Data on Kryptonian time measures

[marhawkman]

for a new year a new post!

I scoured the old Krypton Chronicles glossary for information about how time was measured on Krypton and figured out how to math all of the correlations to Earth time!

18 K-years = 25 Earth years.
Amzel - K-year(438 K-days, or 507.3 E-Days) with 6 Loraxo in it.
Lorax - A Kryptonian Month of 73 K-days(84.55 E-Days).
Fanff - K-week of 6 K-days(6.95 E-days)
Zetyar - K-Day of 10 Woluo(27.8 E-hours)
Wolu - K-hour equal to 100 Dendaro(2.78 E-hours).
Dendar - K-minute equal to 100 Thribo(1.67 E-minutes)
Thrib - K-second... nearly the same length as an E-second

[marhawkman]

One weird thought that occurred to me is that this reminds me of the old concept of "metric" time. Much like weights and distances have kilograms and meters, a long time back there was the idea of making the way clocks worked "metric" too. Which is much like the way this has a system where 100 seconds make a minute, and 100 minutes make an hour, then 10 hours are in a day. Part of the metric time idea was having 10-hour days.

A "Thrib" is functionally the same as a second on our clock. A Kryptonian day has 100*100*10 seconds in it. Which is 100,000 seconds. How long is that? 1,666.67 minutes, or 27.78 hours our time. Which then goes up until you eventually get to the 18=25 thing. Apparently, he created the whole system starting there.

[HsssH]

Interesting stuff. Has this really been used anywhere outside of Chronicles?

[Jim Kelly]

Interesting stuff. Has this really been used anywhere outside of Chronicles?

It was used pre-Crisis. What E. Nelson Bridwell did with WORLD OF KRYPTON and then KRYPTON CHRONICLES--but even before that with the Fabulous World of Krypton feature and in an editorial capacity working first with Mort Weisinger and then the editors that replaced him--was to look at all the stories and facts about Krypton in all the Superman comics over the years and attempt to apply a logical system to that. So he used some of the names and factoids about the calendar, but then expanded on that, removed contrary data, and invented a whole system. Writers and editors consulted with him on their stories to ensure it all fit within this continuity.

[marhawkman]

as far as I know the newer stories don't really contradict it, but more just... don't use it. Part of why I posted it is there was discussion about Supergirl's age. She spent most of her life on Krypton, so her age growing up... was measured in Kryptonian time.

[Jim Kelly]

I seem to recall there was at least one Pre-C. story where the 18 to 25 year thing was part of the plot twist in a story.

That Krypton had a 10,000 year history is a factoid stuck in my brain and that was pre-Bridwell. So that nice round number might have influenced the calendar. If that's 10,000 K. years, it would be munch longer Earth time.

In general--not related to time per se--some Bridwell elements have stuck like Kara Zor-El and Lara Lor-Van (women take the name of their birth father as a second name). But it seems like they ignore this naming convention as often as they use it.

[Jim Kelly]

That Krypton had a 10,000 year history is a factoid stuck in my brain and that was pre-Bridwell. So that nice round number might have influenced the calendar. If that's 10,000 K. years, it would be munch longer Earth time.

Or maybe not. I'm looking at the SUPERBOY SPECTACULAR (1980) and one of the stories it reprints is "Life on Krypton" by Jerry Siegel and George Papp, from SUPERBOY 79 (March 1960). Superboy uses his mind prober ray for the first time and recalls what happened on Krypton when he was a child, as they are celebrating the 6 Billionth Birthday of Krypton, using a Time Clock. The cosmic clock shows the moment when the planet was born.

Six billion seems about right--that's a couple billion years more than Earth, but still within the age of the universe, which is over fourteen billion years old (according to estimates).

[marhawkman]

Or maybe not. I'm looking at the SUPERBOY SPECTACULAR (1980) and one of the stories it reprints is "Life on Krypton" by Jerry Siegel and George Papp, from SUPERBOY 79 (March 1960). Superboy uses his mind prober ray for the first time and recalls what happened on Krypton when he was a child, as they are celebrating the 6 Billionth Birthday of Krypton, using a Time Clock. The cosmic clock shows the moment when the planet was born.

Six billion seems about right--that's a couple billion years more than Earth, but still within the age of the universe, which is over fourteen billion years old (according to estimates).

Hmmm it just occured to me that one version of the origin of Doomsday was that it was a scientist working on Krypton. What year was it when Doomsday was created?

[Jim Kelly]

Hmmm it just occured to me that one version of the origin of Doomsday was that it was a scientist working on Krypton. What year was it when Doomsday was created?

Well the Death of Superman was 1992 - 1993, but someone else would know more about this than me.

[marhawkman]

Well the Death of Superman was 1992 - 1993, but someone else would know more about this than me.

I mean in-universe. There was a story about the scientist who created Doomsday. This was at a point in time before the Kryptonian race as we know them lived on Krypton..... but I'm not sure what the in-universe date was.... or if they actually specified one.

[Vordan]

for a new year a new post!

I scoured the old Krypton Chronicles glossary for information about how time was measured on Krypton and figured out how to math all of the correlations to Earth time!

18 K-years = 25 Earth years.
Amzel - K-year(438 K-days, or 507.3 E-Days) with 6 Loraxo in it.
Lorax - A Kryptonian Month of 73 K-days(84.55 E-Days).
Fanff - K-week of 6 K-days(6.95 E-days)
Zetyar - K-Day of 10 Woluo(27.8 E-hours)
Wolu - K-hour equal to 100 Dendaro(2.78 E-hours).
Dendar - K-minute equal to 100 Thribo(1.67 E-minutes)
Thrib - K-second... nearly the same length as an E-second

I salute anyone else who puts in the work for working out the science of stuff like this

[marhawkman]

Hmmm was reading on the wiki, and noticed this: https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Fri...lanet-Splitter

"It is shown that Krypton had a 34 day month called Mayton and implies that Superman's rocket was launched on Mayton 15."

This was the old Superfriends cartoon, and the length seems wrong, but.. it made me wonder... when have the NAMES of the months and such things on the Kryptonian calendar been established?

Let's see what else I can find on the wiki...

""The Man Who Wrote Superman's Obituary!" reveals that Superman's birth date on Krypton was the 35th day of the month of Erox, in the year 9998."

and..... that's all I was able to find. Hmm.....

[achilles]

I mean in-universe. There was a story about the scientist who created Doomsday. This was at a point in time before the Kryptonian race as we know them lived on Krypton..... but I'm not sure what the in-universe date was.... or if they actually specified one.

I've wondered that ever since I read it. I would think that since he winds up killing every living thing larger than a mouse on the planet, and the Kryptonians we know still had time to evolve, probably ages in the past, like billions of years. But I don't ever recall reading about that question being settled.