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superman86to99 · 7 months

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Superman: The Man of Steel #34 (June 1994)

"THE BATTLE FOR METROPOLIS," Part 2! Lex-Men vs. Dubbilex-Men! I know it's not true, but part of me feels like they introduced Lex Luthor's armored security force a few years ago and Project Cadmus' Dubbilex back in the '70s just so they could make that pun in this cover. I don't think anyone has ever referred to Cadmus' security force as "Dubbilex-Men" before this issue, but you have to admit that's a snappier name than "Cadmus' security force."

Anyway, last issue ended with all hell breaking loose in the middle of Metropolis, and in this one... it continues to break loose. Team Luthor fights Cadmus while the Special Crimes Unit tries to stop the Underworld clones and the Underworld clones try to kill everyone, with Superman quite literally stuck in the middle.

The Underworlders, as we've recapped a million times by now, are furiously attacking the surface world because they blame Cadmus for the plague that's killing them. At one point, the Underworlders seem to run away from the fight -- but that's only because they've been leading the humans to a bomb they planted, causing a huge explosion in the middle of the city.

Lex Luthor Jr., who secretly supplied the bomb, is watching the action through hidden cameras and doesn't seem terribly concerned about the fact that his bomb killed a bunch of his employees, too. What's even more disturbing is that the Clone Plague is rapidly turning into the Cryptkeeper (to think he looked like red-haired Fabio a few weeks ago...).

Meanwhile, Lois Lane gets a message from her mysterious source inside LexCorp offering her new evidence of Lex's crimes (which is good, because Lois lost the old evidence when her apartment blew up). Lois sneaks into LexCorp following her source's instructions, and finds a secret office where she retrieves two important items: a VHS tape showing Lex strangling his personal trainer, and a big map of Metropolis showing that Lex has a lot more bombs hidden all over the city. Uh-oh.

Back in the battle zone, some Cadmus troopers led by Guardian, a.k.a. Cadmus' very own Captain America, find themselves surrounded by an army of pissed-off Underworlders (who are apparently much better at strategy than the humans). Dubbilex, freshly arrived from Hawaii, flies in to the rescue with some Cadmus paratroopers, but some Lex-Men get in their way and try to kill them. Dubbilex and Guardian are the only clones who aren't dying, which the Underworlders see as confirmation that Cadmus intentionally caused the plague. (The fact that the Newsboy Legion kids are dying doesn't prove much, since they're pretty annoying and I could see Director Westfield deeming them acceptable losses.)

Dubbilex is actually feeling pretty conflicted about having to fight other ugly clones like himself, until he sees that Clawster (the big, rocky, supposedly invulnerable Underworlder players of the Death and Return of Superman video game mistook for Doomsday's kid brother) is about to kill Guardian. Dubbilex launches a psychic blast that takes away Clawster's invulnerability, allowing the paratroopers to blast the hell out of him. It looks like Clawster is down for the count, but in his final moments he rages at Guardian and breaks his shield (another thing that was supposed to be unbreakable) as he makes some pretty good points about Cadmus' Director Westfield.

Superman remembers this comic is about him and arrives just in time to see Clawster dying and Guardian being left badly injured. The other Underworlders scatter, and just as Superman is saying there must be some way to stop the senseless killing, Lex remotely detonates another bomb right in his face. TO BE CONTINUED!

Character-Watch:

That's it for Clawster, who had the misfortune of being introduced in Man of Steel #17 and ending up being seen as a lamer and (barely) more articulate version of Doomsday. I'll admit I was still kinda fond of this knucklehead, and I think he could have ended up being a more memorable villain if he'd had better timing. Sadly, there will be no Clawster/Prey miniseries where he comes back. His only other appearances after this were 2011's Retroactive issue, which is set before this one, and an unexplained cameo in a montage of Steel fighting various villains in 2010's Superman #697, though you only see his back. Maybe it WAS Doomsday's kid brother that time.

(Unrelated: Is that Professor Hamilton's building in the background?)

Plotline-Watch:

Dubbilex arrives in Metropolis halfway through the issue along with his young ward, Superboy, who is in pretty poor shape, not just due to the Clone Plague but also the events of Superboy #5 (which we haven't covered yet). Superboy tries to go help Superman anyway, but he instantly collapses in the middle of the infirmary. THAT'S how brave Superboy is. Or maybe he didn't want to be stuck with the Newsboy Legion in the infirmary.

Despite not currently working for the Daily Planet, Lois still calls Perry White to tell him about the first explosion and tip him off about where the Underworlders are headed next, so that Perry can send Jimmy Olsen and Ron Troupe there. THAT'S how professional Lois is. Or maybe she's just trying to get Jimmy killed, which I understand (sorry, Ron).

Speaking of Jimmy and Ron, as we saw last issue, Bibbo is helping them follow the action in his bike, until they find out some Underworlders are trashing the Ace O'Clubs. Big mistake: Bibbo produces a big shotgun from somewhere (does he have Bloodsport technology?) and goes in to deal with the looters. The scene ends there, because this is an all-ages comic.

Professor Hamilton feels responsible for triggering this war because he's the one who told the Underworlders that the Clone Plague was probably caused by the time Westfield flooded Metropolis' tunnels. In the middle of all the fighting, Clawster drops by to tell Hambone that they'll spare him and reassure him that he didn't cause the war: the truth caused the war. The truth that he told them. Yeah, that'll make him feel better.

There's a short scene with Myra the Orphanage Lady saving Keith the Unlucky Orphan from being eaten by Kathana, the same hypnotic lizard lady Keith once mistook for his mom (it was dark). Kathana actually tried to turn Keith into a stew in the aforementioned Man of Steel #17, and apparently she's been biding her time waiting for another opportunity since then. Keith is very lucky to have Myra in his life.... for now, anyway.

