that (in Marvel-land) 1) gamma rays are not even effective as an insecticide and 2) radiation can be "drained off" a person leaving them undamaged (!!) and 3) energy can be created and destroyed [ref. Secret Wars 1] but lest this degenerate into mud-slinging, I agree the most Comic Science is screwy. aside - where's akov68? Hutch
brad@umcp-cs.UUCP (05/10/84)
Ok, ok. So maybe neither DC nor Marvel is particularly good at doing
the science, and maybe Gerry Conway is the least accurate writer in
existance, but I still have the gut feeling that overall, the average DC
comic has better science than the average Marvel.
The only reason that the Handbook of the Marvel Universe even sounds
good is that Mark Gruenwald cares. For more ideas on both scentific
information and on continuity, try finding an issue of Omniverse (there
are 2 issues in existance). This magazine, written by Mark Gruenwald,
is terrific, especially for anyone who loves explanations and continuity.
b**2
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