Superman Through the Ages! Forum

In Birthright number 5 page 6 it shows Superman tracing the radio signal of one of the remote control modules (from one of the attack choppers) visually, i.e. seeing the radio waves, yet it also shows a close up of his ear and text for various radioshows, news etc. implying that he's listening to the radio signals with his super hearing. Does anyone else agree with me that it seems implied post crisis Clark can now hear radio broadcasts?

EDIT: It occurs to me now that on page 9 Superman tells Luthor that the units were controlled with ultrasonic frequencies, which means that Superman seems to be able to see sound now too. Visual interpretation of sonar maybe, or just a mistake on Waid's part?

It actuallly doesn't say Superman is seeing radio waves when he traces the signal from the control box to Lex.  So it's completely consistent to say that he was seeing the ultrasonic signals he said he traced when he told Lex this.

Yes, this does suggest Superman can see sound waves.  For a being that can see the entire EM spectrum, this makes sense ('scuse the pun).  His ability to see sound can be likened to our ability to see ordinary water waves or the distortion a heat from a fire makes to light travelling through the heat waves.  His eyes are just that much more sensitive, precise, and have a wider range of wavelengths that he could perceive.

In issue 2 or 3 he says he can see the satellite detection beams, are these not radio based?

They're both right.  He can see radio signals from the satellites and he's tracking an ultrasonic signal visually in #5.  Nothing in #5 says he has to be seeing a radio signal.

Am I missing something or does it seem like DC is finally moving to the powers and abilities of Pre Crisis Superman. I know he was significantly reduced in abiltites in the John Byrne version but are we (finally) seeing a return to his halcyon days?

It seems that way.

In a recent Superman, he threatens the Four Elemental Giants of Earth with destroying the very planet in retaliation if they kill all life on this world.

I'd say that's a Pre Crisis level feat.

I always have preferred the Pre Crisis Superman. Someone who has the next level of power than the Big Person Above (and yes we are not talking about the Spectre  8) )

The reasoning that he was too powerful for good stories has always seemed more a cop out than any basis rooted in rational reasoning.

However, there is one amusing fact; remember that Superman could never materialize in his own life time if he traveled through time? Well, in that case he could probably never interact with the Legion of Superheroes in the 30th century because he might very well be alive into that age.

Heh, true.

Agreed, guys.

I've always found it hypocritical that the anti-Superman guys -- mostly Marvelites -- like to say Pre Crisis Superman's high power-levels were bad for stories, but then they didn't bat an eye at the Hulk's unlimited, geometrically increasing might, the Human Torch's nova-level blasts, the Silver Surfer's cosmic level powers, or Thor's similar feats.  High power-levels mean bad stories for Superman but somehow they mean good stories for their faves.  Hypocrisy!

Good writing is what makes the character work or not, and that's not dependent on power-level.  Batman with no powers if one of the top sellers at DC.  Moore proved with both the real SA/BA Superman and Supreme that Pre Crisis Superman power-levels can be written properly in good stories.

All depowering Superman buys the writers is letting any hack *coughByrnecough* write -- or try to write -- the Last Son of Krypton.

Now is there a way of taking that, inverting the letters and branding it onto the foreheads of the Powers To Be at DC?

Well, let's see, we'll need some lye and maybe a large branding iron, oh and some silk panties...cuz they're just so soft :P

If I may jump in here for a moment and revive this lapsed thread...

There are may aspects of Byrne's Superman that I dislike. But his lesser powers aren't one of them.  If Superman is virtually omnimpotent then he makes all other superheroes redundant. Particularly if he can approach, and even surpass, the speed of light -- what's the point of the Flash, then? I never liked the pre-1986 Superman's ability to travel through time under his own power. That's just too much.

Had Byrne simply taken Superman circa 1943 -- the last year before his powers really got out of hand, I think -- and transplanted him into the 1980s, everything would've been fine.  Unfortunately, Byrne felt the need to alter too much (the Krypton that deserved to die, Clark Kent the GQ model, etc.).

:) Hi new here and I have to agree. I prefer the less omnipotent Superman. He should still be the badest cat in the valley But  at a more comprehensable level. I prefer a superman that isn't so tough that Terran forces can't harm him. Surviving near contact nukes or intersteller travel is a bit much for me. If he can fly unaided to the stars why doesn't go explore the universe. I just wish the character would be protrayed in a more heroic light and the modern stories weren't so grim and depressing
     I actually enjoyed Bryne's early run although his legacy is a disaster. I vastly prefer his stuff to some things that have come after, for example the current "For Tomorrow" story arc.
     I think the iron age for Supes will end not if  his power is increased but when the gritty naturalism and darkness that is pretended to be realism and "relevance" ( I REALLY hate that word applies to comics) ends

With all due respect, guys, you're mixing eras here.  The Flash wasn't limited to mere lightspeed Pre Crisis as anybody with true super-speed tended to be FTL most esp. the Flash and Superman.  While who was faster was more debatable Pre Crisis, it was more often shown that Barry had the edge at least for reaction time.  For outright speed, they were so close it was almost negligible.  Schwartz once tried to resolve it by saying Barry was faster for sprints but over long hauls like a million miles, Kal took it.  Barry and Kal operated at least at ten times lightspeed back then and arguably much faster since they both raced to the edge of the galaxy back then and back in a week which is over two million times lightspeed.

Heck, any superfast guy like Mon-El or Barry/Flash could time travel so don't knock Pre Crisis Superman for that ability since time travel was seemingly as common as walking to the corner store back then.  Anyway, fans who know those stories also know DC put strict limitations on time travel in that characters couldn't affect history, and only the most extenuating circumstances and plot devices would ever bend that.  The Anti-Monitor at the beginning of Time, or a race across time between the Flash and Superman where only that instant separating the Beginning of Time from the End of Time (time is a closed circular loop in the PC DCU) could allow historical change.  Or an outsider to the timeline like Vandal Savage from Earth-2 could alter Earth-1's timeline.

Also, for any era of the Flash, the principal character be he Jay/Barry/Wally, was always more adept at super-speed stunts.  Dimension travel and vibration tricks were the primary advantages but there were others.  Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Superman, Mon-El, Ultra Boy and any other non-Flash guys tended to just travel fast and the odd time travel incident.  Most of the speed stunts were the domain of the Flashes.

All the SA/BA heroes and villains operated in this vast power-range.  When Superman duked it out with an opponent the baddie was often in his league and sometimes higher.  Post Crisis, the power-levels despite the depowering have left much of Byrned Superman's rogues a bit of a joke.

If you'd actually read the SA/BA stories, then you'd know all those guys back then were uber-powerful or fast.  That was DC back then, not Superman only.

I have read Silver Age and Bronze Age DC titles, Cap. Hell, Elliot S! Maggin is my favorite Superman writer. I just never liked Superman (or Mon-El, or even the Flashes) being able to to travel through time under his own power. It strained my suspension of disbelief. Even when I was a pre-teen.

The problems with Byrne's Superman have to do with characterization and  "major philosophical inversion" and the like (and screwing up the Legion), not with depowering.