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Reading over All Star Superman yesterday, I came to a
realization about the story itself.
Throughout the story, it shows that Superman is fond
of "saving" potential disasters. He opens his fortress
and we get this amazing shot of Kandor, Discovery, and
the Titanic. Each of these things were pinnacle
disasters that ended up potentially saving other lives
and cultures. Kandor was a disaster when Braniac
shrunk it, but it ended up saving a piece of
Kryptonian culture. Discovery was a space shuttle
disaster, but it will probably end up saving lives by
creating new ways of space travel. Titanic sunk, but
it ended up making ship-board safety features a
standard in ship travel. Hell, he even has a mini-Sun
Eater, a thing that could potentially destroy the
universe, locked in his Fortress of Solitude.
Superman saves this hallmarks of disaster, that end up
eventually saving others. He brings Lois to this
place.
So we go throughout the fortress, and we realize that
he has the ability to talk to others throughout time,
his own progeny that carries on his legacy after him.
He even mentions that the one that can pick up his key
and open the lock will be one of his progeny, or
someone worthy to perform that task...acting almost
like Excalibur (which is, basically, metaphoric tale
of a boy reaching manhood by being able to unsheathe a
sword...a possible metaphor for sex).
Lois feels scared, she doesn't know what is going on.
There's a certain degree of fear she feels, especially
towards the "Forbidden Room" in the Fortress. This
part of the story is setup like Pandora's box, another
sexual metaphor, about a girl gaining knowledge by
opening a box and understanding knowledge and becoming
a woman. In the end, she finds a finally reveals to
her the hidden knowledge of the room.
He wants her to be compatible to him by changing her
costume and making her like him. There's a fetish
component along with a definite sexual component to
his request. Notice that he has charts of her body and
her body on the screens behind Superman. Lois is
afraid of what those screens mean, but when she gains
knowledge, when she realizes that there is nothing to
fear from the "Forbidden", we believe she allows
herself to be taken by Superman and remade.
The overall story seems to revolve around the metaphor
of middle age. The man in his prime is realizing that
he is closer to death, finds that he needs to create a
legacy. |
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