Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Can anyone point me to a scan of this event? I'd be ever so grateful.

I remember that but I can't remember the story it was attcged to. I think somealien Superkid came to challenge anf defeat Kal  and they ended up on his home world with bo yellow sun but no red either but I could be mixing memories. I dig through my old Superboys but I'm not organized. :oops:

I don't believe any scans of this exist on the internet.  The closest link I could find was a description of the event in the below LSH link.

http://members.shaw.ca/legion_roll_call/legionnaires/superboy/

Superboy has pulled a chain of a dozen worlds from their own dying galaxy to new suns at the other side of the universe, saving billions of lives (Superboy #140, July 1967).

I've not read the original but given the internet references, the story may have been called "The Wizard of Odds".  The other story in that issue was "Beware the Mad Dog of Steel" which I suspect was not the one in question.

I can confirm that it was Superboy #140, and it was the "Wizard of Odds" story. However, the event was not central to the story. On the first page of the story, he was in the process of moving some planets away from their dying sun and relocating them, when he saw a green comet. Kryptonian space explorers had a superstition about green comets being bad luck, and the story progressed from there.

I could possibly provide a scan of this, but I know that the site is really backed up with scans right now...

I assume he was just shown *casually* (vs. physically struggling) to move a whole *chain* of planets to another galaxy?

Hmm... this *almost* makes me want to believe those who say Superman might've been *too* powerful in the Silver Age  (maybe the planets were "lightweight" compared to Earth, or something...) ;-)

Well, those planets MIGHT have been gas giants...  :wink:

Then again, we're also talking about events that were subconsciously "relayed" to Earth-Prime and then transcribed by comic book writers and artists.  I'm sure some technical details got "lost in translation" or were simplified to suit the medium and intended audience.  So it didn't QUITE happen that way...

Ah, of course...

SUPERMAN: (While visiting Earth-Prime and seeing this Superboy-chain-of-planets tale) Oh, for Rao's *sake*---I'm not *THAT* powerful! Besides, they were all *gas giants* with the residents living in hovering cities... whose idea was this?

WRITER: Well, um, I was late to work that morning, and was close to deadline, and...

SUPERMAN: Oh, right. The "d" word. Uh... if you'll excuse me, I've got to get going....very, um, "busy" back on Earth-One... (thinking) Great scott! Forgot *I* have a column due, too!

:-)

wouldn't it take more power to move a gas giant (like jupiter or saturn), than it would take to move a planet like earth?  Actually i think silver-age Superman is that powerful.  According to some stories he was able to move stars.  He was able to destroy entire solar systems with ease.  His superbreath can extinguish stars.  His heat vision can reignite a dying star, or make a healthy star go nova (or even super-nova).  Why would he have to strain to move earth?  When he is on earth his "holding back" reflex has him using a tiny portion of his full power.  Keep in mind that all Kryptonians & Daxamites have his level of power, when they are under a yellow sun.  Even a child (of either species) could cause untold destruction.  Who would want the crushing responsibility of such power?  Would explain why most Kryptonians & Daxamites prefer to live in red sun systems.

I remember seeing a scan of it once about 8 months ago somewhere, I just can't remember where.

Llozymandias, naturally I was joking about the "lightness" of gas giants.  Due to their size alone these planets would have incredible mass.  And it would be tricky to move Saturn without adversely affecting the ring orbits.

Johnny Nevada, I enjoyed your interchange between Superman and the comic writer.  It reminded me of the times the Earth-1 Superman wondered how people attributed the "Up, up and awaaaay!" line to him -- certainly HE never said that!   :wink:

If there ever was a Hypertime gathering of various Superman incarnations (including duplicates of the movie and television versions), I'd love to see the Fleischer Brother's animated Superman utter those words, while the others react by exchanging knowing looks and muttering, "Oh, so HE'S the one who started it!"  (Or was it some other Superman who first originated that phrase?)

It probably originated with the radio version of Superman, since in radio, one needs such stage directions to convey what's going on (IIRC, he'd also say "down!" when landing). Though think Roy Thomas suggested that at least some of the radio adventures happened to the Earth-2 Superman, so I guess the others would have to blame *him* for starting this. :-)

Here you go RedSun:

(http://img252.imagesack.us/img252/5933/superboytowingplanets1400026uv.th.jpg) (http://http:/img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=superboytowingplanets140026uv.jpg)

Those Earth-Prime writers must've *really* creatively interpreted their "signals" from Earth-One. ;-)

"Up, up, and away" was Bud Collyer's contribution.

IIRC, Superman "flying" as opposed to taking mighty leaps was Bud Collyer's contribution, because flying was easier to convey over the radio than leaping.

Haha thanks, I actually posted that image on imageshack. I should have replied when I located it originally.

Wow!  Thanks, Asgardian.

That has to be one of the most impressive feats I've ever seen.  Superboy doesn't seem to be even breathing hard so it looks like this is a pretty casual feat for him.

That is a fantastic visual!

You don't see that everyday ;)

Im wondering if Edmond Hamilton wrote that Superboy yarn  as he had written a short story where planets moved from solar system to solar system to find a new sun. It was called "Thundering Planets", natch.

Jim Shooter wrote that story in Superboy #140, July 1967, "The Wizard of Odds".

http://ausreprints.com/content/main/?issue=851

Thanks just checked it meself at ye olde GCD