Origin Of The \S/ symbol

[ChickenScratch]

"The serpent of deception trapped in the prism of justice." At least I think that's it at this point. I'm sure some bigger Superman fan will clarify for me, after all, I am a Batman fan for the most part. Wither way, with that explanation it's quite understandable how such a device could become a family coat of arms and be quite recognizable considering it's the logo that stands for the one "prison" they have and the family who created it.

 

[Webhead2006]

yea i would perfer to have the suit be total earth made materials and design created by clark or clark and his mother. But the S shield is kryptonian.

 

[Kurosawa]

My first and highest ranked choice.



I love that book and do remember the Einstien connection. I thought that was a great concept. How would you update that? Some nameless genious? Keeping it Einstien would make Clark much older.

Couldn't be Einstein...maybe it could visit Hawking and he could send someone to Smallville? Closest I can think of.

Costume should have the traditional explanation of being designed by the Kents and made from the blankets he was wrapped in.

 

[Webhead2006]

i kinda would drop the whole blanket idea just a bit cause really if you are putting a blanket in the ship with the size of a body/small toddler it logically it would be a small size blanket. So it sorta doesnt make sense it would be materials big enough to fit a 6'4 guy and have material for cape. I would as i said like it just be earth made and have traits from his human clark life and items of his kryptonian heritage(ie the shield).

Also yea the idea of the kents being picked to raise clark is a nice idea, heck even smallville took that idea. With jorel as a young man coming to earth and met johnathn's father.

 

[Kurosawa]

i kinda would drop the whole blanket idea just a bit cause really if you are putting a blanket in the ship with the size of a body/small toddler it logically it would be a small size blanket. So it sorta doesnt make sense it would be materials big enough to fit a 6'4 guy and have material for cape. I would as i said like it just be earth made and have traits from his human clark life and items of his kryptonian heritage(ie the shield).

Also yea the idea of the kents being picked to raise clark is a nice idea, heck even smallville took that idea. With jorel as a young man coming to earth and met johnathn's father.

The blankets stretched. The Golden Age explanation was that the costume was made from special materials that Superman himself designed.

 

[Sam]

I like Birthright idea. That is: a Kryptonian symbol of hope

 

[Webhead2006]

oh i didnt know that kuro. What ever they do i hope they have a good costume. Still i think earth made costume would be nice, with designs of kryptonian clothing/symbols. But i am open for anything as long as it turns out good.

 

[Daybreak_st]

Again people say they don't want superman to be like every other superhero but they want an earth based costume.

I like the combo of him designing it based on images from krypton. Don't know about the blankets though. Kinda like himto create it in the fortress or something. I mean in Star Trek the Next Generation they had replicators, don't see why the fortress couldn't have something like that he uses to create/design the suit. At least it would add to the scifi elements of the whole thing. And you know martha doesn't have spandex stored in her closet anyway .

 

[GreenKToo]

The Family crest, only it looks somewhat different than the ''S'' on Earth.
He makes little changes to it so it looks like the S we all know and love.

 

[Webhead2006]

well for me with the costume i would like it to be earth materials clark designs or had help with by martha. Then just some magically created suit from the fortress. Cause really why would jorel program the thing to do stuff like that when he probably doesnt know what kalel was going to do with his life on earth. Sure i would like the costume be be based on kryptonian clothing/designs but i rather it be earth made. With taking traits from his kryptonian heritage and from his human heritage.

 

[Daybreak_st]

well for me with the costume i would like it to be earth materials clark designs or had help with by martha. Then just some magically created suit from the fortress. Cause really why would jorel program the thing to do stuff like that when he probably doesnt know what kalel was going to do with his life on earth. Sure i would like the costume be be based on kryptonian clothing/designs but i rather it be earth made. With taking traits from his kryptonian heritage and from his human heritage.

And i can respect that but no one said anything about "magically created" suit. We admit that Kryptonian are an advanced cizilization. In S:TM we accept that some tiny crystal can somehow manufacture the entire fortress of solitude. But all of a sudden it's impossible or highly unlikley that it would have the equivalent of a replicator?

