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Supergirl and her boyfriends

18 Jul 2019 17:09 #64544 by shadar
Supergirl and her boyfriends was created by shadar
Woodclaw's comment on the "new costume" thread kicked off a tangential thought... here's Woodclaw's comment: 

"Similarly, during her college/hotpants era, Supergirl had to deal with a number of very normal problems and insecurities, mostly linked to her inability to have a normal relationship with a guy. In a number of issues she actually called herself "the loneliest girl in the universe" and envied her classmates, who could hug others without crushing them to death."

That was how Kara was protrayed in her late teens as she left the foster-parent Danver's household to start college. She avoided contact with people, especially social contact, given the whole Girl of Steel thing and her inability to safely get intimate (not even a hug!) with anyone without risking injury or death to them. 

Yet as we approach the 80's, we see Kara having steady boyfriends and seemingly living a normal life as Linda Danvers. She's a young woman in her early twenties who clearly likes men, and she is going through the usual series of relationships that people do at that age. And this issue is completely gone. None of her boyfriends know that she's a Kryptonian. And presumably they know her very well. 

So what happened?  How did she solve this problem? 

Starting off, Superman was protrayed as a man with unusually strong muscles and was a Man of Steel, presumably in all the ways. He wore a bulky suit to hide his physique and avoided contact (other than very careful handshakes).. But being Clark, the Boy Scout from Kansas, we don't see him having relationships with anyone normal until Lois comes along, and she knows who he really is before they are really into a relationship. The writers were always trying to pair Superman up with other superwomen when it came to romance, for reasons that made sense given how he was portrayed.

And Kara begins the same way. But then it all changes for her by the 80's..   

Even in the Supergirl TV show, I don't recall her having sex with anyone but Mon El, who presumably has the appropriate "fortitude", although I'm hardly a scholar of the show. The old 1984 movie showed some rather chaste kissing, but no indication of anything more going on. 

Self control would be a good answer if we're talking a very strong human, but Kara is thousands of times stronger than any man. Just being careful doesn't cut it, beyond the fact that her Girl of Steel thing is going to be revealed immediately. 

I know this is way out geeky, but if there is any place where such ideas may exist and get discussed, SWM is the forum. So how could she have managed this in the pages of the comics, consistent with Kryptonian science?

There may be some very indirect clues around, but nothing that DC would (or could) describe in more detail.  If we rule out "comic book magic" (new writers with different ideas), and with the knowledge of Kryptonians that we collectively have, what are some theories for how a Kryptonian could have solved what seemed to be a rather severe problem during the time period that Woodclaw refers to?

Shadar

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18 Jul 2019 18:31 #64545 by Klaus
Replied by Klaus on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
I got nothing, except for the hypnosis in your aerie story or invulnerable sex toys.

You could make a legitimate story line out of a relationship facing trouble because of bedroom issues, but I think I'd rather have a railroad spike shoved up my ass then see your run of the mill comic book writer try to address something like that with the girl of steel.

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18 Jul 2019 18:55 - 18 Jul 2019 18:56 #64546 by kikass2014
Replied by kikass2014 on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
I'm no expert by any means, so to me, there is 2 ways you could tackle this:

Firstly, you could come up with a "logical" and/or "scientifically accurate" explanation.  Something along the lines of...I don't know, she/he has excellent control of their muscles.  Same principle as a normal person knows how much pressure to apply when picking up a glass.

Secondly, and the way I treat it, is that its a non-issue.  "Comic-book magic", "hand-waving", whatever you want to call it.  It falls into the realm of "time travel".  No one really cares how the mechanics of time travel work, they are just there to server the story.

As such, outside of a thought-exercise, I personally don't need it explained to me how Supergirl....er....makes out.

Having said that, within the context of this forum topic (which can be viewed as a thought-exercise), I must confess, I have nothing. :( 

Peace.

/K
Last edit: 18 Jul 2019 18:56 by kikass2014.

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18 Jul 2019 22:24 #64547 by Raa
Replied by Raa on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
I have been thinking about this subject for sometime after I seen a picture of Powergirl leading Robin away with a box of candy, while leaving a large group Super being from Spiderman to Superman behind.  Robin also had his quarter staff sticking out.  

The idea I came up with and a story rolling around my head for years, but I'm bad at writing and have not done it.

