#sydney happersen

[superman86to99]

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.]

#superman #roger stern #jackson guice #denis rodier #bizarro #franklin stern #bill henderson #gretchen kelley #sydney happersen #superboy #supergirl #emil hamilton #lana lang #pete ross #colin thornton #ma kent #pa kent #ron troupe #fall of metropolis #curt swan #murphy anderson #deep quote = jack handey? #don't wanna be an american hitler

[thedcdunce]

Metallo

“Okay honey, hand over the ring.” - Metallo

Real Name: John Wayne Corben

Gender: Male

Height: 6′ 5″

Weight: 200 lbs (91 kg)

Eyes: Photocellular

Hair: Brown

Powers:

Cybernetic Enhancement

Abilities:

Military Protocol

Mechanical Aptitude

Weaknesses:

Kryptonite Dependency

Power Instability

Technological Reliability

Lacking Creativity

Equipment:

Kryptonite Cache

Hover Board

Kryptonite

Universe: New Earth

Base of Operations: Metropolis

Citizenship: American

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Professional Criminal

First Appearance: Superman Vol 2 #1 (January, 1987)

Last Appearance: Convergence: Justice League International #1 (June, 2015)

Powers

Cybernetic Enhancement: Having suffered a fatal accident which cost him his physical body, John Corben had his brain transplanted into an all but unstoppable robot body comprised of an artificial metal which never tires or falters, and can effectively last forever when powered by Kryptonite. In the process of his criminal career Metallo had it modified from unfeeling steel to trans-organic cloned substance reminiscent to his old biology by various benefactors.

Superhuman Strength: Metallo's strength level is augmented by his cybernetic components.

Energy Projection: Metallo could emit and fire kryptonite radiation from his body at will.

Superhuman Durability: Corben's bionics are comprised of an virtually indestructible alloy.

Enhanced Senses: Metallo's sensory receptor range was greatly augmented beyond the human norm.

Computer analysis: Metallo's brain had been augmented with advanced computational implants which enable advanced mathematical calculus for computing and formulating precise tactical approximations and stratagems for most any given situation.

Personal Memory Log: Keeps an internal data bank to jot down his personal progress and experiences.

Accelerated Probability: With his rapid processing engine, Corben can predict the most probable outcome of any given situation down to the last fraction of a second.

Abilities

Military Protocol: As a former soldier working for General lane, he has knowledge of military operations and facilities.

Mechanical Aptitude: His time as being part machine grants him knowledge in machines above the common man.

Weaknesses

Kryptonite Dependency: He needs his heart to survive otherwise he'll shut down.

Power Instability: His power is not often stable, and if he's not careful will cripple him.

Technological Reliability: He needs technology to get around, otherwise he can't move nor operate on day to day functions.

Lacking Creativity: While not often stupid, his lack of creativity, pettiness, temper and sheer ego often leads him to be overwhelmed leading to his downfall often.

Equipment

Kryptonite Cache: While part of Luthor's Revenge Squad Metallo underwent further enhancements, having access to varying types of Kryptonite recently added to his arsenal.

Green Kryptonite: The standard variety which was fatally toxic to kryptonian biology.

Red Kryptonite: Temporarily scrambles the DNA structure of an average superman for randomized effects.

Blue Kryptonite: Given by Luthor in order to control the inverse clone, Bizzaro on the Squad.

Gold Kryptonite: Temporarily negates a Kryptonian's powerset, leaving them vulnerable for a couple seconds time.

Hover Board: While trapped on the prison planet, Metallo made use of an anti-g transportation device for more expedient travel.

Kryptonite

Origin

John Corben was a professional con man until he was fatally injured in a car crash. The dying Corben was found by Professor Emmet Vale, a specialist in cybernetics, who was obsessed with the idea that Superman was the spearhead of an alien invasion after he discovered the ship that brought the infant Kal-El to earth and mistranslated a message from his father Jor-El to his son. Vale took the helpless Corben to his lab and transplanted his brain into a cyborg body powered by Uranium, to which upon awakening the cyborg, instructed him to kill Superman. Metallo initially was enraged by what Vale had done to him, but feigned interest in the paranoiac doctor's findings of Kal-El's origins as well as his replacing the uranium core with Corben's new Kryptonite heart, a material deadly to Superman, to kill him with. After Vale had given Corben's bionic chasis a more humanized look, Metallo broke the Professor's neck, killing the scientist as he'd then outlived his usefulness, but nonetheless ended up battling Superman as per his recreation's purpose. Before delivering the killing stroke, he was abducted by Lex Luthor, who realized that his Kryptonite 'heart' was immensely valuable and wanted the pleasure of killing the super alien himself, casually ripping it from his chest, seemingly killing Metallo.

Doom Patrol

Metallo survived the encounter thanks to built-in backup systems and managed to escape from the Lexcorp facility. As Luthor began tracking down and stockpiling more Kryptonite, Metallo began raiding Lexcorp warehouse stealing as much as he needed to keep his body charged. He also discovered that one of Lexcorp's holding companies manufactured cybernetic components, so he began stealing those as well. He modified certain components so that they would be dedicated to his specific hardware, and in doing so, was able to mentally control these components independently of his body. Metallo soon discovered that a shipment of these modified components had been delivered to another recipient - Robotman of the Doom Patrol. After scouring globe looking for these pieces, he eventually tracked Robotman down to Kansas City and involved himself in a fight with Robotman's teammates the Doom Patrol. As Robotman was using Metallo's modified components at the time, Metallo was able to mentally control Robotman's body. Superman learned of the incident and flew to Kansas City to aid the Doom Patrol. During the fight, Celsius and Scott Fischer combined their powers to destroy Metallo's physical body. His head remained intact however, but went missing amidst the debris. Lex Luthor tracked Metallo down and sent a team of scientists to recover his brain. Luthor's lead scientist Sydney Happersen found Metallo's head and secured it within a crate where it remained locked up inside of a Missouri warehouse for months.

Brainiac

Some time later, the alien conqueror known as Brainiac began systematically taking control of all of Lexcorp's facilities. The physical body housing his mental consciousness was dying, so he performed a comprehensive analysis on all of Lexcorp's advancements in cybernetics. Through this, he learned of Metallo and had his head brought to a laboratory where it was attached to a new robotic body. Metallo agreed to work with Brainiac, since he still held a grudge against Luthor. He sent a robot duplicate of himself to stage a robbery at the Lexcorp owned Metropolis Mercantile Bank, knowing that it would draw the attention of Superman. While Superman dealt with the decoy Metallo, the real Metallo led a robot army on a raid against the Lexcorp Tower.

Immediately thereafter, Brainiac had Metallo adopt a human disguise and kidnap a scientist named Dr. Reginald Augustine. Augustine was once one of the founding fathers of the Cadmus Project. With Augustine in tow, Metallo raided Project Cadmus to steal their cloning technology for Brainiac. During the raid, Metallo ran afoul of Superman, as well as Cadmus' resident protector, Guardian. He succeeded in procuring the technology required to clone Brainiac a new humanoid body to replace his dying borrowed form.

Damage

A short time later, Metallo encountered Superman again and suffered a resounding defeat. His body was destroyed, and his head was placed under special quarantine at Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Metallo's imprisonment was short lived however. A man named Steelhawk gassed the special detention wing at Stryker's and liberated Metallo's head. In exchange for outfitting him with a larger, sturdier body, Metallo agreed to accept a contract hit on behalf of Steelhawk and his employers. He traveled to Nathan B. Forrest High School in Marietta, Georgia to sanction a teenage boy named Grant Emerson. He smashed through the wall of the classroom and quickly located Emerson, but the incident sparked Emerson's Meta-gene and the young boy increased in size and power. After fighting for several minutes, Grant Emerson's body erupted with power causing a massive explosion that destroyed Metallo's body as well as his entire school.

Metropolis

Conduit freed Metallo from S.T.A.R. Labs and had him attack Superman, part of an effort by Conduit to wear down Superman. Metallo's new body featured a device that made him unmovable so long as he had his feet planted. Superman fought him outside Metropolis, arriving at a shopping mall. Metallo made the mistake of climbing on top of a car. When Superman kicked the car out from under him, Metallo went airborne and Superman was able to grab him and knock his head clean off. Superman could not wait for him to get picked up, but some local teens promised to watch it.

Underworld Unleashed

When the demon Neron manifested his corporeal form on Earth, Metallo was one of dozens of super-villains who accepted an offer of power in exchange for his immortal soul. Neron granted Metallo greater flexibility and range with his powers, enabling him to morph his body into more complex mechanical constructs--Metallo could now draw on any metal nearby to create a new body for himself, fulfilling a dream to never be rendered "just a head" again. During the "Underworld Unleashed" event, Metallo teamed up with Gorilla Grodd in an effort to hijack a truck carrying nuclear warheads. Batman, Robin and the Huntress arrived in time to prevent the theft, and Metallo escaped.

Steel

During the ensuing chaos, Metallo arrived in Washington, D.C. where he encountered Steel. Steel was trying to diffuse a riot and had little patience for Metallo. He managed to knock his head off and send it into the Potomac, but Metallo recovered and came back for more. Steel had meanwhile responded to a bomb threat at a mosque. He took the bomb and started to fly out to sea, only to be spotted and pursued by Metallo. When he got close enough, Metallo pulled the bomb to himself, believing he could then be in total control of it. Unfortunately for him, while the casing was metal, the bomb itself was plastique. Metallo's huge frame absorbed most of the blast, although the shockwave still knocked Steel from the air.

Metropolis

Metallo would come back to Metropolis, this time when the Man of Steel was in his "Man of Energy" phase. Still unused to both his own new powers as well as Metallo's, Superman was initially only able to battle him to a standstill. Fortunately for Superman, the Ray arrived and helped him understand and use his new powers. Working together, they were able to defeat the cyborg, but Metallo eluded capture. Making his way to the nearby naval base, Metallo managed to convert an entire aircraft carrier into a new body. Superman defeated him soundly this time around, using his powers to drain off the carrier's nuclear energy--a move that nearly proved to great for even Superman. Metallo is taken into custody.

Metal Men in Metropolis

Metallo was given a new body by Brainiac 13 during Y2K. The new body also featured a "kryptonite heart" as a power source. Luckily for Superman, the Metal Men arrive in Metropolis. While they have no more luck against Metallo on their own, Superman has Lead coat over his body, protecting him from the Kryptonite. Superman flies straight through Metallo's heart, destroying it and causing Metallo to topple, deactivated.

Our Worlds at War

Metallo was placed in the orbiting Stryker Prison facility. When General Zod of Pokolistan changed the sun to red and seized the White House, President Lex Luthor rescued a stranded Superman and took them to Stryker's. Metallo removed the armor Zod had placed around Superman. Like many of the other villains, he questioned why he should bother helping Luthor or Superman save the world from Zod. Nevertheless, he did agree to help. While Superman lead a cadre of villains to Earth, Metallo transformed himself into a new colossal spaceship. With Luthor at the "helm," they flew towards the sun to disable the "solar converters" Zod had placed around it. They were attacked by Ignition, but Metallo split his body up into several drones. They successfully destroyed the converters, enabling Superman to defeat Zod back on Earth. Metallo returned Luthor to Earth, and while it is not clear exactly what occurred next, Luthor made it clear that he did not pardon at least the other prisoners.

Kryptonite Removal

Some time later, Superman and Batman embarked upon a quest to rid the world of all Kryptonite. They tracked down Metallo and Superman forcibly removed his Kryptonite heart. Batman quickly replaced it with an electronic substitute that enabled Metallo to continue to live, but also restricted the use of his weaponry.

Infinite Crisis

In the wake of the Infinite Crisis, Metallo's history was revised. In this new history, John Wayne Corben was a sergeant of the regular Army of the United States, and one of the best soldiers under the command of General Sam Lane. Lane made no secret of the fact that he wanted Corben to marry his daughter Lois, much to the dismay of Lois herself.

When Superman appeared in Metropolis, Lane went to Luthor and, citing the national security implications of beings like Superman and the Parasite being at large, agreed to help fund a plan to stop him-a battlesuit, composed of Luthor's proprietary 'Metallo' material, and powered by a lump of a strange, glowing green rock. Corben volunteered to pilot the suit. However, in his first encounter with Superman, a stray bullet hit the rock, leading to a disastrous energy surge in the suit, which almost killed Corben. Luthor saved Corben's life by literally integrating him into the suit, transforming him into the cyborg Metallo, with the Kryptonite rock functioning as his new 'heart'. Metallo subsequently attacked Superman again in a rampage which endangered not only the citizens of Metropolis but his own fellow soldiers. He was defeated by Superman once more.

