Superman Comic Books
DC Comics Q&A in the rec.arts.comics.* FAQ
Questions covered are:- What was the Crisis on Infinite Earths?
- What was Zero Hour?
- Where can I find "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex"?
- What are the different types of Kryptonite?
- Where are the real locations of Metropolis, etc?
What was the Crisis on Infinite Earths?
The Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-issue series published by DC in 1985-6. The "Crisis" effectively revamped the entire DC Universe by merging several universes (containing the various DC characters) into a single universe (whose history is still somewhat unclear in parts). The Crisis was used as an opportunity to change DC history retroactively (see "retcon" in the list of definitions in part 2), including the remaking of several main DC characters. Thus people refer to the "post-Crisis" Superman, Wonder Woman, etc., as distinct from the "pre-Crisis" versions who existed on "Earth-1" (Silver Age) or "Earth-2" (Golden Age).
The confusion *really* begins because the revamping and "retconning" didn't all take place in the Crisis limited series itself, nor in the comics immediately after then. If DC had simply started all their series over from scratch, things would have been pretty straightforward. Instead, they declared the Pre-Crisis history to be implicitly intact, until and unless they could explicitly create the new, post-Crisis versions of characters and histories.
Thus, new changes were still being made in titles up to eight years after the end of Crisis. So, for example, the "old" Hawkman appeared in the "new" Justice League. But then Timothy Truman began writing "Hawkworld", which retconned Hawkman's character; among other changes, Hawkman "now" arrived on Earth much later. So, the Hawkman who appeared in the new Justice League comic (call him the Silver Age Hawkman, or the pre-Crisis Hawkman) "now" (in real world time) "no longer exists, and never has" (within current DC continuity).
But then the creators realized the problem, so they said that most of the Silver Age Hawkman appearances in JLA were actually by the Golden Age Hawkman, and a new Hawkman was created whose purpose was to satisfy those few JLA appearances made after the GA Hawkman was known to have been MIA.
Confused yet? Suffice it to say, the way DC handled the Crisis and its aftermath confuses *lots* of readers and provides a perennial topic of discussion on r.a.c.misc. Zero Hour was said to be an attempt to "fix" problems caused by Crisis and part of the McGuffin for Zero Hour was that Crisis actually didn't end, and all continuity problems until ZH were symptoms of this. (see next question).
Zero Hour was intended to fix problems resulting from inconsistant post-Crisis DC continuity. It was a five issue mini-series in summer 1994 which will cause price guides fits since the order of the issues was #4, #3, #2, #1, #0. The month after Zero Hour, all mainstream DC Universe books were #0 issues, making it even more fun for indexers.
The #0 issue had a timeline of the DC Universe which is considered definitive. The end result of Zero Hour was the killing off and aging to their proper age several Justice Society members, and a resetting of the DC Universe such that it's much the same as the post-Crisis but with "subtle differences". So far, the only specific differences stated are:
- It's no longer true that Batman has caught his parents' killer.
- Bruce Wayne did officially adopt Dick Grayson.
- Dick Grayson had a traumatic experience in his early days as Robin relating to failing to prevent someone being killed by Two-Face. This has seems to have caused a character change to his being much more self doubting.
- Catwoman's origin was completed revamped in Catwoman #0. Changes include her no longer having been a prostitute (which was itself a post-Crisis retcon), her not having a sister, and not having been trained by Ted (Wildcat) Grant.
- Legion of Super-Heroes/Legionnaires: both books have started over completely from scratch, similar to the post-Crisis reboot of Superman and Wonder Woman. Past continuity has some effect on the books, but the writers are free to chuck it if they want to.
- Wonder Woman does not have her powers on Paradise Island.
- Contrary to what was said in the early 1990s JSA series about her having died when the JSA was in limbo, Al (Atom) Pratt's wife, Mary, was killed shortly after giving birth to Grant (Damage) Emerson circa 14-15 years before the JSA entered limbo. This would also invalidate her appearance in a pre-Crisis "Whatever Happened to the Golden Age Atom" story in DC Comics Presents, since she would have died before the current heroic age began.
- According to Christopher Priest, he was told circa June 1995 that Batman and J'onn J'onzz no longer know each other, and apparently Batman has never been in the Justice League. This is strange, given that the JL's Year One annual, out just weeks before (and after Zero Hour) had Batman in it (and J'onn J'onzz for that matter)
Where can I find "Man of Steel, Women of Kleenex"?
