148 Votes in Poll
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All posts by MektonZ
0
I am the Night.
Burn.
Gentlemen, Krypton is doomed.
I am Supergirl, and I have all your powers.
KNEEL BEFORE ME!
It is the end only if you want it to be.
Holy rooftop, Batman!
In the brightest day...
4
That poll is so confusing that I think I voted for the wrong option.
Anyway, my answer is a resounding: No, he should not be the sole survivor. Kara Zor-El/Zor-L, Kandor, the Phantom Zoners, Argo City, the Thought-Beasts... bring about plenty storytelling possibilities, as proved by the many good, great, or at least entertaining Superman stories featuring them. The character, his universe and his lore would be -and, IMO, have been- poorer and more boring without them.
The OP is right to tell that the HMS Sole Survivor ship sailed long ago. On July, 1950, to be precise, since that month came out one comic wherein Superman bumped into Kryptonian rogues for the first time. People who want Kal-El to be the only survivor are longing for a status quo which has not existed for seventy-two years.
I keep hearing Superman is a less dramatic figure without the tragedy, the weight, the "gravitas" of being the last of his kind, since his unique status informs every aspect of his life...but the same people who makes such a claim usually also are those who think Krypton should be downplayed as much as possible. Moreover, whenever he has been the sole survivor, Kryton was "What is a Krypton?" (1938-1949) or "meaningless trivia" (1986-2000) to him. I would understand better the "being the last of his kind is dramatic" argument if it was, in fact, dramatic.
Some fans also claim he was always meant to be the sole survivor, since that is his appeal. I have not heard of Siegel or Shuster even hinting Superman's appeal comes from being the sole survivor, or he was meant to being the last Kryptonian. Definitely it was not a factor in their stories (and Siegel has written plenty stories where he was not. Given his Supergirl stories, I am pretty sure he was fond of Kara). I consider likelier that they thought his appeal is being an escapist power fantasy for two men who had lived through the Great Depression. Unlike them, Superman could punch and humilliate all kind of bullies and crooks without negative consequences.
I mean, if you tell me that his main appeal for you, okay. But if you say he was always meant to be the sole survivor, I will request citations of Siegel, Shuster and their editor stating that was his creators' intent, and what they considered to be his main appeal.
I think Kurt Busiek once said that the "Last Son of Krypton" moniker is way newer that people think, and it was probably introduced by the 1978 movie. I cannot tell whether this is true, but I would not be surprised.
And, anyway... Why do some people take that nickname so seriously, to the point they think it should describe a literal fact? Must Superman be made from literal steel, Batman knighted by the English Crown, Green Lantern fight gladiatorial games and Flash be crowned sultan? Must the Maid of Might be a domestic employee and the Dominoed Daredoll a toy?
Regardless, the existence of other Kryptonians does not diminish his Last Son status: The Phantom Zoners, the Kandorians and the Argonian survivors are older than him, and Kara is one woman (and, depending on the continuity, older than him). So Superman is the still the last male Kryptonian born before the end.
Personally, I think the biggest evidence that Superman should not be the only survivor is that DC tried to erase the Kryptonian characters because they were supposedly irrelevant baggage of a sillier and more childish age...and then they spent around fifteen years struggling to replace them with non-Kryptonian similarly-named substitutes who never became so iconic or enduring. The Superman -and Legion- books went through three Zods, six Supergirls, one Earthborn dog called "Krypto", one alien ghetto called "Kandor", one floating alien city coincidentally named after the original Argo... until DC gave up, admitted those "irrelevant" characters filled a niche and could not be easily eliminated, and restored them. And hardly someone remembers, let alone cares for, the Pokolistan Zod, the Odilinian Kara, or Conner's unwanted pet (unwanted by him, I mean).
Reinforcing Superman's sole survivor status did not improve the books. It messed up the lore and broke the fanbase.
(Edited by MektonZ)
5
"Barbara Gordon: "I don't know who to choose! I love them BOTH!""
People who have never read Ranma 1/2 will not understand why this makes me laugh. :)
Anyway, I do not care much for the ship, and I think it is because it feels to me like the writers think Barbara should always hook up with a Robin, regardless who he is. Sure, Barbara and Jason could bond over their shared experiences and trauma, but I am not sure what the writers will delve into that.
8
Keep in mind I have not read it... But my answer would be "It is canon if you want it to be. DC does not care about continuity, so why should we?"
2
Hi.
I don't remember them ever fighting.
7
I am not American and I couldn't care less for the abundance of American characters in American media.
Moreover, every time Marvel or DC decide to (mis) represent my country, its people, its culture or its history I feel tempted to bang my head against a wall. Honestly, I would rather they keep ignoring our existence.
(Edited by MektonZ)
3
Online petitions are usually useless.
8
No.
Being an adult means, among other things, that you enjoy whatever you want without caring for what other people think.
3
I agree. This thread is worthless.
3
Yes, I think so.
But it is better if you watch the movie and form your own opinions instead of relying on others'.
3
That is because the second image ignores most of Kon's character development during the 00's.
0
@N8THGR852 Also respectfully speaking, your assertion that it is not fair comparing both situations reinforces my argument, in my opinion. If it was a good analogy, then it would be completely fair comparing them.
