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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 28, 2023 20:17:52 GMT -5
I liked Superboy, to a point. I enjoyed many Silver Age stories with him; but, wasn't clamoring for a regular series. I mostly preferred him in the Legion; but, I was actually a bigger fan of Mon-El. I think you could have shifted the Superboy role, as inspiration, to Mon-El, in the past (as they later did, to a point, with Valor), have him trapped in the Phantom Zone (or similar) and have him eventually released, towards the end of the first year of a rebooted Legion.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 29, 2023 3:27:48 GMT -5
I voted no.
I love Superboy. I’m glad Byrne never had much of a chance to get his hands on him.
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 29, 2023 4:06:55 GMT -5
Despite having read and (usually) enjoyed every Superboy story from his debut in Mre Fun Comics #101 in 1945 through COIE, I voted No. As long as Superman remains ageless and living in the Perpetual Now that most Big Two comic book characters live in, Superboy--whose adventures must by definition occur 10-20 years in the past--presents a huge problem continuity-wise, as the context for his stories must constantly shift forward in time. The Superboys of 1945, 1965, and 1985 exist in three very different eras of American history (the Great Depression,the post-World War II era, and the Swingin' Sixties, respcetively) and his environment and supporting cast should ideally reflect that. It is, in my opinion, a challenge not worth meeting. Maybe if I were a Legion fan, I'd feel differently but that's my take.
Cei-U!
I did miss Krypto, though! Krypto rules!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2023 5:09:43 GMT -5
The Superboys of 1945, 1965, and 1985 exist in three very different eras of American history (the Great Depression,the post-World War II era, and the Swingin' Sixties, respcetively) and his environment and supporting cast should ideally reflect that. It is, in my opinion, a challenge not worth meeting. A good point! And, no, not a challenge worth meeting if I was the one editing/writing the books. Incidentally, someone (again, possibly Byrne) mentioned fans who stated that there could be no tension in any Superboy comic as you know he’ll survive. I think he said you just had to “play the game” (or whatever phrase he used). I mean, even with the likes of Superman and Batman, we have to “play the game” as, deep down, we know they’ll usually survive until the end of the book. I mean, when I first read “Robin Dies at Dawn” in Batman #156, which was only a short while ago, there was still a feeling of tension even though I a) knew the ending in advance, and b) just lived in the moment. Living in the moment is probably what most fans of Superboy did. Logically, they knew he’d survive so he could become Superman, but hopefully, seeing him in a Kryptonite death trap, with a gloating Luthor above him, still elicited the right emotions. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 29, 2023 7:39:19 GMT -5
I did miss Krypto, though! Krypto rules! In theory I've always liked the idea of Krypto, as in a little dog with superman's powers running around in a little red superman cape is an amazing idea. But in reality, I consider him a bit of a "joke character" and have never had any desire to collect or read any stories featuring the mutt. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2023 7:40:17 GMT -5
I did miss Krypto, though! Krypto rules! In theory I've always liked the idea of Krypto, as in a little dog with superman's powers running around in a little red superman cape. But in reality, I have never had any desire to collect or read any stories featuring the mutt. Agreed. I like him. Dogs are cool. But had they done a “Showcase” volume for Krypto, I’m not sure I’d have broken any speed records to go and buy it. |
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Post by MDG on Mar 29, 2023 9:03:30 GMT -5
...As long as Superman remains ageless and living in the Perpetual Now that most Big Two comic book characters live in, Superboy--whose adventures must by definition occur 10-20 years in the past--presents a huge problem continuity-wise, as the context for his stories must constantly shift forward in time. The Superboys of 1945, 1965, and 1985 exist in three very different eras of American history (the Great Depression,the post-World War II era, and the Swingin' Sixties, respcetively) and his environment and supporting cast should ideally reflect that.... I remember when I saw Superman: The Movie when it opened and being thrown off when "Rock Around the Clock" ws playing during the Superboy sequence. I was still associating the character (and Smallville) with the 1930s. |
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Post by zaku on Mar 29, 2023 9:13:53 GMT -5
...As long as Superman remains ageless and living in the Perpetual Now that most Big Two comic book characters live in, Superboy--whose adventures must by definition occur 10-20 years in the past--presents a huge problem continuity-wise, as the context for his stories must constantly shift forward in time. The Superboys of 1945, 1965, and 1985 exist in three very different eras of American history (the Great Depression,the post-World War II era, and the Swingin' Sixties, respcetively) and his environment and supporting cast should ideally reflect that.... I remember when I saw Superman: The Movie when it opened and being thrown off when "Rock Around the Clock" ws playing during the Superboy sequence. I was still associating the character (and Smallville) with the 1930s. So Superboy let Nazis doing their thing? And what was his justification? |
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Post by chadwilliam on Mar 29, 2023 10:47:09 GMT -5
