#able to leap tall buildings in a single bound

[theforty7thgamer]

They should make a Superman trio of villains.

They should be called

The Speeding Bullet

The Powerful Locomotive

And The Tall Building

[abuddyforeveryseason]

It's Superman and Supergirl! Remember the Superdictionary? The one where Lex Luthor stole forty cakes? He stole forty cakes!

You know, it seems like, inside every writer, there are two wolves - one who wants to be as self-indulgent as they want, write stuff only to themselves, and not care about criticism at all. The other, the one who wants to be as popular as possible, try and craft a story based solely on what people want and strip it of any flaws, no matter how personally revelant these flaws are to them.

And to a certain point, both sides are kind of childish - wanting to be self-indulgent is like wanting to play with your toys alone and get mad at any suggestions, even though sometimes suggestions are given specifically because someone likes the writing, and wants to see it evolve. And of course, being too dependant on praise is also childish, cause it's like wanting mommy to see you do a tumble - having confidence means doing stuff for yourself as well, after all.

The one big criticism every writer has to answer to, the first thing everyone hears again and again when starting to write - is to avoid making your main character a Mary Sue. Meaning, flawless, overpowered, too important to the plot and being too unique compared to the rest of the cast.

Yeah, I mean, that does sound like an unpleasant read. The big problem is that term was created mostly to discuss stories that are based on the idea of external struggle. So if the conflict in the story comes from characters having a hard time surviving, a character that's universally powerful and beloved is boring.

That is the big complaint everyone has about Superman - why is in interesting to read a story where the tension comes from finding out who wins a fight, if one of the challengers can punch the sun shut?

And I'm not sure if I'd classify Superman as a Mary Sue. He's the strongest guy in the story, sure, but the conflict isn't whether he'll win a given fight. The conflict comes from the way the plot's constructed, whether Superman knows who the enemy is, if he can get there in time to stop him, how other people feel about it...

And there's the inner conflict that comes from Superman having a secret identity. That goes against the "Mary Sue" accusation because having the secret identity is a flaw. It was the big flaw that set the character apart from others when he was first published. And although it's never really explained why Superman even bothers "pretending" to be Clark Kent, it makes sense, even if only on a subconscious level, back when the character was created.

I know that, if I started developing superpowers as a teen, I wouldn't abandon my current identity and life, and my adolescence wasn't even as wholesome as Clark's, with his upstanding parents and friends. So, the reason Superman has a secret identity is that, even if he's not human, he's a person, with all the lived-in background, dreams and psychology that that ensues.

Then, during the Silver Age, writers pretty much gave up on portraying Superman as an enviable, much less powerful figure. For most of it, Superman was subjected to all sorts of humiliations, from being turned into a monkey every other issue, becoming evil at the flip of a hat, or otherwise being portrayed as a mean-spirited prankster or neurotic egomaniac.

All that, of course, was to suprise audiences who were shocked to see their hero reduced to such a pathetic figure.

Of course, after then, Superman was not much different than any other superhero out there - if he was super strong, his enemies were just as strong. Also sometimes he wasn't even that strong. There was even The Death of Superman, an interesting story where he was killed by the personification of the nineties.

Of course, the idea that the main character is going to be victorious isn't exactly news to the audience - at least not if the story's supposed to be about dangerous conflict. Nobody watches The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron assuming there's a chance Jimmy will be slaughtered by the end of the episode.

Mary Sues are called conflict-killers because they're overpowered, but also because they're boring. A character can be all that much better/stronger/smarter than everyone else, but readers don't mind it so much if they're also interesting. Or if the story around them is interesting. It's usually the case with a character like Sherlock Holmes - not only is he a genius, he's also surprisingly strong for a skinny, balding englishman. He's rich, too, and can even be pretty handsome and charming when he wants. And to top it all off, he's a badass who flaunts his superior intellect by declaring he gets bored with the matters of the common man.

But the stories are good, because his hypercompetence is what allows us to see him figuring out the truth. And that's often pretty interesting. Except in that story where the guy's impotence drugs were turning him into a monkey.

There are other ways to make stories with all-competent characters interesting. Sometimes comics are more about the art (and in some cases, the circunstances that make it so the backgrounds are so interesting), so it's a lot of fun if Mary Sue's just plowing her way through the plot to let us see the pretty pictures. If the Mary Sue isn't the protagonist, jealousy and admiration are interesting plots. It's a thing that works well in comedy too.

But the interesting thing about Mary Sues, and Superman in particular, is that, if the character isn't bogged down by the dangers of the world and its associated fears, the story becomes becomes purely about morality - if Superman can do anything he wants, what should he do? The best Superman (and Superman analogue) stories are about questions like that. And some of the worst ones are the ones that fumble the answer.

Anyway, he's resting with Supergirl there. Funny. Why does he even need to rest? He can punch out the sun for God's sake!

[guspartenza]

THE SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON, FANART+FANFIC INTRODUCTION

art by https://www.deviantart.com/gabrielrb91

What would you think about an alternate universe with a female-Clark as Superwoman in the golden age?

Is the only main change in the classic canon together with her love interest, is not Earth-11, let's say is Eart-19...meet Clara Kent/Superwoman!

It's 1948, in Metropolis!

Up in the sky! Look! It's a bird? It's a plane? No! It's Superwoman!

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, The Woman of Steel: Superwoman!

Empowered with X-ray vision, possessing remarkable physical strength, Superwoman fights a never-ending battle for love, truth, and justice, disguised as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, Clara Kent!

