One aspect of the earlier years of Superman that has been all but totally forgotten is the concept of Krypton as a planet of Super-people , people with super-strength , leaping ,etc. powers not unlike the " faster than a speeding bullet " powers of the initial Superman of the earliest stories showed on Earth ~ Except that these powers are displayed by Kryptonians , in flashback sequences set upon Krypton .
For one example , the daily newspaper strip version of Superman's origin , the earliest surviving version by S&S of Supie's origin , spends a week or so setting up the concept of Kryptonians' super-powers .
But this was not just an aspect of Superman of the pre-Pearl Harbor , " Captain Cleveland " years which disappeared quickly , as Clark Kent's employment at the DAILY STAR and the early Superman's willingness to kill did ~ This appeared in Superman comic-book stories well into the later years of the Forties !
However , nowadays it is forgotten in mainline DC continuity , even the occasional reference to a Captain Cleveland-style Big Blue ignores it , though I did see that DC-Wikia - http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Kal-L_(Earth-Two) - appears to allude to it , so maybe it has been referred to in modern-day DC ! Well , maybe...
Frankly , one reason it may have disappeared is that it raises the question of how those super Kryptonians didn't just tear their planet apart early on , well before it blew up , but anyway !
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I like to think that they were powerful, but so advanced in terms of morals and control that they just didn't the same way I know how to drive a car but don't just go the wrong way down the street or drive on the wrong side of the road. Given' how Krypton is portrayed in the last movie and in the comics (Not to mention the amazons) I'd wager that the idea of a society of truly advanced people who live peacefully with themselves and their environment is probably one that gets scorned a lot by comic book writers,
...An interesting thought , but were you thinking of it regarding the " Super-Krypton " concept ?
I put this in MSA's board , because , it's the only specific ERA-oriented board here , and , after all , the Silver Age was an age which ignored it !!!!!!!!! So it fits...
It was also touched on in the radio show.
...Thank you ~ the radio show , for quite a while , had Superman unknown to the world in general , encountering crooks whom he threateningly told not to tell the world about him , or South American Indians from non-modern tribes who simply wanted their treasure back , and who were going to go back South and never tell anyone up in Norteamerica about the strange blue-and-red god they had met...I am told tht , at one point in the early Eighties , DC declared that the stories on the radio show were part on Earth-Two continuity...........
Oddly enough, the radio show was the only place that I've ever encountered that placed Krypton in the location that it's name always implied: It was the "hidden" planet in our own solar system, orbiting on the opposite side of the sun in such a way that it was forever invisible from the Earth. I'm sure the whole concept of a planet that close exploding would make that idea unworkable (duh), but it was kind of fun. Obviously, we should probably assume that part of the radio program was not part of Earth-Two continuity.
Is that why it was called Krypton? I had to look up the etymology (from Gk kruptos, hidden). That's interesting.
To the best of my knowledge the idea of a Counter-Earth ultimately derives from Philolaus, although in his system it was not on the opposite side of the Sun. Rather, it, the Earth and the Sun moved with other objects around a central fire.
Since we're sort-of on the subject, Atlantis is from Plato's Timaeus and its unfinished sequel, Critias. Plato introduced fanciful myths into his works some times and it's probably one of these.
At one stage in the character's development Jerry Siegel conceived Superman as from Earth in the future. See here.
The Earth Two/Superman radio show connection probably originated with World's Finest Comics #271, a Roy Thomas continuityfest which retold the origins of the Superman/Batman team. The issue used a story from the Superman radio story involving Batman and a villain called Atom Man, who became Atoman in the comic, as the story of how the Earth Two Superman and Batman met. Google < atoman superman radio "alter ego" > for a link to an issue of Alter Ego at Google Books which has a caption with more information. The article is "Roy Thomas Talks About The 1980s at DC".
Roy Thomas' Secret Origins #1 featured the Earth-Two Superman and Jor-L was shown super-leaping.
Another Golden Age story confirms that the Earth-Two Kryptonians (Krypton-Two??) possessed x-ray vision.
Since the Golden Age comics made much less use of Krypton than the Silver Age did, I'm pretty sure that we are free to imagine that the Earth-Two Kryptonians did have at least Action Comics #1 power levels on their home planet, as a result of their advanced evolution (as we were told), plus some form of X-Ray vision. Presumably, prolonged exposure to Earthly elements gradually enhanced those abilities in the Kryptonians who managed to live there long enough to enjoy such benefits. Thus, Superman & Power Girl eventually became more powerful, presumably close to the levels of their Earth-1 counterparts (no matter where Krypton was "hidden", the whole Red Sun/Yellow Sun thing was a Silver Age invention, and thus is not valid on Earth-Two), while other Golden Agers of Kryptonian extraction, like Halk Kar or Kell-Or only had the lesser power levels during their relatively brief visits to Earth, yet Kal-L retained his normal power level while visiting Kell-Or's homeworld.
...Sounds good (rushing out this reply after only a brief read) , Dave . :-)
The explanation of " Earth's lighter gravity " granting super-powers was given on the very first page of Supes' ACTION #1 appearance !
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