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The Kryptonian Cybernet Issue 16
________________________________________________________________
T H E K R Y P T O N I A N C Y B E R N E T
Issue #16 --- August 1995
________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
--------
Section 1: Superscripts: Notes from the Editor
News and Notes
Roll Them Bones
Zoomway discusses what we can expect of the third
season of Lois & Clark
Section 2: The Fleischer Cartoons
Episode #10: "Japoteurs", by Neil Ottenstein
With A Little Help From My Friends...
Jimmy Bartholemew Olsen, by Denes House
And Who Disguised As...
The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, by J.D. Rummel
Section 3: Reviews: The "Triangle" Titles
Action Comics #713, by William J Nixon
Superman: The Man of Steel #48, by Anatole Wilson
Superman #104, by Ken McKee
Adventures of Superman #527, by Arthur LaMarche
Section 4: Reviews: Annuals and Other Super-Titles
Adventures of Superman Annual #7, by Arthur LaMarche
Superboy #19, by Victor Chan
Steel #19, by Dick Sidbury
Showcase '95 #8, by Rene' Gobeyn
The New Titans #125, by Rene' Gobeyn
Section 5: Reviews: Miniseries and Other Appearances
Superman Vs. Aliens #3, by Jeff Sykes
The Darkstars #34, by Rene' Gobeyn
Damage #16, by Rene' Gobeyn
Green Arrow #100, by Rene' Gobeyn
Section 6: Looking Back: Legacies
Superman and His Incredible Fortress of Solitude
by Joe Crowe
The Silver Age Superman
Superman on Krypton: Part 5, by Bill Morse
Section 7: Coming Attractions
New comics shipping in October, including the
finale of UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED!
Resources
EDITORIAL STAFF:
---------------
Jeffery D. Sykes, Editor-in-chief
Arthur E. LaMarche, Reviews
LEGAL DISCLAIMERS:
-----------------
Superman and all related characters, locations, and events are
copyright and trademark DC Comics. Use of the aforementioned is not
intended to challenge said ownership. We strongly suggest that each
reader look to the media sources mentioned within for further infor-
mation.
Opinions presented within this issue belong to the authors of
the articles which contain them. They should in no way be construed
as those of any other particular member of the editorial or contributing
staff, unless otherwise indicated.
This magazine should be distributed freely via e-mail. Should
you desire to share this publication with other on-line services, please
contact me at sykes@ms.uky.edu for permission. Feel free to advertise
subscription information on other on-line services which have internet
mail availability.
THE KRYPTONIAN CYBERNET is available by e-mail -- to subscribe, send
the commands
subscribe kc <address>
end
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The program ignores the subject line of the message.
Back issues are available via ftp -- see the resources section.
________________________________________________________________
SUPERSCRIPTS: Notes from the Editor
------------------------------------
NEWS AND NOTES:
After several months of flooding you with all sorts of news about
a toy line, an animated series, a new movie, etc, we seem to have
hit a lull as far as new Superman info is concerned. However, what
we *do* have is pretty big!
MIKE CARLIN TO LEAVE THE SUPERMAN TITLES
After nearly nine years of editing the Superman titles, Mike Carlin
will be leaving to pursue other projects. Nine years is quite a long
time to spend on one thing, and this is especially true in the comics
world. Mike has done a fantastic job over the years with the Super-
titles. Though there were all sorts of hills and valleys, I think
that most of you will probably agree with me that his attention and
care has been one of the primary reasons that Superman comics returned
first to the high standard of quality that we should expect of DC, and
then later to the prominence that is deserving of the premiere Super-hero
in comics today! It's been a great run, Mike, and we're going to miss
you!
But don't worry, gang! The Super-books are certainly too big to just
leave to anybody, and DC's got a strong replacement lined up. KC Carlson,
a DC "legend," who is currently the editor of the Legion titles and who
has been co-editing the Superman titles for the past few months, will be
stepping in to take over sole editing chores on the Superman titles. Who
knows? Now that the editing chores on both Superman and the Legion are
under one roof, maybe we'll finally see the post-Zero Hour Pocket Universe
addressed (as the fans have seemingly been clamoring for lately)! Or
maybe we'll see some new spins on the classic Silver Age interactions
between Superman/Superboy/Supergirl and the Legion!
A NEW SUPERGIRL SERIES?
Recent letters to the Superman columns have indicated that the fans
want to see a Supergirl series. In the most recent issue of ACTION
COMICS (#714, which will be reviewed next month), Mike McAvennie,
one of the assistant editors, reveals that the Superman staff *does*
"have plans for Supergirl, but they're at such an early stage we
shouldn't talk about them just yet."
LOIS AND CLARK'S THIRD SEASON ON THE SET
While filming began about a month ago on the third season of LOIS
AND CLARK, the cast and crew have been fairly tight-lipped about
what's planned for this season. All we know is that Executive
Producer Robert Singer promised that this season would take Lois
and Clark in a completely new direction. Of course, this may be a
bit frightening in light of the late-season success of the show this
spring. But they wouldn't screw up something which was doing well
in the ratings, would they!? I guess we'll see in a month or so.
For more info, check out Zoomway's article below!
THE KRYPTONIAN CYBERNET ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
The Kryptonian Cybernet web page is fully functional now, though
it is definitely still under construction! I still have many plans
for making it more than simply another format of the same information.
Keep your eyes on it in the coming months, and by all means, tell us
what you think! I'm especially eager to hear your suggestion, as well
as to receive some graphics contributions!
KC Homepage URL:
http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sykes/kc/
Enjoy the new issue!
Jeff
________________________________________________________________
ROLL THEM BONES
---------------
by Zoomway
LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN will, if hints dropped by
Executive Producer Robert Singer and star Dean Cain are accurate, head into
what ABC promised would be "the show that changes the series forever" with the
season finale "And the Answer Is..." What exactly did the finale change? Some
would say nothing. Clark did attempt to tell Lois his secret a couple of
times, but he never did. Clark proposed, but we got no answer, and so, in the
short term, it does seem as if nothing has changed.
However, if the two seasons the show has been on the air are taken in an
overview, just those two elements hint at quite a change in the wind. Lois,
who was always in love with Superman, relegated him to friendship status and
dumped temporary love interest Dan Scardino, and she did this because she had
chosen Clark as the one she wanted to be with. Lois, in doing this, made
Clark decide that she needed to know the truth, that he is also Superman, if
their relationship was to progress any further. He does not get a chance to
tell her, instead, in a roundabout way, we get more than that. Lois becomes
the hero in this episode. She becomes a steadying comfort to Clark because he
needs her--his parents have been kidnapped.
She literally puts her life on the line in order to save Clark's parents, and
just prior to this, she says to Superman, "Tell Clark that I love him."
Clark, if he ever doubted whether Lois still carried a torch for Superman, had
his answer right there. She is, in fact, completely in love with a man she had
once dismissed as a hack from nowhere's-ville; the farm boy she warned, "Don't
fall for me." Now we enter into a gray area of scripting and network
politics.
The creative staff of LOIS AND CLARK wanted Lois to find out about Clark's
secret, but ABC balked. They wanted her kept in the dark. It seems the
creative team won out after all. However, the ambiguous ending to the finale
-- Clark proposing marriage without telling her his secret, especially after
Clark had said, "If you died, without ever knowing why, I'd never be able to
forgive myself." -- puts a very strange twist on what the possible outcome
might be. How will they explain Clark proposing without revealing his secret
first?
Will he tell Lois he proposed first to make certain she loved him, as Clark,
and not for his super powers? If so, I'm afraid fans may want to know what
more Lois could have possibly done to prove her love to Clark short of signing
the marriage license in blood. She had told Superman that there was someone
else, dumped Scardino in what we can assume was a like fashion, nearly died
for Clark's happiness, and said that she loved him. If they do have Clark
wanting more 'proof' of Lois Lane's love, then Lois has every right not only
to say no, but to be hurt, and very angry with Clark. The initials C.K. may
have to stand for Clueless Knothead, and one can only hope that Lois sings,
"If you don't know me by now, you will never, never, never know me."
They may have Clark interrupt Lois before she can answer, explaining that it
was important for him to let her know just how true and forever his love for
her was, before he told his secret, not to mention that he may have feared
that telling her the secret, and having to withstand her reaction to it, may
have made the proposal a moot point. This scenario works to Clark's advantage
with Lois, if she already has figured out the secret, and it maintains Clark's
integrity as well. To expect Lois to make a life altering decision without
knowing all the facts is, well, galactically stupid, or at the very least,
galactically insensitive.
There are other options that are not as likely: It was all a dream (this
scenario would certainly break a few picture tubes), Clark has to dash off
before Lois can answer, Lois says yes, but knows Clark is Superman, and
decides to secretly torture him with the knowledge a while, etc. Of course,
though Clark being honest before she can answer is best, that doesn't always
happen on television. Most viewers would wonder why he was so anxious to tell
Lois the truth earlier, when it was simply a matter of advancing their
relationship, but held back on the truth when he was asking Lois to spend the
rest of her life with him.
