Flight is a "super power" possessed by some superheroes, most notably Superman, although the earliest version of that character merely ran fast and leapt high. Superhero "origin stories" can involve space travel and even time travel because alien abilities and future tech may count as super powers. Thus, if there were time travel in Poul Anderson's Technic History, then a human and an Ythrian Avalonian might become a flying crime-fighting duo in twentieth century New York - and a Merseian of the "Gethfennu" crime syndicate would make an excellent super-villain. The roots of superheroes are in sf. Superman was an sf extraterrestrial who initiated a new genre.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The idea of a Merseian Gethfennu boss setting up his disreputable business on our Earth centuries before "Day of Burning" does amuse me! Esp. if this gangster was fleeing victorious enemies at the end for the struggle for control of Merseia by the Vachs, rival Merseian nations, and the Gethfennu.
Sean
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