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superman86to99 · 3 months

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Adventures of Superman #513 (June 1994)

"THE BATTLE FOR METROPOLIS," Part 4! The Death of Project Cadmus! (Well, "death" in comic book terms.) After the events of last issue, in which a bunch of Cadmus-brand rockets exploded all around Metropolis, a royally pissed-off Superman heads to the formerly top secret government installation to register his displeasure with Director Westfield... only to find out that someone beat him to it, because Westfield has been murdered.

Since Cadmus' top dorks don't have much experience shouting orders at soldiers (the guy in charge of that just died), Superman steps in to fill that role while they try to figure out who killed Westfield and where his ear went.

Given that Cadmus' other, nerdier directors have spent days in a probably very stinky lab trying to come up with a cure for the Clone Plague ravaging Metropolis (and a small part of Hawaii), the main suspect for Westfield's murder is Dr. Carl Packard, a nervous little guy who tends to disappear for days. Also, he was just found wandering the hallways muttering about someone who "deserves death," so that doesn't look too good for him. Before Packard can explain himself (he was talking about his other evil boss, Lex Luthor), the whole murder mystery matter is shuffled aside when the nerds actually find the key to curing the Plague: the blood of one of the few clones who didn't get sick, the Guardian! Hope he's got a lot of it.

As it turns out, they need Packard to create that Guardian-fueled cure, so everyone agrees to forget about the fact that he's probably a murderer for a while. As soon as they let Packard near a computer, however, he uses the secret program in all LexCorp PCs that notifies Lex if someone types his name (yes, Lex was the original "searches himself on Twitter all day" billionaire) to send him a message telling him about the cure. Instead of letting Packard cook and then stealing the cure, the Plague-stricken and increasingly insane Lex orders his Lex-Men to invade Cadmus and kidnap the Guardian. To be fair, he does look like he's about 15 seconds away from shriveling up into a prune, so I get the urgency.

So, Superman and the few Cadmus soldiers in there (most are out fighting angry clones in Metropolis) have to defend the facility from an army of flying armored goons while the nerds try to work on the cure. Lex uses a hologram of himself when he still had hair to try to convince Superman that he should let Superboy, the Newboy Legion kids, and all those sewer clones die so that Lex himself can live ("Would you let Einstein die to save the Bowery Boys?"), but somehow he isn't dissuaded. Not only that, but Superman even calls Lex "contemptible"... and, uh, everyone else who uses a wig.

Lex must have really hated that crack about his baldness, because the next thing he does is order the Lex-Men to blow up Cadmus' reactor and kill everyone inside. If he can't have the cure, no one can. Superman looks a bit overwhelmed with the soon-to-explode reactor and the Lex-Men trying to stop him from containing it (so much so that he calls them "idiots," about the strongest insult you'll hear from this Superman), but then someone stops by to help him: patient zero of the Clone Plague cure...

...Superboy! Who could barely stand up the last time we saw him and is now flying and punching goons, so looks like that cure is working. Superman tells the Kid to take those goons outside while he tries to prevent the reactor from exploding, but as soon as Superboy makes it out, there's a huge explosion and the mountain surrounding Cadmus collapses. Superboy wants to start digging up the survivors, but Superman tells him not to bother: everyone is dead. And he'll make Luthor pay for this and all his other sins, once and for all... next week, in Action Comics #700!

TO BE CONCLUDED, obviously.

Plotline-Watch:

That's it for Project Cadmus, and everyone who worked in it, which will never appear ag-- ok, no one actually believes that. We'll see how they saved themselves and why Superman is pretending they died next issue. Note, however, that Superboy isn't pretending to believe that some of his best friends are buried under a mountain, so his chipperness in that final panel is disturbing.

As you've probably guessed if you've been paying attention, the one who stole Westfield's ear was the same maniac who killed him, disgraced geneticist Dabney Donovan. I don't remember if Dabney ever used Westfield's ear in one of his experiments, but even if he didn't, at least he got to use it for a couple of corny jokes.