So here is the general idea.  Robin put micro robots(MR) in the candy.  MR would delect when Robin was touching or close to Powergirl if Robin has activated the signal.  Once detected the MR would open a crack to reveal a super small piece of kryptnite, which would weaken her to the point she could actually feel Robin's and not crush him while rolling over in her sleep.  At this point PG would fall in love with the only man she could touch.

At the end of the story you see a late 20s PG over her love's death bad.  In the last minutes of his life Robin gives her another great life.  The secret of how how they were able to connect.  So she can find love again.

That is my idea on how they could get around the whole Women of Steel issue.

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18 Jul 2019 22:30 #64548 by shadar
Replied by shadar on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
I love comic-book pseudo-science... basically the art of making something logical that wasn't really thought out as a logical thing when first written. You can do it with most things in the comics, and its an interesting exercise.

I have several theories kicking around, but I was wondering if I'm the only one who tries to fit pseudo-science to superhumans?

It occurs to me that during that time period, the hotpants/college/working-for-the-TV-station-in-San Francisco phase of Linda Danver's life, she was affected by something (infected in probably a better term) that caused her powers to glitch. While that doesn't directly address this question, it opens a direction to consider.

Basically, the "glitch" caused her to never know if her powers were intact or not. She couldn't tell until she tried to use them, and they were or were not present. She never knew.

That, unfortunately, takes us into the magical arena. After all, we are all aware of how weakness or strength affects us. If we're weak, say after an illness, or we are all pumped up and vital, we can easily feel that difference, and we're talking about small changes in strength. So how come Supergirl can't tell if she has ordinary human strength or Kryptonian strength until she's already jumped off a cliff or raced to catch a falling car or something?  Everything should feel profoundly different to her when she's at strength 1 versus at strength 1000. Mental control can work for strength differences of maybe 5 to 1 or so, but at 1000 (or 10,000) to one, that's ridiculous. A hiccup or a flinch or a sneeze could be fatal to someone who was in a bit too close. 

But if we accept the magical ON and OFF button concept, then she walks around unaware of her strength, behaviing and feeling things (and feeling herself to the touch) like a human, until she really needs powers, and then its like a telekentiic thing or something. That puts her more in the Mae shapechanging kind of arena. She can turn them on, and then they either are there or they aren't. She normally walks around just like us until she pushes the POWER button in her brain. 

That would explain everything, but it completely flies in the face of the original concept of Kryptonians, who are genetically different than us in that their muscles are made of steel and they are simply made of different stuff. So its an answer I don't like as its essentially the "magical thinking" answer. 

Maybe that's all there is, and maybe that's OK for some folks, but I still think of Kryptonians as genetically different. After all, it was said that Superman weighed far more than a human, like 3 or 4 times more, because of his dense muscles. That isn't something you can easily hide. 

Anyway, I'm hoping some folks have tried to puzzle this out in the past as well as me, or will enjoy the mental approach to imagining it. I approached my Velorians using pseudo-science as a basis, and I would hope that some other folks have put that thought into Kryptonians.

I have previously proposed a kind of super-hypnosis for Krytponians, where the post-hypnotic control keeps her at human strength when she's not wearing her uniform. The uniform is the trigger to release the hypnotic control. But that has problems too. 

Or maybe it all is just magic with Kara... and not biology at all.  That would at least explain the silly stories where people steal her powers for themselves. Ugh.

Shadar





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18 Jul 2019 22:48 #64549 by kikass2014
Replied by kikass2014 on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
For me, I think its at the point of conception where the flaw lies.

Making  a race so vastly powerful, I mean, a) how logical is that (they can fly, and have the strength to move planets, etc.)  and b) where do you go with that?  What is their flaws, weakness etc?

Supergirl, and by extension Superman and all Kryptonians, have the well known Krptonite.

But I think they actually do have another balance.  They need to be near a Yellow sun.

I'm no Kryptonian lore expert, but I imagine that on Krpyton, they are just like normal people on Earth.  Same strength, durability, can't fly, shoot lasers etc.

I imagine over the years, Kryptonian power-sets have been added too and/or amped up.

Defining realistic power-levels and sets seems to be where you need to start. Don't make them silly high.

Its like they some people say, the bigger the numbers, the more ridiculous and meaningless it becomes.