In a world plagued by the Cold War and mistrust, can Superwoman bring peace to the world while fighting for love, truth, justice, and the American way? Can she finally find a happy life with Louis Lane, the love of her life? Can she defeat Lex Luthor and the terrible ancient evil he is about to awaken?

You can download full free illustrated fanfic in pdf here! SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON-FREE ILLUSTRATED FANFIC by lordmallory on DeviantArt or here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XPh48B9_giTgDpnBXjRP-4Z4ksUU-WzR/view?usp=drive_link

Art by https://www.deviantart.com/letoart

KALA-EL/CLARA JOSEPHINE KENT/SUPERWOMAN

BORN: Krypton, a moon in a distant galaxy. Formally 28/02/1918, SMALLVILLE, KANSAS

PROFESSION: ASSISTANT REPORTER

YEAR: 1948

PLACE: METROPOLIS (METROPOLIS COUNTY, NEW YORK)

art by https://www.deviantart.com/wagemagegames

-Farmgirl, born Kansas 1918. No sisters nor brothers.

-Nicest girl in the office but very unfunny.

-Disappears without reason very often.

-Lives alone in a little flat and has a golden retriever dog called Krypto.

-Daddy issues. Her father didn't let her pursue a career as ballet dancer or swimmer (he didn't want her to take advantage of her powers) and died when she was 18.

-Former nurse during the war in the Pacific Ocean and in the Philippines.

-Loves children and dogs

-Tomboyish trails. Not quite elegant.

-Music-Hall fan, Katherine Hepburn and James Stewart fan

-Favorite books: Scarlet Pimpernel adventures, Jane Austen, Upton Sinclair and Virginia Wolf, somewhat eclectic.

-Amateur writer of children's stories, with characters such as DeeDog and the Komfy Dragon.

-She greatly admires her boss, Perry Weiss. A 1940s very liberal Republican style journalist, chief editor of the Daily Planet. She despises her deputy boss Cat Grant.

-Ambiguous relationship with her other boss Louis Lane. Clara has a good friendship with Louis and hides that she is very much in love with him. At the same time, she competes a lot with Mr. Lane and is annoyed by his political ideas and his paternalism.

-Strange friendship with young millionaire Bruce Wayne, something that is very surprising for the people in the Daily Planet newsroom.

-Always good scoops but never appears in the front line and too stubborn and independent to grow fast in the newspaper.

-Progressive quaker like her fathers.

-Civil rights supporter.

-Dislikes General McArthur, dislikes even more Lex Luthor

-Loves Eleanor Roosevelt but also Governor Dewey.

-Hates guns

-Supports unions, splits ticket between Metropolis Liberal Party and the two main parties. Politicians must be kind.

art by https://www.tumblr.com/bobbinalong

SUPERHEROINE LIFE

-Superpowers: Flight, Super-Strength, Super-Speed, X-Ray Vision, Heat Vision, Enhanced Vision, Super-Hearing, Super-Breath, Freeze-Breath, High Invulnerability, Super-Stamina

-Can fly to a Mach 100 speed.

-Acts as Superwoman since October 1945.

-Defeated Zod invasion in July1946.

-Initial bad relationship with Batman but now close friends and allies. Together with Flash they conform the Justice League.

-Didn't act as Superwoman during the World War II because she was afraid of her powers. After the discovery of the Holocaust and the atomic bombs she decided to step in and showed herself to the world on autumn 1945.

-Worst enemy: Lex Luthor, heir of Nikola Tesla, rocket engineer & CEO of TELCORP (Tesla-Luthor Co.)

-Deeply in love with Louis Lane, who strongly rejects the superheroine.

-She hides her supersuit and cape under her normal clothes. The material is extraordinarily thin, flexible and resistant, and very easy to wear under normal clothing. Whenever someone needs Superwoman, she just needs to find an inconspicuous place, rip her shirt, unfold her cape and fly away at full speed.

-Widely admired.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/bluerollerball

art by Gabriel Larragan (Ko-Fi)

FAMILY & ORIGINS

The El family & Krypton

Krypton was a decadent civilization located on a moon near a large gaseous planet in the Orion belt, next to a green sun. In the past they had visited Earth and other planets expanding civilization, but their penchant for slavery, war, resource extraction and violence caused many of these projects to fail. Even in 10,500 BC the Kryptonians almost caused the terraforming of the Earth, melting the poles and destroying Atlantis and other civilizations, causing among other things the end of the Ice Age. Nearly 99% of humanity perished during that Kryptonian attack.

Over the centuries the Kryptonians lost the fuel necessary to travel across space and ended up confined to their planet, dedicated to warfare, genetic engineering-creating clones whose organs they needed to extend their lives-to pleasure and to exploiting the subsoil of their planet. The Kryptonians also established a dictatorship with a caste system based on genetic engineering and prohibited natural reproduction.

Jor-El and Lara were a couple of scientists critical of the system and supporters of the abolition of the caste system. They also fought against genetic engineering, violent repression, and the permanent destruction of the ecosystem. After a series of terrible earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and gas outbursts, it became clear that Krypton's core was collapsing, due to the energetic drilling and magnetic energy used in Krypton's industry. The Planet was doomed but the ruling caste ignored it. Jor-El and Lara had a daughter, Kala-El in a natural way against all the rules of Krypton. Lara managed to manufacture a small ship capable of making a space jump to save her daughter from the end of Krypton. General Zod stole her design and managed to build a larger fleet of ships but Jor-El managed to sabotage them and send the fleet to the Phantom Zone, a black hole near Krypton.