Poor Dr. Happersen... he's trying to tell his boss he loves him and would never betray him, and Lex cuts him off and yells at him. Plus, in the same page Lex made it clear that he still isn't totally convinced Happersen isn't Lois Lane's informant, even thought it obviously isn't him. It's hard not to read that exchange with Smithers' and Mr. Burns' voices.

There's a nice little moment with the Guardian, originally a Captain America self-ripoff by Cap creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, saying he's okay with dying to make the cure because he's lived a very long life. Lines like that work better when it's a character who's actually been around since the '40s. I wouldn't have minded if he had died during this storyline -- they could always make another clone later on (and seeing him struggle to live up to his own legacy might have been interesting).

Patreon-Watch:

The latest Patreon-only post was about an Elseworlds story where Superman turns into a cursed spirit haunting a villain, one where he turns the X-Men into the JLA, and (briefly) one where Bizarro teams up with every other DC villain whose name ends in "O." Join Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, and Gaetano Barreca at the Superman '86 to '99 Patreon!

And now, more from Don Sparrow (whose newsletter you should be subscribed to, by the way)...

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it’s a pretty good one, with co-star Guardian in well-drawn technological peril, and I never tire of blasts bouncing off Superman.

Inside the book we are greeted with a poster (or at least sticker) worthy image of an on-edge Superman flying at the viewer, his Tarzan-like mane flowing in the wind.

Kitson’s art at this time is a bit strange to me—it might be the inker, or more likely it’s the era—the early 90s demanded everything be a bit more exxxxxxtreme and Jim-Lee-like in its rendering, but it mostly seems at odds with Kitson’s naturalistic drawing style. So you get weird in-between drawings, like on page 2 where Superman is yelling, but his mouth appears to barely be open (as opposed to page 5, when Dr. Packard shouts in surprise, and his mouth appears to be fully extended).

A page later Superman’s surprise (and perhaps grief?) at Westfield’s death is captured well.

On page 4, the fun really begins, as Kitson seems to really have a ball drawing the insane and Dr. Robotnik-like Dabney Donovan, and his comedic use of a stolen body part.

A small thing, but worth mentioning: Kitson and McCarthy absolutely kill it when it comes to reflective surfaces. Throughout the issue, the shiny glasses are on point. Great stuff there, particularly with the two-tone colouring of a Lex-Men soldier on page 16.

On page 10 we get our latest look at Lex Luthor, and it ain’t pretty. The little lines on his flesh make it seem so fragile and sickly.

The full page splash of Cadmus mountain imploding seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, as Superboy isn’t really facing the “camera” and the destruction is mostly dust. Finally, on page 21, the drawing of Superman’s righteous anger at Lex wreaking death and destruction is a great one.

In contrast to Superman #90, where I felt not a lot happened, this issue is chock full of activity, with a race against the clock to find a cure for the clone sickness, Lex-Men invaders, and a core meltdown, plus a little pop-in with Dabney AND a Superboy cameo—it’s a big one, and a nice hors d’oeuvres for the very BIG number coming next week.

SPEEDING BULLETS:

I think Dr. Packard should be played by Micro Machines Motormouth, John Moschitta Jr. It would certainly make his scientific explanations a lot funnier to imagine them being said at lightspeed.

Superboy makes a reference to a Nancy Kerrigan commercial, which was probably this one for Campbell’s Chicken noodle, where the otherwise waify and demure Ms. Kerrigan bodychecks a hockey player (the Campbell’s slogan, at the time, was “Never Underestimate the Power of Soup”, which is the line that gets cut off as Superboy speaks). [Max: Fun fact, in the Spanish version I read in the '90s, Superboy just says "I learned this from a TV ad." Guess they didn't have space for a footnote explaining who Nancy Kerrigan was...]

GODWATCH: Interesting that Big Words seems to be a believer, as Guardian bravely takes the experimental treatment, the man of science prays that Jim Harper has a “personal guardian”.

This is a pretty testosterone-driven issue—I can’t remember off-hand another issue that had not a single female appear in the story. [Max: There IS a female Cadmus trooper in page 1, but she doesn't speak, unless she's supposed to be yelling "SSSSHHOOOOOOM!" as Superman flies by... which I'd totally do.]

