Or: "You Can't Handle The Truth!"

I’ve resisted the temptation to do this before, but since Truth seems to be winding down now, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the whole thing, and why I think it’s been a missed opportunity.

I’ve been grabbing some titles I’ve never read and came across several of these gems, which are great examples of how Superman dealt with power-loss. He hitched up his britches and put his super-genius to work without even breaking stride. I’ll just going to post a couple of good examples here.

Take this story for instance:

ACTION COMICS 321

He was a powerless man who had to stop a planet of super-powered people from conquering earth. And by George, he found a way.

He built that giant robot (seriously, is it bad-ass or what?) out of raw materials with his own hands and programmed it to launch him (with his branded cheerful contempt of physics) into another solar system to regain his powers. Then he blocked the bad guy’s sun so they’d lose their powers, thus saving earth from basically kryptonian invasion. That’s why Superman is the greatest.

This kind of intelligence and ingenuity is vital to Superman, because without it, he’s just an incurious flying brick that meanders in whatever direction he’s pointed. He needs to have the super-intelligence worthy of those super-powers to utilise. He needs that dynamism and agency. His super-ingenuity should always be the very last thing to be messed with, it is his most important trait.

Next up, the Supermobile!

I had seen this cover before, but written it off as silly – but the actual story itself turned out to really engage me. Superman has to take on AMAZO who had absorbed the powers of the entire Justice League – but he himself had no powers at all! But knowing that red sun radiation would be taking away his powers, he had planned ahead for this contingency, and thus was born the Supermobile!

What I don’t know is why we’re not getting any of this. It’s seriously cool. And these are exactly the kind of stories I’d like to see from Superman, especially in the ‘depowered’ ones.

Oh no! Superman’s powerless and about to be crushed!

Could it be?!

But ahah! Never fear! Superman was prepared! Because Superman has super-prep-tastic abilities! In your face, Bats - I mean Amazo!

I won’t spoil the rest of the story, but I loved it. Seriously, read these issues.

And here’s another story where he’s lost his powers under a red sun! Not only that, but he is completely blind! But that doesn’t stop our intrepid hero!

So, My Thoughts So Far

I actually do feel like Superman is at his best under a Red Sun. It’s his peak performance, because we get to see him apply his wits, in the absence of his fantastic ultra-win spectacular super-powers. It’d get tedious and silly if it happened too much, but when it does happen, it really does show us what makes Superman so super. The powers themselves are just to give this awesome man the tools to spread his awesome to the entire universe, and look good doing it. To give us that Wow, Superman! factor. All necessary elements to a good Superman title.

This creates a nice diversity, and lets us basically have our cake and eat it too. It’s so great, because it eliminates the frustration of readers and power levels. PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERRRR! Superman and vulnerable “grounded” Captain America Superman? Sure! Hell, we even got an orange sun for “Golden Age Bullet-Buster ‘ow, these space-bees really hurt’ Superman!” And you can get the Superman you want with just one panel of art.

It frustrates me that there’s so much easy potential going to waste here. There’s a whole universe out there – takes the shackles off and let Superman be relevant to his own myth. I honestly don’t understand why DC tentatively-binned what I thought were indestructible and winning formulas with such useful dramatic devices. They worked just as well on me as a kid in the 90s/2000s as I assume they did in the 60s.

On a personal note, I can speak from personal experience that even the fightiest comic I saw from (what I now know is) Post-Crisis - Dreadnaught & Psiphon or something - bored and disaffected me in comparison to the SA/Pre-Crisis I was reading. (Maybe it’s the ‘decompression’ everyone talks about. Isn’t that supposed to cause catastrophic death to astronauts as well?)

You don’t have to blow up Superman’s elemental formulas to write more adult-oriented/GA stories or explore different directions or pursue more slow-burning drama, if that’s what you want. Its comics, you can throw in any Deus Ex you need, and you have like half a dozen titles to use for Supes, and can cough up infinite Maybe-Imaginary Tales and Elseworlds.

(On a different note, it kind of amuses me that DC seems to be part of the fanbase or share the mentality to some extent. They’re always trying to “fix” the things that fans dread or fuss about, because of emotional attachments. Kryptonite Nevermore, Yellow Impurity, and what-not. Yellow/Red Sun doesn’t flip his powers on and off anymore. But ironically, Kryptonite is now worse than ever because apparently being poisonous to kryptonians means it can pierce him like his skin isn’t invulnerable or super-dense. So now any punk can blow his head off with a kryptonite magnum .44 - and I really don't think it was a good trade-off.)

