And it’s not even by a comic book author. Larry Niven’s “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” essay is online now, with permission.
Even if it’s slightly out of date, continuity-wise (not only does it predate the Byrne reboot, but Clark and Lois are, after all, married now), it’s still a classic Niven extrapolation.
The problem is this. Electroencephalograms taken of men and women during sexual intercourse show that orgasm resembles “a kind of pleasurable epileptic attack.” One loses control over one’s muscles.
Superman has been known to leave his fingerprints in steel and in hardened concrete, accidentally. What would he do to the woman in his arms during what amounts to an epileptic fit?
(via BoingBoing)
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Yes, but when it was written, there were solutions Niven ignored or didn’t know about. The most obvious was the bottle city of Kandor, a miniaturized Kryptonian city in the Fortress of Solitude, in which Superman was powerless (remember when he and Jimmy Olsen would fight Kandorian crime as Nightwing and Flamebird?). For that matter, he rigged up an artificial red sun light source to box Muhammad Ali (really!).
Still, it’s a very enjoyable essay. I reread it periodically.
As for other comic book essays, the late Tom Rainbow had some wonderful essays in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine back in the 80s, including one on super powers. Man, I wish I still had those!
Good call on Kandor and a “red sun” solution. For that matter, being vulnerable to magic, doubtless there were solutions there, too.