Whatever method the powers that be use when tossing the dice, the viewers will
be standing around the crap table awaiting the outcome, but they will also
notice a well-to-do player standing at the table ready to take up the dice.
He is new to this particular table (Sunday nights), but he is not new to the
game, nor used to losing. This MAD ABOUT YOU game player is skilled and
lucky, and most who wager against odds favor MAD ABOUT YOU due to its track
record and consistently high ratings, and unlike the departing MURDER SHE
WROTE, there is a conflict of age groups and romantic theme which did not
exist last year. That leaves the individual strengths of both shows.
MAD ABOUT YOU has high ratings (consistently higher than LOIS AND CLARK) and
an established couple that have put the angst of getting to know each other
behind them. Though they have problems, they are good at dealing with them
using lots of warmth and plenty of humor. They are also a situation comedy,
which puts them in the category of the most popular type of programming in the
U.S. The weaknesses for MAD ABOUT YOU are strangely similar to their
strengths. They are a situation comedy, however, with a couple of exceptions,
comedies do poorly on Sunday nights, and some of the more adult themes capable
on later time slots, and on other nights, are often frowned upon during Sunday
family viewing hour time. They also will have to try and attract the loyal
following they enjoyed from their Thursday slot.
LOIS AND CLARK has the odd strength of being the longest 'established' show on
Sunday night now that MURDER SHE WROTE and SEAQUEST have departed (even THE
SIMPSONS has one year less time in this Sunday spot). American viewers are
creatures of habit, and they like knowing an old favorite will be right where
they left it before summer. Lois and Clark are a younger couple and truly
sizzle together. They are an hour long show, and HOPE AND GLORIA, which
follows MAD ABOUT YOU, is a much weaker show, which may cause mid-hour
defections to ABC. And if they like what they see at the half hour point,
they may be inclined to tune at the top of the hour next time. LOIS AND CLARK
also has the distinction of being the only drama/adventure left on Sunday
night (this could woo some of the disenfranchised SEAQUEST and MURDER SHE
WROTE viewers). Also, LOIS AND CLARK couples romance and humor, which puts up
a good front against MAD ABOUT YOU and THE SIMPSONS (which LOIS AND CLARK
handily beat last season). The weaknesses of LOIS AND CLARK would have to
include the politics of those in charge of the show and their willingness to
tamper with the show. The writing, plotting, and villains at times have been
hard to swallow, but all of this has been tempered by the lead characters'
chemistry. As the second season progressed, the writing improved
tremendously, as did the continuity, the romance, and the ratings. But, even
here, there was no safety from tampering. ABC still wanted to tinker with
success, rather than doing better promotion of the show.
These are the stats, and make your wagers accordingly. Shoot, kid, you're
faded (crap shooter slang meaning you can go ahead and roll the dice, because
your bet is covered).
________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************
End of Section 1
________________________________________________________________
THE FLEISCHER CARTOONS:
----------------------
by Neil A. Ottenstein <otten@gluon.umd.edu>
Episode 10: "Japoteurs"
Released: 9-18-42
Running Time: 9:05 minutes
Faster than a speeding bullet
More powerful than a locomotive
Able to soar higher than any plane
The cartoon starts showing the latest edition of The Daily Planet rolling off
the press with the headline, "World's Largest Bombing Plane Finally
Completed." We see a Japanese agent holding a copy of the newspaper. He
stamps a cigarette into the picture of the plane. The burn mark expands over
the plane and provides a segue into the next scene.
We see the plant where the plane is located. Large bombs and smaller planes
are being loaded into the giant bomber. Nearby, we see a guard knocked out by
the agent and accomplices. The plane is rolled out. Lois and Clark show
their passes to join in on a press conference inside the plane. Everyone is
told to leave the plane, but Lois decides to hide in a locker. Clark doesn't
notice that she hasn't left the plane until the plane starts moving, getting
ready to take off.
Once the plane is up, some of the small planes fly out of it. The Japanese
agent climbs out of the hollow bomb tube and two more spies climb out of
others. While it is flying, they go into the cockpit.
We see the plane's flight become erratic and on the plane, the agent announces
to himself and the captive crew, "Now nothing will interfere with voyage to
Tokyo." They didn't reckon with Lois Lane, though. Lois exits from the
locker, sees the situation in the cockpit, and creeping in, manages to radio
down, "Japs are stealing the giant bomber," before being captured.
Planes are readied for pursuit, but the Japanese bomb the airfield in front of
the planes so they can't take off. Clark declares, "This looks like a job for
Superman." He enters an elevator and as it rises, we see his shadow change
into Superman.
Superman soars up to the plane. He enters from the top on opening a seam
(perhaps what needed to open up for the smaller planes to fly out). He is told
to stop or else Lois Lane, tied in the bomb bay will be released to her death.
Superman leaves, but Lois is released anyway. Superman flies back in before
she has moved far. He is attacked by two of the spies and easily defeats
them. The main agent has locked himself in the cockpit, though. Superman
takes several attempts before he is able to break down the door. Meanwhile,
the agent has bent the steering wheel and proceeds to destroy the controls.
The plane loses altitude.
People run in the streets in fear of the falling plane. After realizing that
he can't fix the situation from inside the plane, Superman grabs Lois. He
puts her on the ground, and flies back to slow the descent of the bomber. He
just manages to "park it" on the ground. Lights display that Superman has
saved the bomber.
The final scene shows Lois and Clark in a plane. Clark tells her, "Well,
you're safe in this plane, Lois." She responds, "I'd feel much safer if
Superman were here." The camera pans back to reveal they are on a carnival
plane ride.
This is blatantly a war time cartoon and does thus contain propaganda against
the Japanese. Still, the cartoon is well done and does not preach anything.
It mainly just tells a tale with the Japanese being the bad guys. The
lettering of the title is a Japanese stylized. I really liked the two segues
at the beginning of going from the papers rolling off the press to the one in
the agent's hand and then the burn mark expanding into the plant scene. The
knocking out of the guard was all in shadows and we don't actually see the
blow fall. Superman takes noticeable effort to try to break into the locked
cockpit. There is an effective jolting effect as he rams himself onto the
door. Lois is very courageous, risking her life to send the message about the
plane down to the ground. All in all, another well done cartoon with a nice
bit of humor in the final scene.
The two Fleischer Superman cartoon volumes are available directly from Bosko
Video or from anyone who carries high quality animation.
A catalog is available from Bosko Video
3802 East Cudahy Ave.
Cudahy WI 53110-1234
________________________________________________________________
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS...
==================================================================
a column about the Supporting Cast in the Superman family of books
by Denes House (dhouse@itsmail1.hamilton.edu)
Rather than giving you a chronology of this month's character, I'd like to
ponder with you for a bit about the purpose and place that he has in the
Superman mythos. I do this for the simple reason that I am unsure what
significance he has in the Superman stories of today, especially with the
things that are happening to him right at this moment. For this reason, this
column more than any of the others I want to throw open to your comments, c/o
the letters page of the Cybernet.
JAMES BARTHOLEMEW OLSEN
=======================
a.k.a. "Superman's Pal"
In order to understand my dilemma, I think you need to first recall the purpose
that Jimmy Olsen has served in previous incarnations, and does currently serve
in other media.
In the pre-Byrne Superman mythos, Jimmy served the "cub reporter" role,
showing through his reactions the attitude of the youth of the DC Universe to
Superman. He even served some of the traditional sidekick role, giving the
kiddies someone to identify with in the Superhero's adventures. "Boy,
wouldn't it be great if *I* were Superman's Pal, like Jimmy!"
In the 1950's TV show, THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, Jimmy Olsen served
basically one purpose and one purpose only: to get kidnapped along with Lois
Lane. An assignment would be given, and Jimmy would accompany to take
photographs, or Lois would grab Jimmy as a co-conspirator in some scheme, or
someone would send Lois off and say to Jimmy: "This is too dangerous to send
Lois on alone." But always the result was that the both of them would be
captured and placed in jeopardy, and Superman would save them. To this day, I
wonder why, with his track record as a bodyguard, anyone would think Jimmy
could *protect* Lois, but I guess that's television.
On the current TV series, LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, the
character of Jimmy Olsen again is used to flesh out the Clark Kent character.
For Jimmy, Clark is a mentor, an example of what he wants to be. He is also
used to great effect to bring out character from Perry White. Finally, he
reprises his 50's role as the boy hostage, though clearly not as often as
before.
When John Byrne revamped the Superman mythos in 1986, he returned Jimmy to his
character roots. Jimmy was again young, enthusiastic, looked up to Clark as a
mentor, and gave us a window into how youth perceive Superman. Jimmy was the
quasi-sidekick, giving young readers a point of identification. Byrne also
revolutionized Jimmy's relationship with Perry White, making Perry his
surrogate "father" figure, defending Jimmy's job to his mother.