One thing that I thought could be worth having fun with, is if Earth’s sun starts experiencing ‘cycles’ (for whatever reason), so that it’s Yellow during the “day” and Red at “night”, so to speak. So you can literally play it both ways – stories with him at SuperCosmic, and stories with him as t-shirt or night-costume wearing street level, going Reed Richards or SuperKnight or whatever (because he’s still responsible as a defender of earth, so he feels compelled to stick around – especially if super-threats keep popping up, threatening the good people of Earth).

And he can find a solution for the sun at any point convenient. Heck, if it’s a plot by Luthor or someone, then it’s something that could potentially be revisited at any point.

Truth was the perfect opportunity for this. Superman doesn’t have any power worth speaking of, especially in a duo with WW at her normal levels. So he should have adapted to the situation, and put his brain to work, while WW handled the hands-on stuff, go get ‘em, cowgirl! Supes could have had the opportunity to play Reed Richards for a while. It would have been a more interesting division of labour.

WW bringing the muscle and some magic, while Superman brought the super-science (with some Captain America muscle where helpful). Shrinking rays, phantom guns/batons, teleporters, freeze cannons, crazy cubes… heck, Superman could have rocked up on a trained space-monster with giant fighting robots, for crying out loud! Let’s explore some options here!

They haven’t really used Truth to explore anything interesting. They nerfed his power, but then they nerfed his villain level anyway, so the dynamic is pretty much exactly the same. If he had had to fight Mongul, we would have had something interesting.

Taking away his power and having him fight crooks, or having “Cpt A.” power and fighting low-level metas, isn’t really a big deal. He’s a hero, was it really a question worth asking?

And here’s one of my favourite child-hood stories, which is another example of what I’m talking about, but with a fully powered Superman (well, Superboy).

SUPERBOY 102:

And skipping ahead to the end like a good spoiler:

And here’s a neat one, where Superman faces off against 8 super-powered criminals in a Western show-down.

(I also remember a story where he took on Zod and two henchies, using his powers to out-wit them, etc, but I haven’t come across it yet.)

Super-strength and all those powers are not that interesting in themselves, as fantastic as Mightiest Man in the Universe is, his powers are utterly one-dimensional if utilised suchly. Superman’s most important heroic attribute is his phenomenal ingenuity, that’s what makes his stories and his activity compelling. That’s what makes him the greatest, above and beyond just having the hardest punch (and don’t get me wrong – I love a sweet karate-beam-god-chop as much as anyone – but that’s just the muscle without the man). As Deadman puts it:

First of all I hope no one takes down your thread.

If I'm not mistaken the current limit is 3 pictures for post and you way overshot the limit.

Secondly I also believe looking at the past might not be the best way to move forward. Yes it always teaches us something, but the simplicity of the past is long gone. In the past Superman could simply build robots from scraps or engineer some machine to save the day. It didn't matter that it didn't make sense how he built it or in the time-frame he did it. At the time people were less knowledgeable of science and what can and can't be done.

Now it's not so easy. People know more and can pinpoint things that make no sense and act accordingly.

To me what Superman really needs it to have some questions answered and nonsense things removed.

The sunlight thing being the first. To me it should be shown that even on Krypton all lifeforms were already superhuman. That they also got powers from the red sun. Only that that together with Krypton's greater gravity limited them more. But still they were physically superior to any human in every aspect. Only without the energetic powers, flying and that stuff. And also explain how many of Krypton lifeforms were so huge in size.

And if their gonna keep on using the solar battery nonsense, then at least make it more credible. Say that kryptonian physiology reacts to sunlight at a subatomic level. And keep it like that. Simple and honestly... scientifically more credible.

Another thing that continues to be dismissed is his kryptonian heritage. Like how he possesses the entire kryptonian knowledge repository. And barely even uses it. Seeing Krypton many guilds, Military, Science, Art, Work, Religion... Superman should embody all of them. Each knowledge adding something to Superman to make him more able to handle any situation. Be it against the best trained fighters. In a situation where he needs to immediately understand some unknown tech or create something. Able to achieve several mental states that allow him to fight off psychics and magicians, and who knows, even do something along those lines. Has for art... Art main requisition is the ability of free expression, to be able to look at something or situation and be able to empathize with it, explore it beyond logic. To able to feel hope, compassion, love and to be able to look on the ugliness of life and see past it.