In the late 1960s, Larry Niven wrote a hysterically funny essay in which he speculated about possible problems that the pre-Crisis Superman would have in attempting to reproduce or just have sex with a Terran. The essay appears in Niven's collections "All the Myriad Ways" and "N-Space", and in the anthology "Alien Sex". And yes, we know that Niven didn't take the bottle city of Kandor into account. The story was also reprinted in Penthouse Comix #5, with some illustrations by Curt Swan (with all trademarked Superman indicators like costume colors and S-shield obscured). The essay can be found online at the rawbw.com website.
What are the different types of Kryptonite?
Post-Crisis (current comics) the main form of Kryptonite, usually refered to just as "Kryptonite", is green and has similar effects on Kryptonians as pre-Crisis Green K. While it has no immediate effect on Terrans or other races, prolonged exposure has resulted in cancer due to radiation.
Though the radiation from Kryptonite is harmful to all life, it is especially harmful to Kryptonians (notably Superman). Green Kryptonite radiation rapidly fills Superman's cells and drives out the solar energy stored therein. Prolonged exposure to green Kryptonite would be fatal to Superman.
Mr. Mxyzptlk created a chunk of red Kryptonite, which effectively removed Superman's powers for a time. Batman also created a red Kryptonite variety that makes Kryptonian's skin transparent, while not effecting humans. This caused Superman's powers to increase to the point where he couldn't control them due to the unfiltered rays of our yellow sun going straight into him. Ra's Al Ghul duplicated this in the "Tower of Babel" story line in the JLA comic book.
In the Pocket Universe storyline, Superman encountered what amounted to a rainbow of types of pre-Crisis Kryptonite. He was not affected by any of it, although PU Kryptonians were.
A whole spectrum of Kryptonite varieties were briefly seen at the beginning of the "Supergirl from Krypton" story line in the Superman/Batman comics when a Kryptonite meteor crashed to earth, most were collected and stored by the JLA and JSA, but were later stolen (most likely by Lex Luthor).
Lex Luthor incorporated a variety of these new colors into the gloves of his battle armor, in "Superman #2" (November 2005) Lex explains the affects and properties of these various types of Kryptonite:
- Green Kryptonite: Deadly to Kryptonians.
- Red Kryptonite: Causes erratic and unpredictable behavior in Kryptonians.
- Blue Kryptonite: Deadly to Bizarros.
- Black Kryptonite: (Affects currently unknown).
- Green Kryptonite: weakens and eventually kills super-powered Kryptonians. Usually harmless to other races, but one story in Brave and the Bold had a device used which resulted in Terrans being affected similar to Kryptonians.
- Anti-Kryptonite: similar to Green K, but affects non-super-powered Kryptonians. This was a retcon used to explain why the non-powered Argo City residents could be killed by what seemed to be Green K.
- X-Kryptonite: Only one chunk, it was created by Supergirl trying to find a cure for Green K. It gives Terrans, or at least Terran cats, Kryptonian style powers for a limited time.
- Red Kryptonite: Causes a specific, odd, effect. Often involved physical transformations or mental changes. Each chunk had a different effect, and could only affect a given Kryptonian once. Effects usually wore off in 24-48 hours. Created when Green K passed through a space cloud.
- Gold Kryptonite: Removes a Kryptonian's super-powers permanently. Created when Green K passed through a different space cloud.
- White Kryptonite: Kills any plant life from any world. Yep, another space cloud.
- Blue Kryptonite: Has the same effect on Bizarro Kryptonians as Green K does on real Kryptonians. Created by the same imperfect duplicator ray that created the Bizarros.
- Jewel Kryptonite: Remnents of Krypton's Jewel Mountains, it allows Phantom Zone residents to focus their mental energy and cause explosions in the outside world.
In "Batman Secret Files #1" (December 2018), writer Tom King introduced a new form of Kryptonite... Platinum Kryptonite. In a story titled "True Strength", Superman presents Batman with a gift, a piece of Platinum Kryptonite, which once touched, will give a person powers like Superman's for the rest of their life.
Where are the "real" locations of Metropolis, Gotham City, Hub City, etc., in the DC Universe?
