In reply to John's image posted above:

wow! How soon do you think it will be before some overjealous inker presents a bubble-less rendition?

"My" Superman would likely not survive a nuclear blast....

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That's funny. I would swear he did just that in the Joker issue (Superman #9. if I remember correctly).

Given the opportunity (and the inclination) Superman could punch out Thor's heart, or crush his head like a walnut, or just grab his ankles and make a wish. I imagine any of those would slow Thor down somewhat.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.

John Byrne wrote: My own recollection is that Superman barely surivived that encounter, and even lost his powers for a short while because of the radiation. At least, I seem to recall him trying to fly and falling flat on his face. Hence my use of the word "likely".

Point taken.

Who the publisher is makes no difference. If this was an "official crossover", as opposed to something like the Thor appearance I did in FOURTH WORLD, then the end result would have to be a tie.

John, if I'm not mistaken, "your" Superman DID survive a nuclear blast (right before his face, actually) in Superman 9: A 40 megatonner.  It KO'd him for about a half-hour and left him woozy, but he survived it just fine.

ADDED:

Sorry, just saw your response to this matter.

On a related note, could your Thor or Hulk survive a 40 megatonner?  Also, sans Mjolnr, how do you see Thor's power (strength, speed, invulnerability, etc.) stacking up against Superman's own?  In other words is Thor X times Superman's power, or Superman Y times Thor's power (sans Mjolnr), to you?

_Frank Robert

JB's Superman seems (to me) to be one of the few characters who *should* have the best chance of surviving a nuclear blast, but probably wouldn't-- if he's at Ground Zero, he should be dead. Nowadays, I guess he'd shrug off anything less than multi-megaton H-bombs.

The Hulk might be the one other I can think of, offhand, because he was *created* by a nuclear explosion and is powered by the radiation he absorbed (and, per Peter David, continues to absorb).

Thor? Probably a blackened skeleton. Captain Marvel? Mmmm... probably dead too.

IIRC, in Superman 9, Superman had that 40 megatonner right in his hands, and before his face, when it went off.  Can't get much more "ground zero" than that, I say.

Incidentally, Superman has taken numerous nukes and explosions that can only be called "far beyond nuke level" since John's stay on the books.  He took a WWII A-bomb, the nuclear detonation of the Moon and the explosion of a sun-filled Sun Eater in Superman: Time and Time Again.  He also took a 30 megatonner when he fought Hi-Tech just before his "Death" arc. 

More recenlty, he survived the explosive force of Mageddon (which was enough to destroy "1/2 a galaxy" in J'onn's words ... or maybe even the whole universe).  He also easily shrugged off the Silver Banshee's scream, which was likened to 10 or so nukes "going off inside your skull" by Batman.  He's also flown through blackholes, suns, etc., etc.  And in The Final Night, he was all set to rejuvenate his power by standing before the Sun as it went "HYPERnova," iirc.

He ain't your daddy's Superman no more.  And, I say, if John's Superman could defeat Thor, however marginally ... then the question is: How would/should THIS newer Superman do againt the Odinson?

_Frank Robert

John Byrne wrote: fishnets or no fishnets? *** <snip page of pencil art for bandwidth purposes>

Yoink!

I am so going to ink this!

To Mr. Pfeiffer: I recommend the following dialogue:
Panel One: "Toh retaw tsal lla yad!"
Panel Two: "Ebor yltneinevnoc kcolb seidoog!"
Panel Three: "Hello? Would I like to buy a what? Sretekramelet esol rieht seciov!"

John Byrne wrote: Who the publisher is makes no difference. If this was an "official crossover", as opposed to something like the Thor appearance I did in FOURTH WORLD, then the end result would have to be a tie.

Can someone please provide an issue number for this? I've been patiently waiting (and hoping) for a FOURTH WORLD trade, but I'll pick up a back issue if it has (a) Thor in it!

John, would the guy getting hit with the sledge hammer die pretty easily then?  And, Hulk's taken multiple shots with the hammer just fine -- is he more invulnerable than Superman, in your opinion?  Would Superman be able to shrug off Mjolnr hits like Hulk has?  Or would he be made all mushy like a human sledge victim would likely be?

_Frank Robert