All things that Superman always had trouble reconciliate and even acknowledge the importance of. And seeing Superman actually train to become better would be a nice addition to simply gain powers or improve them without the fans knowing how he got to that point.

Another thing is to make him be more of what he is. Both his personas Clark and Superman, have so much potential, to help the world beyond using his fists or writing some articles that time will erase. He needs to go global and cosmic. To explore new world's, new civilizations. Why don't we ever see him search for his own civilization past, to see if there's maybe some other race like his or close enough. One that survived and thrived and have him stay on that world learn all he could.

In essence give him a chance to thrive on his own. No League, no Bruce, no Diana, no Daily Planet, no Earth to worry about. Just him and universe endless possibilities.

Oh... And make kryptonite his only weakness. Not like in Smallville were he became useless and defenseless around it, but something he would have to work hard to handle.

So the conclusion is quite simple. Superman has a great origin story and the mythology around him is awesome, it just needs to be slightly improved, greatly explored and the character itself needs to evolve without losing what makes Superman who he is.

@heavenlydarkdragon: There are picture limits per post? What? You mean from the same story?

Αctually it is three FULL scans per thread, no matter the story. But sometimes it can be overlooked if the stories are old etc. Like here, and I don't think someone will lock this up.

But If your thread is locked don't wonder why.

@squalleon: I'm sure I have seen many people post more than 3 scans per thread. Even 20 scans in 1 post, like respect threads.

And there's so much grey area. What if you scan a whole comic into one image? Are dual page spreads that are scanned under a single file considered 2 images?

Yeah, we try to turn a blind eye in respect threads. Most respect threads had been deleted and if you notice whole page scans are far and few and only panels are posted.

Yeah, you are gonna get deleted if you post a whole comic, no matter the format. A full page scan, is a full page scan. Same goes for spreads.

@squalleon: I see. I'm really not trying to start anything, just wondering. I read through the Comicvine FAQ pages and couldn't find anything related to image limits and I had never heard of a limit until just now. It makes sense not to ruin Secret Wars or post the whole new book here, no one would buy the comic. I get it, just had never heard of it.

Thanks for the info.

@overmonitor:

Exactly like @squalleon said.

And he can say this more accurately than me, but I believe Superman had a respect thread before the most recent one. That was erased because of Comic Vine new rules about how many pictures a person can post.

Indeed it was erased. It was one of the most complete respect threads too. The people work really hard to cut the panels of the feats now.

@heavenlydarkdragon:

If I'm not mistaken the current limit is 3 pictures for post and you way overshot the limit.

Huh. Well, I’m not wise in the ways of the vine. I really don’t know how else I’d do this thread. All text would be boring and useless.

Secondly I also believe looking at the past might not be the best way to move forward. Yes it always teaches us something, but the simplicity of the past is long gone. In the past Superman could simply build robots from scraps or engineer some machine to save the day. It didn't matter that it didn't make sense how he built it or in the time-frame he did it. At the time people were less knowledgeable of science and what can and can't be done.

Now it's not so easy. People know more and can pinpoint things that make no sense and act accordingly.

To me this stuff is like 2010. So you’ll have to bear with the dissonance.

And if not the past, where else to look for examples? If that’s really the rationale- well, Superman is from the past, why are we still using him? It’s about what works best for him – not where the idea came from. I’m simply drawing on the only available examples I know of for Superman at his best.

I don’t actually get the objection. The whole point of Superman being super-intelligent and all is that he can pull off these fantastic inventions, just like he canpull off reality-warping feats with his fists. And with super-speed, time-frame isn’t insurmountable.

What is incredible to you and me, is all in a day’s work for Superman. And honestly, I have no idea what strains the credulity here in comparison to the techno-wank in current stories. He quite clearly showed us what he did to put the giant robot together, and except for the hilarious feat of FTL it was a perfectly simple extrapolation of technology and use of metallurgy and “natural resource” –atomic power and what-not. It was 100% Star Trek multiplied by Doc Savage.

If you don’t buy the explanation, then they just need a better one.

And while we’re on Star Trek. What’s credible about inventing a trans-warp transporter? Nothing. The science is non-existent. But just three and a half people on the end of nowhere managed it anyway and saved the Federation. It’s exactly the same kind of thing.