Metallo has since come into the employ of Project 7734, the secret American military office that targets alien, and specifically Kryptonian, threats. Alongside Reactron, he is one of their primary offensive assets.

Convergence

Pre-Zero Hour Metallo is taken by Brainiac and is trapped in a under a dome for a year. During this time, Metallo creates a robot army to invade Metropolis. He and his robot army attack the city but are stopped by the Justice League International.

Fun Facts

Prior to becoming Metallo, John Corben may have been involved in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Although no longer applicable, it is known that he was operating out of Gotham City at the time of their deaths.

After becoming Metallo, Corben had been destroyed, dismantled or remodeled many times. Metallo could assimilate volumes of metal into his body in order to maintain a desired physical size. He could control any and all robotic technology not already possessed or in action. He could also fire kryptonite radiation from his eyes or heart at will.

#metallo #john wayne corben #john corben #superman revenge squad #the society #dc #DC comics #thedcdunce

[superman86to99]

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!

[superman86to99]

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

[superman86to99]

Super Titles Round-Up (April 1994)

This month: Superboy fights an elderly person! Supergirl fights herself! Steel fights, uhh, capitalism I guess!

Superboy #3 (April 1994)

Last issue, a cybernetically-enhanced old guy called Scavenger appeared out of nowhere and stole an ancient Hawaiian spear Superboy had been trying to protect (“trying” being the keyword there). Now both the Kid and the old guy head to an archeological dig to look for a gem that supposedly gives the spear vast magical powers. When they run into each other there and start fighting over the mystical artifacts, Scavenger teleports them both inside an active volcano to give himself an advantage, since he happens to be wearing a handy talisman that makes him impervious to burning alive inside volcanoes.

Scavenger manages to nab the gem and comes close to killing Superboy with it as he rants nonsensically about some mysterious “enemy” that’s out to get him with his “secret society” (sounds like a Q guy). He also brags repeatedly about his anti-lava talisman, which wasn’t such a great idea since Superboy simply snaps it off his neck and forces Scavenger to escape while swearing revenge.

So Superboy finally retrieves the spear, but the historian who was giving him shit about losing it (Dr. Kaua) still isn’t happy, since he secretly wanted to use it to become a REAL Hawaiian superhero and he can’t do that now that the gem ended up at the bottom of a volcano. The issue ends with Dr. Kaua moping on the beach when he randomly bumps into some sort of container that says “Property of U.S. Navy Pearl Harbor,” which immediately blows up on his face. Be careful what you wish for and stuff...

This issue also ties into the Clone Plague storyline going on in the main Super-books: Superboy is constantly coughing and collapses right after defeating Scavenger. Dubbilex (who had a psychic phone call with the Guardian about the Plague earlier in the issue) thinks they should take him back to Project Cadmus for examination, but Superboy’s friends propose a better treatment: a sandwich, some time in bed, and a VHS tape with the pilot episode of Superboy: The Animated Series, which we’ll see in the next issue.

Supergirl #3 (April 1994)

The issue starts with a distraught Supergirl showing up at Lana Lang’s doorstep, saying something about how she “killed them all.” We flash back and find out that, after discovering that LexCorp’s scientists think she’s a dumb bimbo and lied about the tests they’ve been running on her, she impersonated one of them to infiltrate the main lab and saw the horrible truth: they’ve been growing mindless clones of her and, for some reason, dressing them up in S&M gear.

Supergirl fights the clones and ends up destroying the entire lab with them inside -- as well as “poor” Dr. Happersen, who was already in a wheelchair after his encounter with Bizarro and ends up buried in the rubble. Supergirl still refuses to believe that her beloved Lex Luthor Jr. had anything to do with this experiment until she remembers that he ominously told her “I wish I had a hundred of you” (back in the Supergirl and Team Luthor one-shot) right before the “tests” started.

FINALLY realizing that Lex Jr. is an asshole who’s been manipulating her all along, Supergirl morphs into an edgier new look apparently inspired by her dead S&M “sisters” and promises she’s gonna hurt him (but not in a fun way).

Steel #3 (April 1994)

John Henry Irons stops by his old employer, Amertek, and demands to know how the weapons he designed for them ended up in the hands of street gangs. The main guy there, Colonel Weston, acts dumb and says he has no idea what’s going on, so John leaves Amertek and comes back later, thus giving them ample time to get a whole squad of armored goons ready to fight him. Which was... what John wanted, for some reason?

So, Steel manages to sneak into Weston’s office and burn himself a CD full of incriminating Amertek data, but then like 20 goons show up to fight him. John puts up a good fight, but eventually his armor starts overheating from being shot with too many Toastmasters and turns yellow.

This gives Weston an idea: he has John chained up and directs all the goons to shoot him with the Toastmasters at the same time to find out what his Steel armor can withstand. That’s when a ruptured gas line causes the entire office to blow up. John survives thanks to his armor, but so does Weston, because one of the goons somehow smelled the gas through his helmet and flew him away right in time. Miraculously, that CD with incriminating data isn’t even scratched, and the issue ends with John saying he’ll use it to bury Amertek.

It’s a pretty goofy issue, and the goofiest part is that John didn’t want to believe Colonel Weston was evil and feels bad about “burying” him, even though he’s shown to be a racist dickhead who twice says John’s “kind” isn’t very clever. To be fair, it’s possible he was just talking about engineers.

Hawkman #6 (February 1994)

I missed this sizeable Eradicator guest spot in the February Super Titles Round-Up, but that works out fine because he had no appearances in April ‘94. This is part of a storyline in which Hawkman’s brain is hijacked by a guy called Count Viper, leaving Hawkman’s mind trapped in Hawkwoman’s body. Using Hawkman’s face, Viper infiltrates the Justice League of America’s HQ and hypnotizes Wonder Woman, Bloodwyn, and the Eradicator, who happened to be in the general area. Apparently, the Eradicator was extra-easy to hypnotize because Viper and him share the same patriotic ideals (they’re fascists).

Of course, the heroes (and anti-hero) eventually snap out of it and help Hawkman and Hawkwoman defeat Viper and return to their proper bodies. The Eradicator was actually used as a big cliffhanger in the previous issue when he appears as a shadowy figure and Hawkman yells “SEVEN HELLS!” (that’s “OH SHIT!” in Thanagarian). My theory is that Hawkman writer John Ostrander asked to use Superman as the third hypnotized hero and the Superman office was like “Nah, but you can have his fashy knockoff if you want.”

#superman #superboy #supergirl #steel #eradicator #scavenger #silver sword #dubbilex #clone plague #sydney happersen #lana lang #hawkman #justice league #wonder woman #bloodwynd #hawkwoman

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #511 (April 1994)

Superman returns to Metropolis after the events of "Bizarro's World" and finds that... there's no Metropolis. It's completely gone. Did someone pull a Coast City on it? Is Brainiac back to his Pre-Crisis city-stealing ways? Superman flies down to take a closer look at the nothignness, only for the buildings to suddenly re-appear right in front of him, making him clumsily crash into one. And right in front of some hot ‘90s babes, too. How embarrassing.

Turns out Metropolis wasn't gone: Superman's powers are so out of control (as seen in recent months) that he didn't realize his X-Ray vision was making him see through the entire city. Superman tries to rescue the people falling off that building with the old "air cushion" trick, but he ends up creating a mini-tornado and injures more people. When Maggie Sawyer and the Special Crimes Unit show up to find out who's been going around destroying buildings and injuring pedestrians, Superman volunteers to be arrested for everyone’s safety, but Maggie is like "eh, let's just pretend this didn't happen... this time."

She does encourage Superman to go get his condition checked out by a specialist ASAP (which, come to think of it, he should have done weeks ago). Superman goes to Professor Hamilton, who determines that his internal solar battery has gone out of whack and is making him absorb too much energy after being exposed to some sort of kryptonite-like substance. And when was the last time Superman encountered kryptonite? At the end of "Reign of the Supermen," when a big blast of it passed through the Eradicator first and instantly gave Superman his powers back. "A bit of foreshadowing," as the Professor says.

According to Hamilton, Superman's powers will keep increasing until his body can't contain them anymore and, I guess, explode. The Professor does suggest a possible solution: taking Superman's excess energy and giving it to those sick Underworld clones who have been dying off all over Metropolis (as part of that OTHER long-ass storyline we've been seeing recently). Superman likes the idea but decides that a massive government agency would be better equipped to make it happen than some ex-con in a run down building (sorry, Hambone), so he flies over to Project Cadmus to tell them about it.

Like two minutes after Superman arrives at Cadmus, the place is attacked by some Underworlders who believe Cadmus created the illness that's killing them. Superman and the Guardian team up to stop the clones, but it isn't a terribly long fight, since the Underworlders are dropping off like flies. Very big flies.

Meanwhile, we find out that LexCorp is currently being attacked by OTHER clones and Lex Luthor Jr. is trapped inside. Lex sends a televised message blaming Cadmus for the attack and promising to "deal" with them "once and for all." In other words: WAR. TO BE CONTINUED!

Plotline-Watch:

Of course, those clones attacking LexCorp weren't sent by Cadmus, they were sent by the mad scientist living UNDER Cadmus, Dabney Donovan. Earlier in the issue, Dabney snooped into a heated Zoom call between Lex Jr. and Cadmus' Director Westfield where the latter refused to join forces to cure the Clone Plague, because he thinks Lex would just steal their tech. Lex indignantly accuses Westfield of putting lives at stake (meaning HIS life specifically, since he secretly lives in a clone body). Dabney worries that Lex might attack Cadmus and thus endanger his own operation, so he... attacks Lex and makes it look like it was Cadmus? They don't call him "mad" for nothing.

Westfield's comment about Kryptonian DNA is obviously a reference to Cadmus' troubles attempting to clone Superman after his death, which resulted in them giving up and creating Superboy. Incidentally, Superman asks Guardian how Superboy is doing, given the whole “clones dying” thing (the Newsboy Legion kids are in pretty bad shape), and Guardian just says he's "been through a lot lately." In other words: buy his solo series if you want to know if he's dying too, kids!

Back to Lex, he instructs Dr. Happersen (still wearing bandages over his head after Bizarro burned him) to contact the Underworlders, presumably with nefarious purposes. In the same scene, we learn that Lex has a virus in LexCorp computers that alerts him to any mention of his name. And guess who happens to be using a LexCorp computer to write an article about how Lex murdered his personal trainer?

We've been following Lois Lane's investigation into the Sasha Green murder for a while, but I'm a little confused about the "father" part above. Does that mean Lois knows Lex Jr. is Lex Sr.? When did she find out? Did she put two and two together after learning clones are getting sick and seeing Lex all frail last issue?

Don Sparrow points out: "As far as I know, this issue's billboard is the first appearance of Whitty Banter, the David Letterman of the DCU. It's a confusing look, though, as he seems to be a blonde, musclebound Billy Batson lookalike, with John Lennon glasses, so apart from having a talk show, he doesn’t greatly resemble any real world hosts. (A quick look into it indicates Banter’s first in-person appearance is a few years later, in Superman #117. He also appears in Man of Steel #67, where the Letterman connection is made more explicit, though Banter’s face doesn’t appear in either issue.)” As we pointed out on Twitter, there was also a reference to Whitty in the letters page for Adventures #511, in answer to a letter praising his real life counterpart, colorist Glenn Whitmore.

Patreon-Watch:

This post was sneak peek’d at patreon.com/superman86to99 earlier this month! Shout out to patrons Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol; we are the Dabney Donovans leeching off of your Cadmus. We’ve been slacking on the exclusive Patreon material lately (other than the sneak peeks) but we hope to have more to show you in the next year, including more Elseworlds reviews and out-of-continuity stuff.

But right now: more Don Sparrow, under the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We start with the cover, and it’s a very good one, with a grim Superman and Guardian ready for battle.  Perhaps a little generic, and lacking in background, but it’s just a great drawing of the protectors of Metropolis, even if it doesn’t give much of a hint to the actual story.  Inside the book we are greeted almost immediately by the real reason people check in on this blog each and every week: wall to wall ass.  Superman crashes through a skyscraper Zack Snyder style while a diverse group of sunbathers look on.  This is fairly racy for a code book from 1994, so it’s worth a mention.

I love Barry Kitson’s art (even if the Jim Lee-style hatching is a bit overpowering at this time) so it’s a challenge to narrow down outstanding panels, because it’s all pretty great.  But the drawing of Maggie Sawyer in full tactical gear is a highlight, as her boots, body suit, and armour all appear to have a different surface texture.  Great stuff.  There is lots of laboratory scenes in this issue, from Professor Hamilton’s studio apartment to Project Cadmus, and all the technical equipment and wires look appropriately high-tech.

