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Look, up in the forums! It's [Superman]!
Oniros25
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The Origin:
Faster than a super-sonic jet. More powerful than the atomic bomb. Able to leap from world to world in a single bound. That mysterious visitor from another planet, the Man of Steel himself: Superman.
The last son of a doomed world, Superman was saved from the extinction of his race by the genius and desperation of his parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. Rocketed to earth in a "basket rocket", he was discovered by the kindly Jonathan and Martha Kent who adopted and raised the boy, naming him Clark. He grew up to be an intelligent and compassionate young man whose desire to aid a hurting world was rivaled only by the titanic solar powers that were imerging from within him.
Traveling to the city of Metropolis, Clark began his neverending battle against evil as both a crusading journalist at the Daily Planet and as the world's first true blue superhero, Superman!
The last son of a doomed world, Superman was saved from the extinction of his race by the genius and desperation of his parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. Rocketed to earth in a "basket rocket", he was discovered by the kindly Jonathan and Martha Kent who adopted and raised the boy, naming him Clark. He grew up to be an intelligent and compassionate young man whose desire to aid a hurting world was rivaled only by the titanic solar powers that were imerging from within him.
Traveling to the city of Metropolis, Clark began his neverending battle against evil as both a crusading journalist at the Daily Planet and as the world's first true blue superhero, Superman!
The Super Family:
Joining Superman in his battle against evil are other heroes (and in a few remarkable circumstances, pets) all tied in some way to Superman's homeworld of Krypton.
Supergirl or Kara Zor-El is Superman's impulsive teenage cousin. Though it took her longer to reach earth and be taken out of suspended animation, Kara is technically Clark's older cousin. Having grown up on Krypton, she has a much closer tie to the world both she and Clark lost. Now on earth, she joins Superman in his battle against evil as Supergirl.
Superboy or Kon El is a genetic experiment: a clone grafted from Superman and Lex Luthor's DNA. This strange combination of genetic material impacted the Super Boy's powers in unexpected ways, gifting him with the power of Tactile Telekinesis. This allows him to telekinetically mannipulate anything he can physically touch (except for when the writers don't care about that little limitation. Then he just has regular telekinesis...) Is he a weapon...or a hero? Only Superboy can decide. Let's just hope he ends up on our side...
Last, but absolutely not least is Krypto the Superdog. Krypto was Superman's pet dog on Krypton and in the world's dying moments, defended his master against the twisted criminals of the phantom zone, getting dragged into that limbo dimension in the process. Since Superman has re-discovered the Phantom Zone he has since rescued Krypto (well, they kinda rescued each other) and now Krypto protects the Fortress of Solitude, Superman's secret base, as well as being superhero's best friend. Who's the best doggie in the universe?
Supergirl or Kara Zor-El is Superman's impulsive teenage cousin. Though it took her longer to reach earth and be taken out of suspended animation, Kara is technically Clark's older cousin. Having grown up on Krypton, she has a much closer tie to the world both she and Clark lost. Now on earth, she joins Superman in his battle against evil as Supergirl.
Superboy or Kon El is a genetic experiment: a clone grafted from Superman and Lex Luthor's DNA. This strange combination of genetic material impacted the Super Boy's powers in unexpected ways, gifting him with the power of Tactile Telekinesis. This allows him to telekinetically mannipulate anything he can physically touch (except for when the writers don't care about that little limitation. Then he just has regular telekinesis...) Is he a weapon...or a hero? Only Superboy can decide. Let's just hope he ends up on our side...
Last, but absolutely not least is Krypto the Superdog. Krypto was Superman's pet dog on Krypton and in the world's dying moments, defended his master against the twisted criminals of the phantom zone, getting dragged into that limbo dimension in the process. Since Superman has re-discovered the Phantom Zone he has since rescued Krypto (well, they kinda rescued each other) and now Krypto protects the Fortress of Solitude, Superman's secret base, as well as being superhero's best friend. Who's the best doggie in the universe?
The Required Reading:
Want to get a good grip on Superman, past present and future? I'd start with:
All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly - The ultimate Superman tale. It's beautifully drawn, beautifully written, and bursting with heart. It changed my own personal philosophy on life, the universe and everything for the better the first time I read it. Cannot recommend hard enough. If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? Go get it right now!