So, having said that, the answer for me would have to fall into the "magic" element of the story-telling.  I can't really think of where to begin to explain it logically.

Just my thoughts.

Interesting topic though.  If I do manage to think of anything, will post :)

Peace.

/K

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18 Jul 2019 22:53 #64550 by shadar
Replied by shadar on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends

Raa wrote: I have been thinking about this subject for sometime after I seen a picture of Powergirl leading Robin away with a box of candy, while leaving a large group Super being from Spiderman to Superman behind.  Robin also had his quarter staff sticking out.  

The idea I came up with and a story rolling around my head for years, but I'm bad at writing and have not done it.

So here is the general idea.  Robin put micro robots(MR) in the candy.  MR would delect when Robin was touching or close to Powergirl if Robin has activated the signal.  Once detected the MR would open a crack to reveal a super small piece of kryptnite, which would weaken her to the point she could actually feel Robin's and not crush him while rolling over in her sleep.  At this point PG would fall in love with the only man she could touch.

At the end of the story you see a late 20s PG over her love's death bad.  In the last minutes of his life Robin gives her another great life.  The secret of how how they were able to connect.  So she can find love again.

That is my idea on how they could get around the whole Women of Steel issue.


That's a very interesting one, and a nice bit of pseudo-science, premised on her not feeling sick or in pain from small amounts of Green-K. Just weakened, but otherwise feeling good, maybe even extra sexy.

On the other hand, in the last big run of PG stories I read, the Huntress/PG series where they were on a different Earth,  PG was being very promiscuous with ordinary men, even to the point of hiring a guy for her company beause he was hot, but still astoundingly powerful as PG. A 1990's role reversal concept. They unfortnately didn't try to explain how she did that. 

There's also the opposite: X-Kryptonite, which gives other people Kryptonian powers. But that's still in the magical arena, unfortunately, and it doesn't account for Linda/Kara's boyfriends not knowing she was super. But very cool. Who woudn't want to become Superman when you were around Supergirl? Just make sure you are out in the desert or somewhere remote.

Shadar

 

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18 Jul 2019 23:04 #64551 by Raa
Replied by Raa on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
Found the picture.

As for the weakness, maybe there is some pain.  A feeling she learns to love.  Didn't know PG was into S&M did you.  LOL.

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18 Jul 2019 23:23 - 18 Jul 2019 23:25 #64552 by shadar
Replied by shadar on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
This is an image from the time period when her powers were glitching... she be running along at superspeed and suddenly be unable to stop. Or she'd leap off a tall building to catch something, and not be able to fly. 

Loved her costume in what I call the "Pixie era"...





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19 Jul 2019 14:47 - 19 Jul 2019 14:50 #64553 by five_red
Replied by five_red on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
Firstly, when Kara refers to being "the mightiest girl on Earth, and the loneliest" (Superman Family #168, Dec 1974) she doesn't literally mean that she has no friends. The story in that issue is about how Kara overcomes feeling like a freak. In the mid 70s Kara has two problems. First, she no longer sees her powers as something amazing, but as something that makes her different to other people. Second, she wants to lead a normal life, with kids and a husband -- as she says in Superman Vol. 1 #282 (Dec 1974), "This life of a super-heroine takes up too much of my time… Sets me apart from everyone else! I want an ordinary life – with a husband and children some day… Free to do what I choose!”

Kal-El grew up with super powers, but Kara only acquired them when she was 15; it becomes clear that once the novelty of powers had worn off, she started to miss the life she once had without the different-ness of super powers. It could be said that for Kal-El, perhaps Superman is the real person and Clark Kent is the disguise, but for Kara, Linda was always the real person and Supergirl was always the disguise. So, for Kara, her loneliness isn't lack of friends but her feelings of always being a freak and never being able to lead a normal life.

Throughout the 60s and 70s Linda had several romantic relationships, and it is important to note that it is always Linda, not Supergirl, who has them. As well as long-term boyfriend Dick Malverne, Linda had various short-time relationships with men during her San Francisco era, notably while she was at Vandyre University (throughout Supergirl Vol.1) when her stories became heavily romance-orientated under editor Robert Kanigher. During her run in Superman Family, when Paul Kupperberg took over as writer, the romance element was reduced -- Linda had male friends, but she rarely dated any of them. This changed when Supergirl Vol. 2 came out.