Which brings us to my main topic, the Superman books of today. Since the
Byrne revamping, Jimmy has aged somewhat. He has been homeless, has been
fired from the Planet, and has undergone mutation by the Eradicator. Jimmy
has renounced his friendship with Superman, then later renewed it. In short,
Jimmy no longer has the wide-eyed wonder that he used to.
Jimmy recently sought to become a "serious" reporter, and in the process
decided to quit working at the Planet. This was, in my mind, a grave tactical
error on the part of the Superman writing staff. Rather than show how he
turns to Clark Kent as a mentor, rather than working with the father-son
relationship with Perry (a slot that Keith has filled nicely), the writers had
him storm off angrily. The first person they brought him to was appropriately
his mom (who, I am pleased to say is once again young and attractive, not
comatose in the hospital. Let's see more of her, please!), and then they took
him to *Cat Grant!* Cat pursued Jimmy romantically while she was in
relational turmoil, and has since become a friend, but she seems an unlikely
choice for a confidante, unless the writers intend to have Cat hire Jimmy to
work at WGBS, which is my suspicion. [Editor's Note: Denes wrote this article
prior to the recent events in ACTION COMICS #714, which bear out his
suspicion.] Unfortunately, this plot twist has been accompanied by little in
the way of character development to explain why Jimmy is acting this way.
(When Clark Kent left the Planet to be the editor of Newstime, the character
buildup to this event lasted almost a year's worth of comics.)
All that was to ask this: Where does Jimmy fit in to the current Superman
mythos? What part does he play that no one else does? Basically, is Jimmy
Olsen necessary to the Superman Supporting Cast today?
The only answer that I can sanction right now is, "no." For purposes of
tradition, Superman comics must always have Jimmy Olsen, but as the character
stands right now, he serves no purpose, and he is being written completely out
of character. Who is Jimmy Olsen today?
What am I saying here? Am I advocating getting rid of Jimmy? No. What I am
saying is that as currently constructed, Jimmy Olsen is dead weight, a
character that the writers, for tradition's sake, can not ignore, but who does
not serve to forward the plot or reveal characterization in any way. Isolated
from Lois, Clark, and Perry, Jimmy loses his vitality and necessity.
"Bring back Jimmy Olsen" is my plea.
Your comments are welcome c/o "The Mailbag" at the Kryptonian Cybernet.
================================================================
FOOTNOTES:
[13] I am a recursive footnote virus. Help my species survive by including
me in all your posts [13].
________________________________________________________________
And Who Disguised As...
--------------------------------------------------------------
A Column of Opinion by J.D. Rummel (rummel@phoenix.creighton.edu)
THE GREATEST SUPERMAN STORIES EVER TOLD
On my bookshelves at home are many titles. More than a few of them deal with
comic books, and a fair number of these feature Superman. Over the next few
months I'm going to review them, discuss their content and generally ramble on
as only a guy with his own column can.
The first tome to go under the eye is THE GREATEST SUPERMAN STORIES EVER TOLD.
I start here because it is so well done, as well as being far from obscure,
and still accessible both intellectually and commercially. I'm sure most
comic shops either have it or can still order it for you. Published in 1987,
it was part of a massive media storm celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of
the Man of the Steel's creation.
The book was assembled from the suggestions of a collection of writers,
artists, editors and fans, and even to an old curmudgeon like me, they really
did a pretty fair job on a truly monumental task. Obviously, no one could
compile a volume that pleases everyone. Superman has appeared so often, in so
many places, that there had to be choices made. I'd have loved to see the
"Kryptonite No More" story, or one of Cary Bates' pieces from the seventies.
Also, the final pre-Byrne installment by Alan Moore, Curt Swan, and George
Perez: "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" Furthermore, some dates or
behind the scenes information would have been appropriate.
The finest thing this volume does is give a marvelous overview of the entire
evolution of the superhero comic medium. From the early, crudely rendered
pictures and tales of Siegel and Shuster, to the lush images of Byrne and Curt
Swan and the story genius of Alan Moore, this book is most enjoyable.
The early Siegel and Shuster pieces are moving in the same way that all
seminal genius is. They are raw, crackling with potential and excitement.
They are not logical, finely-honed stories, instead they are tales told by
children addressing the world, shaping a place that should, to the teller,
exist, but does not. In them, Superman is lippy, unbeatable; he lacks the
near Christ-like character that developed over the years. The original
Superman fairly swaggers. He is everything the two geek kids that created him
wanted to be themselves. In two pages he ends World War Two by sheer brute
force. If you look, not even closely, you will see your own youth, your own
silly stories.
The Wayne Boring/Dick Sprang work from the fifties shows an industry on the
grow. This was when Superman was king of the hill, and was challenged only by
the Big Red Cheese. He journeys to, or views Krypton from afar, falls in love
with a mermaid, and solves a mystery at a birthday party put together by
Batman.
The inclusion of Swan, Dorfman, Binder, Papp, and others from the late fifties
and entire sixties are fantastic excursions into the world of imagination gone
wild. The sheer breadth of the fancy of these tales hurl Superman into the
legendary status of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. In them, Superman dies (for
the first time?) cures cancer, baldness, ends all crime and gets married and
settles down (these last few are all in one story!).
Finally, King Kirby, Dennis O'Neil, Swan, and Anderson are represented with
works that shear away the foolishness, practicing the super, but focusing on
the man, stories with increasingly real conflict begin to emerge. Perhaps the
finest tale to appear is "The Man Who Has Everything," an Alan Moore/Dave
Gibbons collaboration that addresses the real pressures that might confront
the child Siegel and Shuster sent to this planet from their childhood musings.
For those of you who have never read it, do so -- it is a phenomenal read
that wonderfully pulls together segments of the legend that precedes it.
The greatest story this volume tells isn't a Superman one however. When we
reflect that two kids created him, and out of sheer ignorance they let him go,
losing forever their rights to the financial and social rewards of their
imagination, perhaps we are reminded to hang on to our dreams. After all,
dreams are part of our most precious selves. They are all we ever truly own.
Away.
________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************
End of Section 2
________________________________________________________________
REVIEWS
-------
Ratings Panelists:
AL: Art LaMarche JS: Jeff Sykes SF: Suzanne Fleischauer
AW: Anatole Wilson KM: Ken McKee VC: Victor Chan
DS: Dick Sidbury RG: Rene Gobeyn WN: William J Nixon
As always, the first rating given after the average is that of the reviewer.
THE "TRIANGLE" TITLES:
---------------------
33. ACTION COMICS #713, "Scarlet Salvation"
Writer: David Michelinie
Penciller: Kieron Dwyer
Inker: Denis Rodier
With special thanks to Brett Breeding
$1.95 US/$2.75 CAN/#1.25 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 2.3/5.0 Shields
WN: 2.5 Shields - Pink elephants trample Metropolis as the Saviour story
concludes.
JS: 3.0 Shields - Better than usual for this team -- chilling ending.
SF: 1.5 Shields - Mediocre storyline offered no redemption for some very
off-putting art -- as though the face shapes had been drawn
and the features filled in afterwards, out of proportion.
This is the climax of the Saviour sub-plot which has been running for the last
few months, where he becomes the main event as new sub-plots unfold around
him. The cover shows Saviour strangling Superman, both with their teeth
gritted. Saviour's chest is a backdrop for the blood-dripping 'S' of
Superman's death. The ACTION COMICS logo has been omitted, to give the two
combatants room. The big 'S' is a subtle enough hint that this is a 'Super'
book.
The issue opens on Saviour in his apartment. He has now realized that
any-thing he imagines he can make real. He tries it out on himself and
becomes a steroid pumped muscleman (in homage to the 'big green guy on TV' -
who could that be?), complete with knife.
At the Planet, everyone is leaving for the night. Ron heads off to meet Jimmy
and Lucy in Belly Burger while Lois and Clark head over to San Francisco for
shrimp. Ron makes peace with Jimmy and Lucy gives him a kiss. Leaving the
diner, Ron is lost in thoughts of women (and Lucy) when Saviour kidnaps him.
Ramsey is now dressed like some latter-day Rambo with bandanna. Ron is his
lure to get to Superman, and Clark flies in to rescue him. Saviour is holding
the newspaper from 'Dead Again'. It shows an empty coffin to everyone but
him. Superman melts the knife and Ramsey reveals that he has carved Supes
shield on his forehead -- his last act with his knife, so we've got no worries
as to his stability or sensibilities.
Battle commences. Saviour morphs into his steroid pumped form, only this time
wearing a black version of Superman's outfit with the 'Death S' emblazoned on
it. Taking ideas from the crowd, Saviour creates a gun and then a herd of
pink elephants, all the while giving Superman a hard time. Superman uses his
heat vision and Saviour goes one better, only his intention is to set fire to
an entire block. As Supes deals with that, Ron thinks back to everything he
knows about Murdoch. Ramsey couldn't accept responsibility for his mistakes
and constantly blamed other people. Ron starts to goad Murdoch, saying that
he fixated on Superman because the Man of Steel was all that he wasn't. As
Ron pours it on, Saviour gets weaker, enabling Superman to take him out.