...As long as Superman remains ageless and living in the Perpetual Now that most Big Two comic book characters live in, Superboy--whose adventures must by definition occur 10-20 years in the past--presents a huge problem continuity-wise, as the context for his stories must constantly shift forward in time. The Superboys of 1945, 1965, and 1985 exist in three very different eras of American history (the Great Depression,the post-World War II era, and the Swingin' Sixties, respcetively) and his environment and supporting cast should ideally reflect that.... I remember when I saw Superman: The Movie when it opened and being thrown off when "Rock Around the Clock" was playing during the Superboy sequence. I was still associating the character (and Smallville) with the 1930s. And I thought, "Yeah, 1955 or so makes sense" at the time. It wasn't until a few years ago that I did the math and thought, "wait a minute..." This reminds me of how an issue of Adventures of Superboy (I think) redid that old Superman meets JFK story from the 60s to adjust for the fact that a 29 year old Superman circa 1980 or so couldn't have meet the President as an adult. I never read the story, but I did read the Fred Hembeck strip parodying the idea by positing that come 1993 or so, they'd have to further update the tale to show how it was Superbaby who meet the guy. Edited to add: the image doesn't show, but here's a link in case anyone's interested  www.hembeck.com/Images/More/Datelinesuperjfk.jpg |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Mar 29, 2023 11:51:14 GMT -5
In theory I've always liked the idea of Krypto, as in a little dog with superman's powers running around in a little red superman cape is an amazing idea. But in reality, I consider him a bit of a "joke character" and have never had any desire to collect or read any stories featuring the mutt. The only Krypto story I ever loved was the one in All-Star Superman, first the sheer joy of seeing him and a younger Kal playing catch in space, then the line (roughly): "You may be stronger and more experienced than I am, but I have one thing you don't ... my dog." <WHAM> I never cared for Superboy when I was younger, mainly for the reasons driver1980 mentioned. However, seeing the damage done to the Legion (and Byrne's cack-handed repair work did not much help), I think Grant Morrison in Action has a reasonable fix: the Legion were the ones who inspired Superboy, and most of his career was spent in the 30th century learning the ropes (and intervening secretly in his own time, a la Smallville), and then he started his career formally as an adult Superman. |
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Post by MDG on Mar 29, 2023 12:20:04 GMT -5
In theory I've always liked the idea of Krypto, as in a little dog with superman's powers running around in a little red superman cape is an amazing idea. But in reality, I consider him a bit of a "joke character" and have never had any desire to collect or read any stories featuring the mutt. The only Krypto story I ever loved was the one in All-Star Superman, first the sheer joy of seeing him and a younger Kal playing catch in space, then the line (roughly): "You may be stronger and more experienced than I am, but I have one thing you don't ... my dog." <WHAM> Krypto had to put up with a lot of $#!t... |
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Post by majestic on Mar 29, 2023 13:00:43 GMT -5
Having recently read the 75 Years of Superboy collection I miss the old Clark as Superboy stories. I also liked Jon as Superboy until Bendis "aged" him to be in his late teens. So I wish Byrne had kept both Superboy & Supergirl.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 29, 2023 13:33:39 GMT -5
I was always a fan of the parallel Earths and wished they had kept that, in a restructured form after Crisis. In that scenario, I would have been fine with a Superboy on his own world, separate from the Earth-1 Superman, like the Earth Prime Superboy.
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Post by majestic on Mar 29, 2023 13:50:34 GMT -5
I was always a fan of the parallel Earths and wished they had kept that, in a restructured form after Crisis. Same here. I miss the "charm" of the parallel earths. It Was one of the things that made DC different from Marvel |
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Post by Chris on Mar 29, 2023 14:29:35 GMT -5
Despite having read and (usually) enjoyed every Superboy story from his debut in Mre Fun Comics #101 in 1945 through COIE, I voted No. As long as Superman remains ageless and living in the Perpetual Now that most Big Two comic book characters live in, Superboy--whose adventures must by definition occur 10-20 years in the past--presents a huge problem continuity-wise, as the context for his stories must constantly shift forward in time. The Superboys of 1945, 1965, and 1985 exist in three very different eras of American history (the Great Depression,the post-World War II era, and the Swingin' Sixties, respcetively) and his environment and supporting cast should ideally reflect that. It is, in my opinion, a challenge not worth meeting. Maybe if I were a Legion fan, I'd feel differently but that's my take. Cei-U! I did miss Krypto, though! Krypto rules! So Superboy let Nazis doing their thing? And what was his justification? I don't think you quite understood what Cei-U said. In short, the Superboy comic was published starting in 1945 (when WWII ended) but the character was set in the 1930s. The character remained in that setting until 1970, when DC moved Superboy from the '30s to the '50s, skipping the 40s entirely. And regarding the stories set in the '30s, it's a big decade, and the Nazis didn't really get rolling until September of nineteen thirty-NINE. So as far as what Superboy did about Nazis... well, not much. But there wasn't much to do. |
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