JulianPerez
Council of Wisdom
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« on: January 15, 2007, 11:36:47 PM » |
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A friend of mine got into a discussion about whether or not the existence of the city in the bottle is widespread, public knowledge on Earth-1. I said it wasn't (or at least, there was no direct evidence to show that it was), but he said it was, and I thought the conversation was fascinating enough to be worth sharing.
Here's his points, as fairly as I can represent them, and decide for yourself:
On many occasions, Superman has taken reporters - including Lois and Jimmy as well as Lana, on one occasion - into the Fortress of Solitude and shown them around, and they reported on the contents. Leaving Kandor out, which is the single most important object in the Fortress, is not a reasonable conclusion.
MY REBUTTAL: True, reporters have been in the Fortress, but the fact they discussed Kandor in whatever articles they wrote is entirely conjectural. And while we're on the subject of conjecture, there are a great many things in the Fortress that are so potentially dangerous that it wouldn't make sense for Superman to allow it to be reported: for instance, Superman's confiscated deadly weapons, or his huge Kryptonite collection, or the Disintigration Pit.
So many elements about Superman's life and world are available to anyone that wants to know thanks to books like Lois's bestselling book, "World of Krypton," and the bestselling "Krypton Chronicles" by Clark Kent, that a truly major element of the Krypton story like Kandor must be present at least somewhere. If it wasn't, it would be an astonishingly glaring omission. Even dangerous information leaked out - for instance, in Cary Bates's ACTION COMICS #441 (1974), Weather Wizard was inspired by "World of Krypton" to create Black Lightning, a Krypton-only weather phenom, for instance.
MY REBUTTAL: Yes, but like the above point, this may be speculation; there's no DIRECT evidence saying Lois or Clark in their books talked about Kandor. In fact, it would make sense for Clark not to mention Kandor considering he only did research there. Also, the stories in question seem to be limited to Krypton when it was around, not what happened afterward: some moons of Krypton survived the destruction, for instance, and nothing is known of THEM. Further, there is direct evidence that much of Krypton's post-disaster fate IS unknown: for instance, in an issue of DC COMICS PRESENTS, Adam Strange is entirely unaware he is surrounded by Kryptonian ghosts, or that Rann is currently in Krypton's former space sector.
In SUPERMAN SPECIAL #3 (1985) by E. Nelson Bridwell, Amazo, under guidance from Professor Ivo, attempted to steal the bottled city of Kandor and duplicate the powers of all the inhabitants. This is proof that the existence of Kandor is public knowledge.
MY REBUTTAL: Not necessarily. Superman took the inert, deactivated body of Amazo to the Fortress when the League abandoned the satellite and started operating out of Detroit. In other words, Amazo was inside the Fortress for some time - and later, broke out of it. It makes more sense that it would be here that Amazo (and thus, Professor Ivo) would know of the existence of Kandor.
Many of Superman's fellow heroes, including Batman, Robin, Green Arrow, and the Atom, have been inside the Bottled City, notably in Maggin's "The Junkman Cometh" and that issue of SUPERMAN FAMILY where Batman and Robin went into Kandor. Further, Superman has been able to use being on a Mission in Kandor as an excuse for his non-participation in League missions, like MYSTERY IN SPACE #75 (1962).
MY REBUTTAL: True, the Justice Leaguers seem to be aware of the existence of Kandor, but that is not proof the public at large does. It's League policy for JLA members to discuss their secrets with one another - for instance, Green Lantern's weakness to yellow is, by all accounts a secret, but he shared it with his fellow Leaguers.
And is it just me, or does Superman saying "I'm busy in Kandor" the greatest excuse EVER? I bet he uses that one ALL the time. "Gee, uh, I'd love to have dinner with you and the wife, Ralph, but, wouldn't you know it, I have this thing in Kandor tonight..."
The Superman Emergency Squad who have high enough powers and identical costumes, would need an explanation.
MY REBUTTAL: To the best of my knowledge, the Emergency Squad has never acted in a high-visibility context in the public eye that would REQUIRE them to be "explained." True, the Emergency Squad was visible at Superman's funeral along with the entire world, but that was in an Imaginary Story. And yes, in one SUPERMAN FAMILY (that IS canon), there was talk of an Emergency Squad member "replacing" Superman, but that didn't amount to much for obvious reasons. And finally, they don't appear often enough that they would be seen as any different from the myriad weird things that happen to Superman.
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