John Byrne's Man of Steel - The first of the major revisions to Superman's history, this is a well constructed and down to earth tale of Superman's origins.
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and Curt Swan - The last great hurrah for the Silver age version of Superman, this is an epic tale that has all the great touchstones of the era.
Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross - My secondmost favorite appearance of Superman in anything. This gorgeous graphic novel show exactly why the world needs Superman and heroes like him. It's not canon, but don't let that stop you.
Red Son by Mark Millar, Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett - Probably one of the most commonly referenced graphic novels when people think of good Superman stories, this one has never really resonated with me, but I know Superfans who swear by it. Definately important in order to become super-literate.
The Superman Chronicles graphic novels by various artists - For that golden age flavor. A lot of these are rough and tumble golden age Superman tales where he beats up gangsters, wife-beaters and other people who probably deserve it. Interesting reading and great for seeing where the Man of Steel came from especially due to how the current Action Comics is riffing off these classic tales.
...and hey, speaking of modern Superman how about Superman Vs The Men of Steel by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales for a look at what's being done with Superman today?
All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly - The ultimate Superman tale. It's beautifully drawn, beautifully written, and bursting with heart. It changed my own personal philosophy on life, the universe and everything for the better the first time I read it. Cannot recommend hard enough. If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? Go get it right now!
John Byrne's Man of Steel - The first of the major revisions to Superman's history, this is a well constructed and down to earth tale of Superman's origins.
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and Curt Swan - The last great hurrah for the Silver age version of Superman, this is an epic tale that has all the great touchstones of the era.
Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross - My secondmost favorite appearance of Superman in anything. This gorgeous graphic novel show exactly why the world needs Superman and heroes like him. It's not canon, but don't let that stop you.
Red Son by Mark Millar, Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett - Probably one of the most commonly referenced graphic novels when people think of good Superman stories, this one has never really resonated with me, but I know Superfans who swear by it. Definately important in order to become super-literate.
The Superman Chronicles graphic novels by various artists - For that golden age flavor. A lot of these are rough and tumble golden age Superman tales where he beats up gangsters, wife-beaters and other people who probably deserve it. Interesting reading and great for seeing where the Man of Steel came from especially due to how the current Action Comics is riffing off these classic tales.
...and hey, speaking of modern Superman how about Superman Vs The Men of Steel by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales for a look at what's being done with Superman today?
We need a place to just talk about Superman around here. Dude's awesome and we've already got a place to talk about why people don't like him, which honestly is getting clogged up with apologists like myself hanging out on our soap boxes. But there's a new movie coming, the big guy is starring in a video game or three and his rebooted comics are actually kind of surprisingly un-horrible.
Given all that's going on, this is going to be the Year of Superman. Whether that proves to be for better or worse remains to be seen. Reading the comics? Found some nugget about Man of Steel? Diving through back issues? Are you into Superman Comics Podcasts? Need some Super-trivia answered? Best of all, are you Superman curious and looking for a few kindly experts to hand you the keys to the Fortress of Solitude? This is the place.
Nintendo Network ID: Oniros
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Oniros25 on
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Yeah, he's kinda cool...I mean, I guess.
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Looks pretty awesome...
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Leaving out Red Son and Kingdom Come out of the Required Reading just feels wrong though.
Ooooooooh. Shiny. I want.
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Yeah, good point. I'll update the OP, though I personally have controversial views on Red Son (I don't hate it per se, but I don't see what the big deal is about it...just seems like an average elseworlds to me.)
People also have a lot of really good things to say about For All Seasons, but I only ever thought that one was OK. Didn't blow me away.
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Yeah, I'll add that too. And dude. Dude. AC 13 was beautiful. "Who's the greatest dog in the whole universe?"
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Edit: Google Image search tells me it's actually from Superman #675. My bad. Got my wires crossed between Superman and Action Comics. In my defense, that was during the Secret Origins era though.
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Krypto!
Krypto!
.....and Streaky
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shes younger than him, right? he was sent here as a baby, has little/no memory of krypton, and she somehow remembers living there and everything, but gets here after he did and everything? how does she fit in with kryptons death/etc timeline.. can somebody fill me in on where/how/etc lol, IM SO CONFUZZED
I was reading the start of Action Comics but I dropped it when it got too....Morrison?
John Noble as Brainiac? Sold.