Clark and Lois connect Saviour's killings to Brainiac, but the connection is
not spelled out. Ramsey is now held comatose in a tube in S.T.A.R. Labs. One
of the guards asks, 'What if he dreams?' What indeed.
Saviour is a villain, and as such it is difficult to have any sympathy for
him. He was, it would seem, a small man who became caught up in 'Dead Again'
and then latter found he had metahuman abilities. He is now a bit more
sketched out and has become part of the Super books tapestry, but there are a
number of questions left. The connection with Brainiac has still to be
explored, and there is the troubling premise of his dreams. I am not sad to
see his story reach a conclusion, at least for now. It has been a much darker
story than most (Toyman excluded), reaching into a Metropolis which is more
unpleasant than I would like to think it is. Hey, yes there's crime, but the
stark brutality of the serial killer is very much a factor of life today. I
didn't like the Toyman story at the time but I can appreciate why it was
written (and how well written it was). Saviour struck me as serving a similar
purpose. He added depth to the Brainiac story by showcasing what can happen
to individuals who get caught up in the extraordinary place that is
Metropolis. He also acted as a counterweight to the more upbeat sub-plots.
The conclusion was well paced, and I liked the emphasis on the people around
Superman helping him out. Ron is a good guy (and I for one would like to see
more of him) and he, like Jimmy last month, provided the solution to the
problem by thinking it through. The sub-plots helped the pace, and the Cat
Grant scenes were great. Some great art of Cat and a glimpse into WGBS office
politics and gossip. I'm sure Cat is going to do great things with WGBS. In
general, there seems to be a renewed emphasis on Lois and Clark being
together, eating out, watching TV and just generally being with each other and
their friends. Long may it continue.
I wasn't a great fan of this month's cover, but it was striking. The interior
art was good, and I like the look of the Dwyer/Rodier Clark and Superman. As
an aside, Ron and Clark have a similar taste in shirts. This month Clark is
wearing a blue and pink striped shirt (without the button down collar Ron was
wearing last month).
Solid conclusion to the Saviour storyline with strong art and mean-looking
pink elephants.
William J Nixon
==========================================================
34. SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #48, "Here be Monsters"
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Jon Bogdanove
Inker: Dennis Janke
$1.95 US/$2.75 CAN/#1.25 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 2.4/5.0 Shields
AW: 2.5 Shields - Another mysterious villain who I'm sure will re-appear
later, and an example of how conflict can be confused as
characterization.
JS: 2.0 Shields - While I am intrigued by this Kosnor, I didn't think this
was much of an issue.
SF: 2.0 Shields - Typical guest-shot action fare, serving mainly to show
that Siegel and Shuster made the right choice in not
including a hood in Supes' costume. Some interesting
art design, and a nice couch shot for the romance fans.
WN: 3.0 Shields - Strong Aquaman art in an entertaining story.
The average MOS reader might think that this month's fare is simply about the
Big Red 'S' and the Big Wet 'A' teaming up to beat one of those washed-up
underwater villains. The average reader would be wrong. This issue is about
friendship and trust, and a sadly changing world.
Trust. Not so long ago--about ten years or so--that was a word you could
attach to any DC Hero. Not only could the public trust their heroes (except
in rare cases of mind control or impersonation), but heroes trusted each
other.
Back then, if Hal Jordan (aka Green Lantern) saw Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman)
around some sea monsters threatening Los Angeles, Hal would check Arthur first
to see how he could help stop the creatures. He'd *assume*, of course, that
Aquaman, as a hero, was trying to stop them. There were bonds of friendship
forged not only in battle, but in the camaraderie of belonging to the Justice
League of America, of a common desire to battle evil and aid humanity.
Now, in these crazy '90s days of mentally-imbalanced and one-armed hero/
villains, Crises on Infinite Earths and Zero Hours, Superman in the same
situation assumes that Aquaman is *leading* the creatures in a war against the
surface-dwellers.
I'll back up for a second and explain: for reasons I can't fathom, the remains
of the ultra-destructive Engine City that Mongul and Cyborg used to invade and
destroy Coast City were left to rust on the bottom of the ocean floor, despite
the obvious ecological disasters that could occur. Aquaman is filmed alerting
the world to the hazards of radiation leaking from the city, when a sea
monster attacks a pier. Superman flies out, and seeing Aquaman in the same
vicinity as the monsters, assumes that Aquaman is leading the attack.
Convinced quickly that he was wrong about Aquaman (thankfully sparing us the
typical battle scene), Superman joins him to battle the mysterious Kosnor.
They defeat Kosnor and his equally mysterious plans, but he escapes,
presumably to menace Metropolis in the future.
I'm led to ask: Why did Superman assume Aquaman was leading the attack?
Because "according to reports, Aquaman has been acting hot-headedly since he
lost his hand." Several realities ago (the only meaningful way to measure
time in the DC Universe), Superman would have known firsthand how his
comrade-at-arms was doing (no puns intended). Now, he relies on "reports,"
and he thinks hot-headedness is just one step away from trying to wipe out the
human race.
Is it me? Am I too old and nostalgic for a time when a team-up meant heroes
got together to fight a common foe, instead of fighting each other? Is it the
times we live in, that we assume even the Man of Steel, who can travel around
the world faster than you or I can catch a bus, never has anything to do with
his super-hero neighbors? Is it current DC policy that makes it necessary for
heroes to re-establish their relationships each time they meet since some new
reality-warping disaster could erase any previous meetings? Or are the
creative powers that be once again confusing conflict for characterization?
I don't know the answer. But as you might have guessed, the Superman/Aquaman
conflict caused me to enjoy this story much less. Not only because it seemed
out of place for these two, but because it took up valuable space that could
have been devoted to fleshing out a sketchy villain with an equally sketchy
evil plot.
Let me finish with some positives, though. It was great to see Superman in
his own book again, and to be actually doing something super. Thank you! And
Bogdanove and Janke continue their consistent run of dynamic and satisfying
(though not quite breathtaking) artwork.
Now we'll just have to see in future issues if someone finally does something
about the loose ends here -- will somebody finally dispose of Engine City in
an intelligent and safe manner? Will Aquaman and Superman be glad to see each
other next time they meet? And what about Kosnor?
Anatole
==========================================================
35. SUPERMAN #104, "Revenge of Apokolips"
Story: Dan Jurgens
Pencil Art: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
Ink Art: Joe Rubinstein
Cover by Dan Jurgens & Josef Rubinstein
$1.95 US/$2.75 Can/#1.25 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 3.6/5.0 Shields
KM: 4.5 Shields
AW: 3.0 Shields - Garcia-Lopez is one of my favorite artists, and Rubinstein
one of my favorite inkers, but somehow they just didn't
click here.
JS: 4.0 Shields - Wonderful characterizations and strong art (though the
cover did nothing for me). How often does Darkseid laugh!?
SF: 3.5 Shields - Wonderful to see Garcia-Lopez back drawing Supes. Some
interesting psychological by-play with Darkseid, and a setup
for a Cyborg plotline. Cute if somewhat obvious double
entendre scene with Lois and Clark.
WN: 3.0 Shields - Solid art and story with the return of the Cyborg.
Lois and Clark are enjoying a relaxing evening eating popcorn in front of the
TV when an unexpected explosion outside a window shatters their solitude.
Clark quickly transforms into Superman to investigate the disturbance. A huge
spaceship, pursued by Darkseid's para-demons, is crashing down on Metropolis.
Now Superman is really confused. Over the next few pages he saves the ship
from crashing, disarms all the para-demons, who escape through the boom tube
which sent them in the first place, and rescues the pilot of the ship,
Kalibre, one of Darkseid's assassins.
Kalibre tells Superman how his daughter has been slated to die, along with
other solders of Apokolips, because of Superman's interference the last time
he visited the planet. Darkseid has appointed Kalibre to be his daughter's
executioner. He seeks Superman's help in stopping Darkseid and saving his
daughter's life. Being a man of honor, how can Superman refuse? Besides, if
he didn't, it wouldn't make much of a comic.
With the aid of Kalibre's "mother box," they instantly journey through a boom
tube to Apokolips, where mindless slaves are seen working in blind and total
obedience to their sadistic master. The next day they come to the place where
Buna's sacrifice is to occur. Superman, disguised as one of the inhabitants
of Apokolips, stops it from happening. Darkseid knows that Superman has
interfered. With the aid of Darkseid's powerful omega beams, they confront
each other. Darkseid is unimpressed with Superman's threats. Instead, a
bargain is reached which saves Buna's life, one that appears a little
one-sided in Darkseid's favor. Before Superman can object, he is transported
back to Metropolis by his adversary.
Darkseid goes to another part of his kingdom and retrieves a small cylindrical
object. He places it in a chamber and releases the energy contained in the
object. The Cyborg is BACK! He orders the Cyborg off Apokolips, knowing full
well he will go after Superman.