As the only action scene (Superman and Guardian battle a dying and apparently nameless Underworlder) unfolds, the image of Guardian shielding himself from an energy blast is well drawn and well coloured.

That scene is as close to we get to excitement in this story, which was definitely one of the less eventful issues I can remember.  It moves the ongoing “B” stories (Superman is overpowered, Lois is investigating Sasha Green, the clones are all dying) without having much of an “A” story.  Still there’s always forward motion in this era, setting up for the next big thing.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

The idea that Lex is monitoring Lois Lane, and is in turn being monitored  by Dabney Donovan is a trippy one, especially if we add in the layer that we, as readers are monitoring them all.  One small detail I’d like to highlight here is that Dabney Donovan refers to himself while he  monologues, which is quite helpful to new readers, who might be  thinking, “who is this guy, and why isn’t he fighting a blue hedgehog?”

Speaking of DCU analogues, apparently one of their daytime dramas is called Secret Hospital which sounds a lot more exclusive than our General Hospital.

I do love that for all his many sins, Lex II is about to be brought down by journalism, rather than superheroic fisticuffs.

The attacking Underworlder (if he got named, I missed it) seems like a riff on the Incredible Hulk, referring to the Cadmus agents he’s fighting as “puny soldiers”.

Slightly amusing to me that the Underworlder attacker refers to Newsboys and Superboy as “dogs on a leash”, when Cadmus once had their own strike team flat out called the Bloodhounds (who are currently chilling with Doctor Stratos in the “never seen again” lounge). [Max: Actually, someone let us know recently that Doctor Stratos DID appear again in a Roger Stern Superman novel in the 2000s, to my shock... What if the Bloodhounds also have a novel we never learned of? Or an entire YA book series? It’s possible.]

#superman #karl kesel #barry kitson #james pascoe #whitty banter #maggie sawyer #special crimes unit #paul westfield #project cadmus #dabney donovan #sydney happersen #sasha green #emil hamilton #guardian #newsboy legion #underworlders #clone plague #wall to wall ass #rip nameless underworlder

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #698 (April 1994)

Superman vs. an army of muscular, exploding Lex Luthors! And also... himself, because his newly enhanced powers are so out of control that he’s officially more dangerous to Metropolis than any clone army.

Last issue ended with LexCorp being attacked by monsters and Lex Luthor Jr. blaming Project Cadmus for it. In truth, this is the work of rogue geneticist Dabney Donovan, one of the scientists who helped clone Luthor a younger, sexier, cancer-free body. Luthor once tried to kill Dabney to leave no evidence that he’s faking being his own Australian son, so Dabney returns the favor by invading LexCorp tower with his genetically-engineered abominations. Dabney’s remote-controlled monsters finally reach Lex at the top of the tower, but... it’s not Lex, it’s a dummy with a wig on. Which is rigged to explode. All CEOs have one.

Meanwhile, despite his various problems with Luthor in the past, Superman is doing his best to defend LexCorp tower from the monsters (after all, Lex isn’t the only one who works there) but he’s hampered by his erratic powers and the fact the his body seems to be growing for no reason, which is always disorienting. Superman is able to knock down one of the monsters and, upon removing his luchador-like mask, is confused to see that it looks just like Luthor. In fact, all the big monsters do, because Dabney has a special sense of humor (and access to Lex’s DNA).

Superman puts down the rest of these mindless Lex-trocities, which spontaneously combust upon being defeated, and he has to turn on his heat vision to stop the last one. Unfortunately, now he’s unable to turn it off -- in fact, Superman’s heat vision is suddenly so potent that he can’t even close his eyes or he’ll burn his super-eyelids off. After accidentally causing some more property damage to the street in front of LexCorp, Superman has to fly into the ocean and cool off underwater for an hour before regaining his ability to blink. But at least his power troubles seem to be over!

NEXT: Superman’s power troubles get even worse.

Plotline-Watch:

The smaller monsters attacking LexCorp are the same “P-Bak” critters that Dabney and Cadmus’ Director Westfield sent after Superboy in Adventures #506. Presumably Dabney was in a rush and didn’t have time to redesign them so they’d have Lex’s face, too.

Lex checks in on poor Dr. Happersen, still recuperating from his Bizarro attack, not because he’s worried about him but to tell him to stop whining and keep working on the Supergirl project (as seen in the Supergirl miniseries). Luthor’s lackeys really need to unionize and get some better health benefits.

Superman’s power woes are actually making him feel nostalgic for the days of Lex Luthor Sr., back when all he had to do to solve his problems was show up at Lex’s office and find out what gizmo to punch (like the last time his powers went out of whack, in Superman #10).

Lois Lane finally finishes the exposé on Lex Luthor “Jr.” she’s been working on for months, but just as she electronically mails it to the Daily Planet, Lex hacks into the system using the secret backdoor included in all LexCorp PCs and rewrites the entire article so that “there won’t be a soul alive who will ever again believe Lois Lane!” See, this is why is “e-mail” thing will never catch on. Anyway, we’ll find out next issue just how good Lex’s creative writing skills are.

Patreon-Watch:

This post was made possible by our patrons Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol, who got to read half of it a whole week ago (yes, Don finished his section way before me again). Obligatory link to see if we can trick more people into joining us: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, Don Sparrow’s section, at last liberated for all the world to see!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We begin with the cover, and it’s a good one, by Jackson Guice.  It puts me in the mind of old “X-Ray Specs” ads from inside comics, though I couldn’t find one that was a specific pose match.  Still, a good use of colour to have the bones of Superman’s hand “inked” in solid red.  

Inside the issue, we are first greeted by not one full page splash, but three—Superman outpacing the Whiz Wagon, by land and by air. While I think Cadmus/Kirby stuff can tend to overwhelm the Superman mythology at times, I will never tire of seeing that car! [Max: Same!]

There’s an interesting juxtaposition early on, with Director Westfield observing goings-on from his situation room, followed immediately by Dabney Donovan’s similar, but lower-tech observation station, from which he spies on basically everyone.

We’re given another double page spread on pages 12-13, as Superman decks some of the giant creatures sent by Donovan. Denis Rodier’s chunky ink brush lines resemble Kirby at the best of times, but with all these Cadmus creations about, the connection is made all the more visible.

A little later in the story, both Guardian and Jimmy comment that it appears that Superman is growing, but there’s really no context clues in the artwork to sell this idea.  He isn’t really placed next to anything for a convincing sense of scale, which feels like a missed opportunity. [Max: Agreed, he looked taller in exactly one panel in which he’s looking down on Guardian, then goes back to looking normal in the next.]

Jackson Guice has always excelled at drawing a realistic and beautiful Lois Lane, and his version of casual around-the-apartment Lois is no exception.  Lastly, his depiction of a wizened and ageing Luthor is very well done, and a precursor to the (much later) return of a thin Lex Luthor, which we haven’t seen since the Byrne reboot.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

 My issue has a colouring error on the second page, where Superman’s normally yellow/gold belt buckle appears to be white or silver. [Max: Same in my Spanish reprint!]

I’m sure Dabney’s cameras are well hidden, but it appears as though Guardian is looking straight at it, as Donovan monitors the Whiz-cam.  Also: thank God that’s the only Whiz-cam we’re shown, that could have been much worse. [Max: I think Dabney is just hacking into the feed seen in the previous page. Also, I’m guessing Lex is the only one with the other type of “whiz-cams” in these comics, considering his habit of spying on women’s dressing rooms...]

Groan: yet another addition to the “since Doomsday” file, where Inspector Henderson thinks to himself that he hasn’t “heard such an edge in his voice…since he went up against Doomsday.”  It is an unfortunate (and understandable) habit of this era to liken everything back to Doomsday, in order to elevate whatever is happening in the present story. [Max: We really dropped the ball not having a “Since Doomsday-Watch” section.]

This issue is structured a bit oddly, especially for a comic called “Action”.  The action in this issue all takes place early on, with the rest of the issue making up a very long denouement.

Love the care with which Superman speaks on the telephone, not trusting the line not to be observed.

Interesting that burgeoning internet technology is a major plot point here.   Nowadays we’re used to stories involving hacking or digital trespass, but in 1993, this was incredibly novel. [Max: Lex was the original Zero Cool.]

#superman #roger stern #jackson guice #denis rodier #project cadmus #guardian #paul westfield #dabney donovan #sydney happersen #muscular exploding lex luthor jrs #whiz cam #not that type of whiz cam sorry tumblr

[superman86to99]

Super Titles Round-Up (March 1994)

This month: Superboy gets knocked around, Supergirl gets disrespected, and Steel fights a dentist. Also, the JLA visits Metropolis! For two pages.

Superboy #2 (March 1994)

Superboy's a big punching bag in this issue. First, some Hawaiian mobsters shoot at him with sci-fi weapons for busting their smuggling operation and making fun of them.

Then, he's asked to protect a priceless spear supposedly belonging to a Hawaiian god called Lono, but a superpowered stripper called Knockout shows up and steals it, even though she thinks "old gods are really overrated." She also punches him a whole lot, and kisses him once... which is pretty creepy considering she's hundreds of years old (spoilers) and he's 16 (or like three months old if you wanna get technical).

Once Knockout has gotten her rocks off, she just gives the spear back to Superboy and goes away -- only for some crazy old guy in futuristic cowboy gear to materialize in front of him, sucker punch him, and re-steal the spear.

Despite everything, Superboy says he's liking Hawaii and will stick around for a while, just because his reporter crush Tana Moon lives here now (the super-statutory rapist probably helps, too).

Supergirl #2 (March 1994)

Supergirl FINALLY begins suspecting that her beloved Lex Luthor Jr. might not be the most honest guy ever after meeting a rich lady called Elizabeth Perske, who happens to be one of Lex Sr.'s ex-wives (the former Mrs. Luthors were first mentioned 8 years ago in Man of Steel #4, but it took this long for one to show up). Thanks to Perske's warnings, Supergirl decides to snoop on the LexCorp employees performing tests on her and finds out that they all think she's a pushover and a "bimbo" for doing whatever Lex says without questioning him.

Eventually, she decides to use her invisibility powers to spy on the scientist in charge of her tests and overhears him talking to poor Dr. Happersen (who's in pretty poor shape after being lasered by Bizarro in Superman #87) about something called "Operation Protomatter."

The issue ends with Supergirl confronting the scientist guy and violently demanding to know the truth behind these “tests” LexCorp has been running on her, right NOW. Meaning next issue.

Steel #2 (March 1994)

Steel's nephew Jemahl gets in trouble with his gang because they think he snitched on them to Steel, plus they're still upset about having their asses kicked by his uncle John Henry (you know, the one who looks just like Steel). Steel has to save the little punk from a robot-armed gangster who calls himself "Amalgam" -- not because he's two universes merged together, but because he's also a dentist. Seriously. Is this the only dentist supervillain?

Anyway, Amalgam mentions he's working for Steel's old bosses at Amertek during the fight, so John decides to bust their asses NOW. Meaning next issue.

Justice League America #86 (March 1994)

Superman has a brief cameo in this issue just to re-confirm to the League that he isn't re-joining the team now that he's back to life (not until they considerably upgrade the roster and creative team, anyway). But at least they get to hear him say "thanks" for helping out against Doomsday, so the trip to Metropolis wasn't totally wasted.

And... I was gonna do a blurb on the Superman: Under a Yellow Sun graphic novel that also came out on March ‘94, but after re-reading it I think it deserves its own post, so that’s it for this round up! Bye.

#superman #superboy #steel #supergirl #knockout #scavenger #elizabeth perske #sydney happersen #amalgam #justice league #guy gardner #booster gold #maxima #wonder woman

[superman86to99]

Superman #88 (April 1994)

Bizarro's World, Finale! The cover above is actually pretty misleading: Bizarro doesn’t punch Superman in this issue, but he does punch... your heart. Lex Luthor Jr. has captured Bizarro and wants to kill and dissect him on the off-chance that his bizarre-o DNA contains the key to cure the affliction that has slowly been turning Lex into Professor X (minus the powers).

Superman and Lois Lane show up at LexCorp to save Bizarro, since they now realize he's just an innocent doofus with a crush on her. While Superman is stalled by some armored Lex-Men, Dr. Sydney Happersen works tirelessly to analyze Bizarro's body in hopes of finding a cure for his beloved boss -- you have to love your boss to continue working despite the fact that a monster burned half your face off like a day ago (in comic book time).

