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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 3, 2022 20:02:05 GMT -5
I came across this little tidbit in Batman #338. It’s not about Metropolis. It’s some trivia about the DC fictionopolises. So there’s a sports-themed serial killer rampaging through Gotham City. Batman thinks the next murder is going to happen at the hockey game. It’s Gotham City vs. Star City. Gotham City is the Goliaths. Star City’s mascot is the Stars. That’s right. Star City’s hockey team is the Star City Stars. I can’t even sometimes. No team would ever have that kind of nickname. Just ask the Philadelphia Phillies, a.k.a. the Phils. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 3, 2022 20:21:47 GMT -5
Maybe Star City is the DC Universe equivalent of Philadelphia!
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 3, 2022 20:23:22 GMT -5
Maybe Star City is the DC Universe equivalent of Philadelphia! Or the DC equivalent of the Ross-iverse Astro City? |
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 5, 2022 18:34:09 GMT -5
Something I always wondered about is whether Metropolis was supposed to be New York City or was that Gotham? Back when I was regularly or semi-regularly reading Superman and Batman comics, Gotham certainly had the sleazy, crime ridden streets of 70s and 80s NYC, but I always got the impression that Metropolis was supposed to actually be NYC. Which would mean that Gotham was more like Newark or maybe even Philadelphia, maybe??? Or maybe both Gotham and Metropolis were meant to represent different aspects of NYC? Like, Gotham was the DC equivalent of the tougher neighbourhoods like Hell's Kitchen, Harlem, the Bronx etc, and Metropolis was based on places like Gramercy, Greenwich Village, or the Upper East Side etc? I think I remember Neal Adams agreeing with an interviewer who said that Gotham was NYC, as he pointed out a Batman cover Neal Adams had done that was clearly inspired by some NYC landmarks. For whatever that's worth. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 5, 2022 18:41:44 GMT -5
Star City is Baltimore. Central City is Cincinnati. Coast City is San Diego. Keystone City must be Philadelphia because Pennsylvania is the Keystone State. The Martian Manhunter’s Middletown is Pensacola. As for Metropolis and Gotham City ... that’s a bit more complicated because New York City also exists in the DC Universe. For what it's worth, The Flash #76 (May 1993) refers to Central City and Keystone City as the "Twin Cities" I remember coming across a map of DC cities somewhere a bunch of years ago, but I can't remember where. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 5, 2022 19:10:28 GMT -5
Star City is Baltimore. Central City is Cincinnati. Coast City is San Diego. Keystone City must be Philadelphia because Pennsylvania is the Keystone State. The Martian Manhunter’s Middletown is Pensacola. As for Metropolis and Gotham City ... that’s a bit more complicated because New York City also exists in the DC Universe. For what it's worth, The Flash #76 (May 1993) refers to Central City and Keystone City as the "Twin Cities" I remember coming across a map of DC cities somewhere a bunch of years ago, but I can't remember where. I know Keystone City and Central City are supposed to be in “the same place,” but just on separate Earths. But DAMN! Keystone City looks like Philadelphia. And Central City looks like Cincinnati. |
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Post by Chris on Apr 6, 2022 1:28:35 GMT -5
The Answer Man himself, Bob Rozakis, stated that Central City is in Ohio.
Which makes sense, because if I recall correctly, Flash writer Cary Bates was from Ohio.
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Post by Chris on Apr 6, 2022 1:43:02 GMT -5
As for Metropolis and Gotham, Super Friends #14 (Oct/Nov 1978) refers to a bridge between the two cities. They were supposed to be across a bay from each other. Somewhere in the vicinity of New York, I believe, so all three cities were located up there.  This was written by E. Nelson Bridwell, who was pretty much DC's ultimate authority on Superman knowledge, so I would take this to be the official status of the time. I dug up this, from New Adventures of Superboy #22 (Oct 1981), to show just how very, far Smallville was from Kansas (cue Toto jokes) in those days, as seen in the bottom right corner. But as it happens, it shows Metropolis and Gotham too.  |
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Post by MDG on Apr 6, 2022 8:27:49 GMT -5
^^^^^ Yes, we're all familiar with the vast wheatfields on the east coast.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2022 8:30:39 GMT -5
As for Metropolis and Gotham, Super Friends #14 (Oct/Nov 1978) refers to a bridge between the two cities. They were supposed to be across a bay from each other. Somewhere in the vicinity of New York, I believe, so all three cities were located up there. This was written by E. Nelson Bridwell, who was pretty much DC's ultimate authority on Superman knowledge, so I would take this to be the official status of the time. I dug up this, from New Adventures of Superboy #22 (Oct 1981), to show just how very, far Smallville was from Kansas (cue Toto jokes) in those days, as seen in the bottom right corner. But as it happens, it shows Metropolis and Gotham too. Yes, take a look at my earlier post that shows the "map" from '78 and Metropolis and Gotham being in proximity of each other with the Metro-Narrows Bridge connecting them (and then just up the coast would be NYC of course). They continued to use this map view in the Superboy issue you referenced from '81 with Smallville now just past Midvale, which shows this continued to be the seemingly official geography during this time. However, of note is that Smallville was first referenced as being in Kansas during the '78 motion picture and then Elliot S! Maggin set it in Kansas as well in his Last Son of Krypton book from that year as well. So some inconsistency outside of the comic books. It was with John Byrne's Superman run that Smallville being in Kansas became canon. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2022 8:38:08 GMT -5
Here's also an excerpt from the Amazing World of DC Comics in 1977 that states Smallville was in Maryland:  |
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Post by majestic on Apr 6, 2022 13:15:56 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 6, 2022 15:17:06 GMT -5
They left out Opal City and Hub City. Hub City was inspired by East St Louis, though Denny always kept its actual location nebulous. Opal City had more in common with the West Coast; but, there were a couple of things that James Robinson wrote that would have had to make it on the East Coast. It always felt a bit more like a mix of San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest. Fawcett City was decidedly a DC creation, as the actual Fawcett comics never name the city, though it is pretty clear it is supposed to be New York City. E Nelson Bridwell made it a bit more overt, in his stories. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 14, 2022 11:25:59 GMT -5
I’ve been reading some Lex Luthor stories that I never read before, and thinking about Lex, and the Silver Age and the Bronze Age.
So let’s talk about Lex for a few days!
First, what are your favorite Lex Luthor stories?
My three favorites are:
“Luthor - You’re Driving Me Sane!” from Joker #7, which was the first story I ever read where I actually liked Lex Luthor. Up to that point, I thought he was boring and stupid and I thought he was a bad villain for Superman.
Then there’s the story from the 1940s where Lex gets hold of the Powerstone and just generally wreaks havoc for ten pages. It’s so crazy and chaotic. It was reprinted in Superman #252.
And I can’t leave out All-Star Superman, also known as Cabbage-Patch Superman. I think Grant Morrison is usually over-rated, but he gets Silver Age Superman better than just about any modern comic book writer.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 14, 2022 11:38:08 GMT -5
I loved the stories when Lex saved the planet which was them renamed for him... Lexor. He had a love for the ages with Ardora (nee Tharla), with whom he has a son and got to be a superhero there (Defender). Superman was seen as a villain on Lexor, which orbited a red sun. Luthor seems a changed man there, developing loyalty and feelings of sympathy for the Lexorians, who essentially worship him. Classic Weisinger Silver Age what-iffing that wove its way through quite a few stories thay added even more layers to the already complicated Superman-Luthor relationship. These are the first two installments:  b  |
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