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Post by zaku on Feb 2, 2024 19:01:08 GMT -5
I don't bother to ask questions like this, when no one can seem to answer the easiest one of all. How come no one recognises Clark Kent is Superman? Do glasses really make him that obscure?
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 2, 2024 19:02:00 GMT -5
Because the writer and editor say so. And... done. |
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Post by GoldenAge Heroes! on Feb 2, 2024 22:15:17 GMT -5
It helps, because Superman often carries regular people at incredibly high speed too, and some hand-waving semblance of an explanation helps our suspension of disbelief. Walt Disney called it the “plausible impossible.” Everyone’s mileage will vary, but I don’t feel I ever needed to know how Superman was carrying people at high speed, just like I didn’t need to think or care about the physics of him carrying a car into the air, or thinking about how heroes fly and are able to find geographic locations easily. For me I never cared too-too much as long as it made general sense and looked good . . . in the comics and onscreen. Hahaaa. With Superman you can really just go back to something in the golden-silver-bronze age. Like extend his special solar field to make others invincible too and so forth, if i remember correctly. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 2, 2024 22:30:52 GMT -5
Byrne changed it because he wanted scenes of Superman's cape being torn, to make the fight seem harder (I assume...but at least to convey some destruction) I preferred the old explanation, 'cause it pretty well covered the bases, though I did always question how Clark could burn through the threads while Marth sewed it, if it was Kryptonian and indestructible. Also the idea that Clark's hair stopped growing, at some point. Rather convenient that is stopped at a length that matched modern Earth professional office length and not 16th Century standards....or `1973, so that Clark perpetually looked like a hippie.
I generally find that those old explanations to satisfy juvenile readers hold up better than modern attempts to explain things, particularly those designed to make it seem more realistic. Like the Nolan films trying to justify costume elements and the like. We need to give Catwoman some kind of flip up night vision glasses, to give her cat ears but aren't going to justify the corset and 5 inch stiletto heels on her boots! I mean, if they had shown her digging them into a wall, for climbing, I might give them a pass.
At least when she was an ex-dominatrix/prostitute you could justify those things, saying she had them lying around and adapted them.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 2, 2024 23:13:46 GMT -5
Also the idea that Clark's hair stopped growing, at some point. Rather convenient that is stopped at a length that matched modern Earth professional office length and not 16th Century standards....or `1973, so that Clark perpetually looked like a hippie. In Superman 139, we see that when Superman's hair does grow, under a red sun or b/c of Red K, heat vision will do the job. In Superman 201, we learn that his hair doesn't grow under the yellow sun, but years later, in the Byrne run, Superman's beard and hair grew and he reflected his heat vision off a piece of his Kryptonian rocket ship to trim both. Not sure what is hair-canon now, though. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 2, 2024 23:23:34 GMT -5
Also the idea that Clark's hair stopped growing, at some point. Rather convenient that is stopped at a length that matched modern Earth professional office length and not 16th Century standards....or `1973, so that Clark perpetually looked like a hippie. In Superman 139, we see that when Superman's hair does grow, under a red sun or b/c of Red K, heat vision will do the job. In Superman 201, we learn that his hair doesn't grow under the yellow sun, but years later, in the Byrne run, Superman's beard and hair grew and he reflected his heat vision off a piece of his Kryptonian rocket ship to trim both. Not sure what is hair-canon now, though. I was aware of all that, but never thought the Byrne idea worked well. Really, heat vision is not something you can really explain away. I could buy Byrne's explanation for X-Ray vision, that his eyes could detect X-rays, rather than project them; but, that still meant they had to be generated for him to see through something. How is he generating then projecting heat, on a focused beam? Electrical powers I could buy, based on electrical impulses in the neural pathways, just amped up and conducted; but, heat is a little harder to rationalize. I could see building up body temperature, but that would just radiate out from the body, not emerge in narrow, focused beams. I liked it better when it was just "Kryptonian under a yellow sun." Okay...bring on Terra Man! |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 2, 2024 23:29:37 GMT -5
Also the idea that Clark's hair stopped growing, at some point. Rather convenient that is stopped at a length that matched modern Earth professional office length and not 16th Century standards....or `1973, so that Clark perpetually looked like a hippie. Not sure what is hair-canon now, though. I believe that is how Vidal Sassoon shot on mousse. |
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Post by zaku on Feb 3, 2024 3:37:39 GMT -5
In a superhero comic I don't need everything I see to be scientifically accurate and reproducible in a laboratory. There is a certain leeway implied in the genre regarding what is plausible. What I usually ask for is decent internal consistency. If Spider-Man, for example, has always been shown to us as super-agile and capable of making jumps of tens of meters he cannot suddenly, for example, trudge along panting while chasing Tarantula on foot. That said, I sometimes wonder if any writers snoozed through science class at school, because scenes like this use up all my available suspension of disbelief.