#superman #karl kesel #barry kitson #ray mccarthy #project cadmus #guardian #dubbilex #paul westfield #newsboy legion #superboy #dabney donovan #carl packard #westfield's ear #battle for metropolis #sydney happersen #superman hates bald people #SSSSHHOOOOOOM!

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star-reyes · 1 year

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"...Where would i be if no one had ever anthropomorphized me?"

Action Comics #27

Writing: Greg Pak

Pencils: Aaron Kuder, Mike Hawthorne, R. B. Silva

Inks: Mike Hawthorne, Aaron Kuder, Ray McCarthy

Colors: Dan Brown, Eva De La Cruz

Letters: Steve Wands

#superman #clark kent #Greg pak #aaron kuder #mike hawthorne #steve wands #R. B. Silva #Ray McCarthy #Eva De La Cruz #Dan Brown #My posts

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mariska · 1 year

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Lachlan Watson, in costume as Glenda, behind the scenes during filming of Chucky season 2 | Photography by Christine Elise (who also portrays Kyle in the Chucky/Child's Play franchise)

(via Christine's official instagram page christineelisemccarthy)

#lachlan watson #christine elise #christine elise mccarthy #glenda #glenda ray #glenda tilly #kyle chucky #chucky #chucky series #chucky season 2 #horror #behind the scenes #photography #actors #candid photography #classic horror

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blusforjews · 1 year

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Spotlight: My Weirdest Comfort Film

As of a few days ago, Tom McCarthy's best picture winning film, Spotlight (2015), became my most-watched film on Letterboxd. On its surface, the investigative journalism drama is a dour story based on the real investigation which exposed the horrific, systemic paedophilia within the Catholic church. This shouldn't be such a comforting watch, given its subject matter, so here I intend to determine what it is about this movie that keeps reeling me back in... or maybe there's just something wrong with me.

Let's start with the elephant in the room: am I just really odd? Honestly, probably, but I don't think that's why I keep coming back to Spotlight. While the film is mindful of the crimes being investigated, and particularly sensitive and alert to the pain and extreme trauma experienced by the victims, it's primary focus isn't on the scandal itself - it's very necessarily not torture porn. If I wanted to torture myself via repeated exposure to the pain of others, this wouldn't be the film to achieve that.

Instead, the focus of Spotlight is on the process of uncovering the Chruch's crimes, and the systemic issues that kept such an open secret covered up for so long. In other words, this is a film about people who are really good at their jobs, deconstructing all the ways the church in environments like Boston has its claws in every major institution, including the press.

For a long time, I wanted to be an investigative journalist. The idealism that drives exposing difficult truths in order to ensure that the electorate be informed, is an incredibly compelling reason for pursuing a career. Now that I'm older and I know that the demands of such a profession are not for me, my love of proper, idealistic journalism is channelled into films about the people who can hack it. Think Broadcast News, The Post, The Insider, Goodnight and Good Luck, and Zodiac; I'm even one of those sickos who loved The Newsroom.

I really do believe in the power and responsibility of the so-called Fourth Estate. So, one of the most compelling things about Spotlight is that it is a true story - a period piece even - about a time when the press served their intended function properly and really made a difference. A story about that kind of thing set today would almost feel like science fiction.

Tom McCarthy's filmmaking, which some have dismissed as bland or overly procedural, is genuinely inspired because of the reality it is showing. The aesthetic and tone of Spotlight is intentionally mundane and perfunctory, portraying a job that needs to be done well, but not one that needs glorifying or mythologising. The one member of the Spotlight team (Mark Ruffalo's Mike Rezendes) who is more theatrical and performative is chastised by his colleagues for his over-the-topness - it's very telling that he is the one who ends up writing the article.

