Kandor - the Bottled City

[MatterEaterLad]

 We know Kandor seemed to need outside air supplied.  

Any supplied air molecules of oxygen, etc. must have been miniaturized as well, so that their teeny tiny capillaries could distribute it to their teeny tiny cells...

[llozymandias]

Where in the comics was Krypton's sun called Rao?  In the pre-crisis stories Rao was Krypton's name for GOD.  


      There were many stories where Superman lost ALL his powers under the influence of red-sun (or green-sun) rays.



      I don't think most kryptonians (& daxamites) see their super-powers as evil.  They most likely see the responsibility of such power as terrifying.  Even a toddler would be able to make a star go nova (or super-nova).  no wonder that the silver-age Superman was stoic.  He had to keep his powers & emotions in check at all times.

[Captain Kal]

Ask and ye shall receive.

RAO - In the mythology of ancient Krypton, the sun-god, who was deemed the chief of all gods.  So great was the respect for the red sun of Krypton that any soldier of Erok's time automatically became an officer if he had red hair.  When Jaf-El preached the worship of the One god, he gave Him the name of Rao, though no longer identifying Him specifically with the sun.  Note that in the wedding ceremony, the phrase used was "Rao, who kindled the sun," showing Him to be the sun's creator, but not the sun itself.

Link to definition above scanned from The Krypton Chronicles:
http://superman.nu/tales2/chronicles/3/?page=26

Link showing Rao described as the sun god:
http://superman.nu/tales2/chronicles/3/?page=23

In the time of Erok, who established the House of El, Rao was the sun.

While it's true that Superman tended to lose his powers under red suns and even blocking the yellow sun, it's inaccurate to say that it robbed him of all his powers in all cases.  A Superboy story has his solar powers nullified by a yellow costume reflecting yellow sun rays but he retained his gravity-powers.  A Metal Men team-up has his sun powers negated by I.Q.'s disrupting the sun so only his muscular powers -- not sun dependent -- remained (a DCCP story incl. Chemo).

When the Parasite stole Superman's holding back reflex so Kal's powers were escalating out of control, he reduced his powers to normal levels by coating his body with a chemical sunscreen that blocked out yellow sun rays and only allowed the red ones to reach his skin.  He clearly had full command of all his powers in this case under artificial red solar conditions of his own making.  It was only when the Parasite drained those remaining powers that Superman became totally powerless. (Ref: Superman #321 (March, 1978) "Too Strong to Survive" & Superman #322 (April 1978) "Laser War over Metropolis".)

The reverse was also true.  High-gravity cables duplicating Krypton's gravity cut his powers by half when the Earth-2 Luthor used them on him in a team-up book with the Golden Age Superman (who's really the Earth-2 Superman as distinguished from the real GA Superman).

[Captain Kal]

BTW, here's a quote that jibes with what you just said re: power, Ilozymandias.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
-- Marianne Williamson, A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles (New York: Harper Collins, 1992).

If that's so for us ordinary mortals, imagine how terrifying it would be for the Kryptonians and Daxamites to face the potential for virtual godhood?

When one is ordinary, then our responsibility for our own success or failure and to the universe is much more limited.  Give us the power of the gods of fable, and we lose that cop-out.

Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism says we are condemned to have free will.  Because we have it, we are forced to define who we are and what we become.  How much greater is that burden if given the added freedom of god-like power?

[llozymandias]

That quote is perfectly apt.  


     One thing i have always wondered about; regarding Kandor's enlargement.   What happened to everything in the bottle that was not Kandor?  The scarlet jungle,  caves, & other things that surrounded the city.  As well as everything under the city.  The chunk of Krypton extended from the planet's suface to a portion of its core.  Where did it go?  


     When phantom zone prisoners were released in Kandor, they were the same size as the Kandorians.  Also when Kandorians were put in the phantom zone they were restored to "normal" size.  Kandor could possibly have been enlarged that way.

[TELLE]

    When phantom zone prisoners were released in Kandor, they were the same size as the Kandorians.  Also when Kandorians were put in the phantom zone they were restored to "normal" size.  Kandor could possibly have been enlarged that way.

Ha! That is a great idea!  Phantom Zone as size-altering loophole!  Great!  Superman is not as smart as we thought, obviously (or Batman or Supergirl).

[Super Monkey]

    When phantom zone prisoners were released in Kandor, they were the same size as the Kandorians.  Also when Kandorians were put in the phantom zone they were restored to "normal" size.  Kandor could possibly have been enlarged that way.

Ha! That is a great idea!  Phantom Zone as size-altering loophole!  Great!  Superman is not as smart as we thought, obviously (or Batman or Supergirl).

or the writers  :wink:

[Captain Kal]

We've never seen more than a group of people sent to or from the Phantom Zone at a time.  The time the Phantom Zone criminals escaped in that miniseries, they needed Green Lantern's power battery to power a Phantom Zone projector capable of sending the Earth into the zone.  Even so, it didn't do so instantaneously but was going to take 24 hours to complete the task, IIRC.

That suggests to me that the power requirements for restoring Kandor via the zone were prohibitively high.  Zone enlargement/reduction is viable for individuals or small groups of people but they lacked the power for restoring what would amount to a continent's worth of mass via this method.

While Superman himself is an incredible power source, perhaps the power requirements for zone enlargement increased exponentially as the mass involved increased.  100 kg took x amount of power, 200 kg took x**2 power, 300 kg took x**3 power ... so that by the time Kandor itself was involved, it would take much more power than in the universe.