Aspects of the Superman mythos from over the years that don't make sense to you.

[Jim Kelly]

In pre-Crisis stories, Clark went to university. That's where he met Lori Lemaris.

Not the you need to go to journalism school to get a job on a paper. Clark got his job at the PLANET by getting a story on Superman.

[Lorendiac]

In pre-Crisis stories, Clark went to university. That's where he met Lori Lemaris.

Not the you need to go to journalism school to get a job on a paper. Clark got his job at the PLANET by getting a story on Superman.

I don't think it has to be an "Either/Or" situation -- as in "either you qualify for the job by simply having a journalism degree, or else you can qualify by simply having a red-hot scoop to establish your ability as a reporter."

I feel it's quite possible that if Clark had majored in, let's say, civil engineering, and then showed up at the Planet with an exclusive Superman interview all written up for publication, Perry would have been willing to pay him for that one piece, but would not have hired him on the spot to keep writing other articles on a daily basis. (Heck, maybe Perry had strict orders from the publisher -- "Thou Shalt Not Hire Any Reporters Who Lack Journalism Degrees!")

[The Overlord]

I think the number of heroes and villains at Supermans level multiplied post crisis and that's why kryptonite seemed less relevant.

Frankly I prefer Superman having some foes on his level, rather then relying on kryptonite. I find kryptonite kinda boring, it makes Superman weak as kitten and really there should be middle ground for Superman between totally invincible and weak as a kitten and sometimes it seems like every two bit thug has kryptonite, which makes it less special. Also if Lex can easily get kryptonite, why doesn't he bring kryptonite and a glock, just start shooting Superman when he is weakened.

I think Superman in a life or death struggle with a foe equal or superior to him and having use his power and his mind to survive is far more exciting then Superman writhing on the ground because of some green rock.

[Flash Gordon]

How did Clark even get a job at the Daily Planet? We never hear anything about University or a job before that. Pretty much seems like he went to High School and then got hired by the Daily Planet.

I've always fancied how he landed the job on the ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN show. He walked right into Perry White's office and gave him the first scoop on the mysterious SUPERMAN. That would do it. Balls, brains, and the story no one else could get.

In the comics he did go to school, though I believe currently he landed the gig solely on his travel writings/jobs at smaller news outlets.

I like Clark being more of a wanderer, and not the college type. I think it fits him more. It's more important for the character to travel and see the world- the people he will one day lead into the stars.

I just hated how SMALLVILLE did it, that was flat out stupid. I think he went to college for like 3 episodes and then they forgot about that and he just went back to the farm.

[daBronzeBomma]

I disagree. You seem to imply that it's hard to believe that, by sheer coincidence, Baby Kal-El ended up in a place where he would look pretty darn "normal" as he was growing up! But I grew up knowing that "coincidence" had nothing to do with it!

I implied nothing of the sort. You are inferring this.

Here's something I've said in the past: Both Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis, there were published comic book stories which made it crystal-clear that Jor-El didn't just aim that little spaceship at some randomly selected distant star which might conceivably contain some form of intelligent life. Instead, he found ways to "scout out the territory" by mechanical means before sending a "manned" (or at least a "babied") rocket all the way to Planet Earth in particular. Jor-El wanted to be sure that his little boy would grow up in a place where he looked "normal."

In other words: If all Kryptonians had looked exactly like Star Trek Klingons with corrugated foreheads, then Jor-El would have made darn sure that the rocket would end up on a planet where lots of local people looked exactly like Star Trek Klingons with corrugated foreheads! And if all Kryptonians had looked like purple squids with bright yellow polka dots, then Jor-El would have made darn sure that the rocket would end up on a planet where lots of local people looked like purple squids with bright yellow polka dots! There's no "coincidence" involved at all; the fact that little Kal-El could "fit right in" with a bunch of human kids in kindergarten was the result of careful planning!

I don't believe I've ever used the word "random" to describe anything about Jor-El and Lara's decision-making. If anything, I'm all for Kal's parents studying Earth for years (or even decades, maybe sending unmanned alien probes) until they know as much as they can about our planet before ever sending Kal here.

MY problem is the very concept that any alien race would look just like humans without direct genetic seeding. That means Krypton seeded Earth with the genetic programming to one day evolve humans just like themselves ... only that would make the Kryptonians way too powerful and mean that Bruce Wayne and Hal Jordan are also descended from Kryptonians, and that's too much overreach. Kryptonians wouldn't have that much technology without establishing an interstellar empire first. So that theory is out.

What I would buy (having read other sci-fi franchises) is the STAR TREK idea that there once was an ancient, now extinct humanoid, race who seeded all the humanoid planets billions or years ago. Planets like Krypton, Thanagar, Rann, etc. Consequently they separately evolved humanoid races that looked alike enough (two eyes, one mouth, two arms, two legs, bipedal, etc) but different due to their planets being vastly different environments. I'd prefer that Kryptonians look at least STAR TREK-level alien (i.e. paint job on the skin, glowing eyes, different hair color, etc) and that they possessed technology to reasonably alter their outward appearance to match other humanoids they were aware of. Something like that.