I am especially drawn to the ostensible B-plot of the film: Liev Schreiber's Marty Baron stepping in as the new editor of the Boston Globe and having to contend with the extent of the Catholic church's influence of Boston life. Baron is Jewish, and immediately identified as an outsider in the majority Catholic city. His performance is, in my view, miraculous in the way it so accurately communicates the ways in which Jews in majority Christian environments have to restrain our frustration with a cultural majority that so consistently dehumanises and others us.

One scene in particular is often reason enough for me to revisit Spotlight. It involves Baron being called in for a meeting with Cardinal Law (the most senior figure at the time in the Boston archdiocese). Schreiber deftly communicates Baron's skillfully maintained composure and professionalism despite his clear discomfort at Law's blatant attempts to both bring him under the church's sketchy umbrella of influence and prostelytise at him. It is a frightening reminder of how deeply embedded Christianity is in Western institutions, and of how difficult it is to exist as a non-christian in those environments. Spotlight does not exonerate lapsed, cultural or non-practicing Catholics, but exposes how every day people will look the other way when their own community and institutions are implicated in something horrible. Like I said, science fiction.

Despite being based on a true story, Spotlight is a brilliantly crafted wish-fulfillment fantasy about a time when the press served its function and held vile, corrupt institutions to account. It's tempting to look back on its Best Picture win at the Oscars as a mistake, especially given how totemic Mad Max: Fury Road is as the last bastion of visually inventive, gonzo blockbuster filmmaking, but I really do believe that Spotlight's win was both deserved and has stood the test of time as a reminder of how we should act in the face of the systemic nightmares of our society. Every time I'm in a place of extreme pessimism about the state of the world, this film is warm, if strange, comfort blanket.

#blusforjews #blu ray #blu ray collector #film #cinema #jews in film #jewishness #jewishness in film #fuck cinemasins #film tumblr #cinephile #letterboxd #Spotlight #tom mccarthy #liev schreiber #mark ruffalo #best picture #2015

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letterboxd-loggd · 3 months

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Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) George Clooney

February 3rd 2024

#good night and good luck.#2005 #george clooney #david strathairn #patricia clarkson #robert downey jr.#frank langella #ray wise #jeff daniels #tom mccarthy #dianne reeves

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insatiablesonao3 · 11 days

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Do you have a favorite episode from the Girls on the Bus? What arc or thread are you most interested in as of episode 6?

Hi there! Thank you so much for the ask <3

It's hard for me to really pinpoint a favorite episode because they all have something a little bit unhinged about them. Always an unexpected turn of events or something that really surprises me, so maybe I can shift that question into my 2 favorite scenes:

Garret's imaginary striptease: I know this was Sadie's imagination, but that took me so off-guard and I think it's the first TV show I've watched in a while that made me laugh until my belly hurt. It was so out of the blue.

Sadie mistakingly eating whole edible chocolate bar: I'm going to get a little bit personal here, but I loved that scene and Sadie walking through the casino while h*gh as fuck because I've had a very similar experience of being overwhelmed in a public place as my first experience with edibles. I knew nothing of dosages and pacing myself back then. Now come to think of it, why the heck did Sadie not get a hangover for the following 3 days like I did? HMMM? Anyways.

Now, to answer your second question, I'm really looking forward to Sadie and Grace getting to the bottom of the dark side of Walker's presidential campaign. I was initially trusting Sadie's guts regarding Walker's first campaign. She seemed great, had apparently high chances and then everything fell apart. We haven't really gotten to know why other than that the other primary had higher votes despite the trends... but anyways. Now, Walker's current campaign seems sketchy at best. There's dirt to be dug on her, I'm sure of it, but I'm so afraid that digging around will get Sadie in trouble!

#ray-green-wicked4good asks #insatiables answers #the girls on the bus #sadie mccarthy

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fostersffff · 6 months

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Backing up the blu-ray for Osamu Tezuka's Cleopatra, and I flipped on the commentary track to check that and the first thing this woman says after introducing herself and the commentary track is "Osamu Tezuka was a genius. That doesn't mean everything he made was great."

Tone fucking set, lady.

