Electric Superman Blue/Red?! Which stories?

[CLavery]

Can someone please explain how these characters came about and who they are. I have never really found out, or figured it out before.

Thanks

[666MasterOfPuppets]

IIRC, this happened after Final Night. The New Gods helped Superman to get his powers back, but the methods (whatever they were) they used in order to achieve this goal, started to change Superman's DNA. This also brought a change in Superman's powers, becoming a being of pure energy. In order to save Supes' life, a containment suit was designed using LexCorp tech. An interesting thing is that when he was Clark Kent, he was a normal human being. No powers. It is said that Luthor had something to do with the change Superman underwent.

As for his counterpart, the impulsive Superman Red, I do not know how he was created (perhaps someone could help us here, I didn't read those issues). Thanx to what they did at the end of "The Millennium Giants" storyline, both Supermen merged, and Superman returned to his original self.

[Lord_Archive]

Far be for me to rub salt in an open wound, but I had to bring up a question about this particular story arc. Mind you I only briefly skimmed through this series at the time.

After Electric Superman split into two variations.. Red and Blue.. did they ever bring in a third electric Superman? I ask because light splits into three colors.. red, blue and green.

From what I saw/heard, the blue superman was a straightlace, the red superman was more loose cannon-ish. Could there be an evil Green Electric Superman running around?

[Zeta]

I LIKED Electric Superman's powerset and look. If he had been introduced as a seperate character instead of new Superman, I think it would've been successful.

[Lurker]

Could there be an evil Green Electric Superman running around?

There might be in about 10 years when editors or writers go digging for story ideas . . . that's how Spidey got his clone.

[PatrickG]

Far be for me to rub salt in an open wound, but I had to bring up a question about this particular story arc. Mind you I only briefly skimmed through this series at the time.

After Electric Superman split into two variations.. Red and Blue.. did they ever bring in a third electric Superman? I ask because light splits into three colors.. red, blue and green.

From what I saw/heard, the blue superman was a straightlace, the red superman was more loose cannon-ish. Could there be an evil Green Electric Superman running around?

Light splits into red, blue and green in SOME applications. In other applications it's red, blue and yellow.

In any case, i believe his energy form was split by a magnetic which was designed to split him in two. The fact that one was red and one was blue was simply a nod to the Silver Age story.

I'd really like to see a new Superman red/Superman Blue story once the stigma of the electric costume has worn off. The original story from the 60s had some interesting facets to it.

[Lord_Archive]

Light splits into red, blue and green in SOME applications. In other applications it's red, blue and yellow.

Light's additive primary colors are red, blue and green
Light's subtractive primary colors are magenta, cyan and yellow
Pigment's primary colors are red, blue and yellow

Electric Superman's form was light, not pigment. Ergo, the third superman would be green, not yellow.

[Lurker]

Light's additive primary colors are red, blue and green
Light's subtractive primary colors are magenta, cyan and yellow
Pigment's primary colors are red, blue and yellow

Electric Superman's form was light, not pigment. Ergo, the third superman would be green, not yellow.

hehehheh, you said "ergo."

[Agentum]

For how long was Superman like that?

[dancj]

The only reason that we think of the primary colours of light as red, green and blue are that that's what our eyes see (all that cones and rods stuff). In reality there are an infinite number of shades. What we see as magenta (for example) might be a mixture of blue and red light or it might be pure magenta light - or some combination of colours which fall between blue and red on the spectrum.

Dan

[pennywisdom]

For how long was Superman like that?
A year. He got the "electric blue" look in 1997 and changed back in 1998.

I think it's cool they at least implemented the change across the board. It wasn't like it didn't affect anything else, because his character changed in Grant Morrison's JLA right along with the Superman titles. If you go back and re-read those JLA books, he's blue for approx. 12 months.

[Expletive Deleted]

Could there be an evil Green Electric Superman running around?It was more of an homage to "Superman Red/Superman Blue" (http://superman.ws/tales2/redblue/) than anything worked out scientifically, so . . . I dunno, maybe.

[PatrickG]

A year. He got the "electric blue" look in 1997 and changed back in 1998.

I think it's cool they at least implemented the change across the board. It wasn't like it didn't affect anything else, because his character changed in Grant Morrison's JLA right along with the Superman titles. If you go back and re-read those JLA books, he's blue for approx. 12 months.

Although...

The first six months or so of JLA from that period were already written and the scripts were lightly tweaked to accomodate the new powers which is why he seems so much better at using the powers there.