Supergirl Vol. 2 (aka The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl) rebooted the character, and de-aged her back to being a 19 year old college student once more. (Don't believe me? Check the editorial in #1, and the subsequent fan backlash in the letters pages of #3.) The new comic was sold into the Direct Sales comicbook store market, rather than the usual Sale-or-Return drug store market, which tended to be a more mature buyer. Paul Kupperberg therefore pitched the scripts at an adult audience, and introduced a new boyfriend for Linda (again Linda, not Supergirl) called Philip Decker, ensuring that they did more than just hold hands. Although it is never explicitly stated that they had sex, they seem to spend a lot of time at each other's apartments, and Linda is seen cuddling Philip wearing nothing but what appears to be one of his oversized shirts. Again, however, it is Linda's duties as Supergirl that drive a wedge between her and Philip, and the pair split up (just as Dick Malverne makes a return.)

To understand Kara Zor-El's love life one has to remember that she sees herself as a regular woman, who happens to be burdened with the responsibility of being a superhero. This is in contrast to her cousin. Superman has plenty of girlfriends: Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris, Wonder Woman etc, while Clark Kent quite deliberately isn't very good with the ladies. But for Kara, it's the other way around: Linda has the boyfriends, while Supergirl hardly has any. (Her much-touted relationship with Brainiac 5 is based more on fan-retconning than anything published in the comics.) In so far as Kara struggles with relationships, it has usually been because her powers are a constant reminder of how alien she is.


R5
Last edit: 19 Jul 2019 14:50 by five_red.
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19 Jul 2019 17:02 #64554 by shadar
Replied by shadar on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends

five_red wrote: Firstly, when Kara refers to being "the mightiest girl on Earth, and the loneliest" (Superman Family #168, Dec 1974) she doesn't literally mean that she has no friends. The story in that issue is about how Kara overcomes feeling like a freak. In the mid 70s Kara has two problems. First, she no longer sees her powers as something amazing, but as something that makes her different to other people. Second, she wants to lead a normal life, with kids and a husband -- as she says in Superman Vol. 1 #282 (Dec 1974), "This life of a super-heroine takes up too much of my time… Sets me apart from everyone else! I want an ordinary life – with a husband and children some day… Free to do what I choose!”

Kal-El grew up with super powers, but Kara only acquired them when she was 15; it becomes clear that once the novelty of powers had worn off, she started to miss the life she once had without the different-ness of super powers. It could be said that for Kal-El, perhaps Superman is the real person and Clark Kent is the disguise, but for Kara, Linda was always the real person and Supergirl was always the disguise. So, for Kara, her loneliness isn't lack of friends but her feelings of always being a freak and never being able to lead a normal life.

Throughout the 60s and 70s Linda had several romantic relationships, and it is important to note that it is always Linda, not Supergirl, who has them. As well as long-term boyfriend Dick Malverne, Linda had various short-time relationships with men during her San Francisco era, notably while she was at Vandyre University (throughout Supergirl Vol.1) when her stories became heavily romance-orientated under editor Robert Kanigher. During her run in Superman Family, when Paul Kupperberg took over as writer, the romance element was reduced -- Linda had male friends, but she rarely dated any of them. This changed when Supergirl Vol. 2 came out.

Supergirl Vol. 2 (aka The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl) rebooted the character, and de-aged her back to being a 19 year old college student once more. (Don't believe me? Check the editorial in #1, and the subsequent fan backlash in the letters pages of #3.) The new comic was sold into the Direct Sales comicbook store market, rather than the usual Sale-or-Return drug store market, which tended to be a more mature buyer. Paul Kupperberg therefore pitched the scripts at an adult audience, and introduced a new boyfriend for Linda (again Linda, not Supergirl) called Philip Decker, ensuring that they did more than just hold hands. Although it is never explicitly stated that they had sex, they seem to spend a lot of time at each other's apartments, and Linda is seen cuddling Philip wearing nothing but what appears to be one of his oversized shirts. Again, however, it is Linda's duties as Supergirl that drive a wedge between her and Philip, and the pair split up (just as Dick Malverne makes a return.)