I’m pretty sure that the people writing these stories knew that people couldn’t fly, throw around planets, or build machines that could fore-tell the future. Doesn’t seem to stop writers now. It was simply that SA stories were more in the style of fairy tales, westerns and space fantasy, than hard sci-fi. It had nothing to do with the time period, in which everyone was reading H.G Wells and Heinlein and all the grandfathers of modern hard science fiction and what-not. It was simply a style aimed at children/all-ages.

I actually think the scientific rationales have gotten worse and more hand-wavey – at least in Silver Age they tried to explain everything with diagrams, and drew on actual scientific knowledge, even if the extrapolation was beautifully child-like in logic.

The sci-fi in current stories just as silly, but more ponderous, less connected to the real world, and less charming. But I’m bringing "Ye Olde Schoole" up for the super-intelligence, not the stylistic choice.

Another thing is to make him be more of what he is. Both his personas Clark and Superman, have so much potential, to help the world beyond using his fists or writing some articles that time will erase. He needs to go global and cosmic. To explore new world's, new civilizations. Why don't we ever see him search for his own civilization past, to see if there's maybe some other race like his or close enough. One that survived and thrived and have him stay on that world learn all he could.

I definitely agree with this. I’ve come to believe that Superman should essentially be the Starship Enterprise and Captain Kirk rolled into one. The guy should be pure Star Trek. FIRE HEAT-PHASERS!

@squalleon:

Αctually it is three FULL scans per thread, no matter the story. But sometimes it can be overlooked if the stories are old etc. Like here, and I don't think someone will lock this up.

Well, here’s hoping.

Yeah, we try to turn a blind eye in respect threads. Most respect threads had been deleted and if you notice whole page scans are far and few and only panels are posted.

This is kind of a respect thread. Respect the SA Super-Scientist Superman! I guess I’ll just have to put myself at the mercy of the mods. I can’t really think of a better alternative. I guess I could cut them up more – but it seems sort of circular.

@supermudz:

Oh I got no problem with Superman being smart. Actually I appreciate that in any character. Nothing worst than a powerhouse that has a brain and doesn't uses it.

The is, how he uses it. How it's depicted and shown. While in the past it was easy to come up with basically any solution, it didn't matter how logical or illogical it was, people let it slide because in a way we were all more naive.

We were less knowledgeable of things, but now... Well it all comes down to the reader. If he's willing to let things slide even tough he or she knows it's totally wrong, or, the other kind that simply doesn't care. Superman could pull a gamma radiation strike from his hands creating an explosion that would make any DBZ fan be proud of the sheer destruction, and they would not question how all of a sudden he pulled that off.

I love reading and I love some comics, but the less work I have to put to accept what I'm reading, the better.

Wait a minute.....blind Superman riding a giant insect is actually a thing?

@heavenlydarkdragon:

We were less knowledgeable of things, but now... Well it all comes down to the reader. If he's willing to let things slide even tough he or she knows it's totally wrong, or, the other kind that simply doesn't care. Superman could pull a gamma radiation strike from his hands creating an explosion that would make any DBZ fan be proud of the sheer destruction, and they would not question how all of a sudden he pulled that off.

Hahaha, Silver Age really wasn’t like that at all.

That’s something far more likely to happen now rather than then (solar flare, anyone?) – because the writers’ were, to the best of my recollection, absolutely conscientious of suspension of disbelief, strange as it might sound. The second you ran into some incredible proposition, most times the narrator would pop up and go “whoa, hold on, reader! I know what you’re thinking, but there’s a perfectly logical explanation!” – maybe you’d believe him or maybe you wouldn’t – but he’d do his darndest to convince you.

Part of the difference, is that the writers of the time had (at my best guess) imbibed a more “competent-men” and “salt-of-the-earth” literary culture (Lone Ranger, Robinson Crusoe, John Carter, etc), along with all the wondrous sci-fi speculation popular at the time (like Jules Verne, H.G Wells, Asimov, E.E Doc Smith, etc). No manga. Very much the anti-manga. Naive? Sure, in a lot of ways, but the same would apply to modern speculation - it'll be judged either naive or prescient, years from now. That's just how speculation works, and makes it fun. And it's not like comics have moved on from things like mermaids and Martian civilisations, have they? We still use them, because they're still wonderful and classic and tropetastic.

