Superman's loss of powers in OYL....

[DR.MID-NITE]

In the One Year Later books. We see that Superman has lost his powers due to the red sun in his fight with Superboy. I know most of his powers come from the energy of our yellow sun. But, wasn't part of his powers/invulnerabilty due to the low gravity of Earth? So wouldn't he have some of his powers still?

[Eddie G.]

I got the feeling from the last issue I read (I haven't read the latest issue of Superman) that it's more than a loss of powers, his body isn't operating the way it's supposed to. His body isn't absorbing sunlight at all like it should so I think it's reasonable for him to not be flying either even if that's not related to his actual sunlight powers. Also, remember this is New Earth we're dealing with, so his flight may be related to yellow sunlight now, who knows?

My personal theory is that all of this is a direct result of when Alex tried to Merge Superman and Alexander Luthor I and not flying through a Red Sun.

[Jor-El]

Superman's powers have not been related to Earth's gravity for many, many years now. Yes, gravity used to be DC's explanation for his powers, but it did not account for his special vision, etc. So they went with yellow sunlight.

Read the newest Superman (if you have not already) for the latest revelations.

[Anthonynotes]

In the One Year Later books. We see that Superman has lost his powers due to the red sun in his fight with Superboy. I know most of his powers come from the energy of our yellow sun. But, wasn't part of his powers/invulnerabilty due to the low gravity of Earth? So wouldn't he have some of his powers still?

Superman's powers were attributed exclusively to Earth's lower gravity in the 50's, but shortly after Supergirl's debut and origin in 1959, the explanation was changed to that of being a combination of a yellow sun and the low gravity (with the greater emphasis/deciding factor being the yellow sun aspect---as cited when the yelllow sun explanation was introduced, under a red sun, he'd be powerless even if it had low gravity)... eventually, the gravity aspect was either ignored or only cited as a minor aid in factors such as his super-strength/super-speed....

So the answer currently would apparently be "no."

-B.
Is still not buying the idea that Clark Kent would ever say he "pissed somebody off", as seen in the previous issue in the current storyline...

[Eddie G.]

Is still not buying the idea that Clark Kent would ever say he "pissed somebody off", as seen in the previous issue in the current storyline...COME ON! You have one of the best characterizations since Birthright of Clark Kent and you're hung up on him saying "pissed off"?

[Anthonynotes]

COME ON! You have one of the best characterizations since Birthright of Clark Kent and you're hung up on him saying "pissed off"?

Well, frankly, yes----think it's out of character for Clark Kent (of all people) to use such a somewhat-crude phrase (already thought his saying "dammit" in a previous issue was a bit *too* casually used by Clark---guess for me, Clark's one of those people who'd only swear under duress... the whole "goody goody" bit and all ;-) ).

But otherwise, Clark's characterization is OK in this series....

-B.

[Eddie G.]

Well, frankly, yes----think it's out of character for Clark Kent (of all people) to use such a somewhat-crude phrase (already thought his saying "dammit" in a previous issue was a bit *too* casually used by Clark---guess for me, Clark's one of those people who'd only swear under duress... the whole "goody goody" bit and all ;-) ).

But otherwise, Clark's characterization is OK in this series....

-B.It's "pissed"? I really do know what you're talking about and yes, Clark should not be tossing out f-bombs or the sort. But words like damn, hell, piss, and crap are just not that vulgar at all, you can find a good amount of them in some children books.

You're just being silly, man. It's one thing for Clark to be a nice guy, but it's another when you begin avoiding aspects of human nature. Sorry, farm boy/football players who are also journalists and also superheroes who also have a very, very strong wife, would say "pissed."

[klammed]

I don't read the supes issues, but yes, like Eddie, I think that's overeacting a bit.

Question: are you in referral to 'Clark' specifically, or 'Kal-el'? It would make more sense that way if you thought it was out of character for the persona Kal chooses to adopt when he's not Supes. (Sheesh, I never realised Supe's identities are worse to talk about than Bat's).

Personally though, I was positively thrilled when he said 'like hell' in IC. IMHO, showed he was no pushover.

[randomguy]

Is still not buying the idea that Clark Kent would ever say he "pissed somebody off", as seen in the previous issue in the current storyline...I found it somewhat jarring too, but it seems like a silly thing to get hung up on in light of the otherwise excellent characterization of Clark in the storyline.

No offense, Brainatra, but I sometimes think you just have a bias towards older comics and it unreasonably taints your judgement. You don't seem to give new things as much of a chance. Although Superman may not have said "pissed off" in the Silver Age he still did all kinds of loopy, weird, mean things that are way more negative than Clark occassionally using the word "pissed".

[Jack Frenzy]

I got the feeling from the last issue I read (I haven't read the latest issue of Superman) that it's more than a loss of powers, his body isn't operating the way it's supposed to.
My guess is that we're finally seeing the significance of the Ruin storyline, one of the most inexplicably dangling IC threads from the Countdown-era.

In the scene where Ruin is revealed to be working for Society Lex/Alex, he reports to Alex that Superman's "...emotional state correlates to fluctuations in his solar storage. The more stress he's under, the more energy he retains from the sun."

What Alex was up to with this information was never explained, nor for that matter were most of his manipulations in the pre-Infinite-Crisis Superman books. I used to think he was trying to aid Max Lord's attempts to subvert Superman, but Alex claimed in IC to have had no part in the breakup of the trinity. (Although this may be a case of "plot-creep;" that is, the writers gradually wandering away from their original plot.)

However, it might have been foreshadowing of Superman's loss of powers, in which case I guess the explanation for his continued powerlessness is that a normal life with Lois is too happy and stress-free. It's holding back his solar absorption. He'll only start getting them back if he feels threatened and/or morally outraged.

[Anthonynotes]

It's "pissed"? I really do know what you're talking about and yes, Clark should not be tossing out f-bombs or the sort. But words like damn, hell, piss, and crap are just not that vulgar at all, you can find a good amount of them in some children books.

You're just being silly, man. It's one thing for Clark to be a nice guy, but it's another when you begin avoiding aspects of human nature. Sorry, farm boy/football players who are also journalists and also superheroes who also have a very, very strong wife, would say "pissed."

Don't recall use of "crap" in the books I read as a kid (though seen the others in a book or two then), but do think "piss" is somewhat vulgar a word to hear Clark/Superman uttering (no problem with hearing it on "South Park" or the like)...

Guess I just consider Clark as someone who wouldn't want to use crude language/slang as easily as the comic showed, vs. being extremely ticked off or something (shrug). Not part of any bias toward older versions of the character or "avoiding aspects of human nature" (since not everyone uses curse words/"piss"). Don't think I'm being "silly"... plus, thought "Birthright" ditched the "Clark as a jock in high school" stuff, anyway...

Still thought the comic was OK---that was just my criticism of what I thought was one of its faults, is all.

-B.

[Lorendiac]

For what it's worth: I'm basically with Brainatra on the subject of Clark and vulgar language.