Happersen manages to isolate the key to curing Luthor... just as Superman arrives and clumsily sets fire to Lex’s computers with his recently augmented heat vision.

As Superman tries to contain that fire he started, Happersen orders an armored goon to "get a piece of Bizarro's tissue" -- which the goon takes to mean "stab the bastard." Happersen uses that tissue to finally create a cure for Luthor while Bizarro dies on the arms of his beloved Lois, who finally sees him as Superman, even if for just a second.

It's a beautiful and dignified end for the chara-- oh wait, no, he isn't dead yet. Right before shuffling off for good, Bizarro summons one final bit of strength to destroy the computer containing the cure and screw Lex over. Which, in a way, is an even more dignified end.

They should really start making these computers heat vision-proof. Anyway, that goon who stabbed Bizarro seems to be taking this rather badly and breaks down in front of everyone -- because, to Lois' shock, he's actually a frail and completely bald Lex Jr. in disguise.

Wait, where’s Superman during all this? Oh yeah, he had to fly off into space to get rid of a tank of burning chemicals before it exploded, but just as he’s about to head back to Earth he notices he's somehow getting more... swole?

TO BE CONTINUED!

Plotline-Watch:

Obviously, Lex had everything that happened in this issue coming, but the fact that Happersen had a cure for the Clone Plague and Superman/Bizarro destroyed it kinda sucks for the other clones living in Metropolis. How many more died between this issue and the end of the storyline? Then again, there's a big chance LexCorp would have kept the cure to itself without Superman being able to do anything about it anyway.

Don Sparrow says: "Lex’s sleight of hand, digitally altering his appearance while instructing Team Luthor is quite prescient of today, and the various Instagram filters, which can automatically change a face in real time." That's a good point. Did Lex Luthor invent Snapchat filters in the '90s? Did he ever accidentally press something and make it look like he had dog ears and make-up on?

Among the many examples of Superman's powers going out of control in this issue is a scene where he flies so fast while carrying Lois that she can't breathe. Shouldn't that happen every time they're flying too fast for other people to see, though? I always figured Superman's aura gave her a little pocket of breathable air or something.

Moments after that (and accidentally throwing a Team Luthor goon off a building while trying to push him away), Superman willingly uses his heat vision right next to Lois to break some handcuffs a goon slapped on her. Dude, seriously? You're lucky she didn't burn up like a LexCorp computer. Unless Superman was just casually looking at the handcuffs and did that by accident and tried to play it cool?

Patreon-Watch:

Shout out to Superman ‘86 to ‘99′s Pals, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol, without whom we wouldn’t be having two new posts this month (we’re only at the “one post per month” tier, but still). Obligatory link: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, more from Don Sparrow! Take it (up, up, and) away:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We start as always with the cover, and it’s a pretty good one.  The time-honoured (and rarely seen, during this era, where they’re hard at work at the upcoming Superman/Doomsday mini) team of Jurgens and Breeding showing Bizarro throwing down with Superman, with an emaciated Lex behind them.  The computer screen is a bit confusing in how much of the screen it takes up (it reminds me a bit of Jurgens’ drawings of “entropy” in the upcoming Zero Hour mini-series, but in green).

Inside the book we’re greeted by a full page splash of a sickly Lex (surprisingly ratty blanket for a billionaire!) in our second straight guest issue by Stuart Immonen.  Immonen excels at most things, but technology here looks particularly believable.  A little further into the issue, the facial expressions between Superman and Lois tell the story well, as Superman doesn’t recognize how much his speed has grown over the usual. Immonen’s Superman has more of a mane than we’ve seen in other books up to now. A couple of pages later, the tall thin panel arrangement really gives the sense of height appropriate for a skyscraper.

We’ve mentioned throughout the series how many parallels there are between Bizarro and Frankenstein, and being restrained to a table once again reminds me of the monster.  Immonen’s signature rim lighting is use to good effect on the scenes with Happersen at the computer.

Once Lois and Superman arrive to rescue the guy Superman’s been fighting the last few issues, the desperation and pain in Bizarro’s face is haunting on page 13.  It’s a small detail, but as the lab goes up in flames, the background silhouette of Superman dousing flame with his cape is masterful—lots of motion and gesture, even for a totally darkened figure.  

There never seems to be a shortage of Lois pieta poses in these pages, and this issue is no different—the exchange between them at the end of the issue is particularly affecting.  The effect of the now-dead Bizarro fully crystalizing is a good one as well, as he looks completely stripped of life and colour—though I don’t fully get how his clothes also lightened. [Max: I still don’t understand how they darkened from regular Superman colors in the first place last issue. Let’s go with “unstable molecules.”]

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I personally prefer the more Ed-Hannigan-inspired Lex suits, but it’s nice to see consistency, as these ones look a lot like the ones Mxyzptlk played with all the way back in Superman #31 (aside from the purple colour, rather than the stormtrooper white we get here).

I’ve already stated my one-and-only-beef with Stuart Immonen’s Superman is that he’s sometimes not handsome enough, but how youthful he draws the Man of Steel is certainly a breath of fresh air.

Not much for “B” storyline here, the struggle to free Bizarro takes up pretty much this entire story. [Max: True, I guess the only “B” story is Superman’s powers growing out of control... which is about to become the “A” story in the following issues.]

#superman #dan jurgens #stuart immonen #josef rubinstein #bizarro #sydney happersen #professor lex #mysteriously color changing clothes #clone plague #Bizarro's World

[superman86to99]

Superman #87 (March 1994)

Bizarro's World, Part 1! Bizarro is back! Hey, wait, didn't this guy explode the last time we saw him, back in 1986? Yep: this is a completely different defective Superman clone who is appearing for the first time, so I'm not sure why he's saying "Me am back!" on the cover. Then again, he is a Bizarro, so maybe he means "Me am appearing for the first time!"

This new Bizarro is created by Lex Luthor Jr.'s main lackey, Dr. Sydney Happersen, in an effort to help cure the mystery illness that's making Lex lose his hair -- and also killing him, but the hair is the main thing for Lex, especially since Cat Grant’s gossip show has aired some paparazzi photos of his newly balding head. Unfortunately, the first thing Bizarro does is zap Happersen in the face with heat vision and fly off. Lex berates poor Sydney, not terribly concerned by the fact that his face is burning.

The second thing Bizarro does is destroy a bunch of ships and set the bay on fire while trying to steal a launch called "S.S. Lois.” Yes, Bizarro apparently thought his beloved Lois Lane was a boat, but honestly I’m just impressed he can read. He must have realized that he didn’t have the actual Lois pretty soon, though, because he then pays her a little visit at her apartment.

Of course, Superman is blamed for Bizarro's shenanigans, including Lois' kidnapping (even his friend Inspector Henderson seems to think Metropolis’ protector might have randomly decided to start kidnapping reporters). The issue ends with Cat's gossip show reporting that eyewitnesses saw Supes snatch Lois -- so hey, Happersen’s plan to cure his dear boss may not have worked, at least he succeeded in getting those paparazzi shots off TV.

CONTINUED!

Creator-Watch:

This issue is the start of artist Stuart Immonen’s looooong association with the Superman titles -- so long, in fact, that he outlasted the rest of the Super-Team, having been spared in the editorial massacre of 1999. He’s only a guest artist now, but he’ll soon become a regular one and eventually a writer too. More on Immonen (and why his style looks so familiar today) in Don Sparrow’s section below!

Plotline-Watch:

So not only did Lex kill Dr. Teng, the first Bizarro’s creator, but he also steals his intellectual property? His tendency to mistreat his employees is gonna come back to bite him in the ass one of these days...

Happersen’s logic for re-cloning Bizarro to cure Lex is kinda iffy; this would make a lot more sense if the Clone Plague was causing all the infected to slowly turn into backwards-speaking albino Frankensteins like Bizarro, but that’s not the case. Then again, the original Bizarro did somehow end up curing Lucy Lane’s blindness upon exploding, so I guess anything's possible. In fact, Lex might be able to cure every illness in the world if he created enough Bizarros and had them explode over everyone in the planet, but of course he's far too evil to even think of that.

One thing I don't understand is why Bizarro's suit turns dark (beyond "Silver Age Bizarro's suit was dark"). In the Byrne issue, it conveniently darkens after Superman burns his clothes, but here it just sorta fades into that color as Bizarro’s body itself turns all white and ugly. Did Happersen simply cheap out on the fabric?

Clark thinks it's "weird" that he accidentally broke a light bulb by misjudging his strength, because he STILL hasn't noticed his powers are out of control after like three months of scenes like this one in every issue. Are his journalism powers also faltering? He also mentions that he had to stop wearing a watch Lois gave him because the band was getting too tight. Spoilers: he's gonna have to enlarge a lot more than that pretty soon.

It’s nice to see Cat back on the job again and all, but is it me or is spreading gossip about the man who caught her son’s killer kinda dickish?

Patreon-Watch:

You know who isn’t dickish? Our patrons Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Hank Curry, and Bol, so shout out to them! Obligatory Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, as promised, more from our Canadian correspondent Don Sparrow!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We open with the cover, and it’s quietly a real classic with Bizarro breaking through a brick wall, Superman-style.  The trade dress is all reversed, which is already eye catching, and we’re helpfully given a supra-title letting us know this is part one of a multi-part story.  The word bubble with Bizarro’s trademark primitive speech lightens the mood a little bit, which is a good thing, as the cover would otherwise be quite terrifying.

Inside we’re treated to the very first Stuart Immonen Superman story, an artist and eventual author who will have a huge impact on these books.  It’s a bit strange to evaluate his art style, which has now more or less become the official modern house style at Marvel Comics (Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments).  In 1994, though, his crisp and shadowy artwork was totally unique, and something very brand new.  Even in these early, expositional pages, he shows a lot of flair, drawing both figures and television equipment with very well rendered simplicity.  The colourist lets him down a little bit in the early going here, with the seemingly random rim lighting on Lex Jr’s emaciated face being particularly confusing. [Max: It’s the Clone Plague! He’s Bizarro-ing!!]

On page 3, we get a good look at both a strength and a weakness that defines Immonen’s Superman work. One strength is his attention to attire, particularly Clark’s outfits.  His mid-90s baggy shirt and high-waisted dockers look very of its time, without being so fashionable that you lose that it’s Clark Kent.  The weakness (and it might be his only one, as he really is a stellar artist!) is that I never thought he drew Superman/Clark’s face handsomely enough.  While I appreciated that he makes Superman look quite youthful (relative to, say, Jackson Guice’s Superman) the facial features always looked a little slight, weak-chinned, and average-looking to me.  But that might just be me!

The full page reveal of “Superman” leaving the cloning chamber is a good one, despite, again, some weird colouring choices.  Immonen’s style lends itself well to rim lighting, but the bright whites on the arm and the blobs of colour on the abs don’t quite pull together (but I get it—this is an in-between era, after the flat newsprint colour, but before fully airbrushed looking digital colouring took over.

On the following page, there’s a great, subtle piece of drawing, as in the background the weakened Lex carefully holds himself up as he decends the staircase, which is a great gesture.  Bizarro zapping Happersen looks horrifyingly painful, and I dig that Bizarro is drawn less crystalline than Frankenstein-like, which is appropriate, given the original 1958 Superboy story that introduced the character.

So much of this issue is well drawn, it’s hard to narrow down the best panels, when you could select almost all of them, but the show of Superman darting away from Lois’ apartment is a particularly great image.  Immonen’s Superman seems to have the longest hair of this period. Drawing funnels of water as Superman douses the tankers is really well done, as water is notoriously difficult to render believably.  One last detail I love is the use of candid photos in the broadcast of Cat Grant’s Hollywood news magazine.  It’s a great real world detail that the photos that sort of journalism would use might not be subject submitted.  On the whole, a very exciting issue, art-wise, and a good kickoff to the reintroduction of a major Superman character.  

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Uhh, what exactly does Jimmy Olsen’s t-shirt say? [Max: “Thank You,” obviously. Jimmy is a huge Alanis Morissette fan. Must be a bootleg t-shirt, though, because she spells it “Thank U.”]

Now, this book was written decades before doofy “Nice Guy” meme culture, but Clark is kinda laying it on thick with all the “milady” business here, and it hits the modern ear in a dorky way. [Max: At least they didn’t spell it “m’lady.”]

Canadian Stuart Immonen places a CD by fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen on Lois’ shelf.  Canadian Don Sparrow notices. [Max: Chilean Leonard Cohen fan Maxwell Yezpitelok never did until now! Pretty sure I didn’t know who that was when I first read this issue at age 11 or something, though.]

