Monday 12 December 2016

Emotional Parasites

In Smallville: Rush, a Kryptonian parasite gives human beings a "rush" in order to feed off their adrenaline and this recalls a telepathic emotional parasite in which Dominic Flandry novel?

There is another parallel. The Kryptonian parasites are from a planet whose inhabitants have superior physical powers whereas the "lucks" in the Flandry novel are from the planet Chereion whose inhabitants have superior mental powers. Also, Siegel's and Shuster's first conceptualization of Superman was as a mentally powerful villain, not a physically powerful hero.

I find more parallels as I post about them. The alien menagerie in the van Rijn story, "Hiding Place," recalls the extraterrestrial zoo in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Superman was originally an sf character but became the first superhero. Poul Anderson's Jack Havig is a superhero with the power of time travel which enables him to win fights by doubling back through time and appearing beside himself several times simultaneously.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

The "telepathic emotional parasite" or animal you alluded to is to be found in Poul Anderson's THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN. Btw, that was not a Dominic Flandry novel because he does not appear in it. Flandry is mentioned only en passant in a report from Terra requested by Commissioner Desai.

Merry Christmas! Sean