To understand Kara Zor-El's love life one has to remember that she sees herself as a regular woman, who happens to be burdened with the responsibility of being a superhero. This is in contrast to her cousin. Superman has plenty of girlfriends: Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris, Wonder Woman etc, while Clark Kent quite deliberately isn't very good with the ladies. But for Kara, it's the other way around: Linda has the boyfriends, while Supergirl hardly has any. (Her much-touted relationship with Brainiac 5 is based more on fan-retconning than anything published in the comics.) In so far as Kara struggles with relationships, it has usually been because her powers are a constant reminder of how alien she is.
R5


Nice overview, R5. I was hoping one of the scholars would step in. 

One place that I've always seen it differently is on how Kara and Kal see themselves. I always considered that given Clark grew up on Earth, and wasn't really active as Superman until older (I reject all the Superboy stories), my view of his character is closer to the Smallville TV series. He only knows Earth, so he's a Earthling who has super-powers. He's Clark Kent from Smallville at his core, and had to learnt to be Superman. 

Kara grew up to the age of 15 in a totally alien civilization as a normal girl, and then gets dumped on Earth where she not only has powers, but she's treated like crap. Stuck in an orphanage, adopted, etc. Unlike Clark, who had a solid, supportive and stable family from day one, she's always had chaos and instability and uncertaintly. The ony thing that she coud hang onto was being Supergirl, which didn't carry that baggage. She is truly an alien to Earth, but struggles to act human. 

But I understand that one can look at it both ways. She was written in the 60's and 70's with this great desire to be normal. To fit in. But by the 80's, when she's rebooted as a freshman college student in Chicago, she seems to be much more in tune with both sides of her nature. But being two people and living two lives is going to be a strain on anyone. 

Anyway, there is still the question of how she deals physically with her boyfriends as Linda, given she's not human and not really made out of the same flesh. There appears to be nothing in the comics to help us there given that was an out-of-bounds topic. We can only take what we know (or have decided to accept -- milleage will vary) about what Kryptonians are really like, and then create some ideas out of pure imagination.

 Shadar

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20 Jul 2019 05:14 #64556 by TwiceOnThursdays
Replied by TwiceOnThursdays on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends

shadar wrote: Anyway, there is still the question of how she deals physically with her boyfriends as Linda, given she's not human and not really made out of the same flesh. There appears to be nothing in the comics to help us there given that was an out-of-bounds topic. We can only take what we know (or have decided to accept -- milleage will vary) about what Kryptonians are really like, and then create some ideas out of pure imagination.

 Shadar


I always assumed that she literally "put on the red light" and went into a room with no windows/night (no yellow sun) and turned on a red sun lamp.  Her boyfriends would just think it an affectation, but if she wanted to be "normal" she could have one red sun lamp and some normal lamps to hide the specialized red light.  It would be pretty easy for her to swap out a bulb at super-speed at her boyfriend's place.

Pre-Crisis, Red Sunlight would immediately strip a Kryptonian of their powers.  They would also immediately re-gain their powers when in yellow sunlight so she'd be ready for action as Supergirl just by turning off the light.

It works differently now, Kryptonians do not immediately gain full strength powers when first exposed to a Yellow Sun (they have to build up, see first app. of Zod in DC52) and when exposed to red sunlight they can use stored yellow sun power for a while (a battery that starts to wear down).  The time span for both of these seem extremely variable based upon the plot needs.

I've not gotten around to re-reading the Daring Adventures, i've not read them since they were first out!  It's on the list though.  I might pull out issue 3 to read the letters page. ;-)  Though I dont' think I can find it right now ... just moved and though the box IS labeled, all my boxes are in a giant stack now, awaiting shelves and I can't find a damn thing.  (Collection is about 56 long boxes and 136 short boxes .. and yes I partially moved so I could get the damn things into the same room.)
















 

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20 Jul 2019 06:14 #64557 by shadar
Replied by shadar on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends

TwiceOnThursdays wrote:

shadar wrote: Anyway, there is still the question of how she deals physically with her boyfriends as Linda, given she's not human and not really made out of the same flesh. There appears to be nothing in the comics to help us there given that was an out-of-bounds topic. We can only take what we know (or have decided to accept -- milleage will vary) about what Kryptonians are really like, and then create some ideas out of pure imagination.

 Shadar


I always assumed that she literally "put on the red light" and went into a room with no windows/night (no yellow sun) and turned on a red sun lamp.  Her boyfriends would just think it an affectation, but if she wanted to be "normal" she could have one red sun lamp and some normal lamps to hide the specialized red light.  It would be pretty easy for her to swap out a bulb at super-speed at her boyfriend's place.