It’s interesting that Jurgens specifically points out how careful Superman is to discreetly come and go from Lois’ apartment—it’s a good detail, and also sets up the contrast of Bizarro’s door crashing indiscretion.

The fact that so many people mistake Bizarro for Superman is actually a pretty good defense of the believability of the Clark Kent secret identity.  If witnesses like the neighbour, or the ship captain see the hideous Bizarro in action, and still mistake him for Superman, it’s clear that people are distracted by the muscles and brightly coloured uniform, and clearly aren’t looking closely at his face.  Which is exactly how Clark’s true identity has stayed secret for so long.

#superman #dan jurgens #stuart immonen #josef rubinstein #bizarro #cat grant #sydney happersen #dr. teng #bill henderson #clone plague #backwards talking albino frankenstein #Bizarro's World

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #697 (March 1994)

Bizarro's World, Part 3! Superman not only gets to fight Bizarro for the first time in this storyline, but he also finally gets to rough up Lex Luthor for the first time in... this entire continuity, maybe?

Superman bursts into Lex Luthor Jr.'s personal sauna and demands to know what he has to do with that "Bizarre-o" creature who seems to have his same powers and kidnapped Lois Lane recently. Supes is so angry that he doesn't even notice Lex is clearly very sick until Lex's "mum," Dr. Kelley, points it out. Superman apologizes for getting carried away, but then Lex admits that he does know where Bizarro came from: his overzealous employee Sydney Happersen created him while trying to find a cure for his boss' mystery illness (which is actually the Clone Plague going around Metropolis lately, but Superman doesn't know Lex is in the risk group for that).

When Superman hears Bizarro is in Midway City, he speeds there and finds the monster trying to "fix" a drawbridge by fusing it together with his heat vision. The poor brute doesn't understand why the cops are shooting at him after that, or why someone who looks like him shows up out of nowhere and punches him across several city blocks.

Superman manages to gain the upper hand on Bizarro, but unfortunately he punches him harder than intended (courtesy of his expanded powers, as seen in recent months) and almost causes a building to collapse. Superman throws Bizarro into orbit to get rid of him while he deals with the collapsing building situation, thus continuing one of the most long-running traditions in this era: Superman throwing crap into space when he doesn't know what to do with it.

As he floats over Earth, Bizarro's warped memories remind him of Smallville and he's like "You know who never dropped a giant globe on me or threw me into space? Lana Lang. She was nice." He stops by Smallville to visit Lana, who is supremely freaked out by the sight of an ugly backwards version of her childhood crush.

Seeing Lana in danger makes Superman double-angry and he finally punches Bizarro so hard that he stops moving. What's more, Superman seems relieved that can't detect any signs of life in the creature (he won't be going into space for six months to atone for this one). After making sure Lana is relatively okay, Superman takes Bizarro's "corpse" back to Metropolis for study... but, of course, we see on that last panel that he opens his eyes, because there are still two more issues left in this storyline. CONTINUED!

Plotline-Watch:

Lex Luthor is now officially as bald as, well... Lex Luthor.

After that, the most significant event this issue is that Lana's run-in with Bizarro convinces her that she definitely doesn't yearn to be Superman's girlfriend anymore and she literally runs off to tell her boyfriend Pete Ross she wants to marry him ASAP (meaning "in three issues," or Action #700).

Superman thinks that he hasn't been this angry since Lex Sr. kidnapped Lana Lang (way back in Superman #2), right before Bizarro kidnaps Lana Lang. Coincidence or psychic link?

Also, Bizarro takes Lana to Smallville's old Simonson Limestone Quarry, which is Superman's official spot for fighting duplicates: that's where he fought the Pocket Universe Superboy in Superman #8, the Eradicator-controlled Matrix/Supergirl in Action #644 (as Lana points out), and now this. Superman '86 to '99: still the internet's foremost authority on Smallville's old Simonson Limestone Quarry after all these years.

When Superman apologizes for manhandling Lex, he says: "If someone were ripping up the city in *my* name, I'd be pretty upset too." More Action #700 foreshadowing!

Lex tells Superman he probably got sick after being exposed to the toxic junk in Coast City when he went snooping there right before it fell into the water (Superman #83). This is a pretty good cover story, because Lex WAS a big dumbass for going there without any protection whatsoever.

Patreon-Watch:

Don Sparrow’s section below was read a week ago by our patrons Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol (who also motivated me to finish this my part above right before the end of the month). You can join at: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now I leave you in Don’s capable hands for art commentary and, as usual, all the interesting details I missed despite owning these issues for decades...

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We begin with the cover, and it’s such a unique composition that it rang a bell.  I went into my old copy of The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told and found the very first Bizarro story, in Superboy #68.  It’s maybe the best Bizarro story, and of course, the closest to the Frankenstein novel, right down to befriending a blind girl.  I digress—anyway, at one point, Superboy, trying to get rid of the Bizarro menace, attempts to hurl him like a discus into outer space. But Bizarro being Bizarro, he boomerangs back at Superboy, and smashes into Superboy.  The pose isn’t identical, but I thought it was close enough to be a potential homage.  What do you think?  Do I have too many Superman comics on the brain or is there something here? [Max: I see it! I also have the Greatest Stories book and read it a million times and never noticed the reference, very cool!]

Inside we are greeted with a fairly action-packed splash, of Superman smashing through a glass wall into Lex Junior’s steam bath.

It’s a great image, with lots of motion, and Superman’s carelessness with the flying glass lets the reader know he’s not messing around (later in the book, Superman even thinks to himself he hasn’t been that angry since Superman #2, and there’s definitely a visual callback now that I think of it!). [Max: ANOTHER thing I never noticed! I am astonished.] Page 4’s chiaroscuro Superman is a great look, and I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t somewhat influenced by the shadowy renderings of Superman by Immonen a few weeks back.

There’s still more uncharacteristic Superman destructiveness as he flies away to confront Bizarro on that same page—I wonder if this is disregard, or a signal that Superman’s powers are out of whack.

Page 5 gives us a new look at Lex Junior’s deterioration, and it’s interesting, looking at this from an era when Lex Luthor has been fit/thin for decades—Junior is very much looking like the Lex we now know.

Superman is pretty brutal to Bizarro in the story, and it’s interesting to me that even though we’ve seen that Superman’s mass and power level have increased, he’s unable to shatter this Bizarro as easily as he did in their first meeting. It’s a bit comical how many times Superman believes he has destroyed Bizarro in this issue, only for Bizarro to bounce back and counter-attack.

Then later in the issue, we get another hint of a call-back to the boomerang idea from the original Superboy story, where Superman hammer-throws Bizarro off-world.

Later in the story, I’m wondering if Jackson Guice had recently watched Terminator 2, as Lana looks for all the world like Linda Hamilton (which wouldn’t be bad casting for that part, back in the day!) and on the same page, Bizarro definitely has an Ah-nold vibe. [Max: Add this to the ever-growing “I really should have noticed this years ago” pile, please.]

On the whole, this is another slugfest issue, where besides a pretty good duke-out, not a ton happens.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

It occurs to me that it must be quite an act for Lex to keep up the accent and Australianisms all the time.  On top of all the other ways he’s an evil genius, he’s also a master thespian, it seems.

Bizarro “fixing” a drawbridge is exactly the sort of danger he should be causing—not intentionally evil, but misguided in a child-like way.

Interesting that Lana calls the character who brought her out to the quarries “Supergirl” even though her previous identity looked nothing of the kind. [Max: Remember she did first meet Matrix in her Supergirl form back in Adventures #442, Don!]

Clark’s uncool treatment of Lana continues, calling her efforts to protect him a “foolhardy stunt”.  You’re welcome, buddy.

The characterization of Lana craving normalcy is one that echoed in  portrayals of her in Lois & Clark, and later on, Smallville—she certainly loved Clark, but would have been happier without the powers.  I’m sure Pete Ross is glad for her phone call, whatever the reasoning.

#superman #roger stern #jackson guice #denis rodier #bizarro #gretchen kelley #clone plague #lana lang #pete ross #simonson limestone quarry #throwing random crap into space #Bizarro's World

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #696 (February 1994)

Superman fights THE CHAMPION: the sensational character find of 1994! Yes, it’s another new ‘90s hero who (as far as I can tell) will never appear again. We start with Superman literally kicking rocks in space, where he’s been lost since his recent fight with Lobo. Oh yeah, and he doesn’t need to breathe anymore, for some reason.

After three issues of aimless wandering, he finally runs into a somewhat Earth-like planet and decides to go down to ask for directions. Unfortunately he can’t do that, because the giant city he saw from space is completely empty and encased in something like amber. Superman tries to create a small opening in the “amber” with his heat vision to go snooping inside one of the buildings, but his super-charged powers cause him to melt the coating off of half the building. That’s when he meets a big bug-like guy in a green armor called Champion, who isn’t too happy about Superman defacing the empty buildings under his care.

Superman tries to push Champion away to explain himself, but of course he ends up punching him across the city due to his extra strength (he should really be used to that by now). More punching and property damage ensue.

Champion eventually manages to knock Superman out and takes him to his satellite base to have him analyzed by his AI companion, Outpost. Outpost finds out that Superman is 1) a Kryptonian, and 2) only pretending to be unconscious, so the fight resumes. To prevent those two from destroying the satellite with their brawling, Outpost zaps Champion with some sort of sleeping ray and explains their whole backstory to Superman (having learned English by reading his mind). Turns out this planet was rendered uninhabitable by alien invaders a long time ago, causing the survivors to go into suspended animation chambers underground -- except for Champion, who had to stay up there rebuilding the cities and sealing them from the toxic elements (hence the “amber” stuff).

Now Champion just sits in his satellite all day, waiting for the planet to become inhabitable again and protecting it from destructive visitors like Superman. Having explained all that, Outpost finally tells Superman how to get back to Earth... mostly just to keep him away from this planet since his powers are growing so much that pretty soon he’ll be a danger to everyone around him.

Yay, Superman’s going back home! I mean, uh-oh.

Plotline-Watch:

As Superman goes through the wormhole Outpost pointed him to, he misses a familiar-looking being crossing in the opposite direction. Don Sparrow says: “As if the issue seemed aware that essentially nothing happened, they toss in a glimpse at Doomsday, who has been freed into ‘normal space’ by the wormhole through which Superman traveled.” Doomsday has been tied up to that asteroid since the Cyborg Superman put him there and tossed him into space back in Superman #78. It would have been darkly funny if Doomsday had landed on Champion’s world and proceeded to tear the whole place apart, but his destiny lies in a more... apocalyptic location.

The only other plot this week is about Lois Lane’s ongoing investigation into Sasha Green, Lex Luthor Jr.’s personal trainer who went missing (because he choked her to death). Lois stops by Lex’s office to ask him about Sasha, and apparently this criminal mastermind didn’t fully think his alibi through: he’s been telling people Sasha disappeared because she moved to Coast City right before it turned into a big crater, but he also admits that she reappeared in Metropolis with metahuman powers during an alien invasion and seemingly died again in a helicopter crash (during the “Bloodlines” crossover). Lois informs Lex that she has evidence Sasha didn’t move to Coast City and didn’t die in that crash, and he’s so upset that he almost chokes his top lackey to death, too.

I’m not clear on when Lois found out about the “Bloodlines” stuff. When Sasha’s dad asked her to look into her disappearance, he seemed to think no one had seen her since that day she kicked Lex in the face during training. Has Lois told Mr. Green that his daughter was turned into a super-zombie by aliens and might still be around? Should she tell him?

As a continuity nerd, I appreciate Champion being confused about how a Kryptonian can exist outside Krypton considering the “defective gene” that made them drop dead if they tried to exit their world (a gene created by Superman’s ancestor Kem-L via the Eradicator).

Patreon-Watch:

Don and I also appreciate our patrons Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and newcomers Andrew Loduha and Hank Curry! Thanks, all! As a perk of joining us at patreon.com/superman86to99, they got to read Don’s section two weeks ago, but it can now be shared with the world (because I finally got around to finishing mine). Take it away, Don:

Art-Watch (by Don Sparrow):

While this sojourn into space has felt generally a little like filler, it has still provided some great visuals.  This month’s cover would make a great poster, and I was especially impressed by the detail in Superman’s hair, as well as the subtle trail of red from his cape within the speed lines.  Great, great stuff.

The opening splash has a great sense of motion, as Superman kicks an asteroid in frustration (though there’s something comedically Rockette-like in his follow-through).  Soon after we get our first look at Champion, and for a character with such a cool name, it’s a puzzling design. He looks a little like an armoured, green version of the Tick, apart from his very alien face.  There’s also a strange thing happening on the full body shots, where his torso looks like a big nosed face gritting his teeth. [Max: For some reason I can’t stop thinking about Wario.]

