How bulky do you like your Superman?

[Zodlike]

Well, his usual stats are 6'3" and 235lbs, so that's super-heavyweight in boxing (until they renamed it 'Unlimited' weight class) and he's a wall of a man. It's hard to relate. Also slightly impractical, as such a physique can have flexibility issues --- unless of course, Superman's unique alien physiology allows him, as a Kryptonian, to have yogic flexibility in his joints, tendons and sinews as well as huge muscles.

At this rate of analysis it becomes faintly ridiculous, to be honest. Some guy can fire off fists as fast as bullets, with the punching power and impact force to match, and next thing you know....they just bounce off Superman cos' bullets bounce off Superman. For the longest time I did not like the character at all, and this sort of thread reminds me why.

I'm glad I realized long ago that muscles and mass have little or nothing to do with super-strength, the only caveat being you should be reasonably fit and able-bodied to facilitate the abolition of imaginary limitations. Training martial arts will do it. So I guess I don't care how Superman is drawn. Lean and mean, or big n' bulky.

[KC]

Lean and Toned. But I don't mind it when he looks bulky when Ed McGuinness draws him.

[Jim Kelly]

Well, in the early days of Superman, he could shape shift to make himself look different. And given his physiology, it's seems entirely possible that Superman could create extra mass in his body and then deflate himself when he becomes Clark. So all that muscle might not be real or the result of exercise but simply an illusion to assist his disguise as Superman.

It's also important to remember that comic art is cartooning. Even when artists are using a style that we call realistic, they are still using all the tricks of a cartoonist to exaggerate perspective and expression for the purpose of telling a story. So none of it is real, it's all symbolic.

[Shriveling_memo]

9a5cd0293979246bb7d04f6f9e2698fc.jpg not the greatest drawing but ideal size for an alien who pretends to be human.

[Mia]

Jim Lee Superman. The kind of guy who lifts heavy weights every other day for at least an hour before going to work, and eats clean.

[Jim Kelly]

For Superman to earn those muscles by weight lifting, he'd have to be working out with really heavy objects. Hard to see him keeping those in a Metropolis apartment. Probably would have to fly to his Fortress of Solitude to get a proper work-out lifting such incredible weights.

[Jcogginsa]

I'd like to see him as having a Bruce Lee esque physiue

[Ascended]

For Superman to earn those muscles by weight lifting, he'd have to be working out with really heavy objects. Hard to see him keeping those in a Metropolis apartment. Probably would have to fly to his Fortress of Solitude to get a proper work-out lifting such incredible weights.

I'm sure he gets plenty of exercise lifting meteors, dead planets, giant ton robots, holding black holes open, etc.

Though I'm pretty sure he's got a gym in the Fortress too.

[Kuwagaton]

It's a conventionally sized man of no extraordinary proportions, holding a big car over his head. Anyone seeing that in 1938 would recognize that this is a remarkable feat. But imagine if the car was smaller and the man was much bigger--then it doesn't seem so striking that he could do that.

That's not to say you can't reimagine Superman as a big man, but it is changing what Siegel & Shuster intended with their original character.

The great thing is that classic cover enables a ton of homage shots, so it makes a comparison very possible.





I was pretty amazed to find out about Whiz #2 and Sensation #51 btw.

[Sacred Knight]

Who usually colored McGuinness's work on Superman? It was always too bulky for me but man the colors.

To answer the question, my ideal right where the likes of Garcia-Lopez Jurgens, and Grummett land.

[Kuwagaton]

Tanya Horie was all over the books with her colors back then.

The thing about McGuinness is that even Perry appeared to be 6'2" 225 lbs. He just has a bulky style.

[DragonPiece]

Needs Broly level muscles.



(He's the really big guy holding up Goku)

The opposite of this is how I like Superman.

[Jon-El]

I'm in the Garcia Lopez or Swan group. I don't mind when artist have a unique vision. Jon Bogdanove drew him to look like the Hulk but it didn't bother me too much. That's just not my favorite look. I like Superman fit but don't want him to look like steroids were involved.

The Garcia Lopez forever defined what characters physiques should look like for me. I base it all off the Superman vs Flash cover that's in my profile. Superman is tall & a little thicker than Flash but nothing crazy. Flash runs all day so he'd have to be lean. I like Batman with the Aparo, Adams build. I like him leaner than Superman

[Adekis]

I was all ready to say that I like Superman to be relatively skinny, at least by Superman standards, and then I realized, well, what I really mean is I like him to look young, and for some reason that tends to mean he's not only drawn as thinner than when he's older, but he even has a skinnier face- not just like, less aged and with less fat on it, but legitimately different jaw structure! Which is more than a little ridiculous, honestly.

Most of my preferences came up pretty regularly in the post-Flashpoint period. Kenneth Rocafort draws Superman awesomely, and I'll always be a fan of how Rags Morales drew him, particularly in the t-shirt scenes. That said, there's one particular visual take I like most of all.

Mike Grell's Superboy is just about my favorite Superman. Ironically, his Superman doesn't do much for me, but his Superboy is exactly what I want in Superman. Well muscled but not overly bulky, fairly lean and lithe for how much muscle he has, with a face on the thin side, cheekbones that could cut glass, and a passion in his eyes! Also, I kind of like the sideburns too.



The chest emblem should probably be about six times bigger but whatever, that's fine.

At the same time, my other favorite way I like Superman is when people ape Shuster by giving Superman real squinty eyes and a massive square jaw - but Shuster always managed to do that and still have him seem young to me. I love how Bogdanove apes Shuster for example, but Superman always seems a little older when he does that. To say nothing of the fact that someone like Alex Ross seems incapable of drawing Superman as younger than forty. When Aaron Kuder drew him he always kind of managed it well for me, but he was always a little more "classic" looking than I might like. Ah well.

[Jim Kelly]

In hindsight, I think that I preferred Swan's Superboy to his Superman, also. I mean, there was a time when Curt drew Superman to look much older, but you didn't see that with his Superboy and I preferred the more youthful look. Eventually, Swan drew Superman as younger, so he resembled his Superboy. But I think the reason I gravitated toward the Legion of Super-Heroes, initially, was for this younger Superman/Superboy.