One thing I've never understood regarding Superman stories

[Kaijima]

Personally, I've always accepted the issue like this:

Krypton was an ancient civilization, once a big player in the galaxy, but long retired from the stage. They DID have colonies, offshoots, and whatnot, but due to their extreme age and cultural divergence, no longer considered those descendants "Kryptonian". It's like the Vulcans vs Romulans topic.

So. Krypton is in trouble, but Kryptonian society is merely too entrenched in their simultaneously enlightened and degenerated state. They could have left the planet easily, but were so utterly homogeneous nobody did. I also imagine the actual population of the planet wasn't big at that stage. As an elder super civilization there were no "ordinary folk". Everyone was basically the patriarch or matriarch of their own little Kryptonian dynasty, all services and infrastructure maintained by automation and super science.

So a sparsely populated planet of detached aristocracy... Add that into the notion that Rao suddenly goes foom without warning and well - it's actually not too silly to think there were "no more Kryptonians".

But being technical, there ARE plenty of Kryptonians throughout the galaxy - hell, maybe zillions of them. Tons of humanoids and human-like species, in one way or another descended from the ancient Kryptonian empire during its youthful expansionist days.

 

[Christopher]

^But doesn't that kind of undermine the whole tragedy of Krypton, if what was lost was only a small population that merely pretended to be a separate race from the rest of their kind? And doesn't it rob Superman of any trace of uniqueness?

And if there are that many Kryptonians out in the galaxy, why isn't the galaxy densely populated with supermen? Yellow stars make up nearly 10% of the galaxy's stellar population, maybe 30-40 billion of them. That'd add up to a whole lot of civilizations with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

 

[Silvercrest]

Plus it makes Superman's claim of being the last Kryptonian kind of pointless.

 

[Anwar]

Kryptonians were big into genetic engineering. Perhaps the descendants of the old Kryptonian colonies wouldn't have the centuries of genetic modifications that Jor-El's generation would have and may not react at all to yellow sunlight?

 

[Broccoli]

The one thing I never understood about Superman stories is that Supes has this Phantom Zone projector, right? So, how come he never uses it when it can be extremely useful.

For example: during the Death of Superman, Doomsday is storming across the country killing everything in his way. Instead of getting the crap kicked out of him and indirectly being responsible for more deaths, why didn't he just grab the Projector and send Doomsday to Zoneville?

 

[The Old Mixer]

^The Superman who was killed by Doomsday was the post-Byrne revamp (1986) version. I don't think that he had a Phantom Zone projector at that point in that continuity.

 

[Myasishchev]

I think during Death of Superman, he did not have access to the Phantom Zone projector.

The only one I recall from that era, Zod immediately smashed when counter-Earth's Lex "Good is Dumb" Luthor let him out.

Although, since we're talking dumb Superman stuff, that's a storyline that didn't ring true for me. Not the execution, which was fine, but Zod and company's ridiculously over the top villainy.

Like, it had just been explained that the Time Trapper created that pocket universe, and had specifically left out everything that didn't directly involve Superboy--so the only planets that were even in that universe were Krypton and Earth.

Zod's strategy: kill everyone on Earth, so that him, some guy he doesn't even like, and an untrustworthy man-hater can live alone, forever, as "conquerors."

Good plan!

On the plus side, they did manage to kill Miri's Planet's Bruce Wayne (who wears hideous clothes he seems to have stolen from Spider-Man-foe Sandman), Hal Jordan, and Ollie Queen, the Three Musketeers of annoying douchebags (their D'Artagnan, one Barry Allen, was regrettably not involved). Granted, this was before they became such weeping sores on the backside of superhero comics, but as a visitor from their quantum duplicates' future it was fun to see.

Krypton was an ancient civilization, once a big player in the galaxy, but long retired from the stage. They DID have colonies, offshoots, and whatnot, but due to their extreme age and cultural divergence, no longer considered those descendants "Kryptonian". It's like the Vulcans vs Romulans topic.

It still only explains how crappy their space program (and geological science, really) is if their isolation is enforced, though.

Of course, it would make a lot of sense if it were enforced: Superman alone is capable of really fucking up the galaxy, imagine a billion of them, especially if, as a rule, they tend to be more like Zod than Kal-El.

So I like to imagine them being brought to heel in a major war and treated like Clemenceau wanted to treat Germany after WWI.

 

[Broccoli]

The Death of Superman was just one example. There are others such as his encounters with Imperix, Darkseid, and subsequent encounters with Doomsday (such as the current story arc in Action Comics).

However, I think he did have access to a Phantom Zone projector by that time. He played with one in the storyline Myasishchev references and that took place before the DoS story. Also, when the Eradicator came into the comics, he created the Fortress with all sorts of Krypton toys (PZ projector included, I believe).

 

[Myasishchev]

Yeah, I'm not saying it's not something of a plot hole.

On the other hand, Morrison (or Gerber long before him, although that was pre-Crisis) established the Phantom Zone as a lot more porous. I can imagine that Darkseid could get out.

Actually, the fact that Superman usually can physically challenge Darkseid is problematic for me... aren't the New Gods supposed to be beyond Kryptonians? Like, living ideas and all that dumb stuff?

But I just don't "get" the New Gods anyway. So Mr. Miracle is the son of a guy who is, basically, Jupiter, right? Scott Free is awesome, but outside of escaping elaborate deathtraps, he's pretty normal. I'm pretty sure Ted Kord could kick his divine ass, let alone Hercules or Athena, and that really doesn't seem right.

 

[shivkala]

Wikipedia references Action Comics #825 (written by Chuck Austen) which states that Batman created the "Doomsday Protocols" for putting him into the Phantom Zone, should he wreak havoc again.

Most of the stories I've seen with the Phantom Zone as a last resort. I can't remember where, I but I have a vague memory of Jor-El feeling guilty over it's invention and Superman also being reluctant to use it. Why that would extend to Doomsday, I don't know.

 

[Anwar]

There are native lifeforms in the Phantom Zone. It's an actual dimension, not some artificial thing. The criminals can just terrorize those people if too many of them were sent to the PZ.

 

[Broccoli]

There are native lifeforms in the Phantom Zone. It's an actual dimension, not some artificial thing. The criminals can just terrorize those people if too many of them were sent to the PZ.

What's preventing from any of the current criminals from doing that?

Besides, the nature of the Phantom Zone has changed continuously over time. I think, currently, it is thought to be an actual person (or, more likely, the essence of a person).

 

[Anwar]

What's preventing from any of the current criminals from doing that?

Nothing, and that's the core problem. Some of them already have done some bad things while in there.

 

[Myasishchev]

Krypton. Argo City.

I just got that.

Anyway, the worst Phantom Zone stuff had to be that Supergirl arc. I really have no idea what was happening with that, other than maybe Joe Kelly has a drug problem.

One day, I'd really like to read Gerber's miniseries.