Esoterica questions about supers (DC)

[AllisterH]

You know how you might be just watchign a game and a commercial makes you think?

Well, I'm watching some NHL and on comes a commercial for an Elvis memorial DVD and young Elvis really has the look of Freddy Freeman especially with the scarf motif.

Of course, this is understandable given the King's fascination with Captain Marvel Junior (apparently modelling his early looks on Freddy while his latter days Vegas outfits were influenced by Captain Marvel Jr) but this got me thinking.

What was Elvis look in the DCU? If Freddy was only born after Elvis had died, what the hell did Elvis use for inspiration for his look?

Then I watched some Andromeda and it got me wondering. What about Hercules? In our world, Hercules is synomous with strength and athletics. Grandmothers praise their grandkids by calling them "Little Hercules", companies name themselves after him and vechicles are named after him.

But what happens in the DCU where you get people stronger than him? What about the DC's version of Heracles who seemed to have no good points about him? For example, DC's version of Heracles raped the amazons after getting his butt handed to him so would companies want to be associated with that?

Any other esoteric questions comics make you think about?

[PatrickG]

And who was "Sunshine Superman" written about?

Are we supposed to believe that the line "Superman or Green Lantern ain't got nothin' on me" is a reference to the Ubermensch and Alan Scott?

Pocket Full of Kryptonite? Jimmy Olsen's Blues? I am Superman?

Consider that Mark Waid and other people, in our world, grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s with Superman as a strong role model. But he supposedly didn't exist in the DCU.

Consider that the terms "Brainiac" and "Bizarro" both come from the comic book characters. Yet, I seem to recall revisionist origins for both of them that have somebody naming them by calling them a "Brainiac" or "Bizarro". Except the words themselves are in the English language because of the characters so it's incredibly bizarre for someone to use the figure of speech to describe them.

It's like... Take the phrase "Holy (fill-in the-blank), Batman!" It's a part of pop culture jargon. Now imagine a story of young Bruce Wayne where somebody says, "Holy Roman Empire, Batman!" and Bruce takes the name for his costumed identity based on a pop culture reference to... himself!?

So as I said, it jarrs me when Bizarro has an origin story that involves someone calling him "Bizarro" as a figure of speech or Brainiac shows up and somebody makes a crack like, "What are you? Some kinda Brainiac?" Because if Brainiac didn't already exist, you wouldn't have the figure of speech! ARG!

Next thing ya know, we'll have an Enterprise movie where somebody on the crew uses the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty!" because it came from a popular TV show in the 20th century. (Although that makes mildly more sense, honestly.)

[Rik]

"Brainiac" was the name of a (very primitive) build-it-yourself computer kit sold for kids in the early sixties. They sued DC for allegedly stealing their name, and a compromise was worked out whereby the comic book character would be "revealed" to be a computer in human form, and the computer kit would be given free advertising space in the same issue of Superman's comic.

[PatrickG]

The case was pretty baseless, if memory serves, but DC didn't have the kind of major corporate clout then that they do now.

And Brainiac (Brain+Maniac) is a pretty lousy name for a build-it-youself computer.

[Noah Johnson]

I've been saying for years that these sliding timelines are stupid...

[Gail Simone]

I like this thread. :)

Gail

[DEWLine]

Noah: I don't think I can disagree with you.

Gail: No argument with you either.

In my case, I keep wondering how the TV space opera founders, showrunners and writing staffs cope(d) with the fact of real ET life and the invasions that have occasionally ensued. Guys like Roddenberry(and his heirs, spiritual and legal), Straczynski, Whedon and so forth...? What must their shows look like in your average comics universe?

And then there was that reference to the The X-Files in an issue of Guy Gardner that just threw me right out of the book. How can a show with that premise survive in the DCU, save as a "What if history had worked out differently?" show?

[the4thpip]

I recently got the Wrath of the Spectre Tpb (the one with the gorgeous Aparo art), and Corrigan jokingly calls a reporter with glasses "Clark Kent" and somebody else then asks him if he's really Superman.

Maybe those stories were supposed to be set on Earth-Prime?

[DEWLine]

Some other Earth, most likely.

[Michael P]

Actually, "Beam Me Up, Scotty" was never said on the television show.

[DEWLine]

Getting back to pro hockey for a moment, I've always wondered how the 1930's contraction and re-expansion of the NHL beginning with the 1967-'68 season might've worked out in the DCU. I set up my theory for at least Gotham's role as part of a "Surviving Eight" in the Daily Planet Guide to Gotham with Metropolis rounding out that eight(in addition to the real world's "Original Six").

Not sure if hockey fans like Geoff Johns (and if James Robinson's references to the Opal Corsairs in his run of Starman are a proper hint to his sports taste, him as well) would agree with my perceptions, though it'd be fun to argue them out.