May 17th 2010 By: Chris Sims
With 70 years of super-hero comics behind us, there have been a
lot of super-powers on the printed page -- so many, in fact, that even the most dedicated comics reader can occasionally have a hard time keeping them straight.
That's why ComicsAlliance senior writer Chris Sims took it upon himself to finally get things organized with
The Periodic Table of Super-Powers, an arranged listing of 84 common (and decidedly
uncommon) characteristics of your favorite super-heroes!
(Click for the full-sized version!)
With this table, you can easily represent your favorite super-heroes' power-sets in simple, not-at-all-far-too-complex-to-be-useful formulas!
For instance: Superman comes out as: OAFSISpVxVhSn
Wolverine can be represented as XWxHSn
Poison Ivy is, of course, Iv
And Legion of Super-Heroes wannabe Arm-Fall-Off Boy is simply Af.
Why not try your hand at it and see which power sets you can cobble together?
Comments:
(40)Add a comment
Monday 17 May
By Rich Johnston
Brilliant.
Reply
Sunday 23 May
By desmondkarakau
truely awsome..
Monday 17 May
By Mushroom Jones
I'm disappointed that Captain Cold would only be FzW, however, the Flash (Wally West) could be LgSkSp. This has tons of potential!
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Monday 17 May
By Wrye
Ahh, but Cold is a Super-Villain; and thus his Origin must be an *unstable* isotope of a Heroic Origin Element, such as Scientist.
Monday 17 May
By Adam Farrar
This is really neat and a lot of fun! I really respect the time and effort this took, but my inner science nerd wants me to point out some ordering discrepancies that don’t match up with the periodic table of the elements. And I know you aren't bound to it, but I think your chart could have incorporated the periodic groups and made it even more intricate!
The elemental table was formed so that elements formed vertical groups that united them by valencies and common properties. For instance all the Noble Gases are lined up on the far edge of the chart.
By this logic things like “Vx – X-Ray Vision” and “Vh – Heat Vision” should be stacked and not sitting next to one another. The same could be said for Fr, Aq, Fz, St, Iv, Db, Ec, Dz. Or Sz, Rr, Sh, Py, Gr. Or Mg & L. Tr and Du. R, Rc, So. Though I really like that by design or accident Lg and Sk are stacked appropriately.
I hope I don’t come off as a jerk, because I really do think this is cool. I like what you’ve made here and have given it some serious thought. Thanks!
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Wednesday 19 May
By Alyssa
I agree with a lot of your comments re: simplification, but also am wondering how compounds (ha) should be spelled out. Should we use the Hill system, or a version of it? (IE, ALWAYS begin with the origin story, and always end with any mental powers, and everything else in alphabetical order?)
Monday 17 May
By Funk Doctot
I'm waiting patiently for the addendum with actinides and lanthanides. Maybe personality elements (dark & gritty, goofball, robotic, etc) alternate realities (evil version, gender switched version, animal version)?
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Monday 17 May
By Ben
You seriously need to sell posters of this now. I want one. Just a simple poster sized laminated print out could go for $10 or $20.
However, I must say it did seem to lack the multiple layers of organization carefully planned into the periodic table, as Adam explained so well. If this could be altered to his specifications, I would totally pay for this.
Wasn't a pretty large portion of this made of alarmingly specific powers only found in really obscure characters, disproportionately found in the Legion of Super-Heroes? I know you mention that with the range at the bottom, but it felt even more wide-spread than that.
Still, thorough is kind of the whole point, but there seemed to be a lot of overlap. Like, wouldn't "Tough" fall under "Invulnerable"? It's a lesser version of the same power. And you can so not tell me that I am over-thinking the periodic table.
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Monday 17 May
By RJ White
Or, you know, you can enjoy it as-is for free.
Reply
Monday 17 May
By Ben
I do enjoy it, but I want a poster! If I tried to blow it up, it would get all blurry.