SA comic-science was not that difficult to believe. In fact it was absurdly easy to believe, because it was designed to persuade children – so Superman would usually take some basic scientific fact, like lead stopping x-rays, or the technology of TVs, or how prisms refract light – and then just rig up some kind of super version of it, or apply the science at the speed of fantastic power, while the narrator walks us through it. In fact, you could say a lot of the absurdity sprang from their insistence on trying to logically justify everything, to the degree it just got hilarious. "I can shoot midgets from my hands because I got zapped by a midget ship's holographic energy!"

I mean, on the fantastic side of things, you got stuff like Supes tossing stars into other galaxies - but it still usually followed an adorable logic of its own (super-strength!) - even if he broke 50 physical laws to do it. So, your mileage may vary on that account.

But if you didn’t grow up with Silver Age, or imbibe the literary culture of the time… eh, it’d probably take an essay to adequately articulate it, and I’m not really from the right generation to be comprehensive, authoritative... or fussed. The Silver Age style’s not for everyone; but that’s what’s great about having multiple titles. You can target multiple markets with multiple styles, simultaneously.

It's not really the issue, anyway.

What, you’ve never done that? It was all the rage back then. No self-respecting alien civilisation would be caught dead without flying insect mounts!

See what you're talking about is wacky, crazy, creative and dare I say fun stories for Superman. And we can't have that at DC currently, oh no. We have to make people take Superman seriously, so he has to be more angry, mistake prone, date a hot Amazon Princess, lose most of his powers and give Peter Parker a run for his money in whining. On the disparity of writing between the current age of comics and the Silver Age, I recall a tweet from a blogger I follow where he said that to a Superman writer like Cary Bates, Superman would have figured out the impossible for breakfast before having his coffee. That was the Superman people do remember the most, sometimes not for the right reasons.

Having said that, I'm not sure I want a super scientist or super genius Superman at the level he was in the Silver Age. Breaking the laws of physics is all OK in a comic book, but stuff like swallowing a teleportation cube before facing Amazo, constructing a ship out of meagre scrap metal whilst depowered under a red sun and the insanity of riding an alien flying insect whilst blind, that charming but absurd stuff is why the Silver Age is a tad too silly for some comic fans to accept. I concur though that Superman needs to be shown as someone who even without his powers is still a very smart, witty and ingenious character who can come up with solutions to some of his problems. It's why I liked Up, Up and Away as a story that does what Truth is trying to do much better and much more effectively.

I enjoy Superman using resources from the Fortress and making inventions as the occasion occurs. But I'm not all for the absurd science of making a ship out of scrap metal and the like.

Although I would read these types of "Classic Superboy Stories" with absurd storylines that embrace the definite fun of the Silver Age, should DC launch a title like that.

@lvenger:

See what you're talking about is wacky, crazy, creative and dare I say fun stories for Superman. And we can't have that at DC currently, oh no. We have to make people take Superman seriously, so he has to be more angry, mistake prone, date a hot Amazon Princess, lose most of his powers and give Peter Parker a run for his money in whining. On the disparity of writing between the current age of comics and the Silver Age, I recall a tweet from a blogger I follow where he said that to a Superman writer like Cary Bates, Superman would have figured out the impossible for breakfast before having his coffee. That was the Superman people do remember the most, sometimes not for the right reasons.

Supes must have got a late start if he only had time for coffee. And that’s why he’s just the best ever. It sounds like Cary Bates is my favourite writer.

Having said that, I'm not sure I want a super scientist or super genius Superman at the level he was in the Silver Age.

I completely do. It’s my Precious, and I wants it. And more than that – I truly believe it’s essential for Superman.

I get the sense many have come to think of Superman’s intelligence as a secondary factor – and I can only assume that somewhere since Post-Crisis his intelligence has been de-emphasised – but I believe it at least as important as his physical prowess. It’s a marriage of traits. I mean, like you indicated - it's pretty iconic to him isn't it?

I suspect it's really the presentation, rather than the objective capabilities, that might throw people.

Breaking the laws of physics is all OK in a comic book, but stuff like swallowing a teleportation cube before facing Amazo, constructing a ship out of meagre scrap metal whilst depowered under a red sun and the insanity of riding an alien flying insect whilst blind, that charming but absurd stuff is why the Silver Age is a tad too silly for some comic fans to accept.