Lara decided to send Kala to Earth, confident that the culture of this planet was much more hopeful and kinder, and less prone to the mistakes of Krypton than other distant inhabited planets closer to them. Jor-El preferred to send her to New Genesis, another distant inhabited planet, because there Kala would receive less radiation and develop less extraordinary abilities that would allow her to live a normal life, but eventually Lara convinced him. During her journey to Earth and her growing period under a yellow sun, Kala would develop wonderful powers and could live a long life in the service of mankind, rehabilitating Krypton's legacy.

Within hours of Kala's birth, she was placed in the small ship, accompanied by the robot guide Kelex, whose memory was imprinted with the consciousness of Jor-El and Lara, as well as nearly all of Krypton's cultural heritage. They included several Kryptonian artifacts inside, such as a nearly indestructible ceremonial female ancestral caped suit with the crest of the House of El on its chest.

The ship was launched just hours before Krypton's demise and travelled through space for thirty years...

art by https://www.tumblr.com/bobbinalong

Joe&Martha Kent, Kansas life

Joe and Martha Kent were a Quaker farming couple whose farm was struck by the pod carrying Kala-El the 28th of February of 1918. Although owners of substantial property they were a very humble, cooperative, austere, devout, and civil rights-minded people. Martha Kent was a descendant of Kansas abolitionist guerrilla fighter John Brown. They both raised Clara very lovingly and unwilling to ask too many questions about the baby's origin. Clara was a very sickly child as her body did not adapt to the Earth. She was an affectionate and obedient girl and devoured books. The Kent family were avowed supporters of the New Deal and Joe Kent was a member of the local farmers union.

With puberty Clara developed very fast, and her superpowers began to appear. She soon began to excel in swimming and ballet, while still questioning her origins, but Joe forbade her to pursue a professional career to prevent her from taking advantage of her powers, and moreover he forbade her to use her superpowers to help others, fearful of humanity's reaction and wary of savior messiahs in the era of interwar dictators.

Clara rebelled against her father but eventually gave in, fearful of her own abilities and understanding her parents' position. During these years, Clara didn't fit in very well, but she had two best friends, Pete Ross, with whom she was secretly in love, and Lana Lang. Pete didn't know about her superpowers, but Lana did. In 1936 Joe Kent died of a heart attack, devastating her daughter. Clara was unable to go to college after her father's death and worked as a teacher and nurse's aide in Smallville. Her engagement to Pete Ross, her teenage sweetheart failed in 1939 when she revealed her powers to Pete and he panicked, although he later promised to keep the secret. In those times of sadness, Kelex, the Kryptonian robot, was activated, explaining to Clara her true origins, which filled her with confusion.

Between 1939 and 1941 Clara lived in Canada and Alaska searching for the Fortress of Solitude, a strange place Kelex was pointing, but with the outbreak of World War II she decided to enlist as a nurse in the Pacific, refusing to use her powers except to help the wounded, fearing to cause more harm than good. In late 1944, the hospital ship on which he was traveling, the USS Shuster, was torpedoed by the Japanese. Clara jumped into the water and managed to keep the ship afloat with her super strength until she managed to beach it. No one understood how miraculously the ship had stayed afloat and even levitated. The incident was kept secret. Clara got a permit to return home and she revisited Alaska where she found the Fortress of Solitude with the help of Kelex. There she was able to better understand her origins and began to train her superpowers.

After learning about the Holocaust first and the atomic bombs later, Clara decided to become Superwoman and help others with her superpowers dressed in the ceremonial Kryptonian costume of her ancestors. Her mother Martha supported her decision. She relocated to Metropolis, where in September 1945 she was hired as an assistant reporter by Major Louis Lane, who had just returned from Europe.

art by LuisF47 - Hobbyist, Digital Artist | DeviantArt

On October 1, 1945, Superwoman unveiled herself to the world and caused a huge sensation. The world was changed forever. Superwoman introduced herself to the newly formed United Nations, explaining her origins and her desire to help others and to stay out of political conflicts except to protect civilians.

Clara Kent began her double life as a journalist and as Superwoman. In July 1946, she defeated the invasion of General Zod and the survivors of Krypton. She also had to face other enemies such as the Intergang - an alliance of all organized crime in Metropolis and Gotham, Atomic Skull - an ex-Nazi agent with terrifying technology, Lex Luthor who began to develop his hatred and paranoia towards the superheroine, and his creations such as Metallo.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/xtophe

DAILY PLANET CHARACTERS

Perry Weiss, a major shareholder and editor in chief of the Daily Planet. Born in Odessa in 1886. Jewish immigrant from humble origins who became a skilled journalist and founded the Daily Planet as a tool of the liberal wing of the Metropolis Republican Party to unseat the city bosses of the time. Still a staunch liberal, he supported Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, is an ally of Mayor LaGuardia. He won the Pulitzer Prize in the 1920s for defending the innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti. Friend and ally of Louis Lane's father. He is very demanding with his employees but is very fond of Clara. He admires and defends Superwoman despite Louis Lane's distrust. Best friend of Cat Grant.

Cat Grant, Co-chair of Perry Weiss, Pulitzer winner, closeted lesbian, and Ayn Rand Fan. Born 1901, she comes from a fine family of Metropolis Knickerbockers. She is like Louis the least liberal element of the newspaper. To protect herself she married a very old friend of her father who helped her lead a double life. For twenty years she lived with a painter named Margaret Ivy. Considered the best writer of the Daily Planet, in addition to being a journalist she has published two novels. Very elegant and popular in intellectual circles. She is tremendously authoritarian. She mistreats Clara a lot because she does not respect her authority and because of her different political ideas, but as Clara grows as a journalist and Cat Grant suspects that she is Superwoman, she will protect her and push her forward without Clara knowing it. Best friend of Perry Weiss

Jimmy Olsen and Lucy Weiss, best friends of Clara.

