Superman was originally a villain

[Kistler]

Whoever's interested, this article on Monitor Duty is my attempt to trace Superman's general history as a character from when he was created as a villain in a sci-fi magazine in the 30s all the way to the Christopher Reeve movie in 1978. Feel free to leave a comment there and tell me what you think.

http://www.monitorduty.com/mdarchives/2005/09/kistlers_profil.shtml

[Sean Whitmore]

Very cool! I must have read a dozen Superman retrospectives, but I can't remember one as comprehensive or insightful.


SEAN

[Pariah128]

Yeah I've heard about that before, if superman did come out as a villain half the DCU would be dead

[Kistler]

Thanks very much for the kind words, Sean, I appreciate it.

[SuperManny]

Great stuff Alan!

I'm constantly zipping to it back and forth here at work to finish reading the comprehensive research you've made.

I like!

[Kistler]

Thanks, SuperManny, I appreciate that very much.

And all you folks should feel free to leave comments like this on the article itself at MonitorDuty.com so Hutch will know that I'm not just insane for writing stuff that's so lenghty. :-P Also, you can comment on what characters you would like me to research and write about in the future, cuz I'm a whore when it comes to trying to please my audience. :-D

[Daniel Hopkins]

Awesome. You'd kill yourself nowadays if you were one of those publishers that turned them down.

[Sean Whitmore]

Awesome. You'd kill yourself nowadays if you were one of those publishers that turned them down.


To paraphrase Chris Rock, I would not only jump out the window, I would slit my throat on the way down. :D

Hell, I'm still pissed I didn't invest in Amazon.com years ago.


SEAN

[Daniel Hopkins]

To paraphrase Chris Rock, I would not only jump out the window, I would slit my throat on the way down. :D

Hell, I'm still pissed I didn't invest in Amazon.com years ago.


SEAN
Gotta love Chris Rock

[Glaucon]

Superman being a villain is one of the "little known facts", as with Joe Shuster being born in Canada and Metropolis being partly based on Toronto (with Cleveland, Ohio).

[Arrjay]

Superman should be a villian. It'd make the DCU a lot more interesting.

[Petertime]

Superman being a villain is one of the "little known facts", as with Joe Shuster being born in Canada and Metropolis being partly based on Toronto (with Cleveland, Ohio).

If memory serves the paper Clark Kent originally worked for was the Globe, which was an actual paper in Toronto, but it was quickly changed to be "The Daily Planet".

I know it's cause I'm Canadian and we cling to anything remotely Canadian, but I always smile when I read Superman standing for "Truth, Justice and The American Way" or when he "died" and the president (in the comic) stated that he was "Truly American".

[RawShark]

Isnt Krypton a ghost town in northern Ontario?
My guess is, baby Supes was just catapulted over the Canada/US border, eh
Kryptonite might actually just be out-dated poutine ;)

[Sean Whitmore]

Isnt Krypton a ghost town in northern Ontario?
My guess is, baby Supes was just catapulted over the Canada/US border, eh



So he's not invulnerable at all! He just acts that way because he has free health care! ;)


SEAN

[SuperManny]

If memory serves the paper Clark Kent originally worked for was the Globe, which was an actual paper in Toronto, but it was quickly changed to be "The Daily Planet".

I thought it was the Daily Star, with George Taylor as the editor-in-chief ?

:confused:

[Josh]

I agree, Supermanny. I'm almost 100% sure that it was Daily Star.

From the website...

George Lowther did a Superman novel in 1942 that, once again, gave us the extended origin first presented in the newspapers but this time there were a couple of changes. First, the Kents were given first names now, “Eben” and “Sarah.” In later years, it would change to “John” and “Mary” and years later it would finally become “Jonathan” and “Martha”, which it remains to this day.Actually, the name "Mary" for his mother preceded that novel (I'm not sure about John vs. Jonathan.) I'm not sure when Mary was changed to Martha, but it was a part of one of the earliest origin sequences of Superman. The nameless Mr. Kent says "Look Mary! --It's a child!" to which she responds "The poor thing! -- It's been abandoned!"