Pre-Crisis, Red Sunlight would immediately strip a Kryptonian of their powers.  They would also immediately re-gain their powers when in yellow sunlight so she'd be ready for action as Supergirl just by turning off the light.

It works differently now, Kryptonians do not immediately gain full strength powers when first exposed to a Yellow Sun (they have to build up, see first app. of Zod in DC52) and when exposed to red sunlight they can use stored yellow sun power for a while (a battery that starts to wear down).  The time span for both of these seem extremely variable based upon the plot needs.

I've not gotten around to re-reading the Daring Adventures, i've not read them since they were first out!  It's on the list though.  I might pull out issue 3 to read the letters page. ;-)  Though I dont' think I can find it right now ... just moved and though the box IS labeled, all my boxes are in a giant stack now, awaiting shelves and I can't find a damn thing.  (Collection is about 56 long boxes and 136 short boxes .. and yes I partially moved so I could get the damn things into the same room.)


 


Wow, some collection. I'm impressed. Daring New Adventures might be worth a re-read. The writers were really trying to show Linda/Supergirl in some kind of balance, where Kara was happy both ways. 

As far as the red light thing, I'm confused. I thought you had to block the emissions of a yellow sun (which is far more than visible light) and then simulate the  spectrum of a red sun, which is also much more than the visible light.

It takes a sun to do that. You need a fusion nuke to get some of the particles. 

If all it took was a red light bulb, then Lex Luthor would corner the market on red light bulbs and put them everywhere. And at night, a Kryptonian's powers would begin fading. Switch the street lights to red and Superman or Supergirl are toast. 

In contrast, I always figured solar emissions were a catalyst, but it wasn't necessarilly the visible light, but the high energy particles that go through almost anything. The spectrum of emissions between red and yellow suns varies by far more than just their visible light. 

Shadar

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20 Jul 2019 09:21 #64559 by TwiceOnThursdays
Replied by TwiceOnThursdays on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends

shadar wrote:

TwiceOnThursdays wrote:

shadar wrote: Anyway, there is still the question of how she deals physically with her boyfriends as Linda, given she's not human and not really made out of the same flesh. There appears to be nothing in the comics to help us there given that was an out-of-bounds topic. We can only take what we know (or have decided to accept -- milleage will vary) about what Kryptonians are really like, and then create some ideas out of pure imagination.

 Shadar


I always assumed that she literally "put on the red light" and went into a room with no windows/night (no yellow sun) and turned on a red sun lamp.  Her boyfriends would just think it an affectation, but if she wanted to be "normal" she could have one red sun lamp and some normal lamps to hide the specialized red light.  It would be pretty easy for her to swap out a bulb at super-speed at her boyfriend's place.

Pre-Crisis, Red Sunlight would immediately strip a Kryptonian of their powers.  They would also immediately re-gain their powers when in yellow sunlight so she'd be ready for action as Supergirl just by turning off the light.

It works differently now, Kryptonians do not immediately gain full strength powers when first exposed to a Yellow Sun (they have to build up, see first app. of Zod in DC52) and when exposed to red sunlight they can use stored yellow sun power for a while (a battery that starts to wear down).  The time span for both of these seem extremely variable based upon the plot needs.

I've not gotten around to re-reading the Daring Adventures, i've not read them since they were first out!  It's on the list though.  I might pull out issue 3 to read the letters page. ;-)  Though I dont' think I can find it right now ... just moved and though the box IS labeled, all my boxes are in a giant stack now, awaiting shelves and I can't find a damn thing.  (Collection is about 56 long boxes and 136 short boxes .. and yes I partially moved so I could get the damn things into the same room.)


 


Wow, some collection. I'm impressed. Daring New Adventures might be worth a re-read. The writers were really trying to show Linda/Supergirl in some kind of balance, where Kara was happy both ways. 

As far as the red light thing, I'm confused. I thought you had to block the emissions of a yellow sun (which is far more than visible light) and then simulate the  spectrum of a red sun, which is also much more than the visible light.

It takes a sun to do that. You need a fusion nuke to get some of the particles. 

If all it took was a red light bulb, then Lex Luthor would corner the market on red light bulbs and put them everywhere. And at night, a Kryptonian's powers would begin fading. Switch the street lights to red and Superman or Supergirl are toast. 