Alright, ruiner, you win. It's just regular old boring ultimate now. ;-)
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As someone previously stated, this is a more complex question than it at first might appear because while every DC reboot, Superman gets just kind of a face lift, Supergirl usually gets kinda manhandled (those dirty comics creators...)
Just a collection of explinations of where she came from, who and what she is and why she gets here roughly 20 years after Superman:
*Supergirl is not actually Superman's cousin, but a protoplasmic shape shifting pile of goo created by a pocket dimension version of Lex Luthor. Upon encountering the real Superman, she eventually decides to emulate him, but as a young girl. They explain her appearance away to others by saying she is his cousin.
*Supergirl is actually Superman's cousin, but from a sister planet to Krypton called Argo. When Krypton's extinction event occured, Argo went from a verdent world to a barrent wasteland (kind of like in Star Trek 2) and with the resources that remained, Kara's father built her a rocket over time to get her to earth.
*Supergirl is not actually Superman's cousin, she's an angel from space...or something. Look, I can't explain all of these.
Sometimes, when she is actually a Kryptonian girl rocketed to earth, her craft hits an asteroid and she only arrives on earth when the asteroid hits the planet's surface, explaining the time difference. That's when there is an explination. Sometimes, it's just that Argo in whatever form it took lasted longer than Krypton, explaining the time difference that way. Does that clear anything up?
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But something being Morrison-y is a good thing. :P
Besides Action Comics, Superman Annual, 0, and 13+ are good. However it's currently in an event that requires you to also read issues of Supergirl (a good comic and worth reading anyways) and Superboy (a milding comic).
Superboy in this arc has been a really good character and I hope the comic finds it's voice afterwards. His comic started decent, but then clearly didn't know what direction to take his character in until now. It's been all over the place in quality.
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Morrison's run ends in a few issues. Maybe Andy Diggle will be more your speed? Scott Lobdell's stuff in Superman has been....OK. He's still sloppy as always, but some of his stories are at least kind of fun. Coming soon is a book written by Scott Snyder with art from Jim Lee that everyone is assuming will be titled Man of Steel in anticipation of the coming movie. I really dig what Snyder has been doing with the Bat, so I'm definately going to be checking out his efforts.
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Morrison is one of those polarizing writers. He gets up to schenanigans playing with fringe science and pop mysticism in ways that people who aren't up on those subjects often aren't comfortable with. (Not speaking for your, Kyougu, you can dislike his Morrisony stuff for whatever reason you like.) Plus, those stories are just weird. Personally, having grown up on a steady diet of acid trip sci fi novels from the sixties and seventies and Tom Baker's Doctor Who, I'm down with weird. The weirdest, please. I'll have that.
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The Absolute All-Star Superman sitting in its shrine in my bedroom would seem to indicate that we're in agreement on this subject.
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Which makes her history make a little more sense than Hawkman. Heck, Hawkman managed to have a member of the Endless in his family tree.
I don't even want to know...and when did this Cir-El thing happen? I must've not been reading comics in those days.
Edit: Actually, I do what to know. How in the blue blazes of hell is Hawkman related to the Endless?!
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though Tex loves it for ignoble reasons
he just thinks Lois is hot as a mum
Cir-el was around the year before Kara got reintroduced, so...2003ish I guess? She also got a cameo appearance later on in a Superman/Batman issue where a bunch of versions of Supergirl showed up, though Superman was unable to recognize her.
As for Hawkman (note this spoils a major plot point of Neil Gaiman's Sandman)...
After Morpheus dies, Daniel becomes the new Dream of the Endless. Thus Hawkman's grandson is one of the Endless.
However, after you start bringing the Hawkworld reboots into it I'm not sure how much still fits together, since I think Hawkworld erased the original Hawkman from existing despite Hector Hall, Lyta Hall, and Daniel still exist.
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It was a nice play on the whole Superman child thing, because even Lois thought it was WW's kid, and since she's only half-kryptonian she couldn't fly, only super-leap.
Though to be fair, Rocafort makes everyone look good. His women always look either drop dead sexy or adorable and his men are either dangerously handsome or total bishie pretty boys. He even makes a scared and burned Lex Luthor missing part of his face look charming (if still an evil maniac).
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Also that was a thing a few years back, wasn't it?
Older girls calling their parents mommy and daddy
Cir-El looks like a linebacker.
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