Jimmy is a junior urban photographer. He comes from a town in Massachusetts. He is 7 years younger than Clara. He is a party animal, friendly, generous, and somewhat naive. Yet he is a skilled photographer who has been able to capture the worst of the night and day of Metropolis. Miraculously he always gets the best pictures of Superwoman (Clara helps him a little). Very democratic and complains about working for a newspaper that is too conservative for his taste. Adores Clara whom he treats as his big sister. It doesn't even cross his mind that she is Superwoman. Jimmy thinks that Louis is a snob and a bigot.

Lucy is a senior political photographer and the only woman on photo reporting on the Daily Planet who works outside the fashion department. She is the eldest daughter of Perry Weiss. She is an intrepid photojournalist who gets overseas passes and has been to several military conflicts. A loyal friend of Clara, and a very serious and professional woman. She is suspicious of Clara's double identity but would never say anything. She is the same age as Clara and a lover of jazz and the more alternative circuits of Metropolis.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/milkydraws8/gallery

art by https://www.artstation.com/pabloalcalde

LOUIS LANE, SUPERWOMAN'S WEAKNESS?

NAME: LOUIS LANE

BORN: 08/02/1912, METROPOLIS (NEW YORK)

PROFESSION: SENIOR REPORTER

YEAR: 1948

PLACE: METROPOLIS (NYC)

art by https://www.deviantart.com/rickcelis/gallery

-Rich family, born in 1912, first of 6 brothers.

-Caustic, cynical, ironic but somewhat kind.

-Commanding.

-Lives in Park Avenue with his 6-year-old daughter and his rich unfaithful wife, fashion reporter Pat Lane (neé Kelly). Very unhappy marriage.

-Major rank during the war in the US army. He also worked with the OSS.

-Elegant, sportsman, plays violin.

-Teaches music lessons in an orphan house in secret.

-Not that snobbish nor Wasp, new rich family traits.

-Arkham University alumni.

-Classic music and literature lover.

-Heavy drinker.

-Does not enjoy journalism, thinking of quitting to politics or teaching literature.

-Jewish father (Lane surname is a change from Lantzman), Irish catholic mother, raised catholic and religious, but not extremely orthodox.

-His father is a self-made tycoon who started as democrat in the Tammany Hall and then switched to republican. Close ally of Mayor LaGuardia.

-Fought in the European theater during World War II.

-Conservative republican opposed to his father liberal republican views, loves McArthur, who he thinks should be the next President.

-In the past he had a good opinion of Lex Luthor. He saw him as an innovator and freedom fighter, but his opinion changed when Luthor kidnapped him to set a trap for Superwoman.

-Perry Weiss favorite reporter.

-Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1941, for his articles about the first defeat of the Intergang.

-First person to interview Superwoman.

-Very nice and paternalistic to Clara. Louis pushes Clara's career forward despite Cat Grant's opposition. He is also secretly in love with Clara. Although he rejects Superwoman and suspects she is the same person as Clara, he deludes himself and rejects these suspicions.

-Tired of New Deal Politics, anticommunist.

-"a brilliant and kind man" for most of the Daily Planet staff, a "terrible asshole" for many others like Jimmy Olsen.

-Strongly rejects Superwoman and other heroes.

-Sometimes Clara really hates him.

-Famous line "Neither reds nor capes".

-He lives a bizarre love triangle with Clara Kent and Superwoman. Although he publicly rejects the superheroine, he also desires her and he and Superwoman have had moments of passion, which Louis feels guilty about because he is married and because of his religion. On the other hand, he is in love with Clara Kent as much as he rejects the figure of Superwoman. He deludes himself about the identity of both. A bit James Stewart in Vertigo, which destabilizes and infuriates Clara.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/guinnessyde

art by https://akiko02.carrd.co/

CURRENT AND PAST ENEMIES

Lex Luthor

Rocket engineer, CEO of TELCORP and Heir of Nikola Tesla. A Brilliant scientist who defines himself as a "radical humanist"...but in the early 30s supported closely fascism to stop "imperialism" and "usury" but later changed his mind and move closer to the USSR to fight "predatory western capitalism". Publicly, he is a tycoon and scientist loyal to the United States and works closely with the government. The world's greatest philanthropist. Loving father and husband. Hates Superwoman to death and believes she spells the end of humanity. Paranoid and ruthless but convinced that he does everything for the greater good.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/gus-art

General Zod & Faora

Political dissidents like the El on Krypton on the other hand believed that Krypton's only salvation lay in emigrating and invading, terraforming, and exterminating other planets. They almost succeeded in a coup d'état but after their failure they and their henchmen tried to flee by space jumping their ships, Jor-El managed to sabotage the launch and send them to the Phantom Zone. Over the years they managed to escape and arrived on Earth in 1946, shortly after Clara showed herself to the world as Superwoman. They tried to exterminate all humanity, but Superwoman and the armies of Earth managed to defeat them. Their invasion caused 5,000 human casualties but could have caused complete extermination. The experience was traumatic for Clara because she had to send Zod and Faora back to the Phantom Zone where they would surely die. Zod, Faora and their henchmen had not yet developed the full powers of a yellow sun like Earth's and so several of them were killed by human bombs and missiles. Their remains were stored by Russians and Americans. Superwoman managed to expel all Kryptonian technology and weaponry into space so that humans would not use it for warfare.

Doomsday

A truly near-indestructible abomination.

