Superman Through the Ages! Forum

I don't know about anyone else,but supergirl #1 and superboy are coming out around the same time as superman #1.Generally, supergirl and the superman family are introduced a while after superman is, generally because superman is the main character, but the new52 seem to all be coming out at once.It seems a bit out of order.

It definitely feels like a soft reboot.  I remember when Adventures of Superman #424 came out back in the '80s, it didn't feel like a rebooted character.  It was really more of a jumping-right-in.  Same thing with the new super-books.  I just read Superman #1, and it really could have been Superman #715.  Just a few minor changes to continuity, but still Superman chugging right along.  I think the goal here is to just have a changed continuity, without spending too much up-front time on origin building.

The whole thing is like a post-modern twist on the 70s.  OMAC and Swamp Thing in particular are updated but very classic DC.  Then in Superman we've got the Superman-Lois-Clark triangle, GBS and Morgan Edge taking over the Planet, and Clark possibly becoming TV news anchor.  Just a lot of fun.

I haven't been following any of the new DC--everything I know is just from monitoring comment and previews on the web--so I'm in no position to accurately judge what's happening in these comics. [It seems like I have to preface every comment I make with that disclaimer, nowadays.]

However it seems like the current approach to Supergirl is bound to backfire, whichever way you slice it.

It seems like she is more powerful than Superman because she was in some kind of pod in suspended animation for years. [This seems to be more in line with the origin of Power Girl--maybe they would have been better off with making Kara Power Girl and coming up with a totally different Supergirl for the new continuity.]

So Superman wasn't powered up by the sun to the same level when he first appeared on the scene, yet he will get up to that level and surpass it. [Maybe the armour is really a kind of mobile pod that is accelerating Superman's power up.] Readers want Superman to be more powerful than Supergirl--I believe that's a generally held sentiment, even if there are a few Supergirl fans who want her to always be more powerful than her cousin--and the writers are bound to give the readers what they want: a more powerful Superman.

But then the writers have to manipulate the story so that the man is more powerful than the woman, even though on an even playing field Supergirl ought to be more powerful than her cousin, or at least at the same level as her cousin.

I remember when they tried to slant the table as it were in the early 70s and for some inexplicable reason Supergirl's powers failed. She didn't have the excuse of a sand creature stealing her power--she was just weaker, because she was female. It was really odd, because DC was supposedly supporting "Women's Lib" in their comics, yet their women were always put into these situations where they failed to be as strong as their male counterparts.

So now, by establishing Supergirl as more powerful they have set themselves up to somehow counterbalance that--because the public will not tolerate a weaker Superman for long. [Superman always gets stronger in any continuity where he exists--the writers just can't resist the urge to tell more cosmic stories with this character--and really why should they?] But as soon as Superman overtakes his cousin in his power levels it creates that narrative of male dominance over women.

DC never had to introduce the whole idea in the first place, so why introduce a concept that is bound to trip them up in the future?

It seems like they don't think things through. And yet writers think things through. When you write a story you think through what will happen--it's like playing a game of chess in your mind, thinking through all the moves. Sure when you write the story, the characters surprise you and can take turns you didn't foresee. But you usually go through that whole process prior to publication. DC's writers must've thought through where Superman and Supergirl would end up--yet they didn't anticipate the sexist quagmire they were getting into? I don't believe it.

The only way I could see to resolve the problem would be for Supergirl to die. Which might well happen. The character seems to be stuck on that karmic wheel of death and rebirth--maybe she should be singing George Harrison's line "keep me free from birth."

Supergirl isn't less powerful because she's a woman, she's less powerful because she's a girl.
Superman is older.

That's why Mon-El was stronger than Superboy and Supergirl but weaker than Superman. Mon-El was physically older than his brother and cousin.

Not only is Superman older than Supergirl, he's got five years more experience with is powers than she does, and got used to them gradually.

By the way, I definitely see what you mean by "postmodern take on the 70s". I get that vibe as well, and if this is a second Bronze Age, I think it's a pretty good one.

That argument works for the pre-Crisis versions of the characters because there wasn't a charging element to their powers. When DC reintroduced Kara Zor-El, they had her soaking up solar radiation for 25-30 years while in suspended animation never once exerting that massive amount of energy. Superman had been constantly exerting and recharging his energy levels throughout that time.

We've seen what happens to Superman when he absorbs a massive amount of solar energy; he gets stronger, faster, etc. So, it's logical that his cousin would be stronger than he is initially until she exerted that surplus energy and her powers tapered off to a normal level.

Also, experience only goes so far. At a certain level, it wouldn't matter how experienced you were if your opponent was stronger, faster, etc. This occurred when the Post-Crisis Superman first encountered Daxamites (and before they had a charging element added to their powers): Supes was manhandled by a couple of Daxamite scientists who had just gotten their powers, struggled with the rookie Lar Gand, and failed to defeat Dev-Em in hand to hand combat.

The Supergirl is weaker because she's younger argument didn't really work for Silver Age Supergirl, because we had the example of Superboy every month. And Superboy seemed to be virtually as powerful as his older self.

My explanation for the fluctuating powers would have been Kryptonite. It's a catch-all explanation. Yes, it weakens Kryptonians, but I would say that after exposure to the stuff the powers bounce back and even increase. Sort of like exposure to a nasty virus can strengthen the immune system. By virtue of having been exposed to more Kryptonite on more occasions, Kal-El was the most powerful Kryptonian.

I know why Supergirl was weaker!  It was because Superman and Superboy sold more comics to little boys, and girls can't beat up men!

Well, except for Beverly Hillbillies, where Elly Mae would beat up on Jethro in practically every episode!  ;)

Kryptonians powers are seemingly infinite except in relationship to something else from krypton.

Superboy can DO ANYTHING (infinite power)
except against Superman where Superman would whoop him (if he was so inclined)
Superman can't be hurt
but some how kryptonian armor "can't be hurt" even less


Superman's power level has no limit except up against Phantom Zoners or some crazy kryptonian dragon which could bite his hand!!!
(though generally it seemed more like Superman would simply stalemate another kryptonian type and then go away...Metropolis would then accuse supes of being a coward...supes would return with some crazy scheme and trick the kryptonian)

while a "fist fight" in classic superman was rare it would seem to me if Superman fought a Jax-Ur or Zod type a single punch would create enough energy to shatter the entire planet and set fire to all the oxygen in the atmosphere and cause all humans to melt into puddles.
that never seemed to happen

I never had a problem with supes being stronger than supergirl...except for the fact that SuperG and Superman should never ever fight
EVER
this ain't marvel

BRAVO, Carmine!

In fact, that was my main complaint against Superman:  The Animated Series back in the '90's.  Superman and Mala trading punches in their first battle.  That never sat right with me, nor will it ever.