Thursday, September 25, 2014

This Wouldn't Rank As The 100th Craziest Adventure Superman Had

Over the weekend, I had this dream that involved me reading an old Superman comic. I mean Silver Age Superman, Curt Swan art and everything, or as close to it as my brain could manage. In it, Supes had traveled to the future, and was trying to prevent a planet from being conquered. But he kept being stymied because the villain kept throwing alternate universe versions of Legion of Superheroes members at him. At one point, one of these types made plants come to life. Then the plants grabbed Superman and turned him in to a plant. Superman somehow changed himself back by making his (tree) limbs grow, and they got high enough in the atmosphere he absorbed enough sunlight to change back.

Or something, by that point, my dream self had started skimming the comic. Once I got to the next page, and saw Superman contemplating a giant map of the world - which had color representation of how much of it had been conquered so far - as he planned his last-ditch attempt to stop the villain, and that this plan involved him wearing a space helmet for some reason, I stopped reading entirely. My dream self refused to engage any further, and I woke up shortly thereafter.

What I found amusing was that my brain wasn't rejecting it for being too nonsensical. It was, but in the dream I was completely unsurprised by this. It made exactly as much sense as I expect Silver Age Superman comics to make. I just don't tend to enjoy them very much, and that carried into the dream as well. Still, within in the context of the story, I accepted things as making their own kind of sense. A guy who animates plants, and the plants can make other people plants? And then plants taunt the poor schmoe they changed? Sure, that sounds like it fits perfectly in this kind of story. Which makes me wonder if a lot of the stories of that time period weren't based on writer's dreams. They have that sort of logic where things seem to make sense from the inside, but viewed from the outside, we're left scratching our heads.

I also remember that in the dream, I wondered where the Legion from that universe was, and I half expected it would turn out the whole thing was an elaborate scam they were pulling on Superman, probably as part of a birthday "present". I suppose it's also possible they'd all forgotten their identities, to the extent they also forgot how their powers worked, and were able to do things with them they shouldn't have been. Can't rule that out either.

1 comment:

SallyP said...

That's one heck of a dream! I am glad that your sleeping mind was still aware that Batman can breathe in Space.