He was originally supposed to hold back the moon from crashing into earth with his bare hands instead of the giant electromagnet thing, for instance. But they had to change it when the powers changed.

I always liked my solution to the whole thing which was just to have him acclimate to the powers enough that he could resume his old look and emulate all of his old powers. The sensory powers and heat vision would have been pretty easy to pull off. Ditto invulnerability. And looking like his old self (in full color) wouldn't have been that hard, IMO.

So I would have had him evolve back into his old self...

And every so often, to this day, he might use the extra powers to fry a hard drive or grow fifty feet tall.

[Agentum]

A year. He got the "electric blue" look in 1997 and changed back in 1998.

I think it's cool they at least implemented the change across the board. It wasn't like it didn't affect anything else, because his character changed in Grant Morrison's JLA right along with the Superman titles. If you go back and re-read those JLA books, he's blue for approx. 12 months.
Ah i got to get all those issues, in 40 years the electricSuperman era issues is going to be worth a lot :D

[davids]

Best part Lois making sure neither one would be in her bed untill she was sure who was her real husband. Made worst by the fact that red and blue were convinsed that he was the real clark kent. :evilsmile

[Azrael52]

Although...

The first six months or so of JLA from that period were already written and the scripts were lightly tweaked to accomodate the new powers which is why he seems so much better at using the powers there.

He was originally supposed to hold back the moon from crashing into earth with his bare hands instead of the giant electromagnet thing, for instance. But they had to change it when the powers changed.

I always liked my solution to the whole thing which was just to have him acclimate to the powers enough that he could resume his old look and emulate all of his old powers. The sensory powers and heat vision would have been pretty easy to pull off. Ditto invulnerability. And looking like his old self (in full color) wouldn't have been that hard, IMO.

So I would have had him evolve back into his old self...

And every so often, to this day, he might use the extra powers to fry a hard drive or grow fifty feet tall.

That would've been great to see. I'd like to have him be able to switch to energy-based powers if the need arises. Plus, the Millinium Giants story was the only bad part of the story for me. Your ending would've been a natural thing.

[Firestorm23]

hey i was just lookin at some pics and covers to comics and i relized that there are two superman..both clark kent im asumming but one is red..and one is blue...whats the history behind them?

[IPW]

Well the original Superman Blues and Superman Red was a story from the Silver Age. Superman was trying to make himself smarter to better the chance to restore Kandor. But the experiment split him in two. Both had equal power and both were Superman.This was an"imaginary tale", what we today call an elseworld story

You can read the story here:
http://superman.ws/tales2/redblue/

In the late 1990s, when they turned Superman into Electric Superman. In one adventure he needed to be in two place at the same time, so by accident he was split in to Electric Superman Blue and Electric Superman Red. Both could turn into Clark Kent. But Blue was cold and logical and Red was Fiery and passionate. They late got merged back together and returned to normal

The Silver Age Story was the better of the two

[Qolt QuaZar]

The original Silver Age story was one of the first Superman stories that I latched onto back in the day when I was perusing the Great Supeman Encyclopedia from the library. During the 1990 Electric Superman arc I believe I was the one person on the planet who actually dug it. I knew that we'd have classic supes back in a year tops, so this kinda cool offshoot was fun to play with for a while. Interestingly enough, the story that finally put the Electric Superman arc over for me was partly because of the nod to my favorite Silver Age tale of the Red & Blue Supermen. (The other reason being a particularly cool issue of JLA where Electric Superman used his cool new powers to restore the Moon to its orbit or something super like that.)

[Major Danger]

Anyone know which trade paperbacks carry the Superman Red and Superman Blue story arc. Is it the Man of Tomorrow books? I looked at my local comicbook store and they didn't have those. The others I saw didn't have any Supes Blue/Red. How about the JLA trades during that period, anyone know? Thanks guys and gals






Carry on!
Major Danger

[SuperManny]

Anyone know which trade paperbacks carry the Superman Red and Superman Blue story arc. Is it the Man of Tomorrow books? I looked at my local comicbook store and they didn't have those. The others I saw didn't have any Supes Blue/Red. How about the JLA trades during that period, anyone know? Thanks guys and gals


There are no trade paperbacks that collect the "Red/Blue" saga. But, you can try the following to whet your appetite:

Superman: Transformed!
JLA: American Dreams
JLA: Rock of Ages

You can also look at your comic book dealer's back bins and ask about the Superman "Millenium Giants" story that ran through some DC books too.

