Possible Golden Age Superman/Superboy upgrade

[Jared1111]

I don't know what the cutoff for what we consider the "Golden Age" of Superman comics but i found a few interesting feats from the 1949 Superboy comic that may inflate his power level.

The 1949 Superboy comics follow the Golden Age version of Superman when was a boy, it predates a lot of the main stays of Superman including Lana Lang or Pete Ross, at least in the first few issues. But there are some pretty incredible feats for the first few issues.

Speed

Superboy is able to fly from Kansas to the North Pole in moments

Superboy later in the same issue is able to fly so fast he breaks the time barrier and he breaks it again, going thousands of miles and hour if not faster. Moves faster than light

Superboy is able to escape Earth's orbit and fly into space in scant seconds

In terms of Strength he has a few good ones. But most importantly is the feat where he pushes a comet that is stated to destroy the earth away harmlessly

In terms of continuity, this would take place before Action Comics #1, but it has issues of how it works in power levels for the character. So i guess i'm just asking what everyone thinks, should this count as Golden Age Superman?

 

[Antvasima]

If it happened in 1949 that sounds like the golden age to me, but it is probably best if you or somebody else investigates where DC Comics drew the distinction between the characters. I think that it happened with the introduction of the Barry Allen Flash though.

 

[Jared1111]

The year 1956 seems to be the first year that "Silver Age" began, and the more i look through the Superboy issues it seems to imply strongly that this is the Golden Age Superman as his backstory and art style line up with that more than the Silver Age. Problem is, is that the series ran til 1979... well into the Bronze Age so i don't know where the cutoff point is.

Either way... it would jump Early Golden Age Superman way up in terms of power levels, which might be inconsistent which how he's portrayed as an adult.

 

[Antvasima]

Yes, that inconsistency is a problem. You can ask Azathoth, Matthew, and Sandman31 to give input here.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

Barry Allen is 1956. Before that it's Golden Age.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

As for the fact that this is Superboy: Superman wasn't nearly as strong in the 30s as he became. He only started getting ridiculous after Flight became one of his powers.

 

[Jared1111]

But this comic does play it off like this was GA Superman when he was a kid, so is it retroactively making him stronger than he was originally as an adault, or should it be considered seperate canon from GA Superman?