From: bxp1628@hertz.njit.edu (Brian Perler)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Re: Hero Power levels
Date: 28 Sep 92 02:55:48 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <lc4kd7INNb7h@appserv.Eng.Sun.COM> khale@camilla.Eng.Sun.COM (Abhijit Khale) writes:
>In article <1992Sep24.031814.21800@njitgw.njit.edu> bxp1628@hertz.njit.edu (Brian Perler) writes:
>>
>>And remember when, back in 1938, Superman was "faster than a speeding
>>bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall
>>buildings in a single bound"?  Nowadays he's faster than everything
>>except light and the Flash, more powerful than just about everyone
>>and everything (except Lobo, and, apparantly, Doomsday), and able
>>to fly over planets without working up a sweat. 
>
>I think you're completely inaccurate in some respects.
>
>Time for some Superman history here : 
>
>While Superman's initial powers were at the level you describe,
>"faster than a speeding bullet", "more powerful than a locomotive",
>his power level was souped up pretty quickly. While I dont remember
>exactly when his power level was souped up, it probably took place sometime
>in the early-mid 1940s. Subsequently other writers added other powers.
>By the mid-1950s or so, Superman's level was more or less stable, though
>some additions occured even after that. 

Well, that was my point.  When Supes started out, he wasn't anywhere
near as powerful as he became.  The original post I responded to
was complaining about current superheroes having their power levels
boosted to extreme levels in recent years.  My point was that it's
been going on for years.

>Of course, it isnt easy to have good action adventure stories about someone
>so omnipotently powerful. Denny O'Neill tried to depower Superman back
>in the early 1970s with the Sandman storyline (redone by Simonson recently)
>in which the sand creature of Quarmm took away half his powers. This loss of 
>powers was later benignly retconned away by later writers (who ignored it).
>Marv Wolfman split Superman up into two less powerful Supermen in the early
>1980s and then merged both parts. 
>
>Anyway, in the mid 1980s John Byrne started on Superman and was given
>a more or less clean slate to work from. He depowered Superman very
>drastically. Superman is currently orders of magnitude weaker than he
>used to be. He is NOT more powerful than just about anything, and
>he is not capable of FTL travel any more. He needs to breathe, his
>invulnerability is much much less than it use to be. He's also much
>less smart than he used to be. There are several DC characters who
>are roughly equal/superior to him in battle : Captain Atom, Lady Quark,
>Hal Jordan and some of the other Green Lanterns, Shazam, Jonn Jonz,
>Swamp Thing, Lobo, Lar Gand, Laurel Gand, Orion, Dr. Fate, Darkseid etc.
>
>>Obviously, they've been souping up the powers of heroes
>>for a while now, and obviously, they're not going to stop any time
>>soon.  
>
>If, by "they", you mean DC, then you're way off base here. [ I could
>also make a similar argument that the old line Marvel heroes : Spiderman,
>Thor, Hulk, Silver Surfer havent been made noticeably more powerful,
>but I'll concentrate on DC for now.]. As I pointed out, Superman's power
>level has actually been reduced drastically recently after having been at
>incredible levels for over a quarter of a century. 

Yes, but also as you pointed out, Superman's power levels went up to
unbelievable levels, were reduced, then brought back up, then reduced,
brought back up, and reduced again.  That doesn't mean that they're
going to stay reduced, and would seem more likely to indicate that
they'll be raised again.

>Many other DC heroes/heroines were depowered drastically as well. Basically
>anyone whose power level was close to Superman level was depowered as
>well to keep them at the same level vis'a'vis Superman. This includes heroes
>like Shazam, Jonn, Orion. Lar Gand aka Mon-el is not more powerful than he
>was before (the 20th century version of Lar actually seems much weaker than
>he used to be). Wally West was depowered as well, and while he did regain
>a lot of powers recently, his current power level is probably (slightly)
>below Barry Allen Flash level. The Spectre was depowered the most : these
>days he's only a pale ghost of himself.

I suppose this is true.  They were so low-key about it, it was hard to
notice.  When they reduced Superman's powers, however, they made a big
deal about it, so it was easier to notice.  Of course, this just means
that DC doesn't want anyone significantly more powerful that Superman,
which doesn't seem right.

Okay, I will admit that they way I worded my post wasn't accurate.
I should have pointed out that Superman isn't currently as powerful
as he has been.  However, my main point is that he is much more
powerful than he was when he was first introduced, which is definitely
true.

One more (sort of unrelated) question:  Anyone think that when Superman
is resurrected from this Doomsday fiasco (and he will be, since DC's
Superman subscription ads are advertising 12 issues, including the
death issues), they'll use this as an opportunity to raise his power
levels again?  Or does the presence of the Simonson special mean that
they'll try to keep his power down?

-- 
"Dog bites man--that's not a story.  Man bites dog--*that's* a story.  And
if the dog and the man slug it out for six issues, and then Wolverine shows
up for a guest appearance, and the dog turns out to be a mutant, that's a
*Marvel* story!"			-Marvel Editorial Handbook
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