In contrast, I always figured solar emissions were a catalyst, but it wasn't necessarilly the visible light, but the high energy particles that go through almost anything. The spectrum of emissions between red and yellow suns varies by far more than just their visible light. 

Shadar


i have way too many comics.  I do have a any comic with Supergirl in the actual title (Action Comics and Adventure comics don’t count ... But Daring Adventures of Supergirl does).  I also exempt foreign comics else I’d go mad.   It’s still a lot of comics that met that criteria.  But Supergirl vol 1 wasn’t until 1972, I think that might be the oldest thing that counts (I do have older comics too).   A query to my inventory returns 788 unique comics w Supergirl overall.  (Not counting duplicates.).  But that’s any version of Supergirl.   I’m closing in on every She-Hulk appearance.

You are correct, t does take more than “a lightbulb”.  But Supergirl has Kryptonian tech.. so should be able to make something that worked that way.   It also does take more than visible light (the old explanation of radiation that travels through the Earth which is why Superman has powers at night pre-battery explanation.)

The comics have examples of red sun tech — as well as simulate a yellow sun to speed recharge.  Most of those are from later years. Byrne-era Superman used Starman for that a few times.  I’m pretty sure there was some example of Red Sun tech in the silver age though ... but I’m blanking on pulling up an example.  I’ll see if I can dig one up.   I just remember thinking this in the 80s, but it could have been post-crisis and applying that pre-Crisis, since that’s how you had get your Supergirl fix until matrix came along.  That’s when I started to buy 70s Supergirl comics.  Those hot pants.  :-)

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20 Jul 2019 12:47 #64560 by Woodclaw
Replied by Woodclaw on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
The whole red sun/yellow sun problem depends mostly upon which era and author you're reading.
Some people assumed that the sunlight frequency acts as a switch, others that Kryptonian cells are some kind of battery.

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20 Jul 2019 15:21 - 20 Jul 2019 15:23 #64562 by slim36
Replied by slim36 on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
The red/yellow light would be a convenient means for remote control or experiments by the creators..   If it worked that way and instantly, imagine the disaster potential from red/yellow strobe lights.   Or could be setup for a superhuman rave party.
Last edit: 20 Jul 2019 15:23 by slim36.
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20 Jul 2019 15:28 #64563 by shadar
Replied by shadar on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends

slim36 wrote: The red/yellow light would be a convenient means for remote control or experiments by the creators..   If it worked that way and instantly, imagine the disaster potential from red/yellow strobe lights.   Or could be setup for a superhuman rave party.


That would be a hoot. The strobes particularly. One dance move spins her around. The next, she spins the building around. Damage deposit would be hell.

Shadar

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20 Jul 2019 16:01 #64564 by shadar
Replied by shadar on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends

Woodclaw wrote: The whole red sun/yellow sun problem depends mostly upon which era and author you're reading.
Some people assumed that the sunlight frequency acts as a switch, others that Kryptonian cells are some kind of battery.


I always saw it as a catalyst. Not enough real energy in the sun on Earth, given the small area of her body to absorb it given the megawatts of power her body needs. But you only need tiny bits of catalyst to make a big reaction. 

I was reading an article the other day about gravity, the origin of which is still a total mystery. We can quantify it to 20 decimal places, but we don’t what it is or where it comes from. And now the leading edge  scientific thinking is that we live in a  multiverse, and gravity is leakage from another universe, with very different physical laws, into our universe.

Long before real scientists started to adopt the multiverse theory, I proposed that my Velorians drew energy across the “dimensional barrier” and that was also how flight worked — drawing from another dimension of pure energy, and “pushing” against. It solved all the physics problems in our universe.

Might work for Krypts too.

It’s kind of a hoot that the top theoretical physicists are now thinking similarly about gravity. 

Always fun when outrageous scifi pseudoscience inspired by the comics starts looking a lot like real science years later. Something that has happened over and over in history. 

Shadar

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21 Jul 2019 03:42 #64572 by slim36
Replied by slim36 on topic Supergirl and her boyfriends
There could be some ability for aliens with much faster reaction time and ability to see more wavelengths of light than humans,  also to perceive subliminal  light wave transmission and trigger the brain stem into full or slightly superhuman  modes.

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