Where WAS Krypton in the Universe?

[MatterEaterLad]

And that decision was wrong in my opinion - it was already bad enough to have to suffer through the Kents being made "young" and Nazi threats to Smallville, but that "golden" netherworld of Superboy in a bright Smallville of undetermined age (other than wide fenders on the cars) was lost.  Next thing you know, writers were making up stories about Superboy and the Bermuda Triangle (how typically 80s) and having college (even though he was a documented Superman in college) roommates with substance abuse problems.  Blech...

Hyper or warp drive to Jor-El's rocket?  I have to see that reference.  I seem to remember a "World of Krypton" story about Jor-El adapting an alien warp engine to make his rocket, but by then (maybe late 70s?), the history of Krypton was so cluttered.

[carmine]

Well Krypton was in an entirely different Space Sector (as split up by Green Lanterns) so its probably really super far away (even if its the closest space sector to our space sector)

I always guessed that the kryptonite followed Supes spaceship to earth. Now how it did this I dont think its ever said in the comics. I'll just guess the ship opens up some kind of wormhole and the kryponite got sucked in on the way to earth)

One would think that even if krypton had a HUGE explosion most of the kryptonite would be left orbiting  Rao.

[Just a fan]

Actually some of it is explained on this site http://superman.nu/tales2/world/1/

[MatterEaterLad]

There you go...not a big fan of that story, seems to add a lot of stuff, almost like the Black Zero story.  But then my motto was "never trust a comic over 15 cents", LOL... 

[Aldous]

A lot of things about how krypton was depicted (in the 70s & 80s most of all) never made any logical sense.  Too often in the bronze age the writers & artists treated krypton as though it was no more advanced than 20th century earth.

I think I know what you mean, but this has more to do with the portrayal of what they share with us, their humanity. For all the advanced technology, they are as human as us, with myths, legends, superstitions, customs and cultures, and certainly all of our foibles.

...and having college (even though he was a documented Superman in college) roommates with substance abuse problems.

You're kidding. I'm glad I missed it.

[MatterEaterLad]

I think his roomate was an alcoholic, and "Superboy" has career changing angst about not preventing his accidental paralysis in an auto accident.  Those stories are in the "Superboy: The Secret Years" stories.  Maybe I'm being unfair, but the stories in those issues are very different than I imaging Superman's college years and are very 1980s in tone to me.

[Johnny Nevada]

Remarking on a few previous posts:

- Think even in the 60s, it was shown that Superboy didn't become Superman until around age 20 or 21 (sophomore or junior year of college), judging from the two conflicting tales of how it happened (the professor with his lie detector, the social worker and activist Superboy met) along with the tale "Superboy's Last Day in Smallville". So seeing him as Superboy for part of his college career in "Secret Years" shouldn't be too unusual (in the story, he becomes Superman in his junior year). I enjoyed "Secret Years", even if it seemed to retcon the first meeting of Lori and Clark (having an extra character there when they first meet)/the goofiness of that Bermuda Triangle stuff...

There's also a story in "New Adventures of Superboy" #49 or 51 (apparently a reprint of two tales from the "Superman: the In-Between Years" series in "Superman" in the early 80s) showing Superboy's first week or so in Metropolis for college, where he thwarts a gang war between gangs from Metropolis and Gotham City and Perry White gets to break the story of Superboy's debut there.

- Think the "World of Krypton" story was, like "World's Finest" #271's various Superman-Batman first meetings, an attempt to summarize most of the various tidbits of Kryptonian lore about Jor-El's life that we'd glimpsed over the previous years... pretty sure a lot of the characters/elements mentioned appeared in earlier 50's-70's tales about Krypton.

[MatterEaterLad]

Agreed.  Its all my opinion, but I think a lot of this is based on "where you came in". I was very used to the "Hall of Fame" Superboy reprinted stories in 1960s DC titles and I read my brother's Lori Lemaris comic to death.  Clark is certainly drawn and acts like an adult in that story and I think its important to the story that he meets Lori alone and the relationship is not known - it emphasizes the loneliness of a super being in another strange environment (college) once again. I can see why writers had to update Superman in the late 60s and 70s (I didn't like it but that's just my opinion).  I really just thought they should have left Superboy in a nebulous and bright "past" rather than drag him through the issues of the ages as he was moved through decades of time settings.

I guess I usually feel that the failings of many ages are the updating of past events (even when other stories are incorporated).  I wish DC sat down with the writers and said "ok, this year we are going to have 3 total stories about Superman's past, including 'untold stories', and that's it - come up with new stuff!"