And I stand by my assertion that the "Two franchises were born together but became separated after a while" is a bad analogy because, when you delve into the details, one set of IPs got separated after two years and three games, whereas the second set got separated after thirty years and several hundreds of comics. It is not comparable at all.
But if you think I am getting too heated over kids comics, okay, I'll back off.
(Edited by MektonZ)
0
No, it is not. It is an objectively terrible analogy.
Mario and DK were born in the same game. Two games and three years later, Mario was given his own series whereas DK disappeared for over ten years. When he was given his own series, one decade later, it was indeed separate of Mario, but even so DK and his supporting cast often appear in Mario games.
The Legion were created as Superboy's supporting characters. Superboy was a regular team member - appearing in most of issues- for thirty years. It must be stressed: thirty years. Supergirl was a member, too. And the Legion often went back to the past and interacted with adult Clark.
Unlike DK stopping appearing, which had zero consequences for the Msrioverse, removing Superboy was a source of reboots, retcons and headaches for the Legion.
And even after Superboy's removal, the Legion still interacted frequently with the Superman Family.
Do you remember who visited Clark Kent in the Smallville series? And who was a Legionnaire in the Legion animated series?
Feel free to consider them separate, but that analogy is ridiculous. Both properties are way more entangled than DK and Mario ever were.
(Edited by MektonZ)
3
Inspired by the recent announcement of a Legion animated movie, where Tomorrowverse Superman will introduce the Legion to Supergirl, I decided to create a discussion thread.
By way of introduction, the Legion of Super-Heroes was created in a Superboy story published in Adventure Comics 247 (1958). Intended to be mere one-shot characters, the new super-team was a hit among readers, becoming a staple of the Superman and DC comics (to the point they were one of the few successful DC books in the early 80's).
Thirty years later, though, DC tasked John Byrne with rebooting Superman. Considering him a superfluous character, Byrne decided to remove Superboy from the mythos. Given the team's origins (being inspired by Superboy and Supergirl's adventures), such a move would wreck the Legion's continuity, but Byrne did not care because he hated the Legionnaires (in his defense, he proposed a fix. In his non-defense, his fix could have never worked and proved Byrne knew zero about the Legion).
From that point on, the history of the super-team becomes an endless nightmare of retcons and reboots. Regardless, the question is...
Do you regard the Legion as part of the Superman universe? Do you consider it to be a stand-alone franchise? Do you want it be a stand-alone book?
On the one hand, DC destroyed the Superman/Legion connection thirty-six years ago. That is a long time. I myself was a kid back then. Many current DC fans hadn't been born yet. And even though DC tried to fix the damage in the mid 2000s, Flashpoint destroyed what had been rebuilt. And it has been eleven years since then.
On the another hand...
- The Legion was Superman's youth team during thirty years. Thirty years is a long time, too. Even though their connection had been erased during the 90's, DC still published at least one Elseworld where baby Kal-El landed in the 31st century and joined the Legion. Finally, DC restored their common history around 2006. Agreed, Flashpoint wiped it out five years later, but Geoff Johns tried to restore it few years later.
- Most of Super-Family members have been Legionnaires. Pre-Crisis Kara joined the original Legion. Conner Kent enjoyed adventures with the 90's Legion. Post-Crisis Kara joined two different Legions. Jon Kent is a member of the Post-Rebirth Legion. Back in the 60's, the Legion of Super-Pets were officially an ally team.
In my opinion, both properties have been always kind of linked. Their connection benefits and strengthens each other. Young Clark Kent met friends, grew as a person, and learned how to be a leader and a teammate (and a prankster, thanks to Lightning Lad). Young Kara Zor-El met friends who treated her as an equal. DC tried to keep them apart for years, and they became poorer for it.
9
I have just found out. I find both the cancelation and the stated motive absolutely bizarre.
I am saddened. I mean, It is unlikely that I would have gone to watch it, but Babs deserves her own movie. Moreover, this kind of move damages WB's reputation (further). Who will get hyped for their announcements from now on?
1
I have not read it as of now. Maybe I'll do so in the future.
It remains to be seen where it'll rank among my "Favorite Superman Origins", but I am fairly sure what it will rank higher than Man of Steel, since I have many issues with Byrne's origin.
1
I don't know what is going on in that scene. I hadn't seen that panel before.
Judging by Superman's hair, it looks like something John Byrne would have drawn in the late 80s... Which definitely explains why I have not read that comic.
5
The Silver Age stories were not more unrealistic than those of any another era. All of them use ridiculous pseudoscience and suspicious logic so that they get to a predetermined conclusion.
I think the real difference is that modern stories like pretending otherwise, whereas the SA stories were completely unapologetic about it.
As for goofy... It depends on what story you are reading. Personally, I prefer their "goofiness" to modern stories' so-called seriousness.
1
I was going to ask "What character?" but I am several posts too late.
Doomsday is nothing but a rage brainless monster specifically created to kill Superman during a comic event. I find nothing interesting about it or its design, and DC pushing it constantly (How many 90's story arcs featured it or brought about Superman's death?) just highlights its flaws.
It is Superman's equivalent to Broly or Kid Buu, two Dragon Ball villains who I never liked. And right like there are better DB villains than those, Superman has way better rogues.
(Edited by MektonZ)