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Here are Kurt Busiek's answers to questions fans put to him about "Superman #668" and other relevant topics:
Kurt's Answers
shaxpere (email address withheld) asks:If Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew are fictional characters on this Earth, are Superman et al. fictional characters on Earth 26?
Kurt: I...have no idea. The pre-Crisis Superman traveled to Earth-C once, so it might have come up there, but I don't have that comic handy. I don't think so, though -- as I recall, the Earth-C versions of the JLA characters are the "Justa Lotta Animals," featuring Super-Squirrel. I think that's as close as they get, but without researching it, I don't know for sure.
Chris Clow (demolitionist@gmail.com) asks:
Does this story give way to more Batman-inclusive stories along with Superman? Are there any plans involving Batman teaming up with Superman in your plans with Geoff Johns?
Kurt: Having Batman turn up in a Superman comic doesn't particularly mean that the gates are open for more such team-ups, Chris, any more than, say, having Zatanna show up a couple of times means she'll be turning up regularly. Less, maybe, since Batman and Superman have a regular team-up book where most of those stories would naturally appear. He turns up in this one because it made sense for him to be involved in this story, and, well, I write Superman, so it appears there.
On the other hand, it doesn't mean there won't be more Batman appearances, either. Just that Batman can turn up as needed. So can lots of other characters, but we'll be trying to strike an appropriate balance between stories with guest-stars (which can be fun) and stories where Superman is a solo act (it is his book, after all).
As for other plans, I do have some plans involving both of those characters (among others), but maybe not what you're imagining.
Satyen Gandhi (satyengandhi@hotmail.com) asks:
Kurt, keep up the good work! My question is about the explanation of the way the red sun affects Kryptonians from this issue. Is this the same way the red sun affected Kal-L and Kal-El, when they flew Superboy-Prime through Krypton's red sun in Infinite Crisis? I don't see it as necessarily contradictory, but I wonder at what point while flying through the red sun, and then landing on the planet, the red sun exposure froze their powers? Are there different levels of powers being frozen? Chris Kent got his powers back rather quickly, but he was only exposed to a watch sized amount of red sun. Clark flew through a red sun, and lost his powers for a year. Is it how long and intense the exposure is that affects how quickly the powers are lost? Or is it that living on Earth for basically his whole life meant that Clark has more yellow sunlight in his cells then Chris Kent, which then makes it take longer for his powers to freeze?
Kurt: In Infinite Crisis, they went through Eldirao (Krypton's sun) very fast, so the power-lock hadn't taken effect until they were out and either in Mogo's atmosphere or almost there. And the return of Clark's powers had nothing to do with how much red sun exposure he had, and more to do with the psychological block he postulated in that story. I've co-plotted a Superman story with Roger Stern that'll delve into that a bit more. I don't know when it'll appear, though.
As for the specific stats of how fast and how long red sun exposure affects Kryptonians, that'll have to be explored through future stories.
Adam Dechanel (email address withheld) asks:
Why is Batman more and more prominent in Superman arcs these days? It's almost like he can't do anything without Bruce...
Kurt: I don't know. Since I started writing Superman, I think this is the first time the two have been in the same room together in the book, so Superman can clearly accomplish plenty without Batman. But Superman isn't the kind of guy who'll refuse to ring in some help from time to time -- otherwise, why would he join the JLA? So if he's got a mystery to solve and he's been pulled every which way by different demands, I can't see where working with his ally and teammate, the world's greatest detective, is something he'd shy away from. Or if he needs a way to turn off Kryptonian powers, and knows that Batman's been researching just that, then it makes sense to start there. Could he manage on his own? Of course. Is he so insecure that he's got to prove he can manage on his own at every opportunity? I don't think so.
Robert Willing (staredcraft@yahoo.com) asks:
It seems the third Kryptonian is the pre-crisis Superwoman isn't it? Let's just say it IS her...were you a fan of the character before hand? Or did you just see her as an interesting concept that was never had the chance to be utilized post-crisis?
Kurt: You'll find out who the Third Kryptonian is next issue, so I won't say who he or she is before then. But the pre-Crisis Superwoman wasn't Kryptonian -- she was a time-traveling descendant of Jimmy Olsen's who got powers from her suit, I think. So this is pretty clearly someone else.
And I liked the pre-Crisis Superwoman a lot more before she put on the suit. That may be in part because I never liked that costume design, though.
shaxpere (email address withheld) asks:
I thought young Clark had powers from his early childhood on, so why would Superman tell Chris that his powers are more advanced than they were when Superman was his age?
Kurt: Because his powers weren't as advanced at that stage as Chris's are now, Shax. He had them, but not at the same level yet.
dayzdoom (Email address withheld by request) asks:
The implication seems to be that Superman's costume is made of Kryptonian material. (a la Ma Kent crafting it out of the blankets from Kal's rocket). Does this mean the "bio aura" is now out of continuity?
Kurt: Time will have to tell. But yes, the costume is made out of Kryptonian material.
James Lantz (alfonso_pupinio@yahoo.com) asks:
With the third Kryptonian being part of the recent story arcs, will we be seeing a meeting or confrontation between Zod and Kryptonian number three?
Kurt: Not in this arc, at least, James -- since all of this arc will be out before "Last Son" concludes, I wouldn't want to give away even more about how that one ends. Whether they meet in the future depends on a lot of things -- including whether the Third Kryptonian survives the arc.
Adam Dechanel (email address withheld) asks:
How do you think fans will feel about revealing Miss Wells is 'in name only' related to the original? I found it fun to decipher through the clues but admit I felt cheated with the 'big reveal'.
Kurt: You've only gotten to the "tease," not the "big reveal." But we never said the Third Kryptonian was a mystery readers could figure out, so I'm not that worried that there's not a big reveal of someone familiar to the audience. This is an introduction, not a surprise return of an existing character. [For that matter, even the pre-Crisis Superwoman wouldn't be someone all that familiar to the audience; she appeared less than a handful of times over twenty years ago.]
As for how readers will react, I'm hoping they'll like the character, but we'll see how things go.
shaxpere (email address withheld) asks:
Have we ever seen these aliens that are hunting Kryptonians before? Are they related to the Auctioneer's appearance back in "Action Comics" last year?
Kurt: You've seen at least one of them before. And you'll learn more about them over the next two issues.
Thanks Kurt. We appreciate your continued involvement with the QfK Forum.
Kurt: My pleasure, sir. Let's hope people enjoy what's coming up!
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