superman.nuMary Immaculate of Lourdes NewtonHolliston School Committeefacebook    
  •   forum   •   COUNTDOWN TO MIRACLE MONDAY: "IT'S REAL!" •   fortress   •  
Superman Through the Ages! Forum
News: Superman Through the Ages! now located at theAges.superman.nu
 
*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 28, 2024, 06:55:18 AM


Login with username, password and session length


Pages: 1 [2]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: How much is the "loneliness" angle important to Superman?  (Read 8926 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Permanus
Superman Squad
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 875



« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2007, 10:34:56 PM »

When did Superman in the comics actually start saying "Great Krypton" and "Merciful Rao" and all that? As Al S. points out, it doesn't really make sense originally, any more than it would for an Australian brought up in England to say "Bonzer". When it does start making sense is during the Silver Age, when you have established that Superman has total recall and therefore remembers his infant days on Krypton (some stories of that period also have him leave Krypton not as a baby but a toddler, like the completely bugged-out one where Jimmy Olsen babysits for him).

Personally, I rather like to think that Superman is a bit affected when he invokes his Kryptonian origins, a bit like people who do some genealogical research and find out that they have an interesting relative or ethnic background (my own sister, when she discovered our Jewish origins, started using random Yiddish terms as a complete affectation). It would have been quite good if, when Kal-El discovered Kandor and started interacting with Kryptonians for the first time, he'd be peppering his language with terms like "Merciful Rao" until someone told him "Uhm, relax, man, nobody's really talked like that in 200 years, and even then it was in, like, plays and stuff."
Logged

Between the revolution and the firing-squad, there is always time for a glass of champagne.
Super Monkey
Super
League of Supermen
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3435



WWW
« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2007, 12:53:30 AM »

I belive it was in the 1970's or 1980's, he used to say "Great Scott!!" in the 1960's.
Logged

"I loved Super-Monkey; always wanted to do something with him but it never happened."
- Elliot S! Maggin
Permanus
Superman Squad
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 875



« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2007, 07:32:58 AM »

I belive it was in the 1970's or 1980's, he used to say "Great Scott!!" in the 1960's.

I always thought that there must have been a story I missed in which Clark Kent started saying "Great Krypton" and then changed it to "Scott" just in time, and then stuck with it.
Logged

Between the revolution and the firing-squad, there is always time for a glass of champagne.
Super Monkey
Super
League of Supermen
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3435



WWW
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2007, 12:08:48 PM »

From what I remember, I can only remember Superman saying "Great Krypton!" on the Super Friends cartoon show, which then perhaps made it to the comics, mostly for Superman of Earth-2.



Logged

"I loved Super-Monkey; always wanted to do something with him but it never happened."
- Elliot S! Maggin
Uncle Mxy
Superman Squad
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 809



« Reply #12 on: July 21, 2007, 02:23:25 PM »

From what I remember, I can only remember Superman saying "Great Krypton!" on the Super Friends cartoon show, which then perhaps made it to the comics, mostly for Superman of Earth-2.
It was "great" everything on the Super Friends -- Great Gotham, Great Hera, Great Lightning, etc.  That's clearly what made the show great.  Smiley

I thought "Great Krypton" started with Julie Schwartz. 
Logged
Sword of Superman
Superman Family
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 114



« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2007, 10:23:08 PM »

Maybe the question can be:how much the loneliness angle is important to a superhero? Every major character have suffered for this problem,the feeling of being isolated/different from the people around him.
Comes to my mind the early issue of Captain America,or the entire Silver Surfer run,Ben Grimm is another example,all of this have touched even people like Tony Stark.Maybe because for special people is hard to find someone who can really relate to them?
Logged

"Since we didn't want to use our science on your world, Shayera and I decided we would fight Earth-crime with Earth-weapons. She always found it amusing that I felt so comfortable with them" - Katar Hol
Superman Forever
Superman Family
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 117



« Reply #14 on: July 27, 2007, 09:16:01 AM »

Certainly, Siegel and Shuster were reflecting their own loneliness and geekyness viewpoint in creating Superman and the love tringle with Lois and Clark Kent. But based on interviews and books like Men of Tomorrow, I donīt think it was intentional. What they always say is that they were trying to create the new mythological hero in the spirit of Hercules and Sanson. All the subtext was inintentional, they said even about the messianic/Moses/Christ analogies.

And yes, it is not only Superman that is a lonely character. The Superman on The Couch book have two chapters that deal with the issue. Accordind to the author, two of the more strong desires we have is to be unique, hence the orphan thing, and therefore the loneliness, and the exact opposite, that of being part of something, that would be a team like the JLA or the Legion of Super-Heroes. In the case of Superman, I just think itīs more important, and for his being the worldīs greates superhero, he must be the loneliest, and also the best leader in a team. 



Logged
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

CURRENT FORUM

Archives: OLD FORUM  -  DCMB  -  KAL-L
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS! Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM
Entrance ·  Origin ·  K-Metal ·  The Living Legend ·  About the Comics ·  Novels ·  Encyclopaedia ·  The Screen ·  Costumes ·  Read Comics Online ·  Trophy Room ·  Creators ·  ES!M ·  Fans ·  Multimedia ·  Community ·  Supply Depot ·  Gift Shop ·  Guest Book ·  Contact & Credits ·  Links ·  Coming Attractions ·  Free E-mail ·  Forum

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
The LIVING LEGENDS of SUPERMAN! Adventures of Superman Volume 1!
Return to SUPERMAN THROUGH THE AGES!
The Complete Supply Depot for all your Superman needs!