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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 1, 2020 16:55:58 GMT -5
I see that, according to dcfandom.com, the Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition lists this story as an appearance of Earth-Thirty-Two (which apparently has 81 appearances in the history of the DC Universe). Whaaaaat? This is one of those stories I often bring up whenever someone mentions Clark Kent. It's more believable than the alternative. I would be okay with this explanation , but it would have to be referenced in all the books. I'm a big fan of the TV show Smallville and they used to show young Clark without glasses all the time. There's no way the connection wasn't made when he finally became Superman.
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Post by zaku on Dec 3, 2020 11:37:14 GMT -5
I see that, according to dcfandom.com, the Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition lists this story as an appearance of Earth-Thirty-Two (which apparently has 81 appearances in the history of the DC Universe). Whaaaaat? This is one of those stories I often bring up whenever someone mentions Clark Kent. It's more believable than the alternative. It doesn't make any sense. Let's suppose someone who never watched Clark Kent on tv (so he isn't influenced by his hypnotic powers) sees a photo of him. So what would happen? He would immediately recognize Superman? And why people who know his secret identity never noted that when he change in his civil identity he becomes an old frail man?
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Post by starscape on Dec 3, 2020 17:33:27 GMT -5
Who says Kryptonian technology doesn't work on photos, televisions etc.? The alternative is a pair of glasses is an amazing disguise that fools the entire world. Obviously not. It wouldn't even fool a kid that habitually draws spectacles on newspaper images.
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Post by zaku on Dec 3, 2020 18:05:59 GMT -5
Who says Kryptonian technology doesn't work on photos, televisions etc.? The alternative is a pair of glasses is an amazing disguise that fools the entire world. Obviously not. It wouldn't even fool a kid that habitually draws spectacles on newspaper images. It is/was just a convention. We concede that a pair of glass are enough in the comics world. And what about other characters with ridiculous disguises, like Green Arrow and Green Lantern? How a domino mask was a total ineffective disguise was even lampshaded in the latter's movie. (by the way, it wasn't Krypton technology, it was his own hypnotic power amplified by his lens made by Kryptonian glass)
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Post by MDG on Dec 4, 2020 9:21:33 GMT -5
Whaaaaat? This is one of those stories I often bring up whenever someone mentions Clark Kent. It's more believable than the alternative. It doesn't make any sense. Let's suppose someone who never watched Clark Kent on tv (so he isn't influenced by his hypnotic powers) sees a photo of him. So what would happen? He would immediately recognize Superman? And why people who know his secret identity never noted that when he change in his civil identity he becomes an old frail man? Didn't Byrne introduce the idea that Supes constantly vibrated his face so no one could take a picture of him? I'm guessing that didn't last long.
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Post by Ozymandias on Dec 4, 2020 10:18:28 GMT -5
Didn't Byrne introduce the idea that Supes constantly vibrated his face so no one could take a picture of him? I'm guessing that didn't last long. He did, it was one of the good ideas he had. A pity if subsequent writers forgot about that.
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Post by badwolf on Dec 4, 2020 11:42:43 GMT -5
Didn't Byrne introduce the idea that Supes constantly vibrated his face so no one could take a picture of him? I'm guessing that didn't last long. He did, it was one of the good ideas he had. A pity if subsequent writers forgot about that. I don't like this idea at all. Are we expected to believe he keeps that up whenever he is in public, whether talking to people or fighting baddies. Nobody asks him "Superman why is your face doing that?"
As silly as it sometimes seems, I like the simplicity of glasses and combing his hair differently to keep up the Kent facade. (And possible the addition of a different walk/posture, as shown in All-Star Superman.)
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 4, 2020 11:53:10 GMT -5
In a FB group that I belong to they showed a comic from the Curt Swan era that had the same explanation. Byrne didn’t invent it.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Dec 4, 2020 12:46:50 GMT -5
Who says Kryptonian technology doesn't work on photos, televisions etc.? The alternative is a pair of glasses is an amazing disguise that fools the entire world. Obviously not. It wouldn't even fool a kid that habitually draws spectacles on newspaper images.
Because the central relationship in the series running back to its early years hinged on the idea that Lois Lane thought that Superman and Clark Kent looked alike.
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Post by chadwilliam on Dec 4, 2020 12:53:28 GMT -5
It doesn't make any sense. Let's suppose someone who never watched Clark Kent on tv (so he isn't influenced by his hypnotic powers) sees a photo of him. So what would happen? He would immediately recognize Superman? And why people who know his secret identity never noted that when he change in his civil identity he becomes an old frail man? Didn't Byrne introduce the idea that Supes constantly vibrated his face so no one could take a picture of him? I'm guessing that didn't last long. That was a trick which, I believe, originated with Jay Garrick during the Golden Age.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2020 14:12:53 GMT -5
As silly as it sometimes seems, I like the simplicity of glasses and combing his hair differently to keep up the Kent facade. (And possible the addition of a different walk/posture, as shown in All-Star Superman.)
And Christopher Reeve.
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 4, 2020 15:23:01 GMT -5
Didn't Byrne introduce the idea that Supes constantly vibrated his face so no one could take a picture of him? I'm guessing that didn't last long. That was a trick which, I believe, originated with Jay Garrick during the Golden Age. Right. Did Byrne acknowledge it, i wonder, when he introduced to to his Superman stories?
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Post by aquagoat on Dec 4, 2020 17:15:11 GMT -5
Who says Kryptonian technology doesn't work on photos, televisions etc.? The alternative is a pair of glasses is an amazing disguise that fools the entire world. Obviously not. It wouldn't even fool a kid that habitually draws spectacles on newspaper images. That's the problem when a concept invented for a comic strip - a concept never made to be taken completely seriously - lives on into more complex versions, more serious versions, and live action versions where faces are not a collection of lines all drawn by the same artist. The original concept - that Lois, the only person who sees Clark and Superman regularly enough to make the deduction, would work it out if she just paid attention to the shy young man with the glasses - is something of a joke, created by two shy young men who had a hard time getting women to look at them.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 5, 2020 11:12:33 GMT -5
He did, it was one of the good ideas he had. A pity if subsequent writers forgot about that. I don't like this idea at all. Are we expected to believe he keeps that up whenever he is in public, whether talking to people or fighting baddies. Nobody asks him "Superman why is your face doing that?"
As silly as it sometimes seems, I like the simplicity of glasses and combing his hair differently to keep up the Kent facade. (And possible the addition of a different walk/posture, as shown in All-Star Superman.)
That works perfectly well for me. That Clark Kent looks like Superman is a given, but why would that immediately make people think that Clark is Superman? Clark wears glasses, is mild-mannered, has a regular job, is very much unsuperman-like. To the average Metropolis citizen who actually has time to think about it, he just happens to kind of look like Superman, just as Brandon Routh kind of looks like Christopher Reeve. "Say, Kent, anyone ever told you you really look like Superman?" "Yes, I get that a lot. Beware of my X-ray vision, I can see your underwear!" "Gross! Grow up, Kent". It's hiding in plain sight, purloined letter style.
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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 5, 2020 11:54:50 GMT -5
...and, as John Byrne himself so astutely noted, why would Joe and Jane Average think Superman even had a secret identity?
Cei-U! I summon the big question!
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