Perhaps from Krypton's past? Perhaps created by mistake by human scientists?

art by https://www.deviantart.com/fernando-damasio & https://www.deviantart.com/kristherion

The Toyman

Winslow Schott, former entrepreneur, and inventor of the 1920s toy business who was ruined in the Great Depression by banks and various betrayals. After a crime spree he was imprisoned in 1933 but escaped from prison recently completely crazed and ready to take revenge on the whole city using his inventions.

Brainiac "The Eternal Traveller"

An android resulting from the abhorrent merger of a famous astronaut and artificial intelligence, which was used by the first civilization of Krypton to collect information from other worlds. It is more than 100,000 years old. With the passage of time, he revealed against the Kryptonians, became evil and phobic to any form of life that he considered imperfect or inferior. It caused the destruction of many cultures. He wanders through space visiting planets and analyzing life forms. He probably has no enthusiasm for humans, much less for a descendant of the House of El.

art by https://www.instagram.com/estefaniaart_/

art by https://www.deviantart.com/midnightowl07

art by https://www.deviantart.com/artsandar

art by https://akiko02.carrd.co/

art by https://www.deviantart.com/son-neko

art by https://www.deviantart.com/dommnics

You can download full free illustrated fanfic in pdf here! SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON-FREE ILLUSTRATED FANFIC by lordmallory on DeviantArt or here SUPERWOMAN.pdf - Google Drive

[yourlocaltransdude]

Broke: Superman is Jesus Woke: Superman is Moses Bespoke: Superman is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

[comicavalcade]

SUBMARINER SUMMER SPECIAL: 85 years of Namor, 85 years of Marvel

Hello #NamorNation! Today is the 85th anniversary of Marvel Comics #1, the very first Marvel comic! Of course, this also means it is the 85th anniversary of the very first official appearance of Namor, the Sub-Mariner! So today, because no one demanded it, I rant in a special Submariner Summer 85th Anniversary Special!

(Marvel Comics #1, 1939) Namor was first slated to appear in a special promo giveaway for movie theaters named Motion Picture Funnies Weekly. The giveaway apparently never happened and the comic was unreleased. Bill Everett, the creator/writer/artist, then sold the material to a new comics publisher named Timely for their first flagship title, Marvel Comics, using the material from Motion Picture Funnies Weekly plus some additional pages which introduced his childhood friend and later love interest and eventual first wife, Lady Dorma.

Marvel Comics #1 had several stories in addition to the Sub-Mariner, including of course the original Human Torch, who featured on the cover and was an artificial man, The Angel (no relation), The Masked Rider, and interestingly, Ka-Zar, one of the few Marvel characters to get a DC-style Silver Age reboot, and who is still around in the Marvel Universe today, usually in the Savage Land.

Namor, though, was unique in several ways. For one, his people had a grudge against the surface, and specifically the U.S., because they had suffered a mass catastrophe at the hands of its explorers. So Namor was not just willing to kill, he was urged to by his grandfather, Emperor Tha-Korr, and his mother, the Princess Fen. Still, Namor would continually stop to save people along the way, and in Marvel Comics #3 had his first taste of the upcoming war when he disabled his first Nazi submarine and handed it to the Allies. This complexity of story lends him the status of superhero comics' fist antihero.

But that's not his only first. Superman had already debuted by now, of course, and was a roaring success. But as the famous refrain says, he was super-fast (Faster Than a Speeding Bullet!), super-strong (More Powerful Than a Locomotive!), aaaaaaand...could super-jump (Able to Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound!). It would be years before his status as a flying hero was cemented. Namor, on the other hand, is described right away as "An Ultra-man of the Deep...lives on land and in the sea...FLIES IN THE AIR"! (emphasis mine) That's right, true believers, NAMOR IS THE FIRST FLYING SUPERHERO! As he demonstrates in Marvel Comics #1, flying to catch up to a seaplane with his trusty winged feet.

And last but not least...he was in fact the first underwater prince in comics. He may not always be the most well-known today, but he was in fact the first undersea royal to grace the funny books with his super feats. Nothing against any aquabros, of course.

Namor would go on to great popularity in the Golden Age of Comics, getting his own comic (Sub-Mariner Comics) as well as continuing to appear in Marvel (Mystery) Comics, and later in All Winners Comics. He is a character with eight and a half decades of history, in thousands of comics, hundreds if not thousands of stories. He's had his own solo titles not just in the Golden Age, but after being revived as a character in the Silver Age, would again have his own solo, which continued into the Bronze Age, get another in the Iron Age, and whatever Age we're in now if that's even a thing anymore, to say nothing of a veritable horde of mini-series. But that's not all! He's also a core character in team books the Invaders/All-Winners and the Defenders, and had notable runs with the Avengers and X-men. The first flying superhero, the first comic book antihero, the first sea king. There's just a huge amount of material with the character and immense historical significance.

[Covers of #1 issues from his series in 1941 (the character had already been around 2 years at that time), 1968, 1990, and 2012]

[Founding member of the Invaders/All-Winners and Defenders, member in notable runs of the Avengers and X-men] Now, you MAY ask...why the X-men? OH, well...funny story. He actually has one more notable first: First Mutant (as that last solo book up there clearly states on the cover). But how could that be? Easy! Fantastic Four Annual #1, in which Namor leads an invasion of Manhattan, was published in July of 1963. In it, Namor receives this description:

The first known MUTANT (emphasis theirs!) of our time! For reference, X-men #1 was released that same month; in tried and true Marvel fashion, an existing character in their most popular comic at the time (Fantastic Four) was used to pave the way for the new kids on the block, the X-men! And so, Namor was in fact the first mutant character published by Marvel. And just so there's no misunderstanding, he goes ahead and appears not long after in the pages of X-men itself, namely issue #6:

So his roots with the X-men actually go back farther than many might think. Frankly, I could go on and on with the many key stories and moments and actions Namor has performed and participated in over the decades. He has other firsts, other moments of historical significance. But I will wrap up by saying this: the Test of Time is a longstanding idiom for a reason. Not many things are able to maintain the necessary longevity to withstand it. There certainly aren't very many 85 year old comic book characters around. And while Namor is not as popular today as he once was, his presence is still undeniable; a version of him appeared in the MCU in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022, and there's a Namor miniseries being published right now. His appearances are still significant, in destruction and salvation, an antihero, the antihero, who stood before the rest, and flew before any other.