Heh. Man, obviously I’m just too much of a Silver Age kid, because for me that stuff is just the beginning of what I feel Superman should be capable of. Except for the details, I found it conceptually completely credible and within a Superman’s capabilities. I wanna see him go further, and make me believe it. If he can make me believe a man can fly - Wright Brothers move over - I wanna see what else he can make me believe. Superman is the achiever of the Impossible. Spock’s intelligence, Scotty’s miracle-working and Kirk’s ingenuity… the steadfast capability of Lone Ranger, the super-human manliness of John Carter and the power and majesty of the Enterprise. A flying anti – Kobayashi Maru.

And there were totally “reasons”!

• There was atomic super-fuel just lying around, as it does, “all he had to do” was construct a rudimentary mechanised frame and a 1-program logic-switch-board (the technology for which was “simpler” then). And c’mon, it was a giant robot that could throw objects at warp-speed – not a ship – much more believable!
• And he rigged the helmet so that he could “see” through the insect. (Granted, the mechanics were glossed over, but that’s just because our dumb human brains don’t understand science.)
• And it was an ‘activation switch’ for his Fortress teleporter, totally reasonable… and… also… I just don’t find it unbelievable. Heck, he could have built a room-sized teleporter and then zapped it with a shrinking ray! You see? You see? And I’m not even trying. *wipes tear*

Your lack of faith in Superman upsets me. Besides, I think the philosophy should not be to nerf his capabilities – but to find a way to express them convincingly.

To be honest, without that defying-the-laws-of-reality brilliance, he just won’t feel like the complete Superman to me. It’ll always feel like he’s not fulfilling his potential. Kind of like he doesn’t really feel Superman-strong if he can’t kick around planets or lift [x]. It’s like Superman without the kryptonite – something will always be missing.

It's why I liked Up, Up and Away as a story that does what Truth is trying to do much better and much more effectively.

I’ll definitely have to read that story.

@supermudz:

Supes must have got a late start if he only had time for coffee. And that’s why he’s just the best ever. It sounds like Cary Bates is my favourite writer.

I'm not sure, maybe you prefer Maggins or Moore or Schwarz, you're the one who refers to himself as the Silver Age Superman kid. I do like Maggins' 1970s Bronze Age work myself.

I completely do. It’s my Precious, and I wants it. And more than that – I truly believe it’s essential for Superman.

I get the sense many have come to think of Superman’s intelligence as a secondary factor – and I can only assume that somewhere since Post-Crisis his intelligence has been de-emphasised – but I believe it at least as important as his physical prowess. It’s a marriage of traits. I mean, like you indicated - it's pretty iconic to him isn't it?

I suspect it's really the presentation, rather than the objective capabilities, that might throw people.

I wouldn't say it's been deemphasised per se, it just isn't as ridiculously unbelievable as it was in the Silver Age. Superman can come up with tactical battle plans, employ scientific knowledge and work with advanced and alien technology. He just can't build a rocket ship from a trash yard essentially. I agree it is an important part of Superman's faculties, that his mind is just as incredible as his superpowers. Moreover, I believe both throw people off Superman. The presentation makes Superman seem like a hax Mary Sue who can still win even if his powers are gone. And the objective capabilities involve Superman creating something incredibly advanced out of insubstantial materials. The outcome of the invention doesn't match what went into it, and that's why people cast a shadow over the Silver Age insanity of the stuff Superman came up with.

And there were totally “reasons”!

• There was atomic super-fuel just lying around, as it does, “all he had to do” was construct a rudimentary mechanised frame and a 1-program logic-switch-board (the technology for which was “simpler” then). And c’mon, it was a giant robot that could throw objects at warp-speed – not a ship – much more believable!
• And he rigged the helmet so that he could “see” through the insect. (Granted, the mechanics were glossed over, but that’s just because our dumb human brains don’t understand science.)
• And it was an ‘activation switch’ for his Fortress teleporter, totally reasonable… and… also… I just don’t find it unbelievable. Heck, he could have built a room-sized teleporter and then zapped it with a shrinking ray! You see? You see? And I’m not even trying. *wipes tear*

• So all it takes is miracle super fuel and use simpler 1960s science logic to make his makeshift robot? That's still hard to believe regardless of whether it was a robot, not a ship. And just because science was taken more for granted in the Silver Age than it is today is no excuse for the absurdity of some Silver Age Superman stories. What do you find problematic about more people knowing scientific principles today and questioning comic book science?
• And why didn't Superman bring this technology to Earth so that he could essentially cure blindness for all mankind. I don't think our dumb brains don't understand Silver Age science, it's just flat out insane what he did. Funny and hilarious insane initially though.
• An activation switch on a tiny cube he put in his mouth. Your one at least sounds partially more believable than what Superman did with Amazo.

