X is magic and can do anything...

In the realm of floating numbers 7 is the best weapon as it can be used like a scythe.

Made up elements are great. What is tougher adamantium or vibranium?

We did that last week Pete.

Ha ha zero point energy, well done Mr Ellis and his subscription to New Scientist.

See also QUANTUM STATES. I noticed these turning up in Supreme Power recently.

Time travel should solve everything but always makes it worser.

Warren Ellis seems to bandy Hawking Radiation about like that sometimes...I'm particularly impressed with the dimensionality of the Snowflake in Planetary - I've yet to see that one picked up on any of the fan site - although I suspect Ellis only used it 'cos it sounds cool rather than actually knowing what it meant. Grant Morrison's another for throwing around science terminology willy-nilly.

This isn't a just a comics trope...It's just a basic misunderstanding of science and technology. eg Back in the twenties a lot of people seemed to think that radiation was a good thing (I've seen a copy of an ad that extols the health benefits of drinking Radium infused water!) And people still buy those magnetic bracelet thingies despite the fact that the only way they do anything is via the placebo effect. You see the trope in a lot in the worst sort televised sf too.

My fave is the "Yellow Sun Radiation" that empowers Superman; 'cos if you think about it this would seem to imply that Kryptonians might have evolved from some sort of mobile plant...Which would make Supes way more alien than you might, at first, have thought.

Although it would also imply that I give this sort of thing a bit more thought than it deserves.

Wait, remind me why Superman still has superpowers when he leaves earth?

Because he stores the solar radiation in his body. He is photosensitive.

He is also lactose intolerant, but only towards milk from a Daxamite cow (Krypton had no bovines!).

what is really needed is an equivalent, in respect of each quasi-MAGICMEME, of tharg's time-twisters

viz an endless supply of short strips with JUST ONE PLOT, reducing it to a joke no one else dare use

suggested name:
THARG'S NANOTECHNOLOGY TWISTERS
THARG'S ZERO POINT ENERGY TWISTERS
ect ect

haha 'zero point energy' turned up in CR*FTS magazine last issue!! (someone based their textiles exhibition on their um 'understanding' of the concept)

He is also lactose intolerant, but only towards milk from a Daxamite cow (Krypton had no bovines!).
-- Huk-L (handsomishbo...), November 2nd, 2005. (later)

Wouldn't that be Galactose intolerant?....Sorry. *hangs head in shame*

Easy on the SHAME, Stone Monkey. Have you seen most of the threads here?

I was thinking when I initially pondered this thread that maybe it had something to do with people's ignorance of science, that it appears almost as "magic" to them, and can do nearly anything.

But the same principle that allowed lightning to strike the STEALTH plane (in the "Stealth" movie) and give it malevolent sentience instead of a lot of fried circuits. Lightning is pretty concrete, and its effects not so mysterious (though lightning in particular has an "act of God" sort of feel to it.

But since science has demystified so much "magic," maybe it's natural that we try to find it now in the very thing that has displaced it. Where else do we have to look for magic, after all? Superstitious religion, I suppose, though that does not a good origin story make.

This example is not from comics, but an glorious misunderstanding of the idea of "cyberspace" can be seen in The Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War.

e.g., consulting a map: "This superhighway goes through this port and leads directly underneath the cyber-stadium!" ... uh...

Also classic, Matt Frewer (i.e. Max Headroom) urging the world to "JACK IN! JACK IN TO THE WOMB OF CYBERSPACE!"

i guess since you're never going to REALLY explain superpowers/scifi/fantasy stuff the idea is to look for the most reasonable fudged explanation

Swamp Thing to thread.

chaos magic!

Yes!! Due to a freak accident I am imbued with the Power of Cyberspace!! It crackles though my veins, call me GOD!! WITNESS my opinions on the definative Dredd artist!! GASP at the asssurance with which I state that Fellowship of the Ring is the best of the trilogy!! CRINGE as I flirt with a hot 17 year old Britney lookalike who may well be a beer-gutted middle-aged man!!

OMFG: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=cosmic+rays&btnG=Search+News

HOW IS SUPERMAN IMPOSSIBLE. THE SUN GIVES US VITAMIN D. IS YELLOW SUN ENERGY SO DIFFERENT?!?!

Do you mean Red Sun energy?

Red Sun energy is harsh, dude.

Superman should drink Red Bull.

Won't our sun someday turn Red and TAKE AWAY all of Superman's powers? Ha ha ha, joke's on you, Kal-El!

HOW IS SUPERMAN IMPOSSIBLE. THE SUN GIVES US VITAMIN D. IS YELLOW SUN ENERGY SO DIFFERENT?!?!
-- Alex in Novosibirsk (dr_...), November 4th, 2005. (later)

Umm...Sorry to piss on your chips but...Yes it is. Completely differerent. Yellow Sun energy allowing Superman to fly etc. is evident bollocks...

Thanks for clearing that up, you humourless goon.

hahaha!

So how does this all fit in with when he was different and had those electric-type powers, hmmm?

I always liked the Captain America had basically gotten his "powers" (hes like a super-jock, right?) from steroids. Ha. Just say no, kids. Unless a Government scientist says its ok.