In this issue we meet Lois' exceptionally dedicated mailman, Fred Bentson, who tracks her down in the middle of an active war zone to give her the mail she hasn't gotten since her apartment blew up (including that note from her LexCorp source). Then, Fred says something about how he'd rather "stay in Dakota" but he keeps waking up in Metropolis. This is a little teaser for a crossover that will happen within this storyline and right before another, bigger crossover, just in case you'd forgotten this is a '90s comic.

Apparently, Lex is a huge fan of the film Metropolis -- so much so that he hides tapes with incriminating evidence under a statue of the lady robot from that movie.

Patreon-Watch:

Last month in the Superman '86 to '99 Patreon, we covered an Elseworlds annual in which Superman snaps a villain's neck, skins him, and wears his fur like a suit. Fun stuff! Join our patrons Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, and Gaetano Barreca at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, join the great Don Sparrow for more commentary, after the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it’s a pretty dramatic one. Superman and the Guardian in a pieta-like pose. Bogdanove skirts the comics code authority by making all that blood black, which to me is somehow more upsetting than if it were red. Kudos for the letter design on the battling Lex-Men and Dubbilex-Men.

Inside we start with a pretty arresting image of a group of five underworlders grappling with Superman, followed by a double page spread of Superman hurling them off in different directions.

The rumpled texture on the bulletproof vests of the Special Crimes Unit is particularly well rendered. The combination of colours and metallic helmet made me think for a moment that DC’s Peacemaker was fighting alongside Maggie Sawyer in that last panel on page 3. As always, Dennis Janke’s inks are masterful at differentiating texture, and that’s never clearer than on Clawster’s bark-like skin.

Later on we get our first look at Lex, and there’s a little dissonance between how he looked last issue, which took place only a few minutes before this one, and how he looks in this one. [Max: I wonder exactly what type of drugs Dr. Kelley is giving him...] His deteriorated body and unblinking eyes are pretty intense.

A page later we get a look at a character who will become important in a future story, Fred Bentson, mail carrier of two worlds. In these pages he looks like Austin Pendelton by way of The Real Ghostbusters’ Egon Spengler.

The issue’s frenetic pace continues, as Superboy arrives by marine helicopter (both the chopper and Cadmus’ tank are great vehicle design). Superboy is kind of tossed into the middle of the story without so much as an asterisk informing us where we can learn what has left him so injured. [Max: Yeah, the lack of a plug for the Superboy series is very uncharacteristic. Not even in the lettercol!]

Fairly suddenly, Jimmy Olsen, like both Superman and Clark Kent, has long hair. [Max: I distinctly remember Jimmy having long hair since the issue when Clark moves in with him because the panel of him saying "Let's crank some Van Halen to celebrate!" is burned into my brain, but it's less consistent than Superman's.] The same page also has a great drawing of Bibbo racking a shotgun, and the pose and the expression are both great cartooning. There’s plenty of fight choreography throughout the book, but my favourite look is Lois Lane’s Rockette-like takedown of the LexCorp security guard.

Later on, Myra from the orphanage does battle with maybe the most terrifying mutant of the book, Kathana, who looking like a combination of a baphomet statue and a Jim Henson creation, will haunt my dreams for all time. The character of “Fancy Feet” is just such a Bogdanove looking creation (and I gotta love those kicks he wears!). [Max: They DO look quite fancy!]

The issue’s most dramatic moment is when Clawster splits Guardian’s up-until-now unbreakable shield. I know Max and I don’t always see eye to eye on the Underworlders, so I imagine as a reader I’m supposed to be a lot more choked up about Clawster’s death than I am. My feeling from this scene was more that Clawster was an unworthy shatterer of Guardian’s shield—having the shield be depicted as indestructible for so long, its destruction should have felt like a big moment. While it’s well-drawn, it feels more like a throwaway. Indeed, this whole issue feels like a “middle” that we’re dropped into. The battle has begun at the start, and it doesn’t resolve, or change direction by the time the story ends. If it feels like Superman doesn’t greatly impact the story, you’re completely right—he only appears in 6 out of the 22 pages in this comic bearing his name. [Max: I think the issue does have two important developments: 1) the Underworlders are now leaderless, and 2) what's left of Guardian's trust in Westfield has been shattered, much like the shield. Oh, and 3) Fancy Feet's feet are fancy.]

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Were X-Men still the top seller by 1994? If so having a cover battle with forces that both rhyme with X-Men might have been a calculated idea.

It’s pretty crazy to see Maggie Sawyer just blowing mutants away. Also, I know that it’s so we can identify her as readers, but she really ought to be wearing a helmet! Between Maggie and her squad, Bibbo, and even Hamilton, this is a pretty gun-heavy issue!

As with the Hulking Superman story, I’m a little fuzzy on the details—is Professor Hamilton correct that the clone sickness is from exposure to the flood? [Max: I think so, though I kinda prefer Lex's made up explanation that he got sick from the toxins in Engine City. They could have said Lex was patient zero and the virus spread to the rest of Metropolis because he doesn't cover his mouth when he coughs.]

As Lois learns the locations of the bombs, they’re both nods to comics creators of the past. “Boring and 57th” refers to 40’s and 50’s Superman artist, Wayne Boring; “Burnley and 43rd” refers to Jack Burnley, the second artist to regularly draw Superman, after Joe Shuster himself.

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random-movie-ideas · 7 months

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Superman Concept Movie II

CLARK'S CHARACTER ARC

This next movie would function as a sequel to Superman: Son of Krypton, which I previously laid out a plot for. As such, it would also be a piece of a larger cinematic universe, and so, between this movie and that, we would have also seen Supergirl get her own standalone movie, separating her off to her own adventures. We would also have likely seen at least one Justice League movie, preferably one that resulted in catastrophic collateral damage, for the purposes of our character arc here. Let's begin:

Clark will start out on Earth, still acting as its protector even though Kara is off on her own adventures and the Kandorians have been relocated to a new planet by the Green Lantern Corps. He still maintains his close relationship with Lois Lane and his parents. (I believe I want to start working toward Lois and Clark's marriage somewhere around here, so an early scene could be a proposal or something; I say this because it makes sense for them to be married and expecting Jon Kent by the time of the third movie facing Doomsday). Either way, Clark is in a happy state, one way or another.