#the commentary track is by Helen McCarthy who by all accounts to be Super Legit but goodness gracious what a way to start #Osamu Tezuka #anime #blu-ray

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mariocki · 7 months

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A young Barbara Murray stars as travelling theatrical artiste Pat Dawn, getting mixed up in murder and intrigue in Mystery Junction (1951)

#fave spotting #barbara murray #the power game #lady pamela wilder #mystery junction #b movie #1951 #british cinema #sydney tafler #michael mccarthy #panels <3 #when network folded i picked up quite a few things I'd been holding out on but i actually already owned and had seen this quota quickie #crime movie; nevertheless‚ fool that i am‚ i found a blu ray copy cheap online and made the upgrade bc... well bc Babs that's why #truthfully her character doesn't have a huge amount to do beyond being Sydney Tafler's love interest (another factor was my love of Syd)#but she does it beautifully. McCarthy doesn't give her a single closeup (fool!!!) but she does get one great scene in which she explains #her knowledge of the villain of the film‚ recounting the harrowing fate of a young friend of hers (it's one of the best scenes in the film)#troublingly tho.... no hats. was this pre hats? did Babs develop a hat fixation only later? or was it bc she was still a young actor at #this point‚ she didn't feel confident in demanding an array of hats be set at her dressing room door every day (as i have chosen to imagine #was the case later in her career). she wasn't quite a newcomer at this point (she'd had a notable role in 1949's Passport to Pimlico) but #safe to say she wasn't quite a Star star yet (she shares top billing with Tafler here but this is in every sense a minor picture on a #shoestring budget; no reflection on McCarthy‚ an imaginative and talented writer director who might have been destined for bigger things #had he not died prematurely at the end of the decade)#anyway she's here and she's lovely and she gives rotten Martin Benson a piece of her mind despite the gun in his hand #good for you Babs! <3

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streamondemand · 6 months

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'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' in seventies San Francisco on Max and Prime Video

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Philip Kaufman’s remake of the 1956 classic, updates it from the homespun innocence small town fifties America to the busy urban modernity of San Francisco of the seventies and gives the metaphor a new context. Donald Sutherland takes the lead as Matthew Bennell, a field agent for the Department of Health, and Brooke Adams is colleague Elizabeth Driscoll, a…

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superman86to99 · 8 months

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Adventures of Superman #512 (May 1994)

FINALLY: The climax of the Super-Superman saga, which was getting about as bloated as Superman himself in this issue's cover. After coming back from the dead, Superman went from having no powers to having too much power: it started with him occasionally misjudging his strength or commenting that things are easier to lift than usual, and eventually led to every single issue having a moment where he accidentally destroys a bridge by winking too hard or something. In Action #698, Superman actually started growing taller and more muscular, leading to the monstrosity you see above.

Last issue, Superman was taken to a space station owned by Project Cadmus where they tried to "safely" siphon his extra energy into space, but that ended with the entire space station blowing up and crashing into Metropolis' bay. Turns out Superman returned to Metropolis just in time to hear Lois Lane's apartment blow up (more on that in the plotlines section below), but he can't comfort her because he's so ridiculously strong that he'd turn her into human jelly if he tried to hug her.

Just when Superman is about to say goodbye to Lois forever, his super-supersenses pick up a convenient disturbance nearby: some rowdy Underworld mutants have attacked the Cadmus transport that happens to be holding Rudy "Parasite" Jones, the power-sucking supervillain. The Underworlders sympathize with Rudy's predicament and free him, and he thanks them for their generosity by turning all of them into skeletons.

Parasite recently got a taste of Superman's enhanced powers in Man of Steel #33 and is itching for another fix, so he tracks Superman down -- and Superman lets himself be tracked. Even though Cadmus already tried to use Rudy's powers to cure Superman's condition, Superman is all out of ideas, so he decides to give him another shot. Last time, their fight had to end because Parasite started parasite-ing some Cadmus workers, so this time, Superman takes them somewhere a little more private: the moon.

After flying them both to the moon, Superman unloads his full heat vision on Parasite, and actually thinks he killed him for a moment... but then Rudy regrows himself as a Doomsday-sized monster with a freaky leech-like mouth. It seems that Rudy truly can't fail.

