Superman's Crash Landing

[Super Monkey]

Most likely, plus radar back then wasn't as good as what we have now.

[Kuuga]

I more or less assumed that the ship was built to not be detected. To me this would make sense if you take into account that in many versions of the story the rocket was a prototype for (or in STAS part of the actual means) to save Kryptons people. It would make sense that they might want to come in undetected and sort of get the lay of the land before dropping the "Hi we're from another planet" bomb on what to them would have been a very primitive world.

I liked in STAS that ship had something missing from other versions. Landing gear!

[Criadoman]

The canon I've always subscribed to was Jor-El was caught so by surprise how quickly Krypton's doom was upon them, that all he could manage was the prototype and just enough time to rig it to withstand the journeys of space yet make for a safe touchdown.  I suppose if he realized that both Kal and the rocket would be invunerable by the time it hit Earth's atmosphere, then mainly there'd be a breaking system to keep Kansas from being obliterated - hence no landing gear required.

The Crystal ship from the movie would likely have appeared as a meteor, the Byrne's matrix was very small, but was quite angled (the star drive and the actual matrix itself), then the blue and red rocket - that should have appeared like a missile, because it was.  However, it's not hard to realize that some forsightful writer would have considered Jor-El made it stealth capable.  Considering the final canon for the rocket pre-crisis was Jor-El intended Einstein to get Kal, having the foresight and obvious time to contact Einstein, Jor would have made it invisible to detection devices so only Albert could retrieve Kal.  and of course, Smallville has it covered with the meteor shower, although I have a hard time understanding how Jor wouldn't have caught that he was sending his child into a virtual deathtrap with all the kryptonite in the vicinity.

I didn't see where it was addressed in Birthright.  I however, can't help but think the way it was addressed in Supreme Power was an approximation of what would really occur.  Speaking of gov't individuals becoming rather "security conscious" - Secret Identity was rather brilliant regarding that.  However, that Superman would have come to Earth via transporter than a rocket (as the apparent genesis of this story was Superboy Prime from recent Infinity Crisis fame).  There were also a few Elseworlds that appeared long before Supreme Power that alluded to the way Clark would have been handled by the gov't, as well as the recent Son of Zod storyline.  Let us also not forget Red Son.

[nightwing]

Here's another thought.

It's been well documented that spaceflight was outlawed on Krypton (thanks to Jax-Ur's crimes) and Jor-El was specifically forbidden to proceed with construction of an escape rocket.

Therefore, it's reasonable to assume he would have incorporated stealth capabilities into his prototypes, to sneak any test launches and orbits past the Science Council.

And if it could fool Kryptonian sensors, ain't no way any chuckleheads on Earth are going to spot it.

[Vic George 2K6]

I just like how Byrne's version of the rocket manages to land with its rocket section touching the ground (i.e., the upright launch position), rather than it being on its side as any rocket that crash-lands would normally if not always do. Of course, that was back in 1986's Man Of Steel mini-series.

[crispy snax]

I've read it now, thanks!  It's a cool story.  It's a good thing that Superbaby is invulnerable, otherwise he would have had a very short career.

All hail president Wiener!

you got that right!

i hope that guy faffing about with the lazer got fired.. why? oh only for shooting a BABY IN THE FACE! i dont care if it was a suprise!!

ahh... its things like these that are missing from modern comics...

you know... violence against minors

[forgottenhero]

The blizzard has been canoncial since the 1986 reboot. To the best of my knowledge it's still canonical. It was one of Byrne's better ideas (I never had any problem with throwing out the whole orphanage bit; it's archaic).

[Johnny Nevada]

The blizzard has been canoncial since the 1986 reboot. To the best of my knowledge it's still canonical. It was one of Byrne's better ideas (I never had any problem with throwing out the whole orphanage bit; it's archaic).

I think this is one of the things were Kal-El being adopted formally by the Kents was more straightforward than the blizzard bit, which I have various problems with:

- A multi-month-long relentless blizzard?

- Apparently Smallville, unlike most rural communities in the midwest used to dealing with lots of snowfall, doesn't have any snowplows or experience at dealing with emergency snowstorms.

- Also apparently, the National Guard (or US govt.) didn't investigate this odd weather phenomenon and/or send help to the snowed-in people of Smallville.

- Would think the Kents would've called for help/to see if their neighbors were OK/etc. at *some* point (unless the phone lines were down)... or checked up on TV/radio to see why the heck such a snowstorm was happening.

- Still don't feel the Kents could pass off Kal-El as a newborn---even if he was just "born" when he landed on Earth, that's still 9 months of pregnancy to account for somewhere, which can't fit in (even with the multi-month-long blizzard that doesn't apparently elict concern from the National Weather Service/National Guard/etc.)... esp. since babies grow pretty fast. Would think there'd thus still be questions (even ignoring that Clark doesn't look anything like Jonathan *or* Martha)...

The adoption approach made more sense to me than the above---far as the Langs/Chief Parker/etc. would be concerned, the Kents found an abandoned infant, took him to the authorities who could look for the infant's parents, said infant was offered for adoption by the Kents (once his parents couldn't be found), and the Kents took lil' Clark home. If one feels an orphanage is archaic (which I suppose it might be---assuming Kal-El landed on Earth in the mid-70s by this point in time), substitute "Smallville County Child Services" or whatever in its place. Seems more straightforward to me (and not asking us to accept some stupid-sounding snowstorm/Smallville having incompetent blizzard-handling skills/some improbable pregnancy...).