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 3, 2024 7:48:47 GMT -5
If you just recognize that it's all inherently silly and makes no sense and that any attempt to try and make it make sense just makes it sillier, you're much better off. I have a few thoughts about this post- It might be useful for some comic fans to make this post into a plaque and hang it over their comic room. It's absolutely correct that trying to " explain" it makes it sillier. As a kid, I knew it was all impossible but if it was drawn and written well, I didn't let it take me out of the story. Maybe magical characters translate the best in super hero comics. None of it has to be explained by physical realities. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 3, 2024 7:49:38 GMT -5
If you just recognize that it's all inherently silly and makes no sense and that any attempt to try and make it make sense just makes it sillier, you're much better off. Do you have to make fun of EVERYTHING?! I feel out of my chair when I saw that YOU posted this.  |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 3, 2024 7:52:50 GMT -5
Also the idea that Clark's hair stopped growing, at some point. Rather convenient that is stopped at a length that matched modern Earth professional office length and not 16th Century standards....or `1973, so that Clark perpetually looked like a hippie. In Superman 139, we see that when Superman's hair does grow, under a red sun or b/c of Red K, heat vision will do the job. In Superman 201, we learn that his hair doesn't grow under the yellow sun, but years later, in the Byrne run, Superman's beard and hair grew and he reflected his heat vision off a piece of his Kryptonian rocket ship to trim both. Not sure what is hair-canon now, though. Couldn't he pop into Kandor every week to get a trim ? |
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Post by driver1980 on Feb 3, 2024 8:08:18 GMT -5
If you just recognize that it's all inherently silly and makes no sense and that any attempt to try and make it make sense just makes it sillier, you're much better off. I have a few thoughts about this post- It might be useful for some comic fans to make this post into a plaque and hang it over their comic room. It's absolutely correct that trying to " explain" it makes it sillier. As a kid, I knew it was all impossible but if it was drawn and written well, I didn't let it take me out of the story. Maybe magical characters translate the best in super hero comics. None of it has to be explained by physical realities. I try to apply it to most fiction. I mean, if one were to think too hard, Thunderbirds could be picked apart, e.g. how do they get the fuel for all of their secret vehicles, how do they keep Tracy Island secret, etc. Even so-called realistic cop shows are not realistic (why do detectives only seem to work on one case at a time?). So I try to apply it to all fiction. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 3, 2024 9:06:57 GMT -5
In Superman 139, we see that when Superman's hair does grow, under a red sun or b/c of Red K, heat vision will do the job. In Superman 201, we learn that his hair doesn't grow under the yellow sun, but years later, in the Byrne run, Superman's beard and hair grew and he reflected his heat vision off a piece of his Kryptonian rocket ship to trim both. Not sure what is hair-canon now, though. Couldn't he pop into Kandor every week to get a trim ? At the barbershop run by Follic-El. Cue rimshot. |
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Post by GoldenAge Heroes! on Feb 3, 2024 11:21:24 GMT -5
I generally find that those old explanations to satisfy juvenile readers hold up better than modern attempts to explain things, particularly those designed to make it seem more realistic. Like the Nolan films trying to justify costume elements and the like. We need to give Catwoman some kind of flip up night vision glasses, to give her cat ears but aren't going to justify the corset and 5 inch stiletto heels on her boots! I mean, if they had shown her digging them into a wall, for climbing, I might give them a pass. At least when she was an ex-dominatrix/prostitute you could justify those things, saying she had them lying around and adapted them. Agreed. Big time. I think some of these "we have to re-due or re-explain things" in this ultra modern way is the pits a lot of the time. And that down beat deconstructionist take was way before things got so woke too. I certainly prefer most of the time, the simple and more fun explanation of the comics or the original material usually. |
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Post by driver1980 on Feb 3, 2024 11:47:07 GMT -5
I just feel I need no explanation on some things. Another example is Daredevil’s radar sense. The fact that he had it, and it all ties into his radioactive origin, is enough for me. Should a creator feel inclined to explain it, I am not interested.
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