He will find himself attacked by a cyborg calling himself Metallo. Clark will fight against him, but will struggle, finding that Metallo's enhancements allow him to nearly mimic Clark's strength and abilities. Metallo will open his chest and reveal a chunk of Kryptonite at his heart, which will disable Clark and cause him to lose. Confident in his victory, Metallo will fly away.

Clark will return to his home and be patched up by his parents and Lois. Clark will express concern and frustration, that more Kryptonite exists on Earth, having believed Brainiac had the full collection. He fears that with that stuff around, he will no longer to protect the Earth that he loves. He comes to the conclusion that he needs to learn everything he can about the stuff and what he can do about it.

Despite the risks, he chooses to contact a scientist, Prof. Emil Hamilton, and seek his aid in understanding Kryptonite. Hamilton proves only too eager to help Superman, which Clark brushes off. He chooses to undergo experiments.

Working together for a while, Clark and Hamilton will test Kryptonite's effects using a chunk Clark had broken off during his fight with Metallo. Bombarding it with different types of energy temporarily changes its color, each one showing different effects (you could have a fun montage here, depending on the tone). Clark and the professor will examine the effects of each and devise counter-measures for them all. Clark will also bond with Hamilton, sharing with him why he fights as a hero, causing some guilt within Hamilton.

After a short while, Metallo will return. Clark will launch into battle against him, this time prepared against the stuff. After a brief fight, Clark will break open Metallo's chest piece and rip the chunk from it. Metallo will appear unfazed by his defeat, as Clark is blindsided by an attack from a much stronger foe.

Clark will turn to see a near-clone of himself, except bigger and a bit deformed, a Bizarro version of himself. The Bizarro will fight him, matching him perfectly in strength and speed, even outmatching him in it, and proving not only immune to Kryptonite, but seeming to get an energy boost from it. Lois, having been suspicious of Hamilton the moment Clark started working with him, tries to intervene and tell Clark that Hamilton had been stealing his DNA, that he had helped create Metallo and Bizarro. The fight ends with Bizarro grabbing Lois and flying away with her.

After healing from his injuries, Clark goes to Hamilton's lab in a rage, demanding to know where Lois is. He finds only Hamilton there, all his equipment cleared out. An argument ensues between them when Hamilton reveals that he was just trying to protect the Earth too. At this point, we'd call back to the fight with Brainiac of the first movie, and the devastation that happened in the previous Justice League, with Hamilton asking Clark what happens to humanity if someday he ever snaps. What chance would humanity have? So when he was contacted by a financier wanting to create a safeguard against Superman, he agreed to do it. He'd only come to regret his actions after coming to see the good man that Clark was. He finally tells him that the man behind all this is Lex Luthor.

Clark flies to Lexcorp, finding Lex Luthor there with Metallo and Bizarro (Lois might be still captive, or she might have already caused some trouble, haven't fleshed that out yet). A fight will ensue, with Clark using his knowledge that Bizarro's responses to Kryptonite will be reversed, and uses that against him. He will be about to kill Bizarro when Lois will stop him. Lex will look at him like he had justified every fear he had ever had about him. Clark will realize what Hamilton meant about the danger he poses.

I'm not quite sure how we go from here yet. I will flesh that out as I explore Lex, Metallo, and Bizarro's character arcs in turn. I feel that this being quite a ways in to a Cinematic Universe makes the themes a little shaky without the rest of the world fleshed out yet, but I do very much like a) truly exploring the aspects of Kryptonite and actively finding countermeasures against it, and b) the most interesting dynamics people like Lex Luthor and Emil Hamilton have with Superman is them recognizing the threat he would pose if he stopped being a hero, and taking measures of varying severity against him, and it's a moral quandary that doesn't have many great answers. On the one hand, you let Superman hang around, running the risk he will snap someday and kill everyone, but on the other hand, casting others out for fear of what they could do has always been the underlying trait of the worst of humanity. And so, I am abstaining from writing a conclusion to the arc for now, as nothing quite feels satisfying yet. (And, well, the third movie featuring Doomsday supplies a real conclusion to that question, so whatever answer here just kind of has to be a fill-in).

#clark kent #superman #superman movie #lex luthor #emil hamilton #bizarro #john corben #lois lane #metallo

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comfortfoodcontent · 1 year

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1997 The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo! Paper Cut-Out Figures Promo Merch by Mike Allred

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lanechester · 1 year

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Emil is thee underrated character of smallville just saying

#smallville #emil hamilton

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nerds-yearbook · 7 months

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Maxima was introduced in Action Comics 645#, cover date September, 1989, where she tried to force Superman to wed her. She was created by Roger Stern and George Perez. ("My Lady Maxima!", Action Comics 645#, DC Comic Event)

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fancyfade · 1 year

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well i found the comic emil hamilton loses his arms in (adventures of superman 514). That explains why he had a robot arm in the president lex era stuff

anyway he got shot in the arm when some haze that makes people hallucinate was released after the clone plague during the worlds collide event. obviously.

