Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Two ones come immediately to mind...

Julie Schwartz thought it was a mistake to have Superboy in Smallville, that such a celebrity would naturally gravitate to the big city.  I always thought he was wrong in this, and now I realize WHY.  Superboy's not Spider-Man, or Batman, or any lesser hero. Superboy can casually go at mach five and knock out all the windows along a street with the vacuum caused by his passage, or could destroy a skyscraper by making a wrong turn. It was probably far, far, safer for him to learn his craft in the country---where if he made a wrong move, he might destroy some crops or farm equipment, no more---than in the crowded city.  A teenager has better reflexes than an adult, but he's usually a worse driver, because he hasn't the experience.  Similarly, Superboy's mistakes in a crowded city might cause millions of dollars worth of damage and injuries.

 I would have liked to see a story where Superboy went to, say, Gotham City and tried to capture a criminal, only to find he's like a bull in a china shop...and realize it won't be until he's grown that he'll be ready to live in the big city. (It would have been interesting if it was a brilliant French criminal, and fatally injured avoiding the blundering Superboy, became the Brotherhood of Evil's Brain...)

That's #1.

#2 would be even more interesting. We saw stories where he learned how to fly, and control his powers in other ways---but when did he first learn he could go faster-than-light? More importantly, did he know how to get BACK??? We can imagine the young Superboy trying out how fast he could go, near Earth's moon---only to see everything blurring, as he "warps" faster than light---and then end up around another star, with no reference point to guide him home to Earth.  He could travel to several nearby worlds---perhaps a younger Sardath at Rann with an Alanna near his own age, with no real clue that Earth is the next star over---maybe Tamaran---wandering from world to world, getting more desperate---until Abin Sur, the Green Lantern of the space sector at the time, shows up and guides him back to Earth and shows young Superboy how to reference himself vis-a-vis the Milky Way's core and other landmarks.

Two stories I would have loved to have seen, but never will...

What Superboy stories would you have liked to have seen?

---Al

The only problem with this is that I think Mort had him flying to places away from Earth even in Superbaby stories. Can't recall specific instances, though.

This would suggest that one aspect of his super-senses or super-memory gave him a kind of natural homing instinct that enabled him to find his way home through outer space, or remember where it was subconsciously, even as a toddler. Perhaps he could follow his own lingering heat-trail back. Once he got used to paying attention in flight, he could certainly memorize the positions of stars and space-warps (which he must have used to visit any distant worlds, since traveling faster than light caused him to break the time barrier).

Just as a nitpick, though, Superboy couldn't have flown to Tamaran, since it was in a red sun system.

As to point #1, its seems that the idea of going to Metropolis early was considered and then rejected by Superboy...

http://superman.nu/tales4/toobig/?page=17

"Second star on the right and then straight on til morning..."

Al, I would pay good money to read those!

Maybe. But then, he FLEW as a baby, too, but still had to be taught to master his flying ability, in a memorable story in SUPERBOY (it had him supported by balloons, and eagles popping them, with Pa Kent flying him like a kite.)  I suspect his spacewarp capabilities would have to be silmarily mastered...



Not unless it's been retconned AWAY from Vega...because Vega is a giant BLUE star.---Al

Absolutely amazing idea on the first Superboy time travel bit, alschroeder. Would of loved to see that myself... Could of been a real trial by fire for Superboy.

The closest thing to it I've ever seen is in a Starlin written issue of DC Comics Presents where Superman uses extremely complicated math to figure out how to get back home.

I like this idea. It's consistent with the Maggin view that the role of Smallville is to provide a "womb," where he was protected by the anonymity of a small town so Kal-El could develop his powers and training.

Batman may not work as an urban legend, but Superboy actually might.



I like this idea. It brings the Lanterns into the Super-Mythos, something that Maggin and others tried very hard to do. Though Abin Sur at this point would probably be using a spaceship to get from place to place after his encounter with the Empire of Tears (which ironically, was how he died).

There were several jokes in Jim Shooter's STAR BRAND where the wielder of the brand actually got LOST in space, and even when he did find the earth again, he couldn't find his hometown.

Superboy's Super-Vision can conceiveably aid in astronomical navigation. Each star, as a result of different concentrations of elements, gives off different kinds of light, almost like a fingerprint, which can be identified by spectroscopes. Superboy has natural senses that can duplicate a spectroscope, thus he may be able to identify earth's sun in this way.

How I love Jim Shooter.  :lol:

Not unless it's been retconned AWAY from Vega...because Vega is a giant BLUE star.---Al[/quote]

True for real life, but NOT in the Earth-One universe. Marv Wolfman specifically made the change in comics so that Superman would NOT be able to go to the Vegan System under his own power (an editor admitted this in a letter column somewhere). In order to provide more of a challenge for the Omega Men, the more powerful heroes had to be kept out of their series.

I found the comic where Superman (Or Superbaby in this instance) time travels for the first time.

Kind o' cool how he finds his way home.  :lol:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v39/bmovie_buff/Superboyv1119-08.jpg)