Superman, Vol 38, No. 300, June 1976

[mbarrick]

© 1976 National Periodical Publications, Inc.






(Note that as of 1976 comic book writers still knew the difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers)

Things have not exactly progressed as planned, eh? Other predictions in this comic that were way off base:

• A female American president in 1990 (presumably elected in1988)
• A stong, threatening Soviet Union in 1990, including an attempted nuclear war (foiled by Supes, bien sur).
• Video phones in 1990
• 3-d TV in 2001
• The eastern seaboard merging in to one megalopolis (named, naturally, "Metropolis") in 2000.
• An evil thrid-world power orchestrating the fall of the U.S. and terrorizing New York... oh... wait a minute...!

Comments

[keki.livejournal.com]

What's this about the ship coming from Superman's crotch with a forceful blast?

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

With a baby in it, no less!

Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read this? It's a humourous assesment of the reproductive problems Superman and Lois Lane would face by Larry Niven. In a nutshell:

1. They are different species from different planets
   (to get past this you have to presume an enourmous fluke)
2. The last few thrusts involve a largely involuntary push for depth where, being Superman, "he would gut her up the middle like a salmon"
   (but, presuming he has super-human control, we can get past this)
3. Orgasm is an entirely involuntary muscle contraction - he'd shoot her head off
   (we can get past this and the previous problem with red kryptonite, which temporarily removes his powers - he also makes a tangetal remark about Superman's boyhood home in Smallville having a lot of holes in the ceiling)
4. Superman would have super-sperm. The hardening of the egg's cell-wall after fertilization wouldn't stop the other sperm from ripping the egg apart, then flying off to find other eggs, inadvertently impregnating a large percentage of metropolis.
   (we get past this with gold kryptonite, which permanently removes his powers)
5. The resulting embryo would be half-super. Lois Lane would be toast at the first kick
   (we get past this with surrogate motherhood - Niven suggest Superman himself would have to preform self-surgery with his heat vision - since nothing else will cut him - carry the baby and preform a cesarian on himself to deliver it)

The article doesn't mention the possibility of Supergirl, his cousin, being the surrogate, which wouldn't work becase the only half-super baby would be crushed by her contractions.