Um yeah. Exactly?
I was retorting a claim that All-Star was "Modern".
Maybe Norrin meant "current" since by that definition All-Star is modern, even if everything else is diagonally backwards into a temporally retarded definition of the dcu.
Superman: a radical (I assume) brainstormed idea
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Um yeah. Exactly?
I was retorting a claim that All-Star was "Modern".
Maybe Norrin meant "current" since by that definition All-Star is modern, even if everything else is diagonally backwards into a temporally retarded definition of the dcu.
I've always liked the relatively simple justification of good acting skills plus the fact that people doesn't even think about Superman having a secret identity: he's the most powerful hero in the world, virtually a god unto himself, goes around completely unmasked, why would he need a secret identity? If you meet Heracles, you don't think that he looks a bit like the moron that work in the cubicle down the corridor.
None.
The further askew things get, it's becoming obvious that the last episode is going to be about traveling back in time and fixing things (Getting rid of Chloe.) so that L'll Clark grows up as Superboy and not a hayseed that does a days labouring of 15 farmhands every hour for a business that is still in a downward spiral towards financial ruin, when he should have been flying about having silly adventures.
Jonathan Kent was the worst farmer in the universe.
The further askew things get, it's becoming obvious that the last episode is going to be about traveling back in time and fixing things (Getting rid of Chloe.) so that L'll Clark grows up as Superboy and not a hayseed that does a days labouring of 15 farmhands every hour for a business that is still in a downward spiral towards financial ruin, when he should have been flying about having silly adventures.
Jonathan Kent was the worst farmer in the universe.
All-Star Superman may take inspiration from the Silver and Bronze age Superman, but it is contemporary in its storytelling.
TV Guide had something that Welling might not even be dressed as Superman in the final episode due to possible conflicts with the film franchise, or something like that. I can't find the article at present.
However, they allude to the tights, cape, and glasses in "Legion", the episode with the Legion of Superheroes.
It wasn't exactly the full "S-curl" on his Clark as much as it was errant locks in his face. Here's an interesting publicity shot.
I always thought Dean Cain was the spitting image of Byrne's Superman.
Oliver Wendall Douglas.
Yeah, I like that idea. The way I see it, people are always saying to Clark Kent, "Gee, you know who you remind me of?" I mean, we all know somebody who reminds us of a celebrity.
Besides, if you asked most people how Superman would disguise himself, they'd probably assume he'd wear a fat suit, a curly blond wig, a fake beard, stuff like that. It would never occur to them that someone who obviously looks so much like Superman could possibly be the actual Superman in disguise. After all, Superman would never be so stupid as to think a pair of glasses and a suit could disguise him, would he?
So I figure that by using such a minimalist disguise, Superman is really using reverse psychology. He wants to look enough like Superman that nobody thinks he really is. 
I've always thought about it in these terms as well. The only catch is, for a hero who has all of Metropolis and the globe under the umbrella of his protection, he spends a great deal of time hanging around that one newspaper and the people that work there.
Ol Scratch
Lieutenant Commander
It's good in theory but not in practice. Particularly when he always disappears (often protrayed as vanishing in thin air) just moments before Superman shows up on the scene. Considering that he spends most of his time hanging around investigative reporters -- one of whom is often claimed to be the best in the business -- that's just not going to cut it in any sensible way.Yeah, I like that idea. The way I see it, people are always saying to Clark Kent, "Gee, you know who you remind me of?" I mean, we all know somebody who reminds us of a celebrity.
Besides, if you asked most people how Superman would disguise himself, they'd probably assume he'd wear a fat suit, a curly blond wig, a fake beard, stuff like that. It would never occur to them that someone who obviously looks so much like Superman could possibly be the actual Superman in disguise. After all, Superman would never be so stupid as to think a pair of glasses and a suit could disguise him, would he?
Doubly so when he's so intimiately close to said reporter in both guises. His scent alone would give him away.
He took the job at the Planet because, as a hub of information, a newspaper office was the best place to learn about crises in the offing. Which probably isn't as viable an idea today in the age of TV and the Internet as it was in 1938.
Yeah, the TV trope where a character is talking to Clark and turns to see he's gone is rather implausible. But there are better ways of handling it. The '88 syndicated Superboy series did something cool with the idea in, of all things, a clip show. The in-story source of the clips was a computer that took eyewitness accounts of events and constructed visual recreations thereof. Lana Lang fed the machine information on all of Superboy's heroic feats and asked it to correlate if anyone was always missing from the scene whenever Superboy was present. The computer fed back one name: Clark Kent. When Lana confronted Clark with this, his response was to point out that the reconstructions were based on Lana's own memory of the events. "And in your eyes, when Superboy's around, I don't exist."
But comics and TV characters can only smell things when the plot requires it!
Maybe Superman has the same degree of control over his endocrine systems that he has over his vocal cords, and can modify his scent in the same way that he can modify his voice to impersonate Batman or whoever.
In fact, come to think of it, that could be a major factor in his disguise, since humans respond more strongly to scent and pheromones than we consciously realize. If Clark had a less appealing scent than Superman, then people, especially women, would find him less attractive and noticeable. Despite the evidence of their eyes, they might convince themselves that Superman is much better-looking than Clark.
Even in this day and age, working at an information hub makes a certain amount of sense. I recently read the book of early Superman comic strips, Superman:The Dailies 1939-1942, which shows Clark as much more a tough investigative muckraker and Superman as an extension of this idea (Superman spent his time straightening out crooked orphanages and the like).
But it does little to deflect the question as to why the universe trotting hero Superman spends an unusual amount of energy saving and hanging around the exact same people Clark Kent does. That can't help the secret identity bit any.
Has anybody here ever read the (now sadly long out-of-print) Superman novels by Elliott Maggin, Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday? In addition to having the best take ever on Lex Luthor, the books do a great job delving into the difference between Clark and Superman. One fascinating aspect of the Clark identity is that Clark is kind of a passionate hobby of Superman's, wherein Superman works really hard at making Clark a complete identity, right down to giving Clark little tics, personality traits and hobbies of his own.
Honestly, the books are well worth tracking down, and although they're more or less rooted in the pre-Crisis version of Superman, it's a shame they're out of print.
Honestly, the books are well worth tracking down, and although they're more or less rooted in the pre-Crisis version of Superman, it's a shame they're out of print.
Read them, loved them, still own them.
They're available online here, along with a Krypto story by Maggin and purchasing links for some other Superman books:
http://theages.superman.nu/Novels/
Back in the '70s, either Action or Superman published a story about "The Forgotten Super Power". Some criminal found a way to purloin Superman's powers one by one and he THOUGHT he'd had them all but Kal had one ace up his sleeve: Super ventriloquism.Maybe Superman has the same degree of control over his endocrine systems that he has over his vocal cords, and can modify his scent in the same way that he can modify his voice to impersonate Batman or whoever.
From Wiki:
Of course he used it to somehow trick the villain into reversing the effects of his device.
Even though it's a silver age "power", that's not too far removed from your above thought because it's not difficult to assume that Clark would combine his super hearing with his super intellect and muscle control to perfect the ability to mimic other people's voices.
Love Maggins book...he captures the air of the character perfectly. His Kingdom Come novelization is awesome you should get a chance to check it out if you can find it.
Green Acres is the place to be.
That's right! I had forgotten they were online. Seriously, anybody who hasn't read them absolutely needs to. I always wished Maggin had done more of them.
Yeah, it is great. In many ways I like Maggin's novel more than the original graphic novel.