Superman PF

[Josh-A-Tron]

Superman isn't really an alien. He's a human. His suit never really started off being something alien, a lot of that started from the Donner movie when Jor-El wore the S-shield. Up until that time the S-shield was for Superman and had nothing to do with Krypton.

I've always hated the idea of playing up the alien side of Superman. Superman is the most human of any superhero and that's what makes him the greatest of all of them.

Action comics #1

Oh look he is an alien.

 

[The Mike]

 

[thenammagazine]

Pothead professors FTF!

 

[JBElliott]

Action comics #1

Oh look he is an alien.

Not really. He looks like a human, acts like a human, dresses like a human and so on. For all intents and purposes he's a human and always has been. The alien angle has only been played up recently. Even in the silver age where his Kryptonian heritage was a bigger deal he still acted fully human and didn't whine about being an alien.

 

[csutkakoma]

Not really. He looks like a human, acts like a human, dresses like a human and so on. For all intents and purposes he's a human and always has been. The alien angle has only been played up recently. Even in the silver age where his Kryptonian heritage was a bigger deal he still acted fully human and didn't whine about being an alien.

LOL! So because he raised on Earth and therefore he acts like a human than he is a human? So Mowgli who was raised by wolfs is a wolf and not a human! Epicness!

 

[thenammagazine]

Not really. He looks like a human, acts like a human, dresses like a human and so on. For all intents and purposes he's a human and always has been. The alien angle has only been played up recently. Even in the silver age where his Kryptonian heritage was a bigger deal he still acted fully human and didn't whine about being an alien.

Humans don't defy gravity, they don't shoot lasers from their eyes, can't see through everything except lead, they can't freeze people with their breath, they can't run faster than the speed of sound, they can't lift 1000x their weight, they can't deflect bullets with their skin. etc., etc., etc. He's always been an alien and always will be an alien. While I'll agree with you that Superman may be more human than human in behavior (which still doesn't make him human), genetically, he's anything but.

 

[The Mike]

Any Science Fiction fan knows that an alien like Superman or in the DC Universe like any of the Legion of Superheroes, Mon-EL, Sodam Yat, are humanoids. Which is defined as something that has an appearance resembling a human being. This also hits most of the robotic figures throughout the DCU.

Superman is Kryptonian. He IS NOT Human, they are not playing up or downplaying anything. The creators of the hero made him an alien who crash lands to Earth and is raised by humans, then decides to save the planet from itself. End argument.

 

[batfan08]

Humans don't defy gravity, they don't shoot lasers from their eyes, can't see through everything except lead, they can't freeze people with their breath, they can't run faster than the speed of sound, they can't lift 1000x their weight, they can't deflect bullets with their skin. etc., etc., etc. He's always been an alien and always will be an alien. While I'll agree with you that Superman may be more human than human in behavior (which still doesn't make him human), genetically, he's anything but.

It's only a matter of time...

 

[buzzybean]

jim lee's desgins kick mucho ass! he mixes it up while still keepin sum of the original desgin. one of my FAV comic book artists! totally changed up teh comics game and gave the x-men there awesome look we all knw. im likin the whole kryptonian suit thing as he is a alien.

Jim Lee sucks.


BB

 

[thenammagazine]

Jim Lee sucks.


BB

 

[Mr. Green]

Jim Lee FTW!!!



Although by the time SS debut the PF, I am ok with the new costume too.

 

[JBElliott]

Any Science Fiction fan knows that an alien like Superman or in the DC Universe like any of the Legion of Superheroes, Mon-EL, Sodam Yat, are humanoids. Which is defined as something that has an appearance resembling a human being. This also hits most of the robotic figures throughout the DCU.

Superman is Kryptonian. He IS NOT Human, they are not playing up or downplaying anything. The creators of the hero made him an alien who crash lands to Earth and is raised by humans, then decides to save the planet from itself. End argument.

It's not his genetic material or his powers that define him, it's his actions and those actions are 100% human, at least in the best Superman stories, e.g. Kingdom Come or AC#775.

Clark Kent is who Superman is, he has no first hand recollection with Krypton and was raised by Martha and Jonathan Kent as their child. That's what makes him human. His powers could make him inhuman, but what he does with them makes him human.

 

[The Mike]

You can argue that what he does is humane even that it is more humane that any other actual human on the planet but I'm sorry you cannot justify Superman as an actual Earth born human. His genetic material and his powers DO define him because without those he wouldn't be able to accomplish these massive feats of humanity in which you are trying to glorify.

The character IS Kal-El. He wants desperately TO BE Clark Kent, so he can fit in, have a home, a species but in order to try and save the home he loves so much he BECOMES Superman. You can't argue that the character as defined by the creators of said character, what part of that do you not understand?

You are seriously bridging trolling status at this point...