#im mostly posting this so i dont forget #emil hamilton #dc comics #adventures of superman 1987 #worlds collide

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dcbinges · 1 year

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The Adventures of Superman #425 (1987) by Marv Wolfman & Jerry Ordway

#superman #emil hamilton #professor hamilton #marv wolfman #jerry ordway #dc #dc comics #80s #the adventures of superman #comics

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intentionally-out-of-context-dc · 1 year

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How Superman apologizes to people

Superman 39

Can't believe Superman is being so callous to Jimmy after having infected him with a space virus and exposed him to alien artifact energies, mutating him into a stretchy guy in incredible pain

#i think this might not be appropriately out of context because first there is the context that would make superman seem likea jerk #then the context that IIRC explains why its happenin #so two levels of context #anyway to be true to the blog i only provided the first level of context #superman #superman 1987 #dc comics #emil hamilton #jimmy olsen

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differenzeartistiche · 9 months

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Professor Emil Hamilton and Kelex custom figurine

#emil hamilton #kelex #superman #dc comics

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superman86to99 · 3 months

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Action Comics #700 (June 1994)

"THE BATTLE FALL OF METROPOLIS"! Metropolis falls, quite literally! But, on the bright side, so does Lex Luthor, because Lois Lane finally busts his ass after 700 issues (give or take).

This super-sized anniversary issue starts with Lois recapping all the dirt she's dug up on "Lex Luthor Jr." during the past several months, including the fact that he's actually the original, supposedly dead Lex Luthor in a clone body. Lex tried to have Lois discredited by planting wacky headlines with her byline at the Daily Planet's computers and framing her for financial crimes (on top of blowing up her apartment), but now she finally has hard evidence of his crimes thanks to her informant at LexCorp, only known as "Deep Quote." (Is this the first reference to Linda Lovelace's oeuvre in a Superman story? Comics and/or porno historians, sound off in the comments.)

Despite having been fired from the Planet (see: "wacky headlines" above), Lois manages to present her evidence in front of Commissioner Henderson, Perry White, and Planet owner Franklin Stern... who still thinks this cloning business sounds like "science fiction." That's a weird thing to say when you live in the DC Universe. Hell, there's a whole government agency devoted to cloning just outside Metropolis! Or maybe I should say there was, because, right when Stern is about to apologize to Lois, everyone hears a massive explosion coming from Project Cadmus' direction -- as seen last issue, some of Lex's armored henchmen just dropped a goddamn mountain on Cadmus while fighting Superman and Superboy.

Superboy, who was all laughs last issue but seems to be taking his friends' apparent deaths much harder now, wants to look for survivors, but Superman again tells him there's no point, because "there's no one alive in Cadmus that needs our help anymore." Instead, they go look for the Lex-Men who caused this whole mess so they can bring them to justice. They're soon joined by Supergirl, who takes every opportunity she can get to destroy LexCorp property since breaking up with Lex himself in her recent miniseries (and that was before she found out he's actually a creepy old guy in a young body).

Meanwhile, Lex (whose clone body is rapidly deteriorating) is hiding in his yacht with his most faithful cronies, his scientific aide Dr. Sydney Happersen and his long-time physician Dr. Gretchen Kelley, the same woman who pretended to be his "mother" for the Lex Jr. ruse. Since Lex is gonna be here for a while, Dr. Kelley volunteers to go to the city and pick up some meds for him. Lex thinks that's a great idea... until he sees Kelley on TV, spilling the beans on his whole operation to Lois. That's right, Kelley was "Deep Quote" all along! Which was pretty obvious if you've been paying attention, but then again Lex has a long history of rejecting the obvious.

Kelley also spilled the beans on Lex's location to Superman, who suddenly bursts into the yacht to nab him once and for all. But Lex has an ace that he's been hiding up his sleeve for a long-ass time: a slew of "sonic torpedoes" reverse engineered from tech left behind by the alien invaders from DC's 1988 Invasion! crossover, which he hid somewhere under Metropolis in case he ever felt like pulverizing the city. Lex, who thinks he'll die any moment, seems perfectly willing to take millions with him -- until Superman asks him if he really wants the people of Metropolis, "his" city, to remember him as the guy who blew the whole place up. The "American Hitler," as Superman puts it.

Lex, who got into this whole mess in the first place because he wanted people to love him more than Superman, breaks down and agrees not to launch the torpedoes.

And then, for the first time in his life... Dr. Happersen disobeys Lex Luthor's wishes. Too bad those wishes were "let's not destroy a city."

After years of quietly taking abuse from Lex, Happersen finally snaps and launches those torpedoes. Lex tries to stop him by shooting at him with the death laser in his iron lung (of course Lex Luthor has a death laser in his iron lung), but it's too late. The torpedoes are activated, meaning that the city is as cooked as Happersen himself, who dies in Superman's arms seconds later.

Superman asks Luthor where the torpedoes are buried, but Lex, who looks genuinely distraught, honestly doesn't know. He always let Happersen handle little details like that.

Before Superman can even reach Metropolis, one of the torpedoes has already hit the WGBS building. He gets there right in time to race against the torpedo headed for the Daily Planet... but, as you might have guessed from this issue's cover, the torpedo wins the race.

If the city hadn't been evacuated a few issues ago due to the Underworlders' terrorist attacks, everyone in the Planet's staff would be dead now (thanks, ugly sewer mutant terrorists!). Superman does manage to prevent Lois, Ron Troupe, and, unfortunately, Jimmy Olsen from getting rolled over by the Planet's iconic globe after the building collapses, but only by destroying what's left of it. Perry White is following the action from the Planet's temp offices outside the city, and he looks about as emotionally devastated as he did in the issue when his son died.

Meanwhile, the other underground torpedoes are doing their best to turn Metropolis' skyline into a flat line. The only major building spared is the one belonging to Clark Kent's old employer, Newstime Magazine, but only because its owner happens to be a demonic entity with torpedo-deflecting powers, Lord Satanus. To his credit, Satanus does plant an idea in Superman's mind for how to stop the rest of the torpedoes: digging a big ditch all across Metropolis to intercept them (thanks, demonic entity posing as media magnate!).

