Leyendo los foros de discusión de la serie Superman/Batman, dado que hay en este momento un gran debate sobre el final del número 18, me encontré con un comentario que describe las diferentes encarnaciones de Superman de acuerdo a las eras de los superhéroes.
Dado que en el postcast de ayer no pudimos establecer exactamente el inicio y el fin de las eras, me pareció que vale la pena publicar el comentario
****SPOILER ALERT SI NO HAN LEIDO SUPERMAN/BATMAN #18****
The “Golden Age Superman” technically spans the period from 1938-1948, beginning of course with Action Comics #1. As the decades passed, these early adventures (especially Superman’s involvement in WWII) were retconned into the “Earth-2 Superman”, though some discrepancies exist.
After a decade of creative drift, the classic “Silver Age Superman” began to emerge. This roughly spans from 1959 to the early Seventies revamp. The result of this revamp (not technically a reboot) was the (slightly depowered, though he got better fast) “Bronze Age Superman” from 1972 to 1986.
Both the Silver and Bronze Age Supermen are considered to be from “Earth-1”, but naturally this designation didn’t even EXIST until Barry Allen discovered Earth-2 in 1960. As Earth-2 and the Justice Society became more popular, DC decided to relocate all the Golden Age heroes to this world, thus the “Earth-2 Superman” (re)debuted in 1966. Similarly, the original pre-war Batman became the older Earth-2 incarnation.
The Earth-2 Superman, old Kal-L, did NOT die in the Crisis on Infinite Earths (COIE). In COIE #12, he, his wife Lois, Superboy-Prime and Alex Luthor of Earth-3 all entered a “Paradise Dimension”. We are led to beiieve this is the SAME graying Superman seen in “The Kingdom” trying to break out of his idyllic “prison”.
Neither did the Earth-1 Superman die in the Crisis, though if the Crisis worked as intended there would not have been a “lag time” between the end of Crisis and Byrne’s “The Man of Steel” reboot. The timeline-altering effects of the Crisis changed Superman’s origin and background, including the nature of his powers and transforming Krypton from a Buck Rogers Tomorrowland to a bleak and sterile Distopia.
Since there was a “transistion time” between the end of Crisis and “The Man of Steel”, DC allowed the Superman writers to “go wild” with the soon-to-be-discarded continuity. You should see the issue #97 of “DC Comics Presents”, which eliminates the Phantom Zone criminals, Bizarro World and Mr. Mxyztplk (contradicting “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” — more on this below), and sends the dead Argo City crashing into Metropolis, re-introducing tons of lethal green kryptonite to Earth once more. Since this was the final issue of DCCP and everything was going to change immediately afterwards, contradictions and outrageous storylines “didn’t matter”.
Then there’s the “Final Silver/Bronze Superman story” — Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”.
One must remember that Moore proclaims from the beginning that “This is an Imaginary Story — Aren’t they all?” Being an Imaginary Story, one should ONLY interpret these events as one POSSIBLE outcome, NOT what ACTUALLY happened to the immediate Post-Crisis Superman before the Bryne reboot caught up with him. In fact there’s a glaring internal contradiction — Superwoman Kristen Wells makes a cameo, but how could she even exist in this Reality when her ancestor Jimmy Olsen is killed?
So, is the “Future Superman” in the Superman/Batman titles actually a Hypertime Earth-1 Superman, a Hypertime “Whatever Happened…?” Superman, The Kingdom Come Superman, a future “Birthright” Superman, or a combination of two or more of the above?
Perhaps, or perhaps not. Recall that in Superman #200 Superman becomes aware of his multiple origins, so in a sense he’s partly comprised of ALL “incarnations” — even the “Imaginary” ones. In the very least, the “Whatever Happened..” coda to this story arc was a nice “nod” in tribute to the past.
See http://theages.superman.ws/comics.php for more information on the various Supermen Though The Ages.
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