As the story progresses we get a nice view of Metropolis at Christmastime, complete with a performance of the Nutcracker ballet in Metropolis’ version of Broadway.  Jackson Guice generally pays pretty good attention to Lois’ fashion choices, though, perhaps due to the colouring, this one looks like it came from the Nicholson-as-Joker collection. 

As Superman goes toe to toe with Champion we get another perfectly bowl-like crater, another Guice specialty.

A few pages later, the star-warp in space is well done, particularly the shimmer colour involved.

On the whole, I’m thrilled Superman will soon be returning to Earth.  Unlike the “Exile in Space” saga, this entire journey into space has been pretty uneventful, other than documenting that Superman’s powers are continually increasing.  Even this issue is a deeply weird summary:  Superman goes to a suspended animation planet and its protector thinks he’s a threat, but he’s not.  So Superman leaves. [Max: You forgot “and Lex chokes a dude”.]

#superman #roger stern #jackson guice #denis rodier #sydney happersen #sasha green #doomsday #armored green version of the tick #guys who never appeared again #Mini-Exile in Space

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #509 (February 1994)

Introducing Massacre and de-introducing Auron! Because he dies in this issue (I'd say "spoilers!" but we all know that if a cover has the words "final fate" in it, someone's definitely dying). If you don't remember Auron, he's the flying, metal-skinned clone of Project Cadmus' Guardian who first appeared back when Superman was dead and Cadmus was trying to clone him. That story ended with Auron flying off into space with a copy of Superman's DNA information inside his jetpack/computer to make sure no one can clone him and soil his legacy. In this issue, we meet Auron again as he's getting crap beaten out of him by some big red sociopath called Massacre, who just likes going around the cosmos picking fights with people.

Massacre leaves Auron for dead in what appears to be the ruins of an alien strip bar. Luckily, Superman happens to stumble upon the very same bar while lost in space after his recent fight with Lobo. Despite never meeting Auron before, Superman offers him a friendly hand and proposes joining forces to find whoever wrecked the strip joint, but obviously they can't do that yet: first they have to fight among themselves for a while, because those are the rules of superhero team-ups (and also because otherwise, the cover would be misleading).

Once Superman convinces Auron that he's the real steel deal, they go looking for Massacre and find him as he's Massacre-ing some more aliens. Massacre is actually pretty stoked to meet Superman, since he's a celebrity all over the universe (probably thanks to the time he toppled Mongul) and being the one to re-kill him would boost Massacre's reputation. Superman and Massacre seem to be pretty even, and when Auron is like "hey, uh, I'm here too," Massacre easily kills him just so he'll stop distracting him.

Massacre decides that fighting on Earth would be more interesting than fighting on some random asteroid, so he leaves, promising that the next time they meet it'll be on Superman's home turf... and also that he'll kill all of Superman's friends while at it (may I suggest starting with the one with the bowtie?). As for Auron, he uses his dying breath to ask Superman to destroy his body, no doubt hoping to prevent the Kryptonian DNA from falling into the wrong hands. Superman is like "no, you deserve a dignified end" and buries Auron in this asteroid... which is immediately dug up by a little alien who follows Massacre around to loot the trash he leaves behind. So dignified.

The issue ends with the little alien telling this whole story to the space barman at a space bar, then offering Auron's jetpack/computer as payment. But, apparently, jetpacks alone are more valuable than jetpacks/computers, so the alien rips off the part containing the DNA info and is like "boy, I sure hope there was nothing valuable there." The end! (For Auron. Superman will continue appearing in comics.)

Plotline-Watch:

While I like Auron, this was kind of an underwhelming end to his storyline. There was a lot more that could have been done with the idea of Superman's genetic info being somewhere out in space. My pitch: Amazing Grace from the Legends crossover shows up with a half-Kryptonian, half-Apokaliptic Boy of Steel and tells Superman he’s the result of that time they took a naked bath together (we really need to go back and add images to that issue), but then it turns out she got the DNA from Auron. It writes itself! Anyway, I guess an abrupt ending is way better than just forgetting the storyline forever (no, I will never stop being mad about Dr. Stratos).

It's unclear how much Superman knows about Auron. At one point he calls him "a... guardian of my memory" (emphasis in the original) and then he's like "What do you want from me, some DNA?" so it's possible he figured out Auron's entire backstory thanks to his super-senses, but he never makes it explicit.

Upon being punched by Massacre, Superman says this is the hardest he's been hit since Doomsday. We're gonna see that line like 200 more times over the coming years. Don Sparrow adds: “Max beat me to it, but this is the first of many instances where Superman invokes Doomsday in order to build up whatever opponent he’s facing. It happens so often, it could become a drinking game, so we’ll try to keep track of it for you.” No “try,” Don. This is our duty.

Also, note that if Superman and Massacre were evenly matched in this issue, when Superman's all juiced up, that means Massacre should normally be WAY more powerful. I'm not sure if his future appearances addressed that.

Incidentally, I think the writers are running out of ways to show that Superman's powers are expanding in every issue, because "he can now see microwaves" is a pretty lame one. I would have guessed that was already a power Superman had. Plus, he seems to forget he can do that at the end, when Massacre escapes.

Meanwhile, Lois Lane continues her investigation into the disappearance of Lex Luthor Jr.'s personal trainer back on Earth. She sneaks into the LexCorp locker room again and talks to another trainer who doesn't seem to believe the story that Sasha just happened to move to Coast City right before it blew up. However, the most disturbing part of the issue is Luthor's lackey Dr. Happersen watching the above conversation through the many hidden cameras in that locker room. I wonder if Luthor knows about these cameras, or if it was just Happersen's "personal project."

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AND NOW, more from the great Don Sparrow, after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it’s a good one.  The sun behind Auron and Superman gives nice rim lighting (I always like yellow rim lighting!) and the shine of Auron’s metallic costume is very well rendered here.  

The interior pages have a fairly slow build on the first page, but we get a nice look at a very tech-y looking spacecraft.  The big reveal comes on the second and third page splash, where we see Auron (apparently robots have gleaming white teeth, who knew?) throwing down with Massacre, who has apparently killed the all-female crew.  Massacre’s costume is a master class in 90s design, with every box checked: shoulder pads, dreadlocks, pouches, kneepads, buckles galore.  

The panel of Superman’s arrival is a good one, even if it veers into Image-comics territory for the unwieldy length of Superman’s cape.

As the story progresses, we cut to Lois doing some investigative journalism, and she is looking extremely fit in her leotard, as she meets the world’s most helpful cleaning lady.

In terms of battle excitement, Auron’s fight with Massacre lasts a little longer than Superman’s, as Massacre takes off to Earth after killing Auron.  But there are a couple great panels, especially the one where Superman cracks Massacre’s helmet while shouting “not while I live!”

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

It was an odd choice to have this weird, Heavy Metal-looking random alien as the story’s narrator.  I’m not sure how well it worked.  I think we’re supposed to feel something for Auron’s passing—Superman certainly does—but the story is presented in such an uncaring, “and then this happened” sort of way that it diminishes the impact a little.

The narrator mentions Tauntauns on the first page (in a particularly gross way), making this reference one of the first to link DC to the larger Star Wars universe.

As Max pointed out, Happersen has a preeeetty elaborate camera system rigged up for that changeroom.  And we all know how much Luthor likes surveillance videotapes.

Interesting detail that Wanda (last seen in Superman #77, talking to Sasha Green before she was abducted by Lex) remembers meeting Lois.  I went back and checked that issue, and while Lois and Supergirl interrupt Lex Jr’s sparring session with Sasha, I can find no indication Lois ever speaks to Wanda, though I suppose it may have happened off camera. Her hair is different, though.

GODWATCH: We get quite a few invocations in this issue, from Superman finding the corpses of the Virago crew, with a “Good Lord!”, followed by another Good Lord, when Massacre hits him as hard as Doomsday, and lastly Superman flat our prays “Please God let me get there before him!” when Massacre threatens to head to Earth ahead of Superman.

The little purple alien drinking what appears to be a goldfish bowl has a rear end that is distractingly well-rendered.  For some reason. [Max: Hot dang, how did I fail to notice that thicc little alien in 18 years? Insert “Oh Yeah” by Yello here.]

#superman #karl kesel #barry kitson #ray mccarthy #auron #massacre #sasha green #sydney happersen #space strippers #thicc little alien #Mini-Exile in Space

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #505 (October 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMAN! The Reign is over, and Superman does what we’d all do after being dead for several weeks and coming back to life: no, not visiting your parents, making out with Lois Lane.

Or more than making out, since the next page starts with a caption that says “Later...” and lets us know that they both had to take a shower. (NOTE: Check Don Sparrow’s section below for artist Tom Grummett’s definitive take on what happened in that scene.)

Their post-resurrection bliss comes to a stop when they remember a little detail: Clark Kent is still presumed dead. How are they gonna explain his return without making the extremely smart residents of Metropolis suspect that Superman and the guy who looks like Superman but with glasses are actually the same person? Superman’s mind immediately goes into “wacky bullshit excuse” mode and he starts spitballing ideas, like claiming Clark lost his memory, or was carried by underwater currents, or was abducted by aliens. Honestly, I’m pretty sure that last one would work, since there have been THREE major alien invasions in the past few years, but Lois thinks no one would be dumb enough to fall for that sort of thing. Really, Lois? No one?

At this point, Superman picks up some supervillain activity with his super hearing, so he gets dressed and goes there (though it would have been pretty intimidating for the criminals if she’d shown up in that shower rug). A bank uptown has been taken over by Loophole, a S.T.A.R. Labs accountant who stole a gizmo that allows him to phase through walls. When Superman shows up to arrest him and his henchmen (are they all villainous accountants?), Loophole literally puts his first through Superman’s chest, instantly killing him. RIP Superman, again.

Nah, Supes just swats Loophole away and breaks the gizmo, causing him to get his crotch area stuck inside a vault door. Now he has to change his supervillain name to “DickVault”.

(I freaking love Maggie Sawyer, btw.)

After that, Superman goes to one of the areas trashed by his fight with Doomsday and helps clean up the junk that’s still laying around there. It’s then that he finally reunites with his best friend and most valued ally: Bibbo Bibbowski. (Jimmy Olsen’s there, too, unfortunately.)

Bibbo also introduces Superman to the dog he named in honor of his home planet, Krypto -- and it’s Krypto who provides the most significant moment in this issue. The little mutt starts barking at some debris from a destroyed building, leading Superman to examine it with his X-Ray vision and find some kids underneath.

Turns out the kids had been trapped there since the Doomsday fight, leading some random passerby (fine, Jimmy) to wonder if Clark could be stuck in a similar situation. Superman and Lois look at each other... giving Superman an idea and providing the premise for next week’s issue.

Character-Watch:

First appearance of Loophole (real name Deke Dickinson, C.P.A.), who would become a running joke in Karl Kesel’s Superman and Superboy comics. While his phasing powers are tech based, he also has the metahuman ability to somehow convince attractive women to be his girlfriends/henchwomen despite being a balding little dweeb. In this issue he’s dating a blonde named Sheila (who wears a mask, so maybe she’s actually hideous), but I’m pretty sure he had other girlfriends in future issues.

Plotline-Watch:

As I said... holy shit, five years ago: no one draws Supes coming back to Lois after an extended absence like Tom Grummett. This scene is almost a remake of the one from that issue when Superman comes back from his time traveling jaunt. There’s also a callback to Man of Steel #25, when Lois hears a tap on her window and thinks it’s Superman, but it’s just some dumb bird. This time she gets it the other way around:

Don Sparrow says: “There’s a cute visual callback to the last time Superman returned after a long absence on page 18, when Superman is reunited with Jimmy. It’s a near identical pose to Action #643, where Superman returned from exile in space (and in that moment, infected Jimmy with Eradicator-based space sickness, womp womp).” I think he’s instinctively throwing Jimmy up in the air, hoping the cold of space will kill him. Unfortunately, both murder attempts were unsuccessful.

As seen above, Maggie Sawyer wasn’t too convinced that “Fabio” here was Superman at first. That changes when he calls her “Captain” even though she was recently promoted to Inspector, and she’s like “only a dead man wouldn’t know all the precise ranks for the local authorities!”

The surviving non-Supermen are seen arriving at S.T.A.R. Labs for medical care after the Engine City showdown. Don again: “There are some mild continuity issues stemming from Superman #82, which perhaps wasn’t completely finished being drawn while Tom Grummett worked on this one, as Steel’s costume is almost entirely intact, when we last saw it a week ago, it was in tatters. Ditto the Eradicator, who was a wizened husk, and now is apparently a scorched Ivan Drago.” Let’s assume Supergirl worked her clothes-shifting magic on Steel’s armor and the Eradicator’s, uh, hair.