I'd take that over the current model: one outwardly-Caucasian race finding another outwardly-Caucasian race when their inwardly they are nothing alike. THAT seems too random to me.

[adkal]

MY problem is the very concept that any alien race would look just like humans without direct genetic seeding. That means Krypton seeded Earth with the genetic programming to one day evolve humans just like themselves ... only that would make the Kryptonians way too powerful and mean that Bruce Wayne and Hal Jordan are also descended from Kryptonians, and that's too much overreach. Kryptonians wouldn't have that much technology without establishing an interstellar empire first. So that theory is out.

In current continuity or previous?

Current continuity establishes that Kryptonians had conquered space and colonised, etc. Using World Killers to cleanse and terra-form.

Previous (most recent) had Krypton have a vast intergalactic armada (and a warship was crashed somewhere on Earth thousands of years ago, too).

It has also been put forward that the Guardians had fiddled with things (including the Martians).

(Of course, we could always have gone for the Brando-suggested approach...)

And there's also an approach Siegel and Shuster considered (and later Morrison suggested to Millar, who then used it)...

[Gorblax]

It was head honcho Jenette Khan's idea, back when the idea of the Green Lantern Corps was taking off, to keep most alien races looking at least vaguely humanoid. That's a pretty strong argument for common ancestry right there- not just between humans and Kryptonians, but maybe most of the universe. Star Trek: TNG's solution is probably the gold standard here.

[RobinFan4880]

Star Trek: TNG's solution is probably the gold standard here.

Star Trek's solution is the most elegant and interesting explanation for the over abundance of humanoid life.

[Jim Kelly]

In the first and second issue of DC COMICS PRESENTS (of its original run), which features another race between Superman and the Flash--the third one, I believe--the origins of the universe's seeded sentient lifeforms is explained. Look there for your answers.

digression:

spoilers:

But on some level, I think these stories are unnecessary. It's hand-holding for the nervous Nellies who can't contend with the demands of fiction. Fiction you see has to be something you can understand--I shouldn't have to tell anybody that--but some readers keep insisting that there has to be an explanation for why stories are made accessible to them. Of course, you could tell stories about totally unrelatable entities that communicate in unintelligble ways regarding things that are beyond our comprehension. But how good would those stories be? In THE LORD OF THE RINGS, the tree-people (Ents) communicate very slowly, although to them it seems quick--should the movie adaptation of the Entmoot (tree discussion) have gone on for three days to show the trees communicating at the actual rate suggested by the novel? In fiction, reality is translated into a form the general audience can understand. That extends to making the characters look and act human.

end of spoilers

[daBronzeBomma]

Star Trek's solution is the most elegant and interesting explanation for the over abundance of humanoid life.

Yeah, it was the classic STAR TREK: TNG episode "The Chase" of which I was thinking. The one where Terrestrials, Cardassians, Klingons and Vulcan/Romulans discover that they all share a common ancestral humanoid race who seeded each of their worlds billions of years ago before they went extinct themselves.

It's such an excellent explanation (for having alien races that look ridiculously human except for one or two things) that many sci-fi franchises would benefit from using some variant of it.

Marvel has the Celestials who do this sort of thing. The Guardians of Oa would be the most obvious fit ... but maybe they're too tied to one franchise (GL). Maybe a heretofore unnamed extinct alien race who was responsible for the Guardians as well?

Anyhoo, I'd personally like it if Kryptonians on Krypton looked more like Khryon (purple skin, blue hair) from the anime series SDF Macross / Robotech:

[Slaughter]

I remember pre-crisis it was said that humanoid aliens originated from two sources:

1. Ancient Atlatean Astronauts
2. Oans

One could say that the nearest, milky-way races are probably Atlantean-born (Rannians, Tamarans, Coluans, etc) while the farthest races are Oan-born. From the Oans we know for sure that they originated the Guardians of the Universe, the Zamarons, the Controllers, the Qwardians and that race of gods and weird beings from kyle's GL run and the miniseries JLA: Gatekeeper.

Another interesting detail: We know post-crisis that white martians tampered with human evolution so only a few humans would display a meta-gene (otherwise humans would've been a race like kryptonians or daxamites). Aquaman (who's a human/atlantean hybrid) and other Atlanteans display around Golden Age Superman levels of strength and resistance in order to survive sea pressure. Kryptonians are now back to being heavyworlders (+ solar power). Remember (some) Daxamites being revealed to be able to impregnate and conceive with humans due to previous mixing between them and another humanoid race? Who knows if Oans aren't even capable of doing such a thing too? They're pretty much Gods - who by the way are probably involved too, what with between one zillion Zeus bastards across Earth and new Darkseid progeny turning up every now and then.

Remember that "Powergirl is a atlantean" thing? Maybe she is... in a very round-about way.
Rember Homo Magi? And it goes on and on...

I think that a talented writter could bring a great myth arc with this by tying almost every humanoid lineage with each other. Imagine connecting atlanteans, kryptonians, tamareans, rannians, coluans, homo magi, etc etc together. That sounds like story potential to me.