As Superman, Superboy, and Supergirl stop most of the torpedoes, Satanus helps them out by redirecting the remaining ones to a more deserving target: LexCorp's giant L-shaped building, which is now shaped like a bunch of rubble.

With the torpedo problem solved, Luthor is finally arrested and exposed to the citizens of Metropolis as a no-goodnik, as Superman begins the long task of rebuilding the city by putting the Daily Planet globe back together. Yes, Metropolis is in pretty bad shape, and even Superman himself seems discouraged for a moment, but as Lois correctly points out: hey, at least it ain't Coast City!

Creator-Watch:

This issue marks the end of Roger Stern's distinguished run as Action Comics writer, which began exactly 100 issues ago... sort of, since he started writing Action when it was a weekly series and Superman only got two pages per issue. When John Byrne suddenly left the Superman books some months after that, in late 1988, Stern was an obvious choice to replace him, given his closeness to Byrne, his ample talents, and, well, the fact that he was already there.

Since then, Stern became one of the main architects of the over-arching storyline that made this era in Superman comics so special. His role as the Super-Squad's resident "continuity cop" enriched these comics tremendously. For instance, according to Dan Jurgens, it was Stern's idea to bring back an obscure character called Hank Henshaw as the Cyborg Superman instead of creating a new baddie for "Reign of the Supermen," which is the sort of thing that makes digging through hundreds of backissues worth it. Stern also wrote the bulk of the years-long Eradicator saga, Supergirl's evolution from lump of goo to proper hero, and, of course, Lex Luthor's long, strange journey leading to this issue (more on that later).

It's hard to imagine our beloved '86-'99 period without Roger Stern. Good thing he'll be back before too long, albeit in a reduced capacity...

Character-Watch:

With this issue, we a bid adieu to doctors Sydney Happersen and Gretchen Kelley, two of the most memorable characters ever to serve as Luthor's lackeys. Both were introduced in Byrne's Superman #2 (1987), and it's interesting that both were instantly portrayed as somewhat sympathetic: Happersen doesn't want to remove the kryptonite from Metallo's chest because he thinks it'd kill him (and looks shocked when Luthor pulls it out anyway), and Kelley is the one that warns Lex about Lana Lang's bizarre allergy to truth serum.

(Probably didn't help that they had a serious mold problem in that room.)

It's also interesting that Kelley was the only lackey on a first-name basis with Lex, hinting at the backstory that was revealed in Action #660: she was a small-town doctor until a young Lex swept her off her feet and turned her into his lover, only to ditch her for someone with larger boobs. Kelley became an alcoholic and ended up in jail, ruining her medical career, until Lex came to "reclaim" her and gave her a permanent job. I'm guessing the "old lovers" bit was added mainly to make the Lex Jr. story seem plausible, but it also helps explain why someone like her would stick with Lex for so long. She was clearly still in love with him, and the Lex Jr. ruse allowed her to imagine an alternate life where they were more than just employer and employee. I always like this bit from Action #676, before readers found out Lex Jr. was Lex Sr.:

In the Lex Jr. storyline, Kelley wasn't just lying to the world; she was lying to herself. Until she just couldn't lie anymore, I guess.

As for Happersen, he never had a backstory, but he didn't really need one. He was the prototypical meek henchman who'd do anything for his boss despite being treated like trash, which is why I found his breakdown at the end both logical and satisfying. Kelley and Happersen will each get a couple of flashback appearances after this issue, but they've been completely ignored by every revamp and reboot since. As much as I like them, I'm completely okay with that because their stories are over, and that's such a rare thing in comics.

Plotline-Watch:

The big subplot in this issue is Lana Lang's wedding to Pete Ross, which she said she wanted to hold "as soon as possible" after encountering Bizarro (and confirming that she's absolutely over Clark) in Action #697. Lois, Clark, and Supergirl are a bit busy to attend, but Ma and Pa Kent are there and even lend Lana their farmhouse for the ceremony. Other than Pa watching the chaos in Metropolis on TV, these scenes are completely disconnected from the rest of the issue, and I suspect they're only here for two reasons: 1) to tease readers with "Someone's getting married!" in the preview blurbs (remember that Lois and Clark had been engaged for a few years by now), and 2) to give Superman legends Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson some work. That last part makes the scenes worth it, in my opinion, especially since we even get a peek at how Swan would draw the Super-Mullet when Lana is thinking back on everything she's gone through with Clark.

The "we've had buildings dropped on us" scene Lana remembers is from Action #644, and the one who dropped the building was actually Supergirl/Matrix when she was suffering from Eradicator-triggered insanity. The "I've been kidnapped" issue, meanwhile, is Byrne's classic Superman #2, which leads us to...

Intentionally or not, there's a good numbers of parallels between this issue and the aforementioned Superman #2: Lana's most tragic moment and Lana's happiest moment; Happersen and Kelley's introduction and their exit; Superman angrily bursting into Lex's office and triumphantly bursting into his yacht; Lex getting away with it and Lex getting arrested. But the most significant connection is the fact that Superman #2 was the first time Lex put on his kryptonite ring, which is what sets off the long chain of events leading to this issue: him getting cancer (Action #600), faking his own death (Action #660), moving his brain to a younger body (revealed in Action #678), being infected with a clone-only disease (circa Man of Steel #31), and ending up as a sick, raving lunatic in an iron lung outfitted with death lasers.

What's definitely intentional, knowing Stern, is the fact that Lex's last stand happens in the Sea Queen, the same luxury yacht where he first met Superman (The Man of Steel #4). Both issues end with Lex getting arrested, but presumably he'll be behind bars for longer than two hours this time -- or maybe not, since the last time we see Luthor, he's thinking that "there are cards I've yet to play!" We'll find out what he means in Action #701.