 

[Darklord Dave]

Yes, the interesting thing about Superman is that he is an alien that has been raised as a human and thus has values comparable to Earthians. Playing up the alien side is what makes him an interesting character. Although many of the people that came to America embraced their new identity as an "American," they are still interested in their roots and finding out where they came from. I'd think this would be multiply true for someone from another planet with gifts far beyond those of mortal men.

 

[brucecamblzchin]

jim lee's desgins kick mucho ass! he mixes it up while still keepin sum of the original desgin. one of my FAV comic book artists! totally changed up teh comics game and gave the x-men there awesome look we all knw. im likin the whole kryptonian suit thing as he is a alien.

lol, Kashan is the raddest dood itt.

Did that sideshow sneak peek show a Supes PF? I thought I saw a Supes bust. I want a Chris Reeve Supes PF k thanx.

 

[thenammagazine]

You can argue that what he does is humane even that it is more humane that any other actual human on the planet but I'm sorry you cannot justify Superman as an actual Earth born human. His genetic material and his powers DO define him because without those he wouldn't be able to accomplish these massive feats of humanity in which you are trying to glorify.

The character IS Kal-El. He wants desperately TO BE Clark Kent, so he can fit in, have a home, a species but in order to try and save the home he loves so much he BECOMES Superman. You can't argue that the character as defined by the creators of said character, what part of that do you not understand?

You are seriously bridging trolling status at this point...

 

[Kabukiman]

Either this JBElliot guy is trolling or he's trying to say Superman is human in the Star Trek II Kirk's eulogy for Spock way:

"Of all the souls I've encountered in my travels, his was the most... human"

 

[JBElliott]

You can argue that what he does is humane even that it is more humane that any other actual human on the planet but I'm sorry you cannot justify Superman as an actual Earth born human. His genetic material and his powers DO define him because without those he wouldn't be able to accomplish these massive feats of humanity in which you are trying to glorify.

The character IS Kal-El. He wants desperately TO BE Clark Kent, so he can fit in, have a home, a species but in order to try and save the home he loves so much he BECOMES Superman. You can't argue that the character as defined by the creators of said character, what part of that do you not understand?

You are seriously bridging trolling status at this point...

I'm not trolling at all. But maybe you are?

In both Byrne's "Man of Steel" and Ross' and Waid's "Kingdom Come" the point was made clearly that it was Clark Kent's humanity that made Superman the greatest superhero.

Byrne went so far to make the point that he was actually born on Earth since he didn't emerge from his birthing matrix until he had landed on Earth. Unfortunately, Byrne made Kryptonian's look exactly like humans. It would have been more "realistic" to make them look completely inhuman, perhaps not even show them or make them formless, and have the birthing matrix scan the DNA of the Kents and use that to "make" Clark into a super human.

Even still, in Byrne's origin, logically, Clark's earliest memories are of being raised by the Kents, he never knew the El's until much, much later and at a point in time well after his personality and self identity had already been established as Clark Kent and a human being. Later when he put on the suit that Ma Kent had made for him (with an S-shield that had an S on it that Ma Kent had designed and stood for Superman) he became Superman. In order to keep his real identity secret, to the world Clark Kent became a "nerdier" version of the Clark Kent that Ma and Pa Kent raised and only those closest to him knew the real Clark Kent (something that's not uncommon in the real world where only the people closest to you know the "real" you). In that regards, Clark is not really Kal-El at all.

While physiologically Clark is an Kryptonian, psychologically he is a human.

Of course that's all post-Crisis and pre-DCnU, so it's out the window in terms of current comics continuity, but in my opinion that was the best interpretation of Superman I've read.

A close second was Mark Millar's Superman from "Red Son" who was really a human sent back in time and Jor-L is actually a distant descendant of Luthor (the L is for Luthor).

 

[JBElliott]

Either this JBElliot guy is trolling or he's trying to say Superman is human in the Star Trek II Kirk's eulogy for Spock way:

"Of all the souls I've encountered in my travels, his was the most... human"

I'm not trolling Kabukima, are you?

 

[JBElliott]

Yes, the interesting thing about Superman is that he is an alien that has been raised as a human and thus has values comparable to Earthians. Playing up the alien side is what makes him an interesting character. Although many of the people that came to America embraced their new identity as an "American," they are still interested in their roots and finding out where they came from. I'd think this would be multiply true for someone from another planet with gifts far beyond those of mortal men.

I disagree with that. Playing up is alien physiology and Kryptonian history doesn't make the character more interesting. That's just a popular thing that writers do nowadays, but something that's been done a lot better with other characters. Superman shouldn't be about the loss of his parents (Batman does that a lot better) or the loss of his world (J'onn J'onzz does that a lot better). Superman should be about doing the right thing no matter how difficult or unpopular it is. If you think that sounds boring, then you haven't read good writers working that angle.