The good news is that Superman is his normal size again and can actually control his powers. The bad news is that Parasite is much more powerful than Superman now and has no intention to stop knocking him around and absorbing his powers. Uber-Parasite punches Superman through the moon's floor and they end up in... some sort of hidden armory? Turns out they've stumbled upon the moon lair owned by Scavenger, the villain from the latest issue of Superboy, who was probably in the toilet while all of this happened (he doesn't appear in this issue).

Superman is able to use one of the weapons in Scavenger's stash to keep Parasite at bay untii they bump into a teleporter that brings them back to Metropolis -- more specifically, to its sewers. But they're not there for long, because Rudy is still much stronger than Superman and uppercuts him into the sky. The issue ends with an unconscious Superman laying in the rubble as the people of Metropolis wonder if they're gonna have to start wearing black armbands again... TO BE CONTINUED!

Character-Watch:

Debuting the Parasite's bulkier body and leech-faced look, which is the second creepiest incarnation of the character (the creepiest is "Lois Lane," but let's not talk about that here). Everyone's pal Don Sparrow says: "This version of the character would go on to become the most consistent look for the character, though I prefer the original look." Same here, especially because I feel like once he started looking like a monster, they started writing him as such and forgot that he's supposed to be a blue-collar guy named Rudy who was once S.T.A.R. Labs' janitor. He never says stuff like "I feel like I should'a brung roses" anymore, sadly.

Plotline-Watch:

Oh, yeah, the Lois stuff. Last issue, Lex Luthor Jr. got Lois fired from the Daily Planet by hacking into her computer and publishing wacky stories about how he's a "space-alien clone" and somehow Elvis Presley at the same time -- all because Lois uncovered the equally wacky truth about him (you know, that he's Lex Luthor Sr. in a clone body and murdered his personal trainer but then aliens brought her back to life). In this issue, Lois is planning to get her job back by showing Perry her evidence on Luthor, but then her apartment blows up just as she's about to walk in. There goes the evidence!

I know what you're wondering, but don't worry: Lois' cat Elroy is fine, he bolted out of the apartment the moment she opened the door. In fact, he's the one who finds the monstrous Super-Superman hiding in that alley. Elroy's dislike of Clark has been well documented by this blog in this past, but he actually seems to feel sorry for the guy in these panels. That, or he's overwhelmed with joy because he just likes watching Clark suffer.

Incidentally, the scenes between Lois and Clark in the alley are very nice, and further evidence that the often-ignored post-"Reign" period was still capable of producing classic moments. I particularly like that Kesel and Kitson are allowing Lois to be vulnerable for a moment; her entire life just blew up, she can't be a badass 100% of the time.

Another standout scene is the tense moment when the increasingly sick and paranoid Lex "Jr." loads a single bullet into an antique gun (once owned by George S. Patton) and points it at his top lackey, Dr. Happersen, accusing him of being Lois' source. Happersen panics and blurts out that the rat must be Dr. Packard (Luthor's mole inside Cadmus, so this would make him a double rat), while repeating that he's always been loyal. Lex's quick shift from anger to "Hmm. Packard. Yes." is just classic Luthor.

The Underworlders who attack that Cadmus transport do it with the hi-tech weapons Luthor gave them recently, and they even call themselves "Lex-Men" in gratitude (though those giant guns make them look more like "Lex-Force").

The fire chief who tells Lois that her apartment blew up due to a "gas leak" and totally not because of a bomb planted by Luthor is of the opinion that they should just "tear it all down, build a real city of tomorrow." That's intentional foreshadowing for a storyline that's about to start and unintentional foreshadowing for one that will come much, much later. (Spoiler talk: maybe they should have rebuilt Metropolis as a "city of tomorrow" after "Fall of Metropolis," instead of magically restoring it to how it was at this point. They could have debuted the new look in the post-Zero Hour issues, fitting in nicely with the "soft reboot" theme and giving "Fall of Metropolis" more weight in the continuity.)