Godspeed, Sub-Mariner. Here's to 85 more. 🎉🎊🥳

[superman-the-secret-third-thing]

hey power scalers, based solely on these statements- who is the superior super-simian?

Superman: Faster than a speeding bullet More Powerful Than a Locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound Not a bird or plane

Titano: Taller than a building More powerful than a herd of elephants More destructive than a hurricane More fantastic than King Kong

Superman #138 "Titano the Super-Ape!" (1960)

[celticcatgirl2]

Superman-Goku parallel i havent seen people noticed:

both are able to fly yet did not TECHINCALLY have the is ability in their early years

in golden age comics superman literally LEAPED tall buildings in a single bound it was just jumping super far/high not flight

and in the original dragon ball Goku rode the nimbus instead of flying himself

[usafphantom2]

Kelly Johnson proposed to build an airplane that would fly not only four times faster than the U-2 but 5 miles higher. The A- 12 would be faster than a speeding bullet and be able to leap tall missile shields in a single bound. The A-12s skin was so hot that in a single flight it cooked the red white and blue stars and bars until they were scorched brown.

Do you know what 600° is? Is the temperature under your broiler.

‘’Wonderland” By any means necessary. by William Burrows

@Habubrats71

[citizenscreen]

Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

“The Adventures of Superman” debuted #OnThisDay in 1952.

[pokemonbiologyirlthetabletop]

Ponyta & Rapidash

Ponyta (#77)

Equusignis equusignis orientalis [(OG) Ponyta]

Equusignis equusignis britannica [(G) Ponyta]

General Information: Ponyta, also known as the Fire Horse Pokémon or the Unique Horn Pokémon. There are two subspecies of Ponyta that live vastly different lives from each other.

Ponytas are light-weight Pokémon relative to their size. They have an extraordinary jumping ability that allows some to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Newborns are weaker and unable to stand, but in a matter of hours the newborn foal is on its feet and trying to keep up with its parents and herd. In days the foal is able to run wild with the rest of its herd as it practices its leaps and bounds over tall grass. It is said that a Ponyta’s hooves are ten times harder than diamonds, though this is likely an expression or exaggeration.

(G) Ponyta are able to heal small wounds with the power from its horn.

(OG) Ponyta average at 3’3 feet tall (1 M) and weigh about 66.1 pounds (30 kg), while (G) Ponyta average at 2’7 feet (0.8 M) and weigh only 52.9 pounds (24 kg).

Habitat: (OG) Ponyta live in grasslands and plains of Eurasia. There they run free and gallantly in the wind. In modern times, (OG) Ponytas were introduced to the New World through white settlers coming to the Americas and bringing their horses with them. Feral populations of Ponytas and Rapidashes now live throughout North America, where they wreak havoc upon local ecosystems.

(G) Ponyta live on the isolated island of Great Britain, where their population was cut-off from the rest of the species a long time ago. There, island dwarfism kicked in, and (G) Ponytas became shorter and their typing changed. They became the unicorns known today.

Life Cycles: Ponytas are born as single (or twin) foals to a mother, typically during the Spring. They will rely heavily upon their mother for milk and protection until they wean between 4 and 6 months old. They will continue to learn how to be a Ponyta for the first two years of their life, when they will become an adult. Ponyta reach reproductive maturity either at two-years-old or at level 15, whichever comes last.

The year that they become two-years-old, will be the Spring that they begin to seek out mates. In the wild, Ponytas tend to only mate for one month in the Spring, but domesticated stock may go into estrus at any time of the year. By mating in the Spring, this ensures that the foals will be born 11 months later in the Spring, so Ponytas who mate outside of the one-month interval risk giving birth to a foal at a bad time, thus lowering the foal’s survival rate.

Ponytas may reach ages in the 20s and 30s. However, the smaller (G) Ponyta regularly lives into their 30s and 40s, and all Ponytas in captivity have the potential to grow as old as 60, though this is immensely rare but a well-documented phenomenon.  

Ponyta are hunted by wolves, tigers, bears, and the sort.

Behavior: Ponytas are shy and skittish creatures. The (OG) Ponyta are bolder than their (G) Ponyta counterparts, but this is in part because of their increased size and their fire. They live in large herds of 10-30 individuals, where they look out for each other and practice safety in numbers.

A Ponyta is able to choose whether or not its fire burns someone who touches it. If its fire doesn’t burn, then know that it trusts you.

It is said that a (G) Ponyta is capable of looking into your eyes and reading the contents of your heart, and should it find evil, it will run away.

Diet: They eat grass. Sometimes mushrooms, baby birds, clovers, bones, ferns, and the sort. It is believed that (G) Ponyta eat the latent magic in the air.

