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Author Topic: The ORIGINS of SUPERMAN  (Read 30066 times)
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Captain Marbles
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« Reply #24 on: December 07, 2005, 07:11:49 PM »

I hope you'll consider including Action Comics # 500 "The Life Story of Superman!" from October 1979 on your list.  It has one of the coolest Superman origin stories because Superman himself is the narrator!
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« Reply #25 on: December 17, 2005, 03:06:15 AM »

I'm curious if this has been posted before. I know that there are aspects of the Birthright origin that have already been incorporated into continuity. But when you read the story itself, something's wrong: even though it's the origin of a character who's been around for a fairly long time in the DC universe, the story of Clark first getting to Metropolis and coming out in public as Superman seems to take place post-9/11. There's a reference to the color-coded terrorism alert levels, and there seems to be a general paranoia about terrorism. This presents a paradox that can only be resolved one way:

Birthright is actually Superman's post-IC origin; instead of waiting till after the crisis was over, like with Man of Steel, they got it out of the way early. Something else to support this: Superman has been said repeatedly to be an eternal 29 (although he seems older than that now)... during Birthright he was 25... IC wraps up in 2006. Do the math. Obviously they're changing things with IC. I think we'll return to an eternally 29-year-old Superman, who first arrived in Metropolis shortly after 9/11, and is the first hero of his generation (possibly of all time on his earth, if they bring back Earth-2).

What that implies is that DC's super-heroes are being changed for the new millenium, recast as terrorism-era heroes (since all others would have come after Superman, who was first).

Believe me, I see the inconsistencies in this theory, not the least of which would center around who Robin would be, what would happen to Nightwing, etc. But they could get around those things with a major revision, which they seem to be planning anyway. The thing is, without this being the case, Birthright would amount to nothing more than an imaginary story because it clearly takes place post-9/11. That may have been sloppy writing, but I like to think that Mark Waid is above that, at least on such a massive scale.

Any thoughts?
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Great Rao
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« Reply #26 on: December 17, 2005, 04:48:03 PM »

Whether it was planned or not doesn't matter, and whether DC even does a reboot or not doesn't matter.  Waid was writing with both a modern audience and the long-term in mind.  5-10 years after it was written, Birthright will have taken place long enough ago in our past past that it'll be Superman's "current" origin with no problems at all.

As you've figured out, this ends up making it extremely easy for DC to make it the "post-IC" origin.

S!
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« Reply #27 on: December 17, 2005, 05:20:01 PM »

Mr. Bones figured it out well enough, since DC has gone on record to say that Birthright's Origin will make more sense post-IC.
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forgottenhero
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« Reply #28 on: December 17, 2005, 11:30:47 PM »

Given that (mainstream) superheroes and their supporting casts aren't supposed to age (much) anyway -- or at least that was the rule when I was a kid -- explaining all the fully-contemporary stuff in Birthright is easy: it's a called a "sliding timeline." Assuming that DC quits aging its characters and freezes them where they are now -- something they should do, if DC wants them to be commercially viable -- then in ten to fifteen years everything in Birthright will seem completely "right."
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« Reply #29 on: December 18, 2005, 02:29:13 AM »

Quote from: "forgottenhero"
Given that (mainstream) superheroes and their supporting casts aren't supposed to age (much) anyway -- or at least that was the rule when I was a kid -- explaining all the fully-contemporary stuff in Birthright is easy: it's a called a "sliding timeline." Assuming that DC quits aging its characters and freezes them where they are now -- something they should do, if DC wants them to be commercially viable -- then in ten to fifteen years everything in Birthright will seem completely "right."


superman stopped aging the day kal-l went into limbo.
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NotSuper
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« Reply #30 on: December 19, 2005, 07:33:12 AM »

Quote from: "Captain Marbles"
I hope you'll consider including Action Comics # 500 "The Life Story of Superman!" from October 1979 on your list.  It has one of the coolest Superman origin stories because Superman himself is the narrator!

Indeed it is. I did a review of that very book at the Superman Homepage. Needless to say, it received my highest recommendation.
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« Reply #31 on: December 22, 2005, 12:02:48 AM »

I HATE IT
with a passion.
I'm the greatest Superhero of all history and yet you can some up my origin in just one comic page?
I don't think so.
Not and do him justice.
He deserves better than that. He's super man not superficial man.
one page? come on now.
It's story telling not joke telling! So lets have some story.
I know we live in the microwave oven, 20 second tv commercial, 1 minute speed dating age of immediate gratification but gimme a friggin break already. He's got background and depth in his origin and is not a shallow character.
In my mind Superman's origin should not be short sheeted. He doesn't have to have a 18 hour miniseries to explain it but a super hero's origin story should be intriguing and original, and it should be like a woman's dress:  Long enough to cover the subject , but short enough to keep it interesting.

Also lets look at the figures of history famous and infamous and give them the one page treatment...ludicrous and funny
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