Patreon-Watch:

As always, a Super-Superman-sized shout out to our patrons Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol, who last month got to read a Patreon-only post about Man of Steel Annual #3 (an Elseworlds story and therefore out of the scope of this blog). More Elseworlds posts coming soon! Join them here: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, click through for more commentary from the great Don Sparrow!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We open with a cover that’s about as mid-nineties as it gets, with a grinning parasite riding a metal-head looking Superman in outer space. The overlaid purple Kirby-dots are a nice touch.

Inside the cover, we are swiftly greeted with Elroy exiting the danger, which we learn a full page splash later is Lois Lane’s apartment detonating from within. The minimalism of the explosive light is a good choice, though the bulk of Lois’ winter coat makes her look a bit matronly. The effect of Superman’s heat vision crackling behind the space shrapnel is another good bit of colouring.

Ditto on the next page, where Lois and the fire chief are warmly lit from the flames of her apartment.

A little later we briefly meet an Underworlder running a strong risk of a copyright infringement suit from Marvel, as apart from the colouring, he looks for all the world like one of Spider-Man’s goblin-based villains. Actually now that I look at it, the other Underworlder attacking the Cadmus vehicle reminds me of The Lizard, another Spider-Man baddie. Any other villainous Easter eggs I’m missing? [Max: I see a store-brand Savage Dragon down there, too...]

As Lois and the hulking Superman say their teary goodbyes, there’s a great detail showing the moistness on Lois’ eye.

The effect of Superman’s full force heat vision is well done, later introducing us for the first time to the lamprey-eel faced Parasite. The fight that follows is perhaps a bit repetitive, particularly since it lasts a full five pages. But the exposure to the Parasite does the trick, and we’re back to a normal sized Superman. I know I keep harping on the inconsistency of the size of the overloaded Superman, but it would have been so easy to make his cape a little smaller in the scenes when he was gigantic (to say nothing of the belt and buckle I mentioned last time) so that when he goes back to his normal size, the cape would be the appropriate scale. I get the tight uniform scaling, for the most part, but the cape is a bit of a head-scratcher.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

While I share the Cadmus agent’s sentiments about country music, “Achy Breaky” as a reference is a full two years after Billy Ray Cyrus’ heyday.

The Lex Luthor is deteriorating storyline is to me the most interesting part of the issue. It’s hard to tell if he’s behaving more erratically because his clone body is dying (affecting his original brain?) or if it’s he’s getting desperate in his illness. This seems sloppily unhinged for someone as methodical and controlled as Lex.

In art school a quick rule of thumb that we learned is that every line you add to a face ages that character by a year. But this logic, Gretchen Kelley must be about a thousand based on her appearance on page 11. I know the Jim Lee, hatchy style was hot at the time, but she’s looking like Dana Carvey’s Church Lady in places here. [Max: I think it's interesting that Lex never even considers that Dr. Kelley could be Lois' source. She's been with him the longest, but she also calls him out on his BS and apparently tried to defend Lois before this scene started. Is Lex underestimating her, or are his own deeply buried feelings for her clouding his judgment? Isn't that special?]

Lex as a Patton enthusiast? Interesting idea, and perhaps a callback to Lex’s lair of the silver age, where real life conquerors like Genghis Khan, Nero and Julius Caesar lined his hall of heroes. I wouldn’t quite put Patton in their ranks, though. [Max: Maybe he should have threatened poor Sydney with Gengis Khan's spear or something like that.]

I rarely refer to the letter columns, but the letters in this issue (addressing that weird Challengers of the Unknown fill-in issue, Adventures #508) features a letter from Jeph Loeb, author of the Challengers of the Unknown maxi-series that #508 referred to. Loeb will of course become a super-team member himself in about sixty-two issues from now, the lone good writer in a truly terrible era of Superman comics. In any event, Loeb was touched that his (unfairly largely forgotten) Challengers series lived on in that issue.

#superman #karl kesel #barry kitson #ray mccarthy #parasite #elroy #project cadmus #underworlders #clone plague #gretchen kelley #sydney happersen #scavenger #jeph loeb #not green goblin #store-brand savage dragon

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