I know i have a very specific view of it and i don't care if the kents make it. Just saying i thought an interesting idea (for me at least) is that the fortress is essentially an abandoned kryptonian outpost that was once used by kryptonian explorers thousands of years ago. They were surprised with the effects the yellow sun had on them. In testing the limits of their new found abilities they found that only materials close to there body inherited invulnerablity. They designed special tight fitting body suits to wear. Essentially clark discovers all of this when he finds the fortress. He takes the idea of the body suit and modifies it to create the iconic suit we all love.

Just my idea.

 

[Webhead2006]

no i get they could have it i jsut wouldnt want the fortress or jorel to create a suit for kalel like he already knows he will become a "Superhero". I rather it be the suit is something clark designs and he becomes a hero on his own. if you get what i am saying.

 

[Daybreak_st]

Yeah that makes sense.

 

[DavidTyler]

Couldn't be Einstein...maybe it could visit Hawking and he could send someone to Smallville? Closest I can think of.

Costume should have the traditional explanation of being designed by the Kents and made from the blankets he was wrapped in.

Hawking might be unsuitable and also cause it to be dated. I say invent a character and have him be the ersatz Einstien of the peice.

Oh... and absolutely disagree with the blanket thing. Blanket's would not keep a baby safe in the cockpit of a space ship. I know you're a 1938 kind of fan but it's just not the level of disbelief I can suspend. I'm with Web in that I want to costume made of Earthly materials. That allows him to alter the costume or even sew up new ones as needed.

First and foremost, the 1938 origin was written with a whole lot less understanding of science than most 12 year olds have today. Not to put his creators down but it was pretty much a time of science fiction being about Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Not viable in this day and age.

I am a huge fan of how Byrne and Wolfman updated the concept. Infant Kal-el is in a birthing matrix and Jor-el hooks it up to a star-drive. The matrix supplies all the infants needs including protection from hyper speed. I'd like to see the new film take some of that into a new origin.

 

[Webhead2006]

yea that is another point things have changed so much in our understanding of science, and what was scifi in the past is our technical present. So just going by the simple stuff of the early era superman just doesnt really cut it any more with our advance world. Sure traits and some ideas from the early superman should be there. Heck i been saying it for awhile now i would like them to look at the character as a hole and take the best stuff from all the eras, and some of the best well loved stories on the character. Combine it all together and there you go.

 

[Mr. Earle]

I'd prefer the suit to be from earthly materials as well. Superman's aura protects it, so it only gets damaged when Superman is hit with something that would actually hurt him. If his suit is damaged he sews a new one.

And now we descend into another aura vs kryptonian clothes discussion.

 

[Webhead2006]

yea that is another i like the whole aura reason for his invul powers. Instead of saying the suit or what not has that ability to it.

 

[Daybreak_st]

to each his own i guess. But just don't use the blankets. What happens if his suit is torn etc?

That's one thing i don't like about secret origin. His mom makes him a costume when he's like twelve and he becomes superboy out of the blankets. Then as an adult he has the same suit?! how does it still fit? Not a fan.

The martha made the suit works i guess, but it was one of the goofiest parts of the pilot of lois and clark although i did laugh.

 

[Mr. Earle]

Frankly i dont like the Superboy aspect of his origin. I mean, do we need to see Bruce be Robin or Batboy before becoming Batman?
I like the fact that he goes and has teen adventures with the Legion of Superheroes in the future, just dont call him Superboy and dont let Superboy anywhere near Smallville. It would blow his cover.

 

[Daybreak_st]

Yeah i think the notion of superboy is silly. I think something like smallville without him meeting every single person he'll ever know so early in life is the way to go. We all grow and change as we enter adulthood. I think a Clark Kent who has to ultimately come to the decision to become superman is much more interesting than basically being superman since he was 12

 

[Mr. Earle]

Yeah i think the notion of superboy is silly. I think something like smallville without him meeting every single person he'll ever know so early in life is the way to go. We all grow and change as we enter adulthood. I think a Clark Kent who has to ultimately come to the decision to become superman is much more interesting than basically being superman since he was 12

You can say that again!

 

[Webhead2006]

well i think some of the heroes/people he has met in sv has worked out well.

