Saturday, July 23, 2005

The Scientofascism of Silver Age DC Comics Part I

One of my all-time favorite Superman stories is the three-parter from Superman #132, where we learn what would have happened to Kal-El had Krypton survived. Some of the technology obviously sounds good:



But this part is positively creepy:



But it turns out that Kal's slated for dispatcher duty, not a space-jockey. And there is no appeal:



Well, you know it's kind of the scientific way of doing things--figure out what the aptitudes of the various students are and point them towards a career. Except for the obvious problem--what if the computer screws up?



Hilariously the machine gets fixed by the Kryptonian Superman, and of course everybody's still willing to abide by the results:

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