There’s a short scene where Superboy is visited by his reporter pal Tana Moon, who tells him she quit WGBS and is leaving Metropolis. Awww. Goodbye, Tana. Or should I say... aloha?

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor Jr. has a scene with Dr. Happersen where he says he intends to control or destroy anyone who wears the “S” symbol. Basically, if he can’t date them, they should be dead. He also instructs Happersen to help Cadmus’ Director Westfield get in contact with disgraced genetician Dabney Donovan. Get ready for a whole lot of clone-related shenanigans in the near future.

And now, more Don Sparrow-related shenanigans after the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

This issue is another favourite of mine, but I suppose all these issues around the Death and Return are faves when I really think about it.  My copy of this issue had the holographic fireworks cover, and it’s a good one.  I like that Superman and the Daily Planet are in natural colour, rather than holograms.  The cover credit goes Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood, so I’m not sure what the breakdown was (or if that’s just a handwritten cover credit, just in case?

The story opens with one of my favourite sequences ever, with Lois waking up on her couch, having fallen asleep following the events in Coast City.  I love the detail as she opens the curtain, we see her engagement ring, indicating she knows her real fiancée has returned.  This sequence is followed up by two pages of splashes of the passionate reunion of the best couple in comics.  All beautifully rendered as they float, locked in a passionate, sunrise kiss.  Just lovely (so lovely that I am willing to overlook a small colouring error, as Lois has black hair instead of reddish brown for one panel).  [Max: I can confirm that they fixed that in the collections.]

What follows is a very cute scene, and one of some debate among Superman fans.  There’s no overt evidence of what happened, all we get is a cryptic caption reading “later…”.   Again, I give credit for the subtlety of the writers, as they depict this scene in a way that can be read either way:  maybe Clark and Lois made love, and the “later” we are seeing is afterglow, or maybe Lois had a shower since she just woke up after sleeping in her clothes. Then, after calling his parents while Lois showered, Clark had a shower himself.  I feel like today’s writers wouldn’t feel the need to be so subtle, and might lose the sweetness of this scene. ��

In previous posts, I’ve talked about my friendship with artist Tom Grummett, and how as a boy, I would wear him out with all my dumb fanboy questions.  Once I got older, and our relationship became a little more collegial (just a little closer to collegial, since I in no way consider myself anywhere near his level of skill or success) I would really try not to geek out too much when we would visit.  But the one question I had to ask was about this scene, and what their intention, or interpretation of it was, as I was always curious.  Once I had explained to him which issue it was (the guy has drawn hundreds, so they might not all spring to mind immediately!) he admitted that his assumption was indeed that they had sex.  So there you have it!  [Max: Hot damn! Another Superman ‘86 to ‘99 exclusive, folks!]

However you wish to read this scene, the choreography, and facial expressions as they horse around is really sweet and fun, and such a nice, light tone compared to the do-or-die pace the books had been for the last two years or so.   Their easy joking, and back and forth banter really do a great job of showing them as a real couple.

It’s a very nice pose on Supergirl as she lifts off, simultaneously spurning Superboy’s romantic complaints.

I quite like the design on Loophole, and his gang.  Loophole himself kinda harkens back to the silver age villains of the Flash as Loophole has a unique hairline, is an older man, with a pretty average build, which was rare for villains in the 90s. His gimmick is pretty cool, too, though we immediately see its vulnerability.

The tearful reunion of the now-sober Bibbo and Superman is also a great moment—if anyone rose to the challenge of living up to Superman’s example in his absence, it was Bibbo.  I discuss the scene in more detail in the observations later, but the image of Superman whipping away the debris on page 20 is a great visual, with the dust clouds creating great motion and urgency.

On the whole, a great first issue for the return to the never-ending battle, even if it brings us closer to Grummett’s last issue on this title (for a while).

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Could Superman referring to the Death and Return storyline as a dream, while stepping out of the shower be a reference to Dallas, and their famous about-face after an unpopular season, where Bobby Ewing emerged from the shower, alive and well, dismissing a yearlong storyline as a dream?

A coy semi-reference to perhaps my favourite line in the first Reeve Superman film on page 8, where Supergirl says “Easy steel, we’ve got you, then later adding, “ok, you got me”.  

A little more issue-to-issue dissonance with Superboy reversing himself from the end of Superman #82, where he said clearly that Kal-El was Superman, with Superboy pointing out that legally, he’s Superman and not Kal. [Max: I think he’s talking strictly in the legal sense, since he helps Superman deal with the legal problem on the next issue and all.]

For all the times that Superman has used his heat vision on guns (as he does on page 11), we’ve never seen rounds get burned off, firing on their own because of the heat.  There might be an idea there.    

An odd sorta-cameo by Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon, who Superman apparently defeats in the waterfront district. An eagle-eyed reader asked Larsen about it in issue #6 of Dragon’s own book, and he nixed any proper crossover rumours, saying it was just a shout-out from Larsen’s buddy Karl Kesel.  Eventually they’d meet in Superman/Savage Dragon: Chicago, a so-so crossover in 2002.

A slightly bawdy joke from one of the Loophole gang, on page 14, as the moll of Deke Dickson calls Loophole a “weiner”.  

GODWATCH: A stirring moment when Superman detects the faintest of life-signs, thanks to would-be super-pup, Krypto, and responds “God willing” when someone asks if anyone is alive in that wreckage.  The love and concern in Superman’s eyes when he says he’d “rather die” himself than let little ones perish is a tear-jerker moment for sure.  Bonus points for the cuteness of Superman heaping praise on Krypto, with the line “if that dog could fly, I’d put a cape on him…”

Question:  Does Jimmy know? He comes up with the solution to the Clark problem very conveniently.  Maybe he’s smarter than we (and by we, I mean Max) give him credit for? [Max: It was all Krypto! Okay, I’ll concede that maybe Jimmy is as smart as a dog.]

#superman #karl kesel #tom grummett #doug hazlewood #superboy #steel #supergirl #S.T.A.R. Labs #eradicator #loophole #maggie sawyer #dan turpin #sydney happersen #tana moon #bibbo bibbowski #krypto #dickvault #the man whose dick is a vault

[superman86to99]

Superman: The Man of Steel #25 (September 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! Also: ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! Or, halfway point for an anniversary issue, anyway. The plot is structured around various characters converging on Metropolis' bay area:

Lex Luthor Jr. and Supergirl: Chief Lackey Dr. Happersen alerts Lex that his scientists have detected some big-ass robot heading to Metropolis from the ocean. Since Metropolis is the one thing Lex actually gives a shit about, he sends a submarine crew to kill the robot with bombs, but they end up killing themselves instead.

(Apparently the submarine was staffed entirely by helicopter pilots.)

Believing the robot must be Doomsday 2.0 or something, Lex sends Supergirl after it this time, since he clearly doesn't give a shit about her.

The Man of Steel: Steel has heard the reports saying that the Last Son of Krypton blew up Coast City, but he ain't buying it. Not just because the two kinda parted on friendly terms when they last met (Man of Steel #24), but because Steel was able to fight off the Last Son by himself that day, so it's a little weird that he'd be powerful enough to defeat the Cyborg and Superboy and a whole city. So, Steel decides to head to Coast City to find out what's going on.

Superboy: The Kid has finally managed to free himself from the elaborate robotic shackles where Cyborg had him trapped (thanks to the little motivational video Mongul showed him last month in Action #690). However, now he knows he's not strong enough to take on the Cyborg by himself, so he opts to fly back to Metropolis for assistance. Character development!

Lois Lane: Lois also decides to go to Coast City because she doesn't trust the Cyborg and wants to find out the truth... and, uh, because she kissed a dude and wants to get as far away from him as possible. (More on this in the plotlines section below.)

And so, Supergirl, Steel, Superboy, and Lois all bump into each other on Metropolis' bay area (the closest point to Coast City, I guess) just as the aforementioned robot arrives. Some punching ensues, and Steel is the one who finally manages to take it down, because it's his comic after all. And then, just as Superboy is updating all the others on the Cyborg's plan to pull a "Coast City" on Metropolis (read: blow it up), the defeated robot seemingly gives birth to...

...some long-haired dude in a gimp suit? Really? Come on, DC, this is the flimsiest Superman pretender so far.

Mullet-Watch:

It’s here. For better or worse... it’s here. Yes, this issue marks the reality-shattering debut of the Super-Mullet -- and I say “reality-shattering” because, seriously, where did that thing come from? The last time we saw the Kryptonian Battle Armor’s occupant in full (Action #689), there was no mullet in sight. That was only a few days ago in the storyline’s timeline, which is nowhere near enough time to grow a mullet, as anyone who has attempted it can tell you. Now, it’s been established that the goo inside the armor is full of “healing nutrients” or something... maybe those nutrients include a fast hair-growing formula? Did Superman’s ancestors in planet Krypton suffer from alopecia?

Note, however, that the character’s hair seems to be pretty short on this issue’s cover (unless it’s so long that it turned into the darkness surrounding him) and on the “birthing” panels, so I have to wonder if the mullet was a last minute addition. That, or Jon Bogdanove drew it without asking anyone else, like that time Jack Kirby added some “nut on a surfboard” to a Fantastic Four comic.

Plotline-Watch:

Steel has gotten so good at fighting street gangsters with automatic weapons that he spends two pages effortlessly dealing with a bunch of them while mentally recapping storylines. He's already a pro at this superheroing thing.

So. The kiss thing. Lois' old college flame Jeb Friedman has been wooing from the moment he heard her fiancee was probably dead. A class act, that Jeb. In this issue, Jeb takes Lois to a sports bar, but she spends the whole evening thinking about the Cyborg and Coast City. My theory: she was so distracted that when he kissed her at the end of the date, it took her like 10 seconds to even notice it. She feels so dirty afterwards that she marches into Perry White's office and demands that he let her risk her life and go to Coast City('s crater) to find out what's really going on.

Immediately after kissing Jeb (or letting Jeb kiss her), Lois hears a tap on the window and thinks it's Clark, but it's only a bird -- a bird possessed by Clark's angry, jealous ghost, that is! Probably. We'll know for sure if Jeb shows up with bird poop on his hair the next time we see him.

There's now an official name for Superboy's unique special ability: "panicky power blasts!" Catchy. Speaking of which, I wonder if the following sequence where the Kid uses his powers to free Steel was originally meant to show him using regular (non-touchy) telekinesis, but they caught the mistake and added the "touch him with my foot" dialogue afterwards. Good thing they didn't go with another body part.

By the way, the robot only seems hostile to Steel and the others because (as established in previous issues) the thing is actually on auto-pilot and Super-Fabio inside can’t even see what’s going on, since there’s no visor or anything. That seems like a pretty poor design for a giant robot. That, or there is a visor but he still couldn’t see with all that hair in the way.

Don Sparrow points out: “The meta romance between Spin Doctors and Jimmy Olsen continues unabated, even though the idea of Jimmy liking a band that got famous with a song about him wanting to woo Lois Lane gives me a headache.”

For more art commentary and much more Jeb hate, check out Don’s section after the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, where we finally glimpse the face of the man who has been piloting that Kryptonian warsuit all that time (and we’ll just forget that we already saw him a whole bunch a few weeks ago) and it’s Ash himself, Bruce Campbell!  Despite what I would call an overabundance of hatching lines, this cover has become a pretty iconic one, and really does grab you when it’s sitting on a shelf.  After months of trying to find hints or the real Superman in all these difference characters, we’re confronted with what would seem to be the real steel deal—and he’s pissed.

Inside we begin with a full page splash of Superboy locked down by the Cyborg.  It’s funny how much these characters vary, issue to issue.  Last week he looked a little older and lankier than we are used to seeing him.  This week, he looks youthful again, but his hair appears to have grown about a foot in length at the top! [Max: A lot of mysterious hair-growing going around in this issue.]

Next we’re treated to a stunner of a double page spread showing Engine City in all its’ gloomy industrial glory. I still harbour some doubts that things like pipelines and ladders could “grow” from mechanical seeds, but maybe they had some supplies on Mongul’s ship to fill the gaps.

Page 6 features a strange detail on Mongul, where his chest cannon briefly appears to be on a chain, like a pendant. He wasn’t depicted this way last issue, and he won’t be next issue, so it’s officially a goof.  [Max: Maybe Mongul saw some rap videos on those monitors and wanted to copy their style, but then Cyborg pulled him aside and told him it wasn’t working.]  That same page features a very rushed-looking Cyborg face, so maybe Bog spent too much time on that great double page spread from earlier, and had to sketch this one in.