Hope this helps, :cool:

[Major Danger]

Thank you for the information.

[Harpy Prince]

Can someone tell me what issues were the ones where Supes was Red, Blue and all Electrified?

[micromini]

Nice bit of history here takes me back reading all of these. Wasn’t he all electrified in the 3rd issue if my brain serves me right don’t quote me on that though just a vague memory.
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[Choppa]

In the late 1990s, when they turned Superman into Electric Superman. In one adventure he needed to be in two place at the same time, so by accident he was split in to Electric Superman Blue and Electric Superman Red. Both could turn into Clark Kent. But Blue was cold and logical and Red was Fiery and passionate. They late got merged back together and returned to normal

The Silver Age Story was the better of the two

I thought the split was caused by Toymaker and the Cyborg using that machine?

[Choppa]

(The other reason being a particularly cool issue of JLA where Electric Superman used his cool new powers to restore the Moon to its orbit or something super like that.)

I liked how when he was fighting Metallo, he used him as a battery to power himself, so to stop him he reverted back to human form and hid under some wreckage they had caused during their fight, and Metallo thought Clark was just another person who got caught in the rubble. That was smart.

[Mat001]

Can someone tell me what issues were the ones where Supes was Red, Blue and all Electrified?

Superman #122-135.
The Adventures Of Superman #545-557.
Action Comics #732-744.
The Man Of Steel #67-79.
The Man Of Tomorrow #9 and 10.
Genesis #1-4.
JLA #5-17.
JLA: Secret Files & Origins #2.
Supergirl #20.
Steel #50.
Aquaman #43.
Challengers Of The Unknown #15.
Teen Titans #19.
Superboy #39 and #40.
Sovereign Seven #24.
Superman Red/Superman Blue #1.
Secret Files & Origins #1.
The 1997 Superman Annuals.
Superman Forever #1.

[LifeFirst]

Well I was expecting this arc to be garbage but surprisingly it's not as bad as people make it out to be. I think the idea at first was corny having two Superman, and it is. But somehow they made it work, since both of the Superman were trying to find a cure for it the entire time....and plus they don't really hang around each other much so I guess the separation wasn't as overwhelming.

Yeah it started out REAAALY bad....like I was reading a 60s comic but once the Millenium Giants broke out it became pretty decent.

Oh man, I can't STAND Superman Red....possibly one of the most annoying characters in DC history. I wished Superman Blue would just knock his butt flat.

[Slaughter]

I think Grant Morrison used the concept best. He showed us a Superman with different powers, but the same awesomeness. Remember when he wrestled Asmodeus or that time he stopped the moon? This kind of badassery is what I'm talking about.

[LifeFirst]

What issue was that?

[Tra-EL]

Can someone please explain how these characters came about and who they are. I have never really found out, or figured it out before.

Thanks

I only read the story once so the memory is hazy since there's so much info.. but I have the one shot issue of when Superman Blue split into Superman red. They are both standing on the cover, side by side of each other.


The story features the Toyman and Cyborg Superman. The cyborg Superman recruits Toyman, and the Toyman appears to be a schizo in this arc. The Toyman breaks out of prison fooling a guard, and Superman blue responds to the call. All hoopla breaks out and Superman blue and the Cyborg go to battle. The Cyborg then creates this machine that will wipe Superman's energy for good and give the Cyborg what he needs. The plan works to an extent for the Cyborg, and it appears Superman's energy is banished for good. Something happened in the machine and something leaked to where the machine responded in a different manner, creating Superman of both his personalities. Superman Blue was more of the mile-mannered type, and Red was kind of a rebellious type. They both shot out of the machine, one took care of the Cyborg, and one took care of the Toyman, who captured Lois. The ending of the issue has both Clark Kents (Red and Blue) walking into the Daily Planet simultaneously to be at work on time.

I'll look over the issue sometime tonight and give better details.

[4thHorseman]

What issue was that?

That was in the second arc of Morrison's JLA run. Issues 5-7 or something like that.

[Bergman]

I thought the split was caused by Toymaker and the Cyborg using that machine?

You're correct, they captured him and seemingly destroyed him, instead he reappeared in two different places.

[Bergman]

Could there be an evil Green Electric Superman running around?

There was a Bizarro World story where the Bizarro electric Red and Blue were green and yellow. They were still called Red and Blue.

[Mat001]

What issue was that?

JLA #7. Collected in "American Dreams" and the first onimbus.