Krypton’s always been close to Earth, in terms of GL sectors. Sector 2813. Also includes Khundia, Xudar, and Zamaron. Most of the GLs we’ve seen from that sector were Xudarians - like Tomar-Re.
Kristin Welles is back? Superwoman? But she’s not from The Future anymore?
Cool. I missed her these last several years…
Pretty much in name only. She’s a very different character than the original was. Karsta’s a fugitive from justice (in the centuries between the decommissioning of Dru-Zod’s fleet and Superman finding her on Earth, she did a lot to survive) who turned herself in after meeting Superman*. From the flashes Supergirl saw of her future, she’s not going to be incarcerated for very long, though. She also appears to be approximately 30 years older than Kal, and suffering something akin to arthritis because of a botched longevity treatment.
- While bringing in the man who killed the other mutineers of Dru-Zod’s fleet and attempted to kill her, Superman, both Karas, Chris, and the population of Kandor. And Krypto…I can’t believe I forgot Krypto on my earlier list. OK, that list is the humanoid survivors of New Earth’s Krypton.
Slight threadjack; I thought I’d introduce this somewhat-meaningless bit of kryptonite trivia.
The ‘invention’ of kryptonite as a means to harm superman actually came about due to a slight emergency during the radio broadcasts of the Adventures of Superman. The man who normally did the voice of Superman became ill, and the replacement didn’t -quite- have the right voice, thus they needed an excuse for S’s voice to be muffled. The scriptwriters decided that there would be a mineral that Superman would lock himself in a closet in order to avoid, and thus wouldn’t be able to be heard normally. That mineral would end up being kryptonite. Odd, but true.
I think Krypto is from a pocket dimension recreation of Krypton Brainiac-13 made in an attempt to trap Superman. Like Power Girl and Superman Prime, he doesn’t qualify since he’s not from the “real” Krypton.
Ah, yes, pocket dimensions. Perhaps the greatest source of pure-D handwavium in all the universe.
“Lock himself into a closet?” “muffled voice?”
What I heard was that for a couple of episodes his dialogue consisted entirely of groans of pain.
Maybe that was the night the finale of Kryptonian Idol was on.
So, is there a limit to how far away from the yellow sun he can fly? (I am not a comic book geek, and most definitely not a superhero comic book geek, so forgive me if that’s an obvious question that everybody knows the answer to.)
And now we can add the Kingdom Come Superman to the list of “I can’t believe they’re not Kryptonians.” Don’t remember which Earth # that is nowadays, but as it is apparently destroyed (per latest JSA) it seems he’ll be around for a while. So that’s:
Superman (Kal-El)
Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)
Chris Kent (Lor-Zod)
Karsta Wor-ul (Kristin Welles)
Krypto
Power Girl
Superman Prime
Kingdom Come Superman
Phantom Zone prisoners
Kandorians
… it’s getting positively Silver Agey with Kryptonians, lately. Can Beppo be far behind?
Everything’s Better with Monkeys!
I hope Beppo comes back we need more Superpowered flying monkeys!!
If we’re going to count descendants from alternate Kryptons, then there’s probably about 40-odd Supermen more, plus their assorted Supergirls, Beppos, etc. Nazi Superman, Batman Beyond’s Superman, Red Sun’s Superman, etc.
I don’t have a cite for this, but I’m pretty sure I remember that in the Byrne version, the Kryptonian terrorist group Black Zero detonated some kind of genetic bomb that tied Kryptonians to Krypton. I think Superman himself was immune from it because Jor-El did something to his genes in the gestation matrix, or maybe it was because Superman wasn’t yet born when he left Krypton.
So, would the Kryptonians occupying planets with yellow suns have super power, or are they short of yellow suns in the area? Did Jor-El know about the effects of the yellow sun or did he just get lucky?
This stuff is exactly why I stopped reading Superman about 40 years ago. I liked it when things were simple, and anything interesting turned out to be a dream.
You may be thinking of Action Comics #582 (Aug 86), arguably the very last pre-Crisis issue of that series.
The story features Superman having a recurring dream about the final moments of Krypton, with his infant self being placed in the rocket by his parents, except there’s an odd gap in the memory. Performing a mind-scan with some alien tech in his Fortress, he now remembers that Jor-El and Lara used some kind of mind-meld machine on him, rather similar to (if not a blatant rip-off of) the “Remember” moment from Star Trek II and III. Though they knew they were going to die, they copied their memories into the subconscious mind of their infant son. Seeing lots of potential in this, Superman uses other alien machines to clone new bodies for his parents, using genetic material from himself, and creates a couple of fifty-something clono-parents. He introduces them to the Daily Planet staff as his birth parents (it was no secret that Clark Kent had been adopted by Jonathan and Martha), “Jordan and Lara Ellis”.
It turns out to be a big hoax played on Superman by a pair of alien gamblers, trying to see is they could anger Supes enough to kill.
And, as always on topics like this, I typed up this entire post without leaving my chair.
That was from an Action Comics annual right before they switched back from the weekly format to being just Superman again. It was an attempt to make the Superman as Krypton’s only survivor a little more justifiable though obviously it has been completely pitched out now anyway.
Currently, Superman’s interstellar travels are primarily limited by how long he can hold his breath. His body stores yellow solar energy like a battery, so distance from a yellow sun is only a factor if he exerts himself for an extended period. The real danger would be if he wandered into a system with a red sun, which would shut off his powers with messy results.
What, no Streaky? And didn’t he have a super horse, too?
Ok, here’s a couple of questions:
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Why did Krypton just up and blow up in the first place?
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Why are pieces of Krypton (AKA Kryptonite) lethal to former inhabitants of Krypton?