Superman Through the Ages! Forum

We've just gone live with K-Metal page 14 (http://superman.nu/k-metal-from-krypton/?page=14) and page 15 (http://superman.nu/k-metal-from-krypton/?page=15)!

There are a bunch of firsts contained in these two pages.  We learn the origin of the K-Metal; we see its effects on Superman and on Earthlings; and Superman figures out, for the very first time, what his origin is!

Page 14 is all-new and was put together by Angel and Shane; for page 15, Shane re-drew the original 1940 Wayne Boring artwork (http://superman.nu/k-metal-from-krypton/?page=15&art=old).  Colors for both is by Sarge.

(http://superman.nu/promo/crater.jpg) (http://superman.nu/k-metal-from-krypton/?page=14)

http://superman.nu/k-metal-from-krypton

Sure are a lot of what-ifs that this story presents...a Superman who has revealed his identity, and an  element that makes him weak at the same time others become strong.  I sometimes wonder how many years these comics characters were anticipated to last.

Nice question, worthy of its own thread, really. I suppose the answer is "as long as the money keeps coming in"; I don't suppose anyone in 1938 thought that Superman would still be pulling in the cally dosh in 2007.

They look really great!

It is interesting to see how K-Metal works differently than Kryptonite and the reason why it works of kryptonians, who during this era had super powers on krypton.

However, how can Superman remember when he lived on Krypton? According to TGSB:

"In May 1956, Superman is described as being able to recall every action of his life with his "super-human memory." Subsequent texts refer to Superman's "power of total memory" or "total-recall memory," noting that it enables the Man of Steel to remember everything he ever said or did. "

It is neat to see that he was suppose to have those powers as early as 1940, yet they didn't become canon until 1956???

I think the only way he made that deduction was from the professor's short line about the people of Krypton being far advanced.  It actually seems to need a little more explanation, since he only then makes the connection.

Definitely explanation intended for the reader, and I think you're right, it's a bit clunky to have Superman himself do the explaining here.  I think that bit of dialog needs to be chalked up to speculation on his part, as everything clicks together in his mind.

It was a bit of a stretch - but I thought it was a decent enough try, considering the pace of the story at this point.  The primary point of logic was simply the fact that the K-Metal worked oppositely on him than on a human - and he appears to have assumed the rest.  You know, what would be a real kick is if K-Metal had turned out to be parasitic on any Kryptonian - pulling power from them and transferring it to humans.

So many places one can do with that.

DC really should have just published the K-Metal story as an Elseworlds.  It would have been sweet!

Maybe DC can bring it back as an alternative Kryptonite...its a pretty interesting element and its similar to the meteor rocks of the TV "Smallville" anyways.

MatterEaterLad, since this is distinctly a "K-Metal", why not call it "Kryptonium"?  I don't recall any other Kryptonite variant being metallic in nature (Jewel Kryptonite certainly wasn't), so the "-ium" suffix might be appropriate in this case.

I saw a bit of a discussion about this.  There was an incident that occurred in of all things, Lois & Clark.  The nutshell is that the meteor was named "Kryptonite" for "Krypton" and "meteorite".  It really should be called "Kryptonium".

The possibilty of both exist, "ite" is a common suffix for a mineral that is stable under earth temperatures and pressures but is made up of elements (like metals)- like calcite, hematite, anorthosite, etc.