My hatred for Jeb is well known on this blog, and this is pretty much the highest peak of my rage level. Beginning with page 8 when Lois inexplicably holds hands with him, and crescendoing with Jeb’s lowdown, dirty, rotten kiss on a bereaved Lois. While I hate everything about this writing choice, Lois’ pained and regretful pose on the next page is very well observed and emotional.

Supergirl’s landing in Lex’s office is PANEL OF THE WEEK worthy shot, with her looking at once girlish, and powerful.

Lois also looks great in her aviation outfit looking into the sun to spot the Man of Steel landing.  There are a couple great shots of Supergirl in the pages that follow, as her judo throw on the warsuit appears dojo accurate, and though it’s a small panel, the perspective on Supergirl’s calves as she flies Lex Jr out of danger is really well drawn.

John Henry smashing the warsuit with his hammer is well done, and really gives a sense of the leverage needed to puncture Kryptonian metal.  I also appreciate the care the artist took to show that the handle is telescoping outward to gain some length, otherwise we would have to believe Steel is carrying a hammer twice his height around with him.

 Lastly we get the big reveal of the main man himself, and the quote says it all.  This is the first appearance of the super-mullet, and for all the times that the creative teams have gone out of their way to say that Superman didn’t have a mullet (often saying it was more of a Tarzan look), dang, this really looks like a mullet.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

More Cyborg hubris—again Mongul alerts the Cyborg about Superboy working at his restraints, and again Cyborg dismisses him and is immediately proven wrong.  I like that his craziness is showing in greater increments.

There are some terrific character moments in this issue for Superboy, which is nice to see, especially considering Adventures of Superman is “his” book, and this is supposed to be Steel’s showcase.  Superboy resolving not to be cocky or grandstand is some real growth, and neat to see.

Godwatch! During my least favourite scene in my entire collection (when Jeb kisses Lois) she invokes “the Lord” and also says “oh, God, what have I done”? Seriously, if that’s what women think after you kiss them, Jeb, you’re doing it wrong.

There are many reasons I hate Jeb, but in this issue, the main one isn’t the kiss, or that he’s trying to put the moves on a friend who is deep in the grip of grief.  No, it’s his outfit that I find unforgivable.  Yikes!

I love that Lex II is slowly descending into legit villainy despite his efforts to be squeaky clean, being a controlling weirdo of a boyfriend (even manhandling her arm in a way that I find disconcerting) and callously assuming the whole crew of the submarine are dead. Kinda heavy that all those crewmen died, and Superman is completely oblivious in there. (It would be interesting to bring back one of the crew, or one of their relatives in some future issue where they demand revenge on either Lex or Superman for not doing more to save them). [Max: Maybe they run into Doctor Stratos down there and form an Underwater Superman Revenge Squad!]

Though he’s being a manipulative and controlling jerk, Lex Jr. isn’t wrong to think it possible that the warsuit is a danger, though he reveals toward the end of the issue that his main motivation was indeed just to keep Supergirl at his side.

I dig that Steel puts it together that something isn’t right in Coast City all on his own, and it’s a credit to him that unlike Maggie Sawyer and the loathsome Jeb, Steel actually takes Lois’ concerns to heart.

Is that just water that was in Superman’s chamber, or some kind of fluid?  It’s fluid, isn’t it? [Max: Hair-growing tonic. Pay attention, Don.]

I would have thought Pulitzer Prizes were nicer.

[Max: The Pulitzer isn’t as respected in this universe since they have the much more prestigious Baldy Award.]

#superman #louise simonson #jon bogdanove #dennis janke #superboy #coast city #sydney happersen #steel #mongul #jeb friedman #supergirl #Awesome Kryptonian Battle Robot #the mullet #Fabio #Kryptonian Rogaine #reign of the supermen #hank henshaw

[superman86to99]

Superman: The Man of Steel #23 (July 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! In this issue: Steel vs. Superboy! I mean, "Superman” vs. “Superman”. The Man of Steel is battling some hoodlums armed with hi-tech killer weapons when the Metropolis Kid decides to butt in and "save him" in front of the cameras that follow him 24/7. (Side note: Was Superboy the first '90s reality TV star?) The Kid draws all the firepower to himself... accidentally causing the bad guys to shoot down a Daily Planet helicopter containing Lois Lane. The chopper blows up, signaling the death of a classic and beloved DC Comics character: Frank the helicopter pilot. RIP.

Lois, meanwhile, manages to jump out of the exploding chopper in time (probably out of pure muscle memory) and is rescued by Steel in a rather familiar-looking scene.

Lois tries to turn the tragic situation into an exclusive interview with Steel, but Steel has something more important to do: chewing Superboy's butt for scaring off those criminals he was trying to interrogate (and, you know, causing a man's death). The Kid is like "I'm da real Superman, yo!" and bails... but as he flies away, he actually starts questioning his half-assed approach to superheroics. I'm sure Frank's wife and 12 children would find great comfort in that.

Meanwhile, Steel is approached by Lex Luthor Jr., who wants to offer him a job as one of his armored security guards (because having one S-shielded superhero in his pocket isn't enough for him). To butter Steel up, Lex offers him the location of the White Rabbit -- aka, the lady distributing all those highly advanced weapons to street gangs. Steel thanks Lex for the tip and immediately ditches him, making it clear that his services aren’t for sale.

Steel drops by the White Rabbit’s penthouse, and she turns out to be an old flame from his time as a weapons designer for the military. Things almost get steamy for a second in there, until Steel remembers that this lady has made him indirectly responsible for countless deaths (all those weapons are his design). Once she takes the hint that Steel won’t work for her (either), White Rabbit just shoots him point blank with one of those big-ass guns, launching him off the building and into a convenient tanker parked outside.

Superboy (who was following Steel to apologize for being a dick) flies in just in time to pull Steel’s body from the resulting tanker explosion:

By the time Superboy and Steel return to White Rabbit’s penthouse, the place is already empty. The two Supermen then bond over that whole “we’ve both caused innocent people to die today” thing and part amicably. Awww!

Plotline-Watch:

Ponytailed scumbag Jeb Friedman, having given Lois Lane WEEKS to recover from her fiance’s supposed death, urges her to “forget Clark” and go to Cairo with him. Don Sparrow says: “I hesitate to even mention that the hated Jeb Friedman appears here, and even Jimmy doesn’t want Lois rebounding with him. Serious question, though: are we supposed to hate Jeb? Or is it just happenstance?” If we weren’t supposed to hate Jeb, would they have given him a ponytail, Don?

After meeting Steel, Lois reflects on the fact that the other Supermen may look like Clark, but Steel is the only one who acts like him. Obviously she doesn’t think Clark’s already been reincarnated as an adult black man, but she does seriously wonder if ghostly possession is a real thing.

I love how efficiently Steel’s backstory is presented in this issue. As he and White Rabbit are about to lock lips, we see a handful of black-and-white panels showing the two working together for the military, hooking up, finding out his weapons were being used against innocents in Qurac, and then a flashback-within-the-flashback of Steel’s grandparents having just become victims of gang violence. It’s only half a page but it tells you everything you need to know about this dude and his motivation.

Superboy burns his hands while rescuing Steel, even though a clone of Superman should be equally invulnerable. Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmm.

The issue ends with Supergirl telling Lex she’s going off to look for Superboy, which leads to the next issue of Adventures.

And this leads to the end of my section! For more commentary, Easter eggs, and gratuitous images of White Rabbit, check out Don Sparrow’s section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like none of the other four Superman titles seems as swayed by the importance of the storyline as SMOS.  What do I mean? I mean that when it’s a big storyline, like Panic in the Sky, or Doomsday, the art on the title really seems to rise to the occasion, and there’s some standout stuff being produced.  But in the meantime, when a story doesn’t feel as important, the quality seems to dip a little. To me, this is one of those issues.  We begin with the cover, and it’s not one of Bogdanove’s best.  Sure, his artwork could be called cartoony at the best of times, but this one really took on a loose, loony tunes sketchiness, particularly in Superboy’s “ain’t I a stinker?” expression and giant wall of teeth. He looks less like a 16 year old than he resembles Rex Leech, a character we’ll come to know better in time.

Inside, the story gets off to a slow start, as we’re abruptly thrown into a video of wannabe gangsters, moving in on where they think they’ll find John Henry Irons.  The double page splash revealing his location is an exciting one, and Dennis Janke does some interesting things with his hatching to indicate the shine of the metal, leaving certain areas unhatched to show a glimmer. 

Bog’s depictions of The White Rabbit continue to push the envelope for how much skin a comic code approved book can show, both on page 7, and then later in the book. [Max: This next sequence of panels burned itself into my young mind. Because of the cool panel layout, I mean.]

[December 2018 edit: White Rabbit’s body has been covered with Mike Carlin’s face so that Tumblr doesn’t delete this post. Sorry.]

Page 8 brings us a long sought after in-comics cameo.  If you’ll recall, back on one of my first reviews on this site, I interviewed the great Tom Grummett and asked him if there were any Easter Eggs that we should look out for while we were reading.  He answered that "My personal favorite moment was when Jon Bogdanove drew me in a scene with Jimmy Olsen in one issue of Man of Steel. I’m the one with the moose on his shirt. Happy hunting.”  Well, we need hunt no more, as a certain fellow pops up, arguing with Jimmy Olsen, and what’s that on his shirt?  A moose?! Found you! [Max: Are we the first on the internet to point out this cameo? I don’t have time to look it up, so let’s go with “Yes”.]

I also love the little gag in the lettering, where the first part of “Saskatchewan” (Tom’s home province) is shown as “Saskatch” and then below that Bog has written “W-1”, phonetically completing the phrase.   It’s also a very Neal Adams-y couple of panels when Jimmy and Tom start to get heated debating who the real Superman is.  [Max: I wonder if the Neal Adams-esque panels above are homaging a specific Adams comic, or just his “intense argument” poses in general...]  Then a page later, there’s an unmistakable rendering of another Super-Teamster, none other than group editor Mike Carlin, scanning the police radio for scoops.

As the story progresses, there’s a great shot of the Metropolis Kid (who they refer to as Superboy on this page, without a rebuttal from the Kid) showboating and holding one hand behind his back.  But, on the page that follows, a pretty heavy end for Daily Planet chopper pilot “Frank”, made all the more sickening by the lack of concern from the Kid leading up to this point. 

Some great visual callback on page 12, as the mob scene when the Man of Steel rescues Lois Lane recalls the meet-cute at the shuttle disaster wayyyy back in MOS #1.

The scene were John Henry confronts the Kid about his carelessness is well-done, even if it gives way to another mention of the preposterous ‘spirit-walk-in’ idea, which even these characters seem to find tenuous.  

The flashback with White Rabbit does a good job of filling in the gaps of John Henry’s history (interesting how similar Irons’ motivation is to that of Tony Stark’s, at least in the movies) but it’s an odd scene—not just because of the aforementioned vamping from White Rabbit, but also Irons’ inaction in the scene—he went there to capture her, but mostly just stands around and then lets her stroll back over to the bed, where a weapon is clearly visible from where he’s standing. [Max: Can’t imagine what else he could be looking at.]

As The Metropolis Kid rescues The Man of Steel, we get more looney tunes-style comedy, when the Kid comedically blows on his burning hands, trying to cool them. They seem to be working hard to establish how different his powers are from Kal-El’s, though they eventually go back on almost all of this stuff.

Moving on, we get a really nice look at Lois at a rainy window, once again musing on how the Man of Steel, while physically the most removed from Kal-El, seems to embody his “soul” more than the rest.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Is the cameraman gangster supposed to be a riff on Spike Lee? The glasses seem pretty similar to ones Spike wore at the time.

How is it that we never noticed such a giant, futuristic tower on the Metropolis skyline before?

Jimmy Olsen wearing a Spin Doctors t-shirt is a little too meta for my head, since one of their biggest hits was “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”.  What does the DC Universe Jimmy think when he hears a song about himself, lusting after Lois Lane?  They were also one of my favourite bands when this issue came out, so my mind was doubly blown.

What is it with Lex hanging onto VHS tapes?  Thank God he never got his hands on that one of Big Barda! [Max: Dammit, I’d JUST managed to erase that from my mind, Don.]

#superman #louise simonson #jon bogdanove #dennis janke #steel #superboy #sydney happersen #white rabbit #ron troupe #tom grummett #mike carlin #jeb friedman #spin doctors #supergirl #possibly spike lee #rip frank chopperson #reign of the supermen