ENTER: The Mercury Age Mon-El

[Super Monkey]

http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Dec06/previews/dec28th.html

[Great Rao]

I think it's really cool that his first appearance is in the future, being released from the Zone.  This is a totally new spin on his story.  Instead of waiting and waiting for him to come out of the Zone, we get that right up front but are left to wonder about everything else.

I also like that we don't even know who put him there!  Was it Superman?  Supergirl?  Someone else?  (notice the aborted reference to "Superwoman?"  Would that be an older Kara?  Or Kristin Wells?)  What was the real reason he was put in the Phantom Zone?  etc.  And of course Mon would be nuts and a bit angry after 1,000 years of limbo.  That always bugged me about the original Mon.  No hard feelings about his 1,000 year experience, not even in the face of the fact that, once a lead poisoning cure was found in the Legion time, Superboy could have always gone back to the present with the cure and let him out.

[Aldous]

Great Rao:

And of course Mon would be nuts and a bit angry after 1,000 years of limbo.

But does immortality really work like that? That's what the people in the Zone are: immortal. They cannot be killed and they do not age. They are no longer mortal. A person could be left in the Zone for 1,000 years, 1,000,000 years, or 1,000,000,000 years; and, if released, would not have aged. They could be left there forever (so says conventional wisdom), ie. never released. If going "nuts" is a product of brain chemistry, nobody in the Zone could go nuts.

And do immortals suffer from impatience? I think not...

Which doesn't explain why someone remembers what happened while they were in the Zone. Memories are changes in brain chemistry, physical changes. Which would be impossible (?) in that dimension.

So what state are people in when they're in that dimension? They are not flesh and blood. Yet they experience and remember; and if they are changing (they must be), why do they not age? If Mon-El emerges from the Zone "nuts" and "angry", if his brain (or perhaps his mind) can suffer adverse effects, why can't his body? To change is to age. Or, put another way, to go from one mental state to another means you have been subject to Time, and that means you have aged.

[JulianPerez]

"Mercury Age?"

Are you guys kidding me? That'll never catch on.

Giving an age a new name is like trying to give yourself a nickname.

So what state are people in when they're in that dimension? They are not flesh and blood. Yet they experience and remember; and if they are changing (they must be), why do they not age? If Mon-El emerges from the Zone "nuts" and "angry", if his brain (or perhaps his mind) can suffer adverse effects, why can't his body? To change is to age. Or, put another way, to go from one mental state to another means you have been subject to Time, and that means you have aged.

Superhero comics work according to a presumption, one that is so implicit that it doesn't need to be explicitly stated: the mind is different from the body.

That's why people in comics universes can survive being turned into "solid sound" or have their minds transferred to Living Colossuses or Nomans. Yeah, Mordru might have just transformed Cosmic Boy into a statue made of glass, but he'll be okay, because his mind is still in there somewhere.

(In a superhero universe, the division between the "soul" and the "mind" are a little less clear than the division between mind and body. It's unclear, for instance, whether it is Doctor Strange's soul, or his mind, or both,  that detaches from his body when he astrally projects.)

Thus, going by this piece of "superhero metaphysics," even if in the PZ is a state of constant stasis that traps the Zoners PHYSICALLY, the MINDS of the Zoners can still be up and about, just like Cosmic Boy can survive being transformed into a glass statue. This is supported in the many schemes by PZ-ers to interact with the "real" world via mental powers, or the fact everyone in the Zone can communicate via telepathy.

[Aldous]

I see what you mean.

Except, I'm afraid I see the mind as a product of the brain.

The soul is a different thing entirely. You also talk about the soul and the mind as being different things.

If you cut someone's head off, their mind is terminated. But their soul may still exist. And I very much doubt that your soul is who you think you are.

[Super Monkey]

"Mercury Age?"

Are you guys kidding me? That'll never catch on.

Giving an age a new name is like trying to give yourself a nickname.

https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/a/History/Mercury/

[Aldous]

"Mercury Age?"

Are you guys kidding me? That'll never catch on.

Giving an age a new name is like trying to give yourself a nickname.

https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/a/History/Mercury/

I'm not sure why the text about the planet Mercury is included. It may confuse the issue.

The progression of the metals makes sense to me and I can see why you have used the name "Mercury Age".

When I first saw the name, I thought you must have used it because the character has been changing so much, ie. mercurial, indeterminate, fluid...



Also:

What is that garbage stuck at the top of the 1958-1966 reader's guide page?

STOP GLOBAL WARMING NOW - before it kills millions of people! Watch the movie AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

What utter nonsense.

[Super Monkey]

The progression of the metals makes sense to me and I can see why you have used the name "Mercury Age".

I didn't come up with it, I was using "Post-IC", The Great Rao came up with The Mercury Age, so now I started using it, you know the whole, when in Rome bit.

STOP GLOBAL WARMING NOW - before it kills millions of people! Watch the movie AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

What utter nonsense.

Let's not get too off-topic here, start another thread if you want but...

Global Warming is real, but I don't think we can stop it anyway, we are far too gone for that, humans are not suppose to rule forever (see: Dinosaurs).  The Earth isn't going anywhere, it and life will go on, humans won't. But, humans are over rated anyway