Conservation: [(OG) Ponyta] Endangered (in the wild), Least Concern (Captivity)

[(G) Ponyta] Endangered, Threatened with Extinction in the Wild

Relationship with Humans: (OG) Ponytas have been companions to humanity for thousands of years. The earliest known captivity of horses was in the Central Asian steppes, where they were kept for meat and milk, a fact that continues today in those parts of the world. It wasn’t until later that humans began experimenting with riding them. As the Ponyta lineages became more and more domesticated, the wild populations began to shift as well, and eventually the undomesticated populations disappeared entirely. All wild (OG) Ponytas today, even the feral herds that invasively roam North America, are descended from these domesticated populations. Habitat loss has been the primary loss of wild populations, but the unending influence of domestication doesn’t help. There are “wild” herds today, even in their original homeland of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, but these herds are heavily protected and far fewer in number than they once were hundreds and thousands of years ago. Rewilding the (OG) Ponytas is an active conservation effort.

As for the (G) Ponytas, they are a subspecies that always had a smaller population than the metapopulation. It’s speculated that at their peak, there were a few thousand of them across the entire British Isles, but in the modern world habitat loss and poaching have dwindled their remaining numbers to only a few hundred. They can live in forests or grasslands alike, but they are scared of humans, and many hunt them as unicorns. There are protected lands in Great Britain that they are able to exist on that keep their population alive, but it’s not enough, and conservation efforts must remain vigilant to protect them from unicorn hunters.

Classification: Ponyta is in the genus Equusignis.

Rapidash (#078)

Equusignis unicornis orientalis ([OG] Rapidash) Equusignis unicornis britannica ([G] Rapidash)

General Information:  Rapidash is the evolved form of Ponyta. At full gallop, it can run at speeds of 150 MPH (240 km/h), a speed it can reach in only ten steps--according to the tales. A Rapidash at full speed is thought to be a stunning sight.

Rapidash average at 5’7 feet (1.7 M) tall, then each species weight averages differ. The (OG) Rapidash averages at 209.4 pounds (95 kg), and (G) Rapidash averages at 176.4 pounds (80 kg).

Habitat: Rapidash are found in grasslands and prairies. (G) Rapidash enjoy the forests more than they do grasslands, where they can hide from humans and predators, but they will still venture out onto the grasslands if it feels safe.

Life Cycles: Rapidashes have the same life cycle as Ponytas, with the added bonus that they are less likely to be killed by most predators with one major exception, humans. Humans have always been a primary predator of Rapidashes. In modern times this is less so, but poaching of (G) Rapidashes is a pervasive interest in the British Isles.

Behavior: Rapidashes are bolder and more fiercesome than Ponytas. An angry Rapidash of either subspecies is a terrifying sight and could result in a mauling. They are protective of their babies.

Diet: They eat grass. Sometimes they eat mushrooms, baby birds, clovers, bones, ferns, and the sort. (G) Rapidash are believed to consume latent magic in the air.

Conservation: [(OG)] Endangered (in the wild), Least Concern (Captivity)

[(G)] Endangered, Threatened with Extinction In The Wild

Relationship with Humans: Rapidash are tried and true companions of humanity. They are strong, reliable, loyal, and brave. They have fought alongside us in countless wars and have aided us in countless generations of agriculture and manual labor. A Rapidash is a friend for life.

The (OG) Rapidash have been thoroughly domesticated by humanity and for thousands of years have been faithful companions to trainers. An (OG) Ponyta was often a trainer’s first partner Pokémon, if not the first, then the second or third. Cultures have long valued the usefulness of a Rapidash and will continue to do so long into the future. Their strongest cultural roots to us are along the Central Asian Steppes.

(G) Rapidash, on the other hand, are revered as unicorns, which has largely served to their detriment. They already experience immense habitat loss at the hands of humans, but there have always been unicorn hunters in the British Isles. There are protections in place, but these are not enough. The (G) Rapidash is an active conservation effort, a war between Pokémon Rangers and the Poachers who’s pawns are the Rapidashes (and Ponytas) caught in the middle. Poachers and their clients come from all over the world. Queen Victoria, in her final years of life, passed a law banning the sale and trade of (G) Rapidashes after it was brought to her attention that there hadn’t been a unicorn sighting in many years due to overhunting, but this has only put a roadblock in place for those truly dedicated to poach a unicorn.

Classification: Rapidashes are closely related to other equine Pokémon, such as Mudsdale, Glastrier, and Spectrier.