 

[Kurosawa]

Hawking might be unsuitable and also cause it to be dated. I say invent a character and have him be the ersatz Einstien of the peice.

Oh... and absolutely disagree with the blanket thing. Blanket's would not keep a baby safe in the cockpit of a space ship. I know you're a 1938 kind of fan but it's just not the level of disbelief I can suspend. I'm with Web in that I want to costume made of Earthly materials. That allows him to alter the costume or even sew up new ones as needed.

First and foremost, the 1938 origin was written with a whole lot less understanding of science than most 12 year olds have today. Not to put his creators down but it was pretty much a time of science fiction being about Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Not viable in this day and age.

I am a huge fan of how Byrne and Wolfman updated the concept. Infant Kal-el is in a birthing matrix and Jor-el hooks it up to a star-drive. The matrix supplies all the infants needs including protection from hyper speed. I'd like to see the new film take some of that into a new origin.

The blankets were as invulnerable as the rest of him and Jor-El knew that if the ship made it off Krypton and away from Rao that they and the ships interiors would provide ample protection.

Yeah, it would best to just create an Einstein stand-in if that angle were to be used.

Hate everything about the birthing matrix, etc. Pure garbage IMO and glad it was retconned away. Hate the aura idea, it's lame. I much prefer the idea that Krypton's gravity and environment was so insanely harsh that they evolved to withstand it and away from there and from the red sun that Kryptonians are near-indestructible.

I'm neutral on Superboy, although I actually like the character a lot, but I don't feel it's essential.

As for all the other questions about the suit and the blankets, in the classic traditional canon, the blankets and the costume stretched and were as indestructible as Superman himself, the boots, belt and the lenses of his glasses were made from the remains of the rocket's interior. That is how he can use his vision powers without melting his glasses as Clark.

Kal-L designed his own costume and created the materials it was made from in the Golden Age, and I assume the lenses of his glasses as well.

The blanket explanation is by far the most iconic, imo.

 

[Webhead2006]

it could work and i wouldnt be against the idea for it. As long as it works on screen you know. Sure it could work on page but it may not translate well on screen as for things always change from comics to film and all that. As for the aura as i already said for me i like that as the reason for his invul powers and it has its merits to me.

 

[Daybreak_st]

I don’t know how many of you have experience sewing but I took a class in high school (don’t ask) and I don’t see how blanket thing could work. Consider.
Superman’s costume is composed of at least three or four very different materials.

1. Stretchy/spandex material for the bodysuit.
2. Material for the shorts.
3. Material for the boots, harder perhaps leathery in texture.
4. The cloth-like cape

That’s not to mention the belt. Ok so I can see Martha or Clark using a blanket-like material to create the cape but that’s about it.
I have yet to see a person sew spandex-type outfit at home. It’s a synthetic material in real life and requires manufacturing of some sort to produce something like a diving suit. The material doesn’t lend itself to sewing or at least I can’t imagine anyone using sewing machine to stitch it together. The material from the blankets would have to somehow posses the various attributes of at least the four listed materials above. The cloth-like cape makes sense. The bodysuit doesn’t. If it is completely homemade then at best you’d have to say it’s a leotard/unitard at best which is what happened in the lois and Clark pilot.

The shorts would either be made of the same stretchy material or resemble real shorts. Again your saying the blankets came in such a variety as to supports a variety of material properties which doesn’t make sense.

Now we get to the boots. Again we encounter a completely different material that is has nothing cloth like about it. How exactly were these supposedly made? Out of the same multipurpose blankets? Again doesn’t add up.

Also I think we all agree to wanting to see something impressive for his costume. In another thread people seemed to like this (Designed by Bunk with modifications by B):

or something new i just saw in another thread:

I also think this looks great. But how are we to believe this costume was homemade by Clark and Ma kent? Wouldn’t it need out of necessity a more homemade feel to it? I know someone is gonna say, what about spidey, yeah his costume also looked manufactured. The audience may by it but we also never see what materials he supposedly used to make it. It’s only presented to us in it’s finished state. And now if you look at the spider-man boards you have people lobbying for a more homemade appearance, as if they didn’t learn their lesson from the 70s spidey tv series…shutter.