Edit: Following on from my initial version of this entry, you may wish to view this list of ten lesser known aspects of Superman, which cover lesser known and in my opinion interesting aspects people don’t necessairly know. When I first got into comics, I didn’t care too much for Superman. Like many people I always felt he was too powerful, meaning it would be hard for him to be in danger. However it turns out that: He’s also weak to magic Red solar radiation drains his powers and can be used against him Anyone who packs a good punch, regardless of origin (i.e. natural strength or using one of his weaknesses, which accounts about about 85% of his enemies and a number of his allies/fellow heroes!) can knock him to the ground It seems most accusations of him being over powered are by people who think Lex Luthor is his only villain, i.e. have not read Superman With this new found knowledge I started to see him in a new light and have since grown quite fond of him. Stories like Last Son (Superman adopting a child, Chris Kent, only for Chris to sacrifice his freedom to ensure his father General Zod is trapped again in the Phantom Zone), Brainiac (death of his adopted father while he’s busy saving the world, the Kryptonian city Kandor and fighting Brainiac), New Krypton (realising Kryptonians weren’t as perfect as he thought and ultimately losing his people again when the new planet is blown up. On top of that, his ally Mon-El and adopted son also escape the Phantom Zone to help, only to get trapped there again) and Grounded (dealing with the repressed emotions from the Brainiac and New Krypton storylines, which happened one after the other) have helped my fondness grow. Sure they’re not all great (New Krypton and Grounded weren’t as good as they could have been) but I still feel they showed the emotional side of the hero and why it is easy to like him. Another quality I like is his morals. In the storyline Zero Hour a powerless Superman was willing to sneak into a rocket so he could fight the Sun Eater, a creature that (surprise surprise) was eating the sun, aka the source of his powers. There was no guarantee he could a) defeat the creature and b) even if he could would re-gain his powers, meaning he could have died (again), but Kal was willing to do so anyway, sacrificing his life for the greater good (again). That one moment elevated him in my eyes. I’m much fonder of “Heroic” heroes than the bruding, dark anti-heroes like a certain flying rodent based man (who I feel is more overpowered due to the things he gets away with under the pen of some writters, and the less said about the way other heroes I like such as Booster Gold, Green Lantern and Superman have been mishandled to make Batman more awesome by comparison the better), so to see Superman come across as a jerk who punched Green Lantern and Batman rather than the role model I feel he should be has me a bit skeptical about his portrayal in the new DC universe. quadruplewindsor: chrishaley: Since it was DCnU Superman’s first appearance, I went ahead and fixed the dialogue. Formula for the new JLA: Take DC’s most visible and famous heroes and eliminate anything that makes them even remotely heroic.  The only reason I’m reading it is because I have no idea how these ass clowns are going to tackle any threat, let alone Darkseid.

Edit:

Following on from my initial version of this entry, you may wish to view this list of ten lesser known aspects of Superman, which cover lesser known and in my opinion interesting aspects people don’t necessairly know.

When I first got into comics, I didn’t care too much for Superman. Like many people I always felt he was too powerful, meaning it would be hard for him to be in danger. However it turns out that:

  1. He’s also weak to magic
  2. Red solar radiation drains his powers and can be used against him
  3. Anyone who packs a good punch, regardless of origin (i.e. natural strength or using one of his weaknesses, which accounts about about 85% of his enemies and a number of his allies/fellow heroes!) can knock him to the ground
  4. It seems most accusations of him being over powered are by people who think Lex Luthor is his only villain, i.e. have not read Superman

With this new found knowledge I started to see him in a new light and have since grown quite fond of him. Stories like Last Son (Superman adopting a child, Chris Kent, only for Chris to sacrifice his freedom to ensure his father General Zod is trapped again in the Phantom Zone), Brainiac (death of his adopted father while he’s busy saving the world, the Kryptonian city Kandor and fighting Brainiac), New Krypton (realising Kryptonians weren’t as perfect as he thought and ultimately losing his people again when the new planet is blown up. On top of that, his ally Mon-El and adopted son also escape the Phantom Zone to help, only to get trapped there again) and Grounded (dealing with the repressed emotions from the Brainiac and New Krypton storylines, which happened one after the other) have helped my fondness grow. Sure they’re not all great (New Krypton and Grounded weren’t as good as they could have been) but I still feel they showed the emotional side of the hero and why it is easy to like him.

Another quality I like is his morals. In the storyline Zero Hour a powerless Superman was willing to sneak into a rocket so he could fight the Sun Eater, a creature that (surprise surprise) was eating the sun, aka the source of his powers. There was no guarantee he could a) defeat the creature and b) even if he could would re-gain his powers, meaning he could have died (again), but Kal was willing to do so anyway, sacrificing his life for the greater good (again). That one moment elevated him in my eyes. I’m much fonder of “Heroic” heroes than the bruding, dark anti-heroes like a certain flying rodent based man (who I feel is more overpowered due to the things he gets away with under the pen of some writters, and the less said about the way other heroes I like such as Booster Gold, Green Lantern and Superman have been mishandled to make Batman more awesome by comparison the better), so to see Superman come across as a jerk who punched Green Lantern and Batman rather than the role model I feel he should be has me a bit skeptical about his portrayal in the new DC universe.

quadruplewindsor:

chrishaley:

Since it was DCnU Superman’s first appearance, I went ahead and fixed the dialogue.

Formula for the new JLA: Take DC’s most visible and famous heroes and eliminate anything that makes them even remotely heroic.  The only reason I’m reading it is because I have no idea how these ass clowns are going to tackle any threat, let alone Darkseid.

(via chrishaley)