Who can save Superman now? KURT BUSIEK!

[Captain Kal]

Kurt, would you portray Superman as being completely defeated by kryptonite as has classically been the case?

Or would you go with more recent portrayals where he exerts some grey matter and strategic thinking to be at least somewhat effective in a fight with kryptonite involved?

Would you consider introducing new weaknesses?

Without giving away spoilers, have you considered new ways of portraying his classic weaknesses?

How important would the gravitational difference be in your version of Superman? (storywise, natch, not numerically)

[Kurt Busiek]

Kurt, would you portray Superman as being completely defeated by kryptonite as has classically been the case? Or would you go with more recent portrayals where he exerts some grey matter and strategic thinking to be at least somewhat effective in a fight with kryptonite involved?

As I recall, Kryptonite classically weakened him, but there was an effect curve, while red sun radiation shut his powers off like a lightswitch.  I always wondered why, when he felt the first effects of the Kryptonite, he didn't just hoosh it away with what remained of his super-breath.

Would you consider introducing new weaknesses? Without giving away spoilers, have you considered new ways of portraying his classic weaknesses?

I dunno.  I haven't made up a lot of ground rules for stories I might or might not someday write.  I'd probably do a fair amount of figuring things out when and if they came up in a story.

How important would the gravitational difference be in your version of Superman? (storywise, natch, not numerically)

What gravitational difference?

kdb

[Uncle Mxy]

As I recall, Kryptonite classically weakened him, but there was an effect curve, while red sun radiation shut his powers off like a lightswitch.  I always wondered why, when he felt the first effects of the Kryptonite, he didn't just hoosh it away with what remained of his super-breath.

It varied greatly, of course.  Initially, Kryptonite made him very weak so someone could hurt him, but didn't seem to outright kill him all by itself.  Later on, there were sporadic guidelines on what powers left him, vision powers often being the last to go.  I always wondered why he didn't just move out of range at super-speed and deal with the K from a distance.  The first thing to go with K exposure was the self-preservation instinct.  

Kurt, would the public knowledge that Superman has a secret identity be something you'd want if you were writing a contemporary story?

[Kurt Busiek]

Kurt, would the public knowledge that Superman has a secret identity be something you'd want if you were writing a contemporary story?

Offhand, I don't really know.

kdb

[Captain Kal]

How important would the gravitational difference be in your version of Superman? (storywise, natch, not numerically)

What gravitational difference?

kdb

I'm assuming you're not being funny here.

I'm talking about the gravitational difference between Krypton and Earth.  Wolfman reintroduced it in both his History of the DC Universe and an early issue of Adventures of Superman.  It's been referenced off and on throughout the Post Crisis era and even the editor had mentioned it in a lettercol of the Infestation storyline.

More recently, Waid stated definitively in Birthright that Earth's gravity is 0.03 of Krypton standard gravity. (This is a curious coincidence since my own calculations -- posted before on the internet years ago -- put it at 0.0286 which makes Waid's figure mine rounded to decimal places.)

So, what's your take on this?

[Kurt Busiek]

I'm talking about the gravitational difference between Krypton and Earth.  Wolfman reintroduced it in both his History of the DC Universe and an early issue of Adventures of Superman.  It's been referenced off and on throughout the Post Crisis era and even the editor had mentioned it in a lettercol of the Infestation storyline.

More recently, Waid stated definitively in Birthright that Earth's gravity is 0.03 of Krypton standard gravity. (This is a curious coincidence since my own calculations -- posted before on the internet years ago -- put it at 0.0286 which makes Waid's figure mine rounded to decimal places.)

So, what's your take on this?

I seem to remember the idea going back to the early origins, maybe even back to Siegel and Shuster, but it always struck me as just a contextual detail, and not anything that really affected the stories.

In what ways was the gravitational difference more than just part of a handy-if-scientifically-shaky way of justifying some of Superman's powers?

In any case, were I writing Superman, I couldn't tell you ahead of time how I'd handle it, aside from that I don't see a reason to throw it out, but I don't imagine it would need to come up a lot, either.

kdb

[ShinDangaioh]

I've always thought Superman was vulnerable to gravitational effects, so someone like the anime character Iczer-1 who uses an energy blade composed of gravitational energy would have a field day with Superman until Supes figured out a way to deal with it.

It would give a bit of variety over magic and kryptonite for a weakness.

[DakotaSmith]

I think it would make sense for Supes to have some gravitational weaknesses.  I've thought that if he and Starboy were to duke it out, for example, Starboy ought to be able to get some kind of advantage by being able to transform Supes' local gravitational field to, oh, a hundred gees or so, and pin him to the spot.

It might not stop his vision powers, but a hundred gees should put a crimp in his flight and super-strength abilities.

Dakota Smith