While Lois is presenting her evidence against Lex, we learn that she first came into contact with Dr. Kelley/"Deep Quote" at the end of the "Bizarro's World" storyline, right after she learned of Lex Jr.'s sickness/shocking baldness (Superman #88). Unsurprisingly, Lex didn't like Lois seeing him like that and ordered Happersen to capture her, but Kelley helped her escape and they hit it off.

When exactly did Kelley decide to turn on Lex? A flashback suggests that it happened during the Supergirl miniseries, where she has an uncharacteristic outburst towards Lex for the way he "uses" Supergirl even though she loves him. We didn't even comment on that scene at the time, but now it seems pretty obvious that, even though Kelley does care for Supergirl, she was actually talking about herself.

Deep cut: at one point, Superman tries to find Lex by taking a Lex-Man's helmet to Professor Hamilton, who says that he recognizes this technology from the armor Lex once trapped poor Jose "Gangbuster" Delgado in, forcing him to act as a remote-controlled bodyguard (Adventures #451). Hamilton's efforts go nowhere, but I appreciate being reminded of Jose's most delightfully bizarre misadventure ever. Miss that dude and his horrible luck.

I also appreciate the shout out to Invasion!, and I wonder if Stern was planning Lex's sonic torpedo gambit from way back in Superman #28, which includes a scene in which Pentagon officials give Lex access to the alien weapons recovered in Australia. I also wonder if Lex thought to himself, "Hmmm, Australia... seems like a nice place to pretend to be from if I ever clone myself a new body."

Something that doesn't pay off is the implication that Colin Thornton/Lord Satanus would become a major villain now that Luthor is (temporarily) out of the picture. He'll pop up here and there, but something tells me that if Stern had stayed on Action, he would have made sure Satanus factored more heavily in big storylines going forward (or even just one big storyline).

Patreon-Watch:

This post ended up being double-sized like the issue itself, so this time we owe double-thanks to our patrons Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, and Gaetano Barreca, for helping us take the time to write it. Double-thanks! Join them at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And believe it or not, we have even more to say about this issue, so don't miss Don Sparrow's section after the jump...

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We begin with the cover, and it’s something of a strange one for such a huge numbered issue. Jackson Guice rightly recognizes that the destruction of the Daily Planet is the most arresting image within the story, so that’s what he highlights, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style, but it’s a bit hard to know what to focus on here. It’s not the best figure drawing of Lois Lane, with her hands in a claw like shape, but she’s still front and centre. The other possible area of focus is on the Daily Planet globe itself, which then boasts an uncomfortably spread-eagle Superman trying to stop its roll. But, I give points to Guice for going with a moment from within the story, and not just a generic “this is an anniversary issue” type cover, like we often see. Plus the cross streets of Jurgens/Grummett/Bog/Kitson on the street sign is a fun find.

Inside, we’re greeted immediately with a full splash of a satisfied Lois. Guice’s Lois has always looked photo-referenced to me, for better or worse. In this case, I think Guice is a little let down by the colourist, who extends the pinkness of Lois’ bottom lip all the way to the corner of her mouth which turns her smile into more of a smirk than I think the inks on their own intend.

On page 6 we get another version of Guice’s rubble pits—not a strength for him as much as someone like Tom Grummett, who was born to draw rubble (And everything else!) as the edges of the pit always look a little sharp to me.

Superboy’s rage at the destruction of Cadmus is well-observed—and Superboy looks very much like the youth he is—he can sometimes be drawn like a small adult, instead of having softer, teenaged features, but Guice does a good job on this page. Supergirl’s coy expression as she lets the libidinous Superboy down gently on page 14 is a funny drawing, and a great character moment in all the action, to boot.

It may just be novelty, or nostalgia, but the quieter moments back in Smallville, as Lana Lang prepares for her wedding ceremony, are my favorite pages. Curt Swan’s gentle, naturalistic lines are a nice counterpoint to the hectic pace of the fall of Metropolis.

The entire page of Lois revealing Lex Junior’s crimes to a live television audience is all well drawn—there’s an urgency in Lois’ posture to the camera that feels very real as you read it. This, followed up shortly by Lex’s horror at Dr. Kelley’s betrayal is another great piece of drawing. Then, on the very next page, Superman Kool-Aid-Man-ing his way through Lex’s hideaway is maybe the best single image of Superman in the book.

There’s a cute tribute to former Super-teamster, Jerry Ordway, as Peggy (who shares her first name with Jerry Ordway’s real life wife) plays De Koven and Scott’s “Oh Promise Me” not on a Steinway piano, as she might have on our Earth, but rather a “Jordway” piano. If the lyrics we see sound familiar, it could be because this same wedding song appeared in numerous film and TV weddings, including All in the Family, Mama’s Family and, for you Canadian readers, the Sullivan-produced Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, during Diana’s wedding. I do wonder if Revered Brewster was supposed to look like Ordway—his hairstyle is similar, though Brewster is a little heavier set than Ordway.

Back to the “action” of Action #700, pages 33-35 all make great use of a diagonal panel layout, to maximize the space as Superman gives chase to the missiles, which unfortunately find their target, the Daily Planet. Perry White’s shattered expression as he watches the place he loves fall apart is particularly haunting.

The effect of Collin Thornton’s demonic helmet overlaid his human form is a great visual. Lastly, for those of us old enough to remember the attacks of 9-11, there’s an eerie prescience to these images of tangled debris and smoking skylines.

On the whole, the events here—Luthor going full villain, Metropolis being reduced to rubble—seem fitting in scale for a nice big round issue number like 700. But, given how relatively quickly these changes are undone in the issues to come, it also feels symbolic of the post-Death-and-Return era of comics—just trying status-quo changing “events” and trying to recapture the buzz they stumbled into with the death storyline.