Evolution: Rapidash evolves from Ponyta at level 40.

~~~~~~~~

Hey guess what, if you like my stuff, this is my website where you can find other Pokémon I've written on and more information about the game that I’m slowly making! Check it out! I write books sometimes too.

[kurtvrich]

Tumblr Hunk…

Able To Leap Tall Buildings At A Single Bound. Handsome young LAK lad shows off his incredible stair climbing skills. Part One.

[tangleweave]

👀 for Peter and Tabs because of the potential chaos

[ Barely There / Accepting ]

Being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man came with certain perks. Catching cars hurtling through the air at 30 mph? Knocked that one out when he was in high school. Leaping tall buildings in a single bound? A little on the Superman side, but hey, Superman's cool. Scaling sheer surfaces with nothing more than his fingers and toes? Cirque du Soleil, eat your heart out.

But even above these things was the extra sense with which he'd been endowed after that spider bite had unspooled and recombined his DNA. He called it his spider-sense. Some manner of precognition, lying in the strange space between clairvoyance and extreme attunement to his surroundings. It was an element he'd never quite been able to get a proper understanding of... but it had saved his life more times than he cared to count.

And as he emerged from the bathroom, he was in the midst of reminding himself that it had saved his life again -- which was why he was covered in shallow cuts and not skewered fully on the blade that had drawn them. His outfit had been a lost cause, shredded to tatters and already bagged up, ready to be incinerated when the opportunity availed itself (he'd learned to not be sloppy). After the shower, which had stung to every Hell that existed and back, he'd meticulously dressed each and every wound, knowing better than to take his accelerated healing factor for granted. Kravinoff was known to poison his weaponry.

Maybe the Raft would hold him.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, his intent was to slip over to the kitchenette to grab the half-empty bottle of grape juice from the door before heading to bed. His body was already long dry, and the gauze, medical tape, and butterfly stitches holding his skin together could have been covering nearly a quarter of his body.

But none of it offered him any modesty, and neither did the wide-eyed gaze of the woman standing just inside the front door, key still in hand.

The sight of her there caused Peter to very nearly leap to the ceiling. As it was, he yelled and twisted aside, turning his flank to her and inadvertently giving her a show of his backside that was only minutely more modest than what she'd just seen.

"Gah! Oh god, Tabby, what the hell...!" he spluttered, his face turning redder than the juice he'd meant to acquire.

[loisandclarktieposting]

This is kind of sad to read. I was curious when/why the show's ratings declined. I've been a fan of a show that struggled to get renewed every season while it was airing, so this kinda hits me in that place.

But I know the real reason the ratings dropped: Clark stopped wearing the super wild ties. I'm about 6 episodes to the series finale, and he's worn a plain tie like 3 times this season! There's been some busy stuff and one that made me "woah" but it was tame compared to others.

[chernobog13]

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (1952-1958)

Faster than a speeding bullet!

More powerful than a locomotive!

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

[guspartenza]

Merry Christmas!

Art by Marcelo Millicay (@millicay.art) • Instagram photos and videos

You can download here free and complete the illustrated 8 chapters+Introduction of my fanfic about Clara Kent/Superwoman here SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON-FREE ILLUSTRATED FANFIC by lordmallory on DeviantArt

Alternative download link: SWLiterari(I).pdf - Google Drive Epub version: SUPERWOMAN.epub - Google Drive

Bonus chapter! SUPERWOMAN: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CLARA KENT

What would you think about an alternate universe with a female-Clark as Superwoman in the golden age?

Is the only main change in the classic canon together with her love interest, is not Earth-11, let's say is Eart-19...meet Clara Kent/Superwoman!

It's 1948, in Metropolis!

Up in the sky! Look! It's a bird? It's a plane? No! It's Superwoman!

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, The Woman of Steel: Superwoman!

Empowered with X-ray vision, possessing remarkable physical strength, Superwoman fights a never-ending battle for love, truth, and justice, disguised as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, Clara Kent!

In a world plagued by the Cold War and mistrust, can Superwoman bring peace to the world while fighting for love, truth, justice, and the American way? Can she finally find a happy life with Louis Lane, the love of her life? Can she defeat Lex Luthor and the terrible ancient evil he is about to awaken?

[queersatanic]

Christianity as a screenplay (or fanfic community)

As Julia Sweeney says, she's doing a bit. And that's fine.

But more than a screenplay undergoing drafts with a particular final product in mind, it seems like the serious comparison would be fanfiction communities (really!) because these works do not appear to be products of a single mind with an end point but whole communities working things out based on what temporarily sates the insatiable imagination, becoming bigger and more all the time.

It's not so much that they are engaging in the writing of drafts as they are answering questions as communities find themselves wondering about and incorporating those answers as they go.

Some of the absolutely liveliest fan communities in the early and pre-Internet were those based on very scant canon and practically supplementary material, so people filled in all of the gaps themselves. People continued after the canonical end point, before the canon beginning, and what was happening "over there" during established events. Over time, some explanations were popular enough to become agreed upon, and a few even made their way back into the canon itself.

This is apparent with the canonical gospels, to be sure: both the Matthew and Luke traditions know they need Jesus to be born in Bethlehem but for him to be said to be from Galilee, so each tells their own nativity story independently achieving this. Matthew has Jesus from Bethlehem but fleeing to Egypt before moving back to Galilee; in Luke, they seem to be from Galilee and only travel to Bethlehem for a census.

Or how Luke's tradition makes it clear Jesus ate food with a physically resurrected body, and John's tradition has Thomas physically inspect the literal, still tangible wounds of Jesus. This is clearly to settle arguments about whether Jesus was resurrected physically or just the spirit since that was a debate of proto-orthodoxy and what would become heresy.

This is all even more obvious if you extend it to the non-canonical gospels and stories. They fill in more gaps. For example, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas doesn't just show Jesus before the age of 30 but before the age of 12, filling in the gap of what he did between the nativity stories and Luke's tradition — itself gap-filling — of precociously impressing teachers in the Temple at age 12.

But also, with subsequent tellings, things always tend to grow more extreme for dramatic effect rather than lessening. We see it with Superman who isn't forever merely able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and bend steel; in time he can fly faster than light and move whole planets. So too the Acts of Peter and Andrew intensify the powers even of disciples till they're able to literally pass a camel through the eye of needle via miracle.

Basically, if Mark's tradition seems to resemble some historical figure who may or may not have existed, within a couple hundred years, all these stories are much too boring and incomplete to satisfy community interest, so people feel like they have to be expanded. What did happen and what should have happened to make your group's (correct) interpretation more obvious to everyone else end up being the same thing. But like with fan communities, some of these expansions are regarded by the broader community as too outlandish to be included in the standard interpretation and they get left out — despite lying along the very same continuum.

The difference between "Star Trek" or "Steven Universe" and Christianity is that when the Christians started to fight about their 'ships, it involved cutting off parts of people's faces and otherwise maiming or killing the supposed heretics.

Which does seem a tad extreme.