[quote]Northcott wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
I always hated Superman for that…he was a lazy bastich…he never even practiced how to fight…I always said that if he did ever really practice fighting he would be the baddest…but alas, he never did.
Nah. It’s been stated several times that Superman has trained to make himself a better fighter. He hasn’t just relied on his powers… at least not with good writers at the helm.
As for the questions:
who would win in a fight?
Whoever the writer wants to win. Seriously. Ever since Miller wrote the dark knight, all the purile little wank-jobs have been lining up to take a shot at Superman. I don’t think it gets much more lame than that: dogpiling a fictional character.
In the end they’re just charactes. One represents the limits of human achievement, the other represents the nobility of the human spirit. I think it says a lot that some people feel a need to piss on the later while stroking to the former.
And this whole “If Batman has time to prepare” bit? It’s more like, “If Batman has time to prepare and manages to catch Superman completely by surprise on a really bad day”.
who is cooler?
Batman. Hands down. He’s an adolescent power fantasy. A lot of critics have tried to claim that Superman is an adolescent power fantasy, but that just shows they’re missing the point of the character.
Batman was created (kind of) by Bob Kane, who did a really good job of hiring people to flesh out Batman, and then passed their work off as his without giving them any credit or adequate financial compensation. He was designed specifically as a marketing gimmick, shamelessly stealing from other, more creative endeavors to capitalize on popular elements in pulp and cinematic heroes. Hell, even Robin was brought in as a marketing gimmick, once they figured out they’d get better youth readership if they put in a kid sidekick, allowing boys to dream of grand adventure with an unstoppable and ultra-cool fantasy father figure. It worked. Sales shot through the roof overnight.
Anyway: Batman’s all about the image. Cool car, all the little gizmos, he gets the chicks – and most importantly, he dwells in his cave all day, all angsty about the bad things that have happened to him, brooding on revenge. He then dresses all in black, goes out only at night, is ultra-tough, uber-smart, and – poor misunderstood soul he is – beats up all the bad guys, always staying one step ahead of them 'cause he’s just so damned clever.
The ultimate teenage power fantasy.
Superman? He’s got god-like power, but prefers the simple life of a farmer’s son who’s made good in the big city. Probably still dreams about that farm back home. Dresses up and saves lives when he has to because… well, really, who wouldn’t? What even moderately ethical person wouldn’t fly up in the sky and save that plane full of people if they could?
Superman’s not a power fantasy. He’s the fantasy of altruism. He’s the fantasy that arises from the sentiment of seeing two planes crash into the World Trade Centre on 9/11, leading millions of people to look on in shock and horror and murmur to themselves; “If only somebody could have stopped this.”
Batman’s definitely cooler. Hands down. My preference is Superman.
who would you rather be?
The S.
who has a better phisique?
Depends on what you like in a physique, I’d guess. Whenever I’ve drawn the characters, I give thought to what they are and what function they serve. I draw Superman bigger and blockier – more like Shuster’s original concept for him. John Grimek at his biggest.
He’s from a race that’s genetically engineered for perfection, maintaining peak condition with minimal effort. Throw in on top of it that his powers developed slowly, so he had a youth of doing heavy farm chores and eating the solid, down-home cooking of his mother… and you’ve got one big mofo. Big, blocky farmboy.
And yes, he apparently has a super weightset at the Fortress of Solitude. Silly, but fun. 
Batman I draw thinner, but sill very powerful in appearance. He’s not about building maximum size like a bodybuilder – more like proportionate strength, like a gymnast, with as much speed as he can manage. He doesn’t stop bullets with his chest, he gets the Hell out of the way.
The problem with most of these questions is that they’re phrased to create absolutist answers from subjective questions. Most of this stuff is completely opinion driven.
[/quote]
Fanboy, much?!
Just fuckin’ with ya man. Had to after I saw the avatar, lol. Let’s face it, we’re all nerds on this thread, anyway :-).
