Philosophy time...
I am at this moment reading C.S. Lewis'
The Problem of Pain, where he states:
...it must always be remembered that when we talk of what might have happened, of contingencies outside the whole actuality, we do not really know what we are talking about. There are no times or places outside the existing universe in which all this 'could happen' or 'could have happened.'
So the bottom line is that the Byrne revamp did occur. Yet Super Monkey has inspired me to bring up another point, by another of my favorite writers, Alan Moore.
In Swamp Thing #50, Swamp Thing had a dialogue with Evil, who was coping with its purpose. Swamp Thing gave this answer:
Look to the soil...The black soil...is rich in foul decay...yet glorious life springs from it. But however dazzling, the flourishes of life, in the end, all decays to the same black humus. Perhaps...perhaps evil is the humus formed by virtue's decay. And perhaps it is from that dark, sinister loam, that virtue grows strongest?
We on this site often complain about the Byrne revamp. How could Superman have gone from the dazzling creativity of the Silver Age to the humus of the Byrne revamp? And yet, without the Byrne revamp, we would not be having this conversation. There would be no Supermanica, no online community committed to Superman's history and legacy. There would be no Superman: Birthright, no Kingdom Come, no Starwinds Howl, no Supreme.
Of all the Superman fansites on the Internet, where has virtue grown strongest? :wink:
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