Metropolis and Gotham City have been equated to *many* different real-world cities over the years; there is no one correct answer. (Even if there were, the current writers are under no duress to use it.) Hub City, from "The Question", is a bit different; it is based on a combination of two cities in Illinois, one of which is definitely East St. Louis. Writer Denny O'Neil admitted this at one point, but no longer does so in order not to offend residents of the cities.
Metropolis, as originally developed by Siegel and Shuster, was probably Cleveland, the "big city" with which they were most familiar. There are also possible early references to Toronto. Later, Superman's home was moved to somewhere in the BosWash corridor on the U.S. East Coast. "Who's Who in the Legion of Superheroes" showed a 30th century Metropolis, which stretched slightly beyond New York and Boston in either direction, and used those names explicitly in the description of Metropolis. John Byrne seemed to think it was back in the midwest.
Gotham is a traditional nickname for New York City, but there is a separate NYC in the DC universe. It is definitely a port city, probably on the east coast; too much plot has depended on that fact. Again, various sources have placed Gotham City all along the east coast, often near Metropolis. The distance to Metropolis has also varied; from hundreds of miles to linked by a bridge.
In DC Comics Presents #87 (Maggin written, Schwartz edited), Superman is transported to Earth-Prime, which, pre-Crisis, was supposedly our Earth. His thoughts are:
"The Earth's there all right...but everything's out of place! New York is sprawled out all over where Gotham is supposed to be...Boston suburbs cover Star City...and Metropolis is...Metropolis is nowhere to be seen!"
Also, in Adventures of Superman #425, Clark and Lois board a train travelling from Atlanta to Metropolis. Cities mentioned as in-between stops are Charlotte, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Gotham City, in that order. This would seem to imply that both Gotham and Metropolis are in New Jersey as the train is heading in a northern direction and New York City is not mentioned.
Frank Miller once claimed that, metaphorically, "Metropolis is New York in the daytime, while Gotham is New York at night." Works for me.
Mayfair Games published an Atlas of the DC Universe, written by DC staffer Paul Kupperberg. While not completely official, it does jibe with locations that DC used when its house fanzine of the mid-70s discussed this same question. The locations given for the main DC fictional cities are:
- Metropolis: Delaware
- Gotham City: New Jersey
- Star City: far nothern California
- Coast City: on 101 near Sausalito between San Francisco and Oakland
[Now destroyed, but based on maps shown in the Superman titles, seemingly moved to midway between LA and SF.] - Middleton (where J'onn J'Onzz first operated): suburb of Denver
- Littleville (Robby Reed): Wyoming
- Blue Valley (Kid Flash): northwest Nebraska, near South Dakota
- Central City/Keystone City: a bit north of Kansas City, Central is in Missouri while Keystone is in Kansas on the other side of the Mississippi
- Calvin City/Ivy Town (Atoms): both in Connecticut near New Haven
- Dos Rios (El Diablo): 65 miles south of San Antonio
- Fairfax (2nd Dial H for Hero): suburb of Bangor, Maine
- Midway City (Doom Patrol, Hawkman): Michigan, just east of Sault Ste. Marie
- Smallville: Kansas, 50 miles west of the I-70/I-35 interchange on I-70. The population is given as 90,000 btw.
John Byrne moved Wonder Woman to Gateway City, a fictional city not listed in the Mayfair Atlas. However, it was previously used at least twice. Once as the home of Jim (Spectre) Corrigan in the 1960s Spectre series, and it was mentioned as the final home of Terry (Mr. Terrific) Sloane in the JLA/JSA team-up where he was killed. At the time, Gateway City was on Earth-2, and given the Gateway Arch lookalike shown in Spectre, was clearly meant to be a St. Louis analog. However, Byrne has said that his Gateway City will be similar to San Francisco. Blame it on Crisis I guess.
One final note: There's an actual small town in southern Illinois named Metropolis, located about twenty miles north of where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers meet. Their "Welcome to Metropolis" sign has "Home of Superman" on it, they have a Superman statue on display, and every year they have a Superman festival. The local paper, a weekly, is called the Metropolis Planet.
This Welcome Message/FAQ is Copyright 1991-5 by Tom Galloway, and is made available as a service to the Internet community. It may not be sold in any medium, including electronic, CD-ROM, or database, packaged with any commercial product, or published in print, without the explicit, written, permission of Tom Galloway.
"There are no net.gods, just some people with bigger mouths than others." -- Dan'l DanehyOakes, net.roach
tyg tyg@hq.ileaf.com