Thanks JB for explaining Superman's invulnerability failing against Thor's hammer yet simultaneously working as usual against a bullet fired at the same time.

Reading your Zantanna spell makes me hope that maybe you'll use her in an upcoming Blood of the Demon story.

If Zantana spoke Etrigan's transformation spell backwards (assuming she knew it)could she transfrom him back to Jason Blood? I would love to see you do some work with Zantanna, or Dr Strange. After reading your handling of Reed Richards I was convinced you must be super-scientist yourself to portay Reed so brilliantly. I wonder what I'd think if you wrote a Zantanna story or two?

John Byrne wrote: Issue 3 soon enough?

I gotta ask - fishnets or no fishnets?

-Steve

John Byrne wrote: Reading your Zantanna spell makes me hope that maybe you'll use her in an upcoming Blood of the Demon story. ***** Issue 3 soon enough?

That's cool!  I always like seeing her pop up in a story...

Leaving the hammer out of it for a moment, what I do like when Superman is being written right is the idea that, once he's got a read on his opponent, he'll compensate as well within the bounds of being Superman. Why would Thor have an advantage the next time he and Superman met if they met in battle? Heck, Superman might have figured out at that point that Thor's really strong and pretty invulnerable and thus cut loose with anything from some refreshing heat vision to seeing what happens if Thor doesn't have oxygen. Or is in a super-cold environment.

Superman's not a dummy.  Out of morality, he's concerned about the chance of killing an opponent, but the concern that Superman should exhibit when he first encounters a foe whose powers and resistances he's not sure of are part of being Superman, as is figuring out how to deal with someone. He's not just Superman because he could beat up Thor -- he's also Superman because he'd initially worry that he might kill Thor and later he might figure out how to defeat Thor without having to hit him with a heavy object again and again.  Thor's a warrior.  Superman's a champion -- and a champion doesn't always resolve things by trying to prove who's stronger.

OK, I really stole that warrior/champion dichotomy, didn't I?

Cheers, Jon

I didn't say it would be easy, Kevin -- and for the record, I like Thor, and there are lots of situations I can imagine in which Thor would beat Superman. I object only to the idea that Superman's concern makes him a putz, somehow. I tend to think of Superman as a hero who's shackled in some ways in battle by the way he thinks, but in far more important ways increased by the way he thinks -- in part morally because he won't kill because he's not judge, jury and executioner; in part intellectually because Superman actually should need to use his brain to defuse a situation; and in part, well, morally as well because his decency should be able to to cause opponents who aren't "evil" to rethink what they're doing and sometimes listen to reason or ethics or morality.

Sounds schmaltzy, I guess, but that's my Superman.

Cheers, Jon

Remember, Thor is immortal in the sense that he will live forever unless he is killed. He is not unkillable, and, to make matters worse in this proposed battle, he is not invulnerable either.

However, that said, you seem to be confusing "being hurt" with "hurting". Superman can, and does, feel pain. He doubtless has a higher threshold than were mere mortals, but that does not mean a bolt of lightning (at least in my day) wouldn't do considerably more than "tickle". It just wouldn't do physical damage. For that, we would have to move much, much, much higher up the scale. So if Supergirl punched him, he would feel it, and it might even hurt -- but it wouldn't bruise.