The mind boggles at the image of a pregnant Superman cruising the skies of Metropolis. Batman would refuse to be seen with him; strange new jokes would circulate the prisons… and the race of Krypton would be safe at last.
My article on xenofertility was only party conversation until Bjo Trimble made me type it up. The years since have brought considerable feedback.
There is an underground comic that begins as Superman drops and smashes the Kandor bottle… and ends as The Atom implants a fertilized egg in his abdomen.
People read the article to their friends over the phone.
When the Superman movie was due, a Brit reporter videotaped some interviews at the Griffith Park Planetarium. At his behest I described some of Superman’s expected problems. He held his straight face until he had what he wanted, then cracked up. A real pro.
In June 1988, Superman’s fiftieth birthday sparked a convention in Cleveland, his true birthplace. Very little went as planned. A panel on crossbreeding of humans and aliens turned out to be just me! I managed to hold the audience by reading “Man of Steel…,” then discussing Reed and Sue Richards (he’s prehensile in every appendage!), Mr. Spock, V-for-Visitors, rishathra…. Sex with aliens seems to fascinate people.
After living in Los Angeles, San Francisco, England, and Spain, K. W. Jeter and his wife, Geri, currently make their home in Ecuador. He still grieves for the now-vanished Los Angeles in which he was born. His latest publications include the novel
