On Mar 13, 4:12=A0am, "Julio Laredo" <jrlaredo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> <wbe @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Winston)> wrote in message
>
> news:yd1w6gwhf5.fsf@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
>
>
> > Martin Phipps <martinphip...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
> >>>>>>> I'm just pointing out that a solar powered Superman
> >>>>>>> doesn't make a lot of sense.
>
> > I replied:
> > # The explanations of his powers have gotten more far-fetched over the
> > # years, but the principle that *some* of Superman's powers are the
> > # result of the light from our yellow sun go all the way back to the
> > # original Superman. =A0I think the writers have just tried to retain
> > # that connection with the past as they dreamed up their new, revised
> > # explanations. =A0For example, the original explanation for his
> > # invulnerability was that the rays of our yellow Sun that simply
> > # tanned ordinary folks instead hardened his skin to like steel.
>
> > <jrlaredo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> replied:
> >>>>> Not quite. =A0In the original Superman, all Kryptonians were super
i=
n
> >>>>> comparison to humans, both on Krypton and on Earth. =A0One of the
> >>>>> sequences in the original showed Jor-El digging through a
collapsed
> >>>>> building with his bare hands, hoisting pieces of rubble that
looked =
to
> >>>>> weigh as much as a Buick over his head.
>
> > and later wrote:
> >>> Huh. =A0Why do I get the feeling that I might be the only one who
ever=
> >>> really read Action #1? =A0If WBE and you had really read it, you
would=
> >>> have read that all Kryptonians were physically perfect, all could
leap=
a
> >>> quarter of a mile, could leap over tall buildings at a single bound,
> >>> etc. =A0Superman's amazing feats on Earth would have been ordinary
on
> >>> Krypton, without adrenalin. =A0And the fact that Earth orbits a
yellow=
sun
> >>> had nothing to do with his powers.
>
> > Oh? =A0You're quite right that I never read Action #1. =A0The
descriptio=
ns I
> > recall were from the 50s and what I thought had been true in the 40s,
> > which don't match what you've described.
>
> > Super-Menace <fortr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> replied:
> >> In Superman v1 #1, Kryptonians are shown casually leaping across the
> >> sky on their planet, and we're told that after "millions of years,"
> >> Kryptonians had evolved to "physical perfection." =A0We're then told
th=
at
> >> Earth's "slighter gravity pull assists Superman's tremendous muscles
in=
> >> the performance of miraculous feats of strength."
>
> > Hmmm. =A0It looks like the explanations of his powers that I'm
familiar =
with
> > were already at least one revision from the original. =A0The pieces I
re=
call
> > were mostly science-oriented:
> > * because he was from a race that developed on a high-gravity planet,
he=
> > =A0had the kind of muscles needed to jump tall buildings in a single
bou=
nd
> > =A0much as humans can jump higher on the moon than on Earth, and he
was
> > =A0exceedingly strong and fast; he could leap/jump quite high, but
could=
n't
> > =A0fly;
>
> That is about right, but, in the first issue there was no mention I
recall=
> that Krypton
> was a high-gravity planet. =A0Maybe a little more, but, not the 50 times
o=
urs
> that became the normal explanation. =A0Which, now that modern quantum
> mechanics and evolution theory, makes such extreme gravity a necessity
to
> reverse engineer a Kryptonian.
>
> > * X-ray vision (which I don't recall as being original, but had
certainl=
y
> > =A0appeared by the 1950s) was simply that his eyes could see light
> > =A0frequencies beyond the range humans can see, and not seeing through
> > =A0lead is simply because lead blocks X-rays;
>
> This was vague. =A0So vague that in The Adventures of Superman was the
> line that Superman's eyes were the most powerful source of X-rays on
> the planet. =A0It wasn't until Byrne's reboot that it was codified what
yo=
u
> said, he just could see a much wider spectrum, from radio frequencey
> up to low power gamma rays, and his brain put together the information
> into something like a flouroscope.
>
> > * Krypton had a red sun, and thus almost no ultraviolet radiation, and
> > when
> > =A0he came to Earth, the ultraviolet radiation hardened his skin
instead=
of
> > =A0tanning it.
>
> I'm not doubting this explanation in the comics, just that I don't
recall
> seeing it. =A0And, actually, a better case for his hardened skin is if
Kry=
pton
> had a 1500 fps gravity.
>
>
>
> > My original point (to the OP, who said that his power coming from
sunlig=
ht
> > made little sense (see Subject)) was simply that the idea that (some
of)=
> > Superman's powers came from exposure to our Sun's light had many
decades=
> > of
> > history, even though the modern description of him being some kind of
> > solar
> > battery that absorbs light and uses the energy to produce a personal
for=
ce
> > field is far removed from the early, simpler description. =A0I thought
t=
he
> > yellow sun / sunlight aspect went all the way back to the beginning,
but=
> > apparently I was mistaken about that.
> > -WBE
>
> It did have a lot of history. =A0And simple can be good, as is covered
in
> Laredo's Corrollary.
> But, when science does catch up, why not use it?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
So the only reasonable explanations are dark energy or a unique
physiology and cellular make-up that catalyses the yellow suns
radiation to generate the required power.I like the latter better.:)
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