Your lack of faith in Superman upsets me. Besides, I think the philosophy should not be to nerf his capabilities – but to find a way to express them convincingly.

Hey now I'm hurt you think I lack faith in Superman. I'm not very happy with the current status quo of Truth you realise, I want Superman to be stronger and smarter than he is currently. I just prefer a balance that I feel the Pre Flashpoint managed to get right after a while. One that made Superman powerful and mighty in deeds but not overpowered or unbeatable. And where he's clearly intelligent and technologically gifted but doesn't pull miracles without rhyme or reason. I'm sure you aren't unaware that there are Superman fans who don't want Superman to have superhuman intelligence, let alone the intellectual prowess you want him to be at in his Silver Age times. Those are the guys you should be upset as I at least want a balance.

• So all it takes is miracle super fuel and use simpler 1960s science logic to make his makeshift robot? That's still hard to believe regardless of whether it was a robot, not a ship. And just because science was taken more for granted in the Silver Age than it is today is no excuse for the absurdity of some Silver Age Superman stories. What do you find problematic about more people knowing scientific principles today and questioning comic book science?

Not, not the logic, I mean the technology of circuit boards was literally simpler than we're accustomed to now. Big ol' vacuum tubes and transistors (not to say it was a breeze, but this is 1900s do-by-hand stuff). The giant robot was essentially just a fancy crane with a switch.

• And why didn't Superman bring this technology to Earth so that he could essentially cure blindness for all mankind. I don't think our dumb brains don't understand Silver Age science, it's just flat out insane what he did. Funny and hilarious insane initially though.

Lol. Well, if everyone was willing to wear/buy helmets and walk around with robot seeing-eye insects he could have. We actually have a crude version of that technology now. But we're getting into "Why Doesn't Lex Luthor Just-" territory here.

• An activation switch on a tiny cube he put in his mouth. Your one at least sounds partially more believable than what Superman did with Amazo.

It really isn't as crazy as it struck you. It was just a tiny transmitter. Even Batman could do that. The fancy part was that it was automatic, instead of manually activated. (Oh, wait, I got that wrong. He did manually activate it, but I guess the automatic part was the teleportation sequence.)

Oh, no doubt it's all quite fanciful - but I do think that's more a matter of "for kids" and "8 pages" style than substance. 8 pages isn't enough time to explain everything, so whether you accept this (particular stuff) depends on what you believe is within Superman's capabilities. But don't get me wrong - there is absolutely a boat-load of hilariously unbelievable stuff that went on in Silver Age - I'm just saying - in the above cases there's suspension of disbelief to be found, if you really want it.

Hey now I'm hurt you think I lack faith in Superman. I'm not very happy with the current status quo of Truth you realise, I want Superman to be stronger and smarter than he is currently. I just prefer a balance that I feel the Pre Flashpoint managed to get right after a while. One that made Superman powerful and mighty in deeds but not overpowered or unbeatable. And where he's clearly intelligent and technologically gifted but doesn't pull miracles without rhyme or reason. I'm sure you aren't unaware that there are Superman fans who don't want Superman to have superhuman intelligence, let alone the intellectual prowess you want him to be at in his Silver Age times. Those are the guys you should be upset as I at least want a balance.

Haha, my bad. I was just ribbing.

I think that maybe our concept of Silver Age level is probably different then (I may be thinking of Bronze Age, too). I probably do agree with you. I don't like that sort of on-the-spot hax, because I like to be able to think about and anticipate Superman solutions, and that requires at least some clues as to what he can do, and what is possible - at the very least I need a set-up. Like a story when Metallo zapped a matter-teleporter ray at his heart, and it looked like he had swapped it with kryptonite - knowing that Superman was too good to be done in like that, I enjoyed anticipating how Supes had pulled this one off, and being enormously proud when I was correct.

I like the 'can win with or without powers' thing. I mean, depending on the situation of course. I certainly wouldn't expect him to fist-fight Mongul while depowered or something retarded like that, but I do want to see him apply that super-intelligence and find a way to save the day, even if it's just finding the "teleport Mongul to a black hole" button, or stalling until his League buddies arrive.

If you're asking for a balance, then I'm right with ya - I just want him to have the mental super-prowess to match his physical.

Silver Age insanity is perfect for kids, though.

These guys know where it's at.