SPEEDING BULLETS:

There’s a funny in-joke during Lois’ phone call with Superman, as editor Mike Carlin slips in a warning to Tom Grummett about an issue being late. Though Grummett is not normally known for lateness, at this time he is drawing both Superboy and Robin comics monthly, so he can be forgiven for the odd slip.

Jonathan Kent railing at the television in response to Lex’s seeming impunity feels completely modern to me, reading it in 2024. Honestly, couldn’t you see certain political factions of today defending Lex’s actions, had they been perpetrated by the de facto leader of their party?

How do we feel about Lex not being quite villainous enough to blow up Metropolis? Does it feel like a cop-out, or would it have put Lex into a level of villainy the writers didn’t want to go to? Story-wise, I have to admit, it feels strange that the disasters seen on the cover and throughout bear the fingerprints of Sidney Happersen, and not Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mind of our age. [Max: I like it! Lex is evil, but he does seem to love Metropolis in his way, and he wouldn't spend so much time on philanthropic ventures if he didn't need people's adoration on some level. I think this is an interesting conundrum Stern put him in, and having Happersen do what Lex couldn't is a clever way to make sure the issue didn't end in a big anti-climax.]

GODWATCH: As with many a Roger Stern script, religious references abound in this issue, particularly during the wedding scenes, where the newlywedded Lana and Pete certainly seem devout. The unabashed love the Kents show for Lana is very moving throughout. [Max: There's also Lex saying "God forgive me" when he admits he doesn't know how to stop the torpedoes, which is a scene that's always stuck with me. THAT'S his real punishment: not jail, but actually experiencing guilt for a moment.]

As this entire issue is a study in contrasts, we jump from a country church wedding to a demonic character named LORD SATANUS giving Superman the firebreak idea that saves the city! There’s something very funny about that.

Does Collin Thornton know that Clark Kent is Superman? It doesn't seem like he does, but with his array of observational powers, you’d think he’d have figured it out. [Max: I'm sure there's something somewhere that contradicts it, but I like the idea of Thornton offering Clark that editor job years ago because he knew his conscience had been compromised by the Eradicator and he wanted a superpowered pawn to use against Blaze.]

Do you agree with Supergirl, that Dr. Kelley is someone to be admired, or given mercy? Sure, she helped bring down Lex in his latest evil, but she went along with so much, for so long, she’s hardly heroic, is she? [Max: I assume that by "I hope the courts are merciful," Supergirl means "I hope they give her prison library access and not the electric chair." I do feel sorry for Kelley, but she definitely deserves to go to jail for a long time for all those other horrible crimes she didn't prevent, starting with Lana's torture.]

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random-movie-ideas · 5 months

Text

Steel (Movie Outline)

And now we come to our second-to-last movie in the Superman series map within a Cinematic Universe, following a full Superman trilogy, two Supergirl movies, a young Superman trilogy not originally connected until Crisis on Infinite Earths, and an animated movie in the same boat. This movie picks up shortly after the end of the third entry of the original trilogy, where Superman died at the hands of Doomsday.

The movie would open a few years prior, somewhere between Superman II and Superman III, at the hospital bed of the astronaut Captain Hank Henshaw, only in his thirties but withered and decayed from solar radiation. He stares at a picture of his wife, a fellow astronaut. Some representatives from NASA enter the room, talking to him about a revolutionary experiment they want to try with him, as his knowledge and expertise is too valuable to just let waste away. Henshaw agrees to go through with it.

Years later, we see John Henry Irons working in his machine shop on a metallic suit of some kind. As he works, we see flashes of the previous movie, of him fighting alongside Superman as Doomsday ravaged the planet, of Superman suffering a lethal blow and dying, of the funeral that he attended shortly thereafter. John wipes his forehead, and we get to see the suit he is working on, emblazoned with a large “S” just like his hero.

We then move to a secret laboratory, where Lex Luthor and Emil Hamilton are hard at work. Using Lex’s DNA and DNA harvested from Clark’s body, they have perfected a clone with none of the imperfections of Bizarro, now aged up to a teenager. The teenager awakens, and Lex and Emil welcome him to the world, naming him Conner.

We see John picking up his niece from school and we get a good sense of their relationship, John being her primary guardian. As they are driving home, they see a news report mentioning that it has been six months since the death of Superman and the world is still feeling its results. Even though the Justice League is doing its best, and other Kryptonians like Supergirl and the Supermen from other universes, there is still a notable uptick in crime, and experts are wondering if the world is in need of a new Superman.

The news report is interrupted by reports of a mass breakout of Intergang from prison, led by their new leader Morgan Edge, replacing Bruno Mannheim after his vaporization at the hands of Darkseid. Natasha asks her uncle if it’s time to take his suit for a test run, and John agrees. They stop the truck, John activates the suit and gets it on, becoming Steel for the first time, and takes off toward the prison. Once there, he tries to stop Morgan Edge, only to be interrupted by a young kid in a black shirt who looks strangely like Superman. The two try to compete over who will stop him, giving Edge the time to set off a bomb, putting multiple lives in danger and allowing him and his men to escape.

John and Conner manage to save the people threatened by the blast and part ways, both uncertain of each other. John returns home to Natasha, and see a news report titled “Two New Supermen?” detailing the events of the bombing that day. Conner returns home to Star Labs, confused by why Steel had recognized him. Luthor reprimands him for his failures, while Hamilton consoles him. Meanwhile, Lex gets an angry call from Lois Lane.

Lois demands to know if he had anything to do with the “false supermen” that had appeared that day. Lex assures her he had nothing to do with any of it, brushing off any further questions. Lois fumes to her mother- and father-in-law, the Kents, as she tends to baby Jon. Outside in the barn, Clark’s spaceship seems to come to life, glowing and rising from the ground. Lois and the Kents rush out to see it explode, revealing a fully restored Clark hovering in midair and opening his eyes. He presents himself to them, and at first, they are overjoyed, but for just a second, Lois recognizes something off in her husband’s eyes.