Not yet THE END!
I love any story about Apokolips and Darkseid. I don't understand why
Darkseid is such a match against Superman, though. I guess he knows that the
people would be lost without their feared leader and he has to do all he can
to protect them. This has great possibilities, but we may have to wait awhile
to see what happens. On a side note, is there something brewing between Jimmy
and Cat?
Ken McKee
==========================================================
36. ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #527, "The Return"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciller: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Jose Marzan Jr
$1.95 US/$2.75 CAN/#1.25 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 3.1/5.0 Shields
AL: 3.0 Shields
AW: 1.5 Shields - Superman and Jealousy don't mix. He acted completely
out of character here. I was not amused.
JS: 3.5 Shields - Beautiful artwork, including some wonderful coloring, but
I was bothered by Superman's reactions to Alpha Centurion.
SF: 4.25 Shields - A very well-played rather subtle issue on the theme of
jealousy, that doesn't fall into the Marvel trap of having
super-heroes duking it out over a misunderstanding.
Immonen's art and design just keeps getting better.
WN: 3.0 Shields - Great art. Is Lois looking more like Teri Hatcher, or is
it just me?
This issue begins where last week's Superman left off -- with Cyborg leaving
Apokolips. All along the way he is grumbling to himself with delusions of
revenge on Superman and Darkseid. A boom-tube opens and he is gone. A world
away in Metropolis, a starship arrives over the city.
As this is occurring, Cat Grant is seeking Perry's council on running a news
agency and crying a little on his shoulder. Her self confidence is not as
high as the esteem Perry holds for her, and he tears into her, telling her she
is a great reporter. Perry tells her to surround herself with the best people
she can find -- like he did. She gives Perry a quick peck on the cheek as she
leaves, feeling much better about herself, and Perry thinks he better give
Lois and Clark a raise.
Back at the ship, Superman and the helicopter carrying Lois are walloped with
a jolt from a static electricity charge. Out of the ship pops Alpha
Centurion, who brings the helicopter safely to the ground. Superman, Lois,
and Alpha Centurion exchange introductions and greetings with an instant love
triangle being created. Lois would love to get the story, Alpha Centurion is
attracted to Lois, and most importantly Superman is Jealous. Superman shows
Alpha Centurion the city of Metropolis, more to get Centurion away from Lois
than to be a generous host, IMO.
On the docks, an old tanker springs a leak as Lois looks on. Alpha Centurion
and Superman fly into action. Centurion tells Superman to mend the tanker as
he rescues Lois. Reacting violently, Superman will have nothing of it and
reverses the roles. All goes well, but working with the tanker, Alpha
Centurion is caught in an explosion. Then Superman prevents Alpha Centurion
from being skewered by a piece of Shrapnel. Later that night, Clark and Lois
are watching the news and he again expresses his jealousy, but Lois reassures
him with words and a kiss.
I loved the artwork in this issue. Some of it was amazing. The sky behind
Superman on page four was great. The appearance of Alpha Centurion on page
ten is exquisite. With all of the beautiful pages, there are few things which
do not work. The shadow caused by the ship on page five does not look good.
The black splotches really stick out and are distracting. I think it would
have been amazing if they had just used much darker colors. There are also
many examples of classic Immonen that do work. There are several nice
reflections and light tricks which look cool; Superman reflections, or through
windows, the light reflecting off Alpha Centurion's helmet during his
entrance. I was not pumped on his work early in his run on Superman, but I am
now! I am not sure if I have warmed to his style now that I understand it, if
he has grown more comfortable drawing Superman, or if he has raised himself
out of his "feeling down" about his work.
The story was interesting. I thought there were a lot of interesting
parallels and segueways. Cyborg leaves Apokolips and Centurion arrives. But,
I thought the most interesting was the (Re?)introduction of Alpha Centurion.
The first time he is seen, he rescues Lois from a helicopter. Ten years ago,
Superman saved her from a spaceplane. A helicopter is a far cry from a
spaceplane, and I hope that implies that Alpha Centurion will play minor
roles, and that his power levels are far below those of Superman. I did not
agree with the strong jealousy exhibited by Superman, maybe he is still
suffering from the effects of "Dead Again." I really think his confidence and
self-esteem should be much higher. I liked the way Lois reassures him,
though. On a minor note, I think it is interesting how the comic books and
the TV series are emulating each other more this year. But, that is a whole
other article on its own. That sounds like a good idea, maybe next month....
Arthur LaMarche
________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************
End of Section 3
________________________________________________________________
ANNUALS AND OTHER SUPER-TITLES:
------------------------------
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN ANNUAL #7, "Truth and Justice"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciller: Ron Wagner
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Cover: Walt Simonson
$3.95 US/$5.50 CAN/#2.50 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 4.1/5.0 Shields
AL: 4.5 Shields - Go buy this book! Do not be scared away buy the price!
AW: 4.5 Shields - Excellent story, reminiscent of the 1940's Superman!
JS: 4.5 Shields - Strong story, strong art, strong cover. This is yet
another fantastic annual!
SF: 3.0 Shields - Competent but not inspiring Year One story, giving some
background on Maggie Sawyer (doubtless meant to explain
her later sexual orientation), and featuring a determined
(almost to the point of caricature) Lois Lane. Effective
use of the corny device of newspaper "headlines."
Normally I do not like annuals. Lately, they come up with some silly story arc
that runs through all the annuals. The stories are forced, the usual writers
are not around, and the heroes that we love appear in other books and are
severely mis-characterized. This year, they have been a pleasant surprise.
Most of the stories have been well-written and self-contained. This year's
AOS is no exception. There is so much going on in this issue that I could not
summarize it all. It is a lot of pages of great action and story-telling with
very few cast-off panels. We do not see 15 pages of Superman banging it out
with a super villain -- in fact, Superman does not fight the super-villain --
Turpin does. I highly recommend buying this book.
This issue begins with Superman's early appearance in Metropolis -- about a
week after the spaceplane incident. Throughout the story we see new facets on
old tales. Maggie Sawyer's arrival in Metropolis; Lois trying to get a scoop;
Lois getting scooped; the formation of the SCU, etc. In addition, we see more
of Toby. There is a great gimmick of full-page splashes representing front
pages of the many newspapers of Metropolis. They are great to look at; buy it
so you can see them also.
I can not summarize the book -- I really think you should buy this book to see
for yourself -- because I could not do it justice. It is very visual and is
one great big, well-told story. Oh, one more thing, did I mention that you
should buy this book? Hey, if Anatole gives it 4.5 shields you would have to
be daft to not BUY THIS BOOK!
Arthur "bought the book" LaMarche
==========================================================
SUPERBOY #19, "T-K-O!"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Pencils: Tom Grummett
Inker: Doug Hazlewood
Cover by Tom Grummett & Karl Kesel
$1.95 US/$2.75 CAN/#1.25 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 3.5/5.0 Shields
VC: 4.5 Shields
AW: 4.5 Shields - Mindless destruction in the Superboy style! All this and
Mon-El-- er, Valor retakes his rightful place in DC/Legion
history!
JS: 3.5 Shields - Nice setup for (ahem) future stories, but Knockout's
starting to wear thin. Let's get some development of her
character.
SF: 1.5 Shields - A second disappointing Superboy outing from Kesel: a
confusing jumble whose sole merit is the nostalgia value
of a rehash of the Phantom Zone, 90's style.
Landing in the middle of Champion and Superboy's fight, Knockout proceeds to
singularly waste them both. Fighting back, Superboy tries to convince her
that Champion needs medical assistance. Almost immediately, a hovering
spacecraft arrives, a voice proclaiming Champion's real identity as Lar Gand,
and stating that he has been lead-poisoned.
Meanwhile, Gamboli is watching from remote cameras and adds Knockout to the
gambling pot moments before Knockout destroys the video devices that Gamboli
was using to view the fight.
Subsequently, the military arrives - complete with a tank - attempting to
arrest the whole lot of them. Knockout immediately launches into them while
Superboy helps Lar Gand into the spacecraft. As Lar Gand flees the site,
Knockout leaps up and disables his ship.
As the ship fails, Superboy rips open the canopy to help Lar Gand, seconds
before it explodes in the sky. As everyone assumes the worst, Knockout
smashes into Gamboli's center of gambling operations, a yacht, and Superboy is
already on his way to S.T.A.R. Labs with Lar Gand. Upon the yacht, Knockout
finds Gamboli and proceeds to become the bane of his existence.
Superboy locates a scientist that help him to the stasis zone portal at the
lab, an opening into a temporal anomaly in space. Using his tactile
telekinesis [there's that word again! :) ], the Kid maintains the integrity of
the portal's perimeter as it's enlarged to permit Lar Gand to enter. Moments
before the failure of the portal, Lar Gand flies into the anomaly, becoming a
phantom before everyone's very eyes. As the portal fails completely, Lar Gand
disappears away from view.
