This strongly implied that, in what we now call the "Pre-Crisis, Earth-One" version of Superman continuity, "Krypton" was not just an English-language- translation of whatever the heck the local name for that planet had sounded like in the Kryptonian language. ![]() who called herself "Tonn." Ergo (the teacher said, possibly tongue-in-cheek), to this very day the world inhabited by that couple's descendants was called, in their honor. One was a man who called himself "Kryp." The other was then revealed to the reader to be a woman. They finally took off their helmets and introduced themselves. After some initial misunderstandings, they ended up saving each other from nasty lifeforms, but also lost their spaceships to local conditions. (The story was probably just a fable, but that isn't really the point right now.)Īs she told it: Once upon a time, two humanoid space explorers wearing armored suits - each visiting from a different planet - just happened to land, simultaneously, on a previously-unexplored wilderness planet. In the comic book Superman #238 (June, 1971), the lead story about Superman was followed by a backup story in which a young woman working as a Kryptonian schoolteacher was telling a story to the kids in her new class. I do, however, have in my collection a copy of at least one comic book story which offered a very different explanation for why Superman's homeworld acquired the name that it did. (Although this may not mean anything, since I don't own copies of every Superman comic ever published, and I don't have a photographic memory for every line of dialogue in every Superman story I actually have read.) Frankly, I don't remember ever seeing a "canonical comic book story" that made exactly that statement. Now fans will be able to look up at the night's sky and say, 'That's where Superman was born.I looked at the Wikipedia page you mentioned, and I noticed that no source is offered for that article's statement that Planet Krypton had a high amount of the element krypton in its atmosphere, and thus was named in honor of the element. Co-publisher Dan DiDio said, "Having Neil deGrasse Tyson in the book was one thing, but by applying real world science to this story he has forever changed Superman's place in history. "As a native of Metropolis," said Tyson in a statement, "I was delighted to help Superman, who has done so much for my city over all these years."ĭC Entertainment, which says it approached Tyson, had its own take. ![]() It's all a good bit of publicity - both for DC Comics and for Tyson, who directs New York's Hayden Planetarium and has become a popular science communicator - but you can also tell he has tongue firmly planted in cheek. In the newest comic, out this week, Tyson is seen helping the homesick Superman trace his roots. As an adult in the city of Metropolis, he disguises himself as Clark Kent, a reporter fighting a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way. You'll recall that according to the story, the baby Kal-El was sent in a spaceship to Earth by his parents, who knew that Krypton would soon be destroyed. The planet Krypton - not that it ever existed - would have orbited a red dwarf star called LHS 2520, Tyson concluded. It's in the constellation Corvus the raven, in the southern sky not far from Virgo and Hydra. But that didn't stop DC Comics, which owns the Superman franchise, from enlisting the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to "find" the location of his lost home planet, Krypton. Superman is, of course, a fictional character, the stuff of comics and movies. Look! Up in the sky! It's - oh, forget it. ![]() A panel from DC Comics, in which astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson helps Superman find Krypton.
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