The next day, the news reports on some criminals causing trouble, prompting John and Conner to rush to the scene again, only to find the restored Clark has already gotten there, and a crowd gathering around. Clark presents himself, claiming to be Superman fully restored to life, saying its just something that happens with his species. Conner is confused and tries to attack Superman, while John is taken aback that he doesn’t recognize him, and becomes even more suspicious when he says something that directly contradicts something Superman had said to him before his death.

We then get a series of scenes with John, Conner, and this new Superman all working as superheroes across the world. Conner is determined to prove himself the real Superman, confused about who he is, and frustrated by his lack of straight answers from Lex or Hamilton. John simply wants to do good, and is willing to work with either as long as it benefits, but he still senses something wrong with the new Superman. Meanwhile, Lois grows increasingly certain this new person is not her husband. She examines the ship and finds something in the data matching code from the government.

Hamilton enters Conner’s room to find him watching a documentary on the life of Superman. Hamilton gives in and confesses that Conner is, in fact a clone created from Lex and Clark’s DNA. Losing all sense of self, Conner breaks out of the lab and runs away. Meanwhile, Lois goes to John, hoping he can help her with the tech of Clark’s ship. Before he can get too far into it, he gets an alert of an Intergang attack, uses Natasha to make an excuse, and races off. When he gets there, he finds Superman already on the scene. He witnesses as Superman brutally murders Morgan Edge, and attacks him, knowing the real Superman never would.

The two do battle over the skies of Metropolis, John’s armor not quite enough to beat Superman but holding its own. At one point, he manages to rip a section of Superman’s face off to reveal a robotic face underneath. Shocked, John stumbles back, giving the fake Superman time to get away. John returns to his machine shop, only for Lois to confront him and call him Steel.

Conner goes to New Kandor in Scotland, searching for answers. Finding no Supergirl or Power Girl available, he stumbles upon a twenty-year-old Clark Kent, the one from the universe that collapsed in the Crisis, still in bed at two in the afternoon, and practically given up on life after losing everyone he’d ever cared about. The two talk, and Clark tells Conner his story, how he was just an offshoot of Superman, forced to live in a universe that’s not his and pretend his life is not his own. Clark talks about what had driven him to be a hero in his own world, giving Conner inspiration while he clearly doesn’t believe any of it anymore himself.

Back at the machine shop, John confesses to having built the Steel suit, inspired by Superman and driven to try to make the world a better place just like him. Lois comes to see the good man that he is, and the love that he has for Natasha. She tells him that, of all these new Supermen, he was the one who most carried on her husband’s spirit. John starts investigating, while Lois gets a call from the Kents and has to go home.

As John gets into the coding inside the ship, he unlocks a data file on a man named Captain Hank Henshaw, who had been on a mission for NASA years before when their ship was struck by a solar flare and crashed back down to the Earth. The rest of the crew, including Hank’s wife, suffered horrific deaths thanks to the radiation, while Hank lingered in a state of agony. A special experiment had been performed on him, uploading his mind to a government database, allowing him to live on as an AI while his body passed away. Then somehow (by John’s estimation, it had something to do with all the multiversal effects felt during the Crisis), Hank’s AI systems got their wires crossed with the Kryptonian technology inside Superman’s ship, and he’d been able to construct a new robotic body for himself in the image of its former passenger.

Realizing this, John tries to call Lois, but gets no answer. He suits up and races out to the Kent farm, crossing paths with Conner on his own way there, telling him that they’re in danger, and filling him in on Hank Henshaw. We cut forward to the farm, where Hank has figured out that Lois and the Kents know he’s not the real Clark. He tells them that, after he was uploaded to the government database, he learned that the day his ship had been hit by a solar flare had been the same day Clark had thrown Bizarro into the sun. He had yearned for vengeance against Superman every day since, driving himself mad, and now, he had finally found away to take everything back from Superman that Superman had once taken from him.

He threatens the family that they will all be good and be the family they were for Clark, or else he would kill every one of them. It’s at this moment that John and Conner burst into the house, knocking Hank away and defending the family. John calls him Hank and says he knows all about him. The three all then break out of the farmhouse, dueling in the sky for the title of the true Superman, Hank calling them both cheap knockoffs while he is the closest they’ll get to the real thing. Conner and John recognize they can’t defeat him, Conner swallowing his pride and racing off to seek help from Lex and Hamilton while John holds him off.

Working together, John and Conner get Hank to the Project Cadmus Headquarters, where Lex attacks him in his battlesuit, just long enough to attach wires to him. Emil hacks into his systems, downloading Hank out of the Superman body and into Project Cadmus’s computers. He then sets their entire mainframe to self-destruct, wiping out all of their systems and Hank with it. With no consciousness holding it together, the body just falls apart. John and Conner embrace as friends.

In the final scenes, we see John visiting the Kents, helping repair their roof, while Conner is revealed to have been adopted by them, coming out in a black shirt with a red Superman “S” on it, helping Lois with Jon. Natasha also visits, telling Conner about how she’s trying to figure out how to make a Steel suit of her own, while John tells her she’s still too young for that. Finally, John pulls Lois aside, telling her about something interesting he found in the programming of Clark’s ship. Something that might be able to bring the real Superman back to life.

In a post-credits scene, young Clark from the other universe is watching a news report of Steel and Superboy saving some people, the two being warmly welcomed by the world as their new Supermen. He clenches his fist, rage starting to build within him.

And that's that. Next we finish with a Superboy movie, pitting him up against Superboy-Prime. I hope you've all enjoyed so far.

#superman movie #superman #clark kent #steel #john henry irons #superboy #conner kent #lois lane #jonathan kent #jon kent #martha kent #natasha irons #hank henshaw #cyborg superman #lex luthor #emil hamilton #project cadmus

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