Later, as everyone from the compound is gathered at the beach, Superboy
recounts the day's events including the mysterious death of Gamboli. Just as
he finishes, Rex is taught a harmless but startling lesson from Dubbilex about
betrayal.
Action! Plot! What more can you ask for?? This story will almost certainly
lead into an upcoming Legion of Super-Heroes storyline. Although, I'm still
puzzled about Knockout's vendetta against Gamboli, I thought that the story
turned out really well. Especially so, because there were elements taken from
the Silver Age Superboy's saving of Mon-El. I'm a sucker for classic DC
stories and this one, which reminded me vividly of Superboy sending Mon-El
into the Phantom Zone to save him from lead poisoning, was an excellent
remake, albeit with different characters but similar events. The way the
story was written was top-notch because of all the elements Kesel threw in and
the resultant cohesive plot.
Grummett & Hazlewood are one of my favorite S-title art teams. This issue did
not let me down. I've never been able to categorize Grummett's style but
seeing more of his 'military' pencils make me liken his art to a clean-lined
Joe Kubert. Grummett isn't a Byrne, Miller, Lee nor Mignola but will
certainly be remembered in the 90's for his work with DC. (Gosh, this sounds
like an obit, doesn't it?)
Victor Chan
==========================================================
Steel #19, "Black Ops -- over and out"
Writer: David Michelinie
Penciller: Phil Gosier
Inkers: Rich Faber, Rob Leigh & Mike Sellers
$1.95 US/$2.75 CAN/#1.25 UK
RATINGS:
DS: 3.5 Shields
This is the concluding issue in a three story arc dealing with the
disappearance of Tyke, John Henry's nephew, its possible connection with a
gang who kidnap children and then chemically brainwash them, and a new Native
American hero/villain(?), Chindi. Briefly, here's what's happened in the
three areas: 1) Tyke disappeared and Steel has been looking for him; 2) while
looking for Tyke, Steel received information from Shauna Beryl of the DC PD
that there's a gang which kidnaps children and then gives them experimental
drugs to make them passive; 3) meanwhile, a new character Chindi, a bounty
hunter, is trying to collect on a bounty for Steel's armor. As the last issue
closed, Steel had discovered that a villain named Hazard was behind the
kidnapping. Chindi joined Steel in his efforts when he found this out, since
Hazard was the one who put the bounty on Steel's armor and the children had
been found. Unfortunately, the room with the children was then sealed and a
bomb was set to go off, killing the children, Steel, and Chindi.
Working together, Steel and Chindi break a hole in the wall and the noxious
fumes escape. Chindi leaves saving his own skin. Steel berates Chindi for
leaving the children, but Chindi shows up with an air car and the two get the
children to safety as the building blows up. Tyke wasn't among the children,
so Steel's search isn't over yet. He borrows Chindi's cellular phone to call
home to check on Jemahl, who was out picking up groceries for his grandmother.
Apparently Steel's lessons are starting to pay off.
Steel has a clue to the possible whereabouts of Tyke. He got an address from
the computers in the building just before it blew up. Chindi joins him in
this search since he is outraged by the idea of using children for
mind-control experiments. For the next nine pages there is a slug-fest in
which the baddies are finally overcome but escape and Tyke is found. Steel
lets Chindi go, although it's not clear what charges could have been brought
against him. John Henry takes Tyke home to his family. The last page
produces an explanation for Tyke's disappearance. Telling you this
explanation would hurt the story so I'll just stop here. If you want the
details and don't want the book you can either read the last page in your
local comic shop the next time you're in or you can e-mail me directly for the
spoiler.
The artwork in this issue is among the best that Steel has had. About a third
of the pages are splash with individual panels overlaying part of the page.
There are two double splash pages with overlays. On both of these, the splash
is in "portrait" mode -- i.e. the comic must be turned sideways to continue
the story. I have become a fan of the new glossy format that many of the DC
books are now using and Steel uses it to great advantage. The drawing is very
crisp and the colors vibrant. The layout schemes with panels overlaying
splashes shows up very well in this type of situation.
The story wrapped up very nicely. The children were going to be given therapy
for years to help them get over the mind control drugs. Chindi and Steel
destroyed Hazard's mob -- for now, and worked well together doing it. Jemahl
appears to be growing up and coming under his Uncle's influence more so than
his street friends. Tyke is back home.
There were enough loose ends to make this story interesting. Hazard got away
so he can come back sometime later to cause problems. Chindi left as an
ambiguous character -- a bounty hunter with honor. I would bet that he will
definitely be back, whether as an ally or an opponent is not clear. And the
ending with Tyke is very powerful and believable. I'm not a big fan of
slugfests so this rating of 3.5 is actually very high considering that about
half of the book dealt with fights.
Dick Sidbury
==========================================================
SHOWCASE '95 #8, "Exit to Eden: Part 2"
Starring Mongul
Written by: Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils by: Scot Eaton
Inked by: Pam Eklund
$2.95 US/$4.25 CAN/#2.00 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 2.5/5.0 Shields
RG: Story: 3.5 Shields - Grim but not bad, Mongul loses.
Art : 2.5 Shields - Not bad, but needed detail & backgrounds.
JS: 2.0 Shields - What was the point? This tale didn't interest me in
the least.
Continuing from where it left off last month, Mongul was rescued from death in
space and has conquered the people that saved him. As always Mongul is trying
to convert the planet into a new and improved Warworld. He mistreats the
people, and when a disease that he brought with him begins tokill the people,
he ignores it until it is too late. Almost all of the people die of the
plague and Mongul is stranded on the planet. A nice twist to the ending, and
not what I expected. The ending had some serious biblical overtones and the
story of Eden gets played out with Mongul playing the devil.
Not a pleasant story, but one that is true to the character Mongul as he has
been displayed. Very two dimensional, but then he was never much for a
personality, unless you consider being a homicidal maniac character. He
brutalizes the planet, never even beginning to value the people that he has
conquered beyond his immediate needs. Admittedly, they do not seem to have
the strength to defy him, though a few do put up a token resistance. Even his
lackey at last attempts to kill him before he can leave the planet.
While I may not like the character Mongul very much, I did feel that he was a
decent villain. Having his own story though may have been a bit much. Again,
beginning to end, he was and remains a two-dimensional character.
"Lian's Present" starring Arsenal
Written by: David DeVries
Pencils by: David Zimmerman
Inks by: Fred Fredericks
RG: Story: 4.0 Shields - Nice ending to a self contained story.
Art: 3.5 Shields - Well detailed and inked.
JS: 2.0 Shields - The art was sufficient, but the tale was fairly
uninteresting.
Arsenal, working (kind of) for Checkmate rather than as the leader of the
Titans, rescues a person from a dungeon. Well written and drawn, it is the
best story in the book. As it doesn't refer to any of the Superman cast, I
won't give a detailed review, but I do recommend the story. I especially
liked the minor twist at the end. His family counts to Arsenal, I hope to see
more of Lian in the Titans.
"Sunken Beauty" starring the Spectre
Written by: John Ostrander
Pencils by: Tom Mandrake
Inks by: Barry Chabala
RG: Story: 2.0 Shields - Felt rushed, doesn't stand on its own.
Art: 1.5 Shields - Too heavily inked - no real detail.
JS: 3.0 Shields - Though I'm not much of a fan of the Spectre, this
was a fairly decent story. It irks me that it was
a lead-in to the real story -- an obvious plea for
higher sales.
The Spectre finds, possesses, and destroys a vampire. It is more of a prologue
to the Spectre #34 than anything else. As such it felt unfinished and rushed.
As a story it seemed to start in the middle, and it never really does give
the information to truly understand what is going on. If I wasn't familiar
with the character, I wouldn't know any more at the end of the story than I
did at the beginning. It really didn't make it on its own.
The art was very blocky and dark. The inking was too heavy and the lack of
details and backgrounds distracted me and kept me from getting involved.
Rene' Gobeyn
==========================================================
THE NEW TITANS #125, "Xenocide"
The Siege of the Zi Charam: Part 5 (of 5)
Written by: Marv Wolfman
Pencils by: William Rosado
Inks by: Keith Champagne
$2.25 US/ $3.25 CAN/ #1.5 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 3.9/5.0 Shields
RG: Story: 5.0 Shields - Well written ending to a good story.
Art: 4.5 Shields - Nicely detailed, could use backgrounds.
JS: 3.0 Shields - While not as strong as some other parts of the story,
this was fairly well told. The art seemed a bit rushed.
Continued from DAMAGE #16. [Which is reviewed in the next section. --Jeff]
In this nearly double-sized book, the Siege story line is concluded and most
of the loose ends are tied up. This is actually quite an accomplishment for a
comic nowadays, where the stories seem to just feed one (too) long crossover
after another. We have had some very nice characterization and interaction
scenes combined with short fight segments. The balance between the two was
just about right.
The story opens with a brief scene taking place at Titans headquarters on
earth, where Annie's ex-husband is threatening her and the kids.
Deathstroke's daughter, Rose, saves them. I can easily see Rose becoming a
focus for some future plot line either here or in Deathstroke's own title.
Her attitude, as well as her street-fighting skills combine to make her a more
interesting character than has so far been seen.
As the main story continues, the argument about the use of the bio-weapon to
sterilize the Progenitor race continues. When the Progenitors attack the
Council planet, the argument seems lost as the Council launches the virus to
try to protect themselves. The argument is that the Progenitors will never
stop as long as they continue to reproduce. The virus, which is completely
harmless to the other races, will only sterilize the Progenitors. It won't be
a quick end, but the current generation of Progenitors would be the last one.
The Titans meanwhile are fighting a two-front war -- one trying to stop the
Progenitors, while the other tries to stop the missiles carrying the virus
before it infects and destroys the Progenitors.
Arsenal eventually comes up with a plan that will save all of the races of the
Zi Charam, without destroying the Progenitors. Really a win-win solution to
the problem. I'm not going to spoil the ending for anyone who wants to read
the entire story later, but the ending was far better than what I had been
expecting.
After helping with the rescue and rebuilding on the Council planet, the Titans
are at last sent home where we again see the shadowy figure from last issue.
The art in the book was excellent as always. The Titans is one of my favorite
titles, and the nicely detailed art is one of the reasons. Rosado's layouts
are excellent, and the inking on the characters is consistently fine and
detailed. My one complaint is that it could have used more background details.
A very minor complaint that I usually don't need to make about this title.
The balance of the book consists of a tour of the Titans Headquarters in
Liberty Park, and diagrams of the satellite and the various craft that they
have at their command. All together a nice bit of reference material for
Titans fans. I'll be very sorry to see the series end in five months.
Rene' Gobeyn
________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************
End of Section 4
________________________________________________________________
MINISERIES AND GUEST APPEARANCES:
--------------------------------
SUPERMAN VS. ALIENS #3 (of 3)
Story and Layout Art by Dan Jurgens
Finished Art by Kevin Nowlan
$4.95 US/$6.95 CAN
RATINGS:
Average: 4.2/5.0 Shields
JS: 4.5 Shields - A creepy, eerie, intense, gripping tale with dark, ominous
art. A wonderfully executed miniseries!
AW: 4.0 Shields - Good story--I hope we'll be seeing Kara again.
SF: 4.0 Shields - Didn't fall flat like many mini-series, but managed to
sustain interest and suspense to the end, while leaving
room for the return of Kara, who has potential. I was
bothered by Superman's chest symbol fitting so well on
his arm...
Lois Lane rushes through the corridors of LexPort, LexCorp's space station,
eventually arriving in the MedLab. There she finds that the remaining two
survivors of Argo are meeting their final destiny in the form of the alien
chestbursters. Sadly, she also finds Dr. Kimble rejoicing in the impending
scientific and military benefits the aliens represent to LexCorp. Having just
narrowly escaped their brothers, Lois has no intention of allowing the
dangerous creatures to live. Ignoring Dr. Kimble's threats, Lois rushes into
the isolation chamber, where she torches the monsters. Upon exiting the
chamber, she finds herself facing a more human monster -- Dr. Kimble, unaware
of the alien approaching from around the corner, has leveled a gun at Lois!
In Argo City, Superman awakens to find himself surrounded by hordes of the
aliens. He immediately begins to work on an escape plan, but his thoughts are
interrupted by the arrival of Kara and her flame-thrower. The craft which had
brought the aliens to Argo had transporter technology, allowing Kara to beam
into the alien nest. However, her attempt to transport them away fails as a
result of the failure of the power unit.
Strangely, the aliens do not attack. Suddenly enlightened, Kara turns the
flame-thrower on Kal, which causes the aliens to back away. Noticing the
marks on his face, she realizes that he has been infested with an alien queen!
Using this to their advantage, they manage to escape the hive, but once they
take a moment to rest, Kal notices that Kara is also sporting face-hugger
marks. He tries to reassure her, explaining that since they are both
Kryptonian, they only need to get under a yellow sun -- their powers should
take care of the aliens they're carrying! Astonished that Kal is Kryptonian,
Kara reveals that she is not.
This Argo city, from the planet Odiline, was named for the Kryptonian city.
The cleric, whom Superman had met during his long exile in space, had visited
Odiline with his great space ark filled with Kryptonians. But of course, by
the time it reached Odiline, the Kryptonians had all died, a result of
severing the genetic bond with Krypton. Kara's people then patterned their
society after that of Krypton. Realizing that Superman had believed he had
found another member of his own race, she tries to console him by giving him a
photo of her from when she was younger.
When she begins to slip back into her defeatist attitude, Kal tries once more
to reassure her. Failing to do so completely, he convinces her that they
should try to get back to the wrecked craft -- maybe there is some remaining
technology that can help them. They suit up in survival gear, and Kara
provides Superman with a shred of cloth from his uniform -- with this shield
in place about his arm, they set forth.
On board LexPort, Lois manages to kick the gun from Dr. Kimble, who then finds
herself at the feet of the remaining alien! After a moment's hesitation, Lois
picks up the gun and shoots the alien. Some of its acidic blood lands on Dr.
Kimble, but she manages to run from the alien in the confusion. Lois lands
another shot in the creature's mouth, and the two women trap the monster in
the MedLab, or so they thought. Looking through the monitor, the creature has
already disappeared!
With the flame thrower aimed at Clark, Kara manages to guide them through the
hordes of aliens into the ship. Once inside, they find their way into a nest,
where Kara takes advantage of the inhabiting Queen's reluctance to attack
Superman by destroying all of the eggs. Turning back to the task at hand,
with great effort, Superman scans the ship with hi x-ray vision, and he finds
some active teleportation devices as well as some escape pods!
On LexPort, the alien emerges from a ventilation duct near the station's
gyroscope. After ripping one of the scientists in half, it throws one of the
parts into the gyroscope, causing the stabilizer to explode. Without this
balance control, the station begins to tumble toward the Earth!
Superman and Kara discover that the escape pods are jammed in the jettison
tubes, and they decide to blow up the ship in such a manner as to force the
pod's expulsion. Since Kal needs to program the navigation computers if they
are to make it to Earth, and Kara knows the ship's technology much better than
the Man of Steel, they agree to let her return to the ship's power core to set
the explosives. He instructs her to return to the active teleporter when she
is finished. That way he can beam her into the pod before the explosion.
After they part emotionally, they begin their work. But Kal's is interrupted
as the alien in his chest is ready to leave! Kara completes the deployment of
the explosions and rushes to the teleporter. Clark, still in pain from the
chestburster, and not wishing for Kara to have to go through the same
experience, suddenly realizes that he can help her! Using the teleporter, he
beams the alien out of Kara's body. Thinking the teleporter has failed, Kara
panics, but Clark tells her to stay put. However, an alien bursts into the
teleportation tube, and she finds herself staring down the Queen!
Superman tries to help, but the pain from the chestburster overwhelms him.
And his attempt would have been futile, as the ship and Argo city explode,
expelling the pod into hyperspace. It reenters Earth's solar system in front
of the sun, and Superman quickly exits to absorb the empowering rays. With
his strength quickly returning, the alien is unable to escape. After a long
struggle, Kal finally manages to regurgitate the monster.
Ignoring his weariness, he returns LexPort to its orbit. Finding his way to
Lois, he arrives just in time to prevent the alien from mangling her. Torn
between his relief and his feelings of loss, Superman eventually manages to
overcome his urge to kill the creature, but his values don't impress Dr.
Kimble. Expressing regret over her earlier actions, she promptly grabs a
welder and incinerates the beast.
Later, Clark relates his trials at Argo City to Lois, explaining how he
managed to save Kara from one death, only to lose her to another. But even as
he mourns the loss of someone he had quickly grown to love as family, Kara
travels through space in a second life pod. A grim determination on her face,
she flies off among the stars.
I really can't say enough about how good this story was! This final chapter
managed to circumnavigate the "Last Son of Krypton" aspect to the Byrne
Superman without submitting a "cheesy" out to the actual origin of Kara and
Argo City. Even more importantly, Superman was able to maintain his moral code
against a race which, it could be argued, deserve nothing less than genocide.
Dan Jurgens also did a wonderful job of exploring the "familial" bond which
developed between Kal-El and Kara. This was handled almost as well as the
mother/daughter relationship which developed between Ripley and Newt in the
ALIENS movie. And Superman's emotions and grief were as wonderfully displayed
by the art as they were by the text and dialogue.
Once again, Jurgens and Kevin Nowlan present us with a masterpiece of dark,
brooding artwork which contributes as much to the environment as the
narration. And the contrast of the more brightly-clad "human" characters
serves to emphasize their struggle (especially that of Superman) of the
totally alien nature of the creatures.
Again, my only real problem with the series was the prestige format. Given
the sheer volume of Superman comics coming these days, DC needs to work on
making some of these special projects in cheaper formats. I highly recommend
this as an excellent comic work, but if price is an issue for you, I suggest
that you wait for the inevitable trade paperback. (I might have to pick one
up myself for future readings -- the tale is definitely one you'll want to
read again and again!)
Jeff Sykes
==========================================================
THE DARKSTARS #34, "Strangers in a Strange Land"
The Siege of the Zi Charam: Part 3 (of 5)
Writer: Michael Jan Friedman
Pencils: Mike Collins
Inks: Ken Branch
$2.25 US/$3.25 CAN/#1.50 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 3.5/5.0 Shields
RG: Story: 4.0 Shields - Very nice teamwork, use brains.
Art: 4.0 Shields - Nice detailing and well inked.
JS: 3.0 Shields - While the art wasn't to my taste, it was clean and fairly
nice. A fairly well told story, especially for the topic
of the issue.
This book makes several side steps to advance some of the other plots that have
been developing, but I won't discuss them here. If you are interested, pick
up the title and give it a try. IMHO, it's one of DC's better efforts. I'm
glad that they tied the book into the Titans family.
This story picks up following the events in GREEN LANTERN #64.
After fighting their way through a gauntlet of Progenitor ships, the Titans
manage to contact the alien race that is being attacked. They use teamwork
between Darkstar and Green Lantern to get past the force shield that is
protecting the aliens from attack. What they find is that most of the aliens
don't want their help. They are sent on to the Council that is trying
(ineffectively) to coordinate the defense of the galaxy.
The Council manages to come up with a plan that involves the Titans gathering
the ingredients for a chemical weapon to be used against the invaders.
As they need to gather four separate ingredients for this weapon, the Titans
split into 4 teams consisting of:
Darkstar and Terra
Supergirl and Mirage
Green Lantern and Damage
Minion and Arsenal
Donna Troy (Darkstar) and Terra, along with one of the aliens that the Titans
rescued in Green Lantern (as a guide and tracker), are sent off to collect a
very dangerous beast. Both Terra and Darkstar go off on their own to try to
capture it, they both fail. However, by working together they are able to
capture it with relative ease.
A better than average story that was well drawn and nicely detailed. I've
been very pleasantly surprised by the consistency of the story and art work
all through this multi-part story. So far, I would (and have) used this story
to introduce a few of my comic-reading friends to some titles that they
haven't been following.
Rene' Gobeyn
==========================================================
DAMAGE #16, "The Elements of Power"
The Siege of the Zi Charam: Part 4 (of 5)
Writer: Tom Joyner
Pencils: Jason Armstrong
Inks: Jordi Ensign & Phyllis Novin
Cover by Bill Marimon & Don Hillsmant
$2.25 US/$3.25 CAN/#1.50 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 3.6/5.0 Shields
RG: Story: 4.0 Shields - Damage learns a lesson in war and biology.
Art: 3.5 Shields - Good but needed detailing, too heavy inks.
JS: 3.5 Shields - A nice story within a story, as Damage learns the difference
between "reality" and the movies. Lovely art, reminiscent
of Stuart Immonen in places.
Damage and Green Lantern are off to collect a rare swamp plant and the water it
grows in for the Council's weapon against the Progenitors. Grant is suffering
from what I refer to as the faceless enemy syndrome - where you don't think of
the enemy as people, or in Grant's own words:
"... and I don't have to worry all the time about hurting
someone. I mean, they're just a bunch of aliens."
When the story opens, Damage and Green Lantern are under attack by several
Progenitor ships. Damage is trapped on one of the Progenitor ships that has
been damaged and is falling into the planet's atmosphere.
The story breaks here to join Supergirl (yea!) and Mirage who are working to
obtain an ancient crystal containing a virus that is needed for part of the
weapon. They have obtained the crystal when they are attacked by a group of
the planet's alien residents. After a (very) brief battle, they learn that
the aliens are the descendants of political exiles. Supergirl promises to
look into helping them with their problems. She tells them that if the local
rulers don't look into helping the exiles, they could expect to see her and
the Titans sometime in the future. (a hint to the new series?)
The story then rejoins Damage (it is his book after all) after he has survived
the crash of the Progenitor ship. He is helped by one of the residents who
promises to take him to where the plant that he needs grows.
Meanwhile, Arsenal and Minion are on yet another planet where a volcano is
threatening to envelop them while they collect the rare mineral that they need
to collect for the Council's weapon. The alien that had been guiding them is
killed in the eruption. Minion and Arsenal narrowly escape with the mineral
that they need.
Back to our heroes, Grant has at last found the plant's that he is looking
for, but he and the local alien that had been guiding him are attacked by one
of the planet's dangerous plants. Grant and the alien girl are easily rescued
by Green Lantern. Grant has learned by this point that the aliens are people
too, and all without preaching.
The book ends with the Titans learning that the weapon will sterilize the
Progenitors while being completely harmless to the other alien races of the Zi
Charam. If the Titans allow the Council to make the weapon and use it as
planned, then they will be committing genocide on the entire Progenitor race.
Even though this is Damage's book, the story continues to advance all of the
Titans as they race to gather the weapon components. I think that the Titans
waiting until they have provided the council with all of the components of the
weapon BEFORE they think to ask what the weapon will do is a little out of
character. After all, they are used to being used as pawns by our own
government, they should be used to questioning a government's motives by now.
I'm glad that the plot is moving along so fast that the cross-over will be
completed in the next issue of the Titan's own book. The story could have
easily been expanded to follow each team collecting a component into a book
each. I'm very glad that the editors decided not to follow this path. At
five books the story is about right. It could have been trimmed down a bit
more but some of the sub-plots and characterization would have been sacrificed
to action scenes. So far I've been very pleased with the story and its
progress.
Rene' Gobeyn
==========================================================
GREEN ARROW #100, "Where Angels Fear to Tread"
Guest starring Superman
Written by: Chuck Dixon
Pencils by: Jim Aparo
Inks by: Gerry Fernandez
$3.95 US/$5.50 CAN/#2.50 UK
RATINGS:
Average: 4.25/5.0 Shields
RG: Story: 4.0 Shields - Good, but hurt by being continued.
Art: 4.5 Shields - Nice pencils, well detailed.
Green Arrow has always (even pre-crisis) been one of my favorite characters.
It was the limited series "The Longbow Hunters" that got me reading comics
again after giving them up completely for several years. It's a pleasure to
finally be able to review this title here.
The story that is coming to a conclusion here and next issue really started
about six months before ZERO HOUR. I won't go into detail, but it's one of
the best "turning point" stories I've ever read.
Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) has infiltrated (for the NSA) an Eco-terrorist
organization that is threatening to crash a plane with a bomb that will
release a plastic-eating microorganism into Metropolis. They are expecting
the city to be completely destroyed within hours.
At the last minute one of the terrorists reveals himself to be an NSA
infiltrator also. There is a shoot-out, and the NSA agent, pilots, and all of
the terrorists are seriously wounded or killed. Ollie himself is seriously
wounded. He is tricked by the dying leader into holding a dead man switch to
the bomb.
He is starting to weaken from blood loss when Superman shows up.
Unfortunately, Superman can't think of any way out of the mess, and all of the
options that Ollie comes up with involve him dying. Superman is unwilling to
give in to any of these plans if he can help it. At the last minute,
something that Ollie says gives Superman an idea that would save Ollie's life
and defuse the bomb. After he explains his idea, Ollie says he would rather
die. The book ends with Superman telling Ollie "The choice isn't yours, old
friend." Unfortunately the story is continued next issue.
I don't want to tip the ending, but it is expected that it will answer some
questions raised years ago in the Frank Miller Batman story "Return of the
Dark Knight".
Rene' Gobeyn
________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************
End of Section 5
________________________________________________________________
LOOKING BACK
------------
LEGACIES: Reviews of the pre-Crisis Man of Steel
------------------------------------------------
SUPERMAN AND HIS INCREDIBLE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE
Summer 1981
Writer: Roy Thomas
Art: Ross Andru & Romeo Tanghal
Cover Price: $2.50
Rating: 3.9 Shields
Superman recalls sitting around WGBS when a masked and armored guy called
Dominus takes over the airwaves. Dominus says he's pulled a giant meteor from
space and is sending it to crash into Earth. Then we're back in the present,
and Superman slams into the meteor, destroying it. The force of the explosion
hits him, and as he turns to head back to Earth, he sees an explosion at the
North Pole, and cracks spread across the planet. Then Earth blows up.
Then his vision blurs, and the Earth is whole again. He realizes that the
shock of the impact with the meteor sent him one hour into the future. Supes
recognizes that the explosion at the North Pole started at the Fortress of
Solitude.
Cut to Dominus and his hired goon. Dominus claims to have planned that whole
thing, and he knows that Superman will try to save Earth--and fail.
Superman flies to the Fortress and flashes back to when he tried to put a
Fortress in space and underground, failing both times. He decided to place it
at the North Pole, and carved it with his bare hands. He created a new metal
and planted it in the middle of Metropolis. A crack demolition squad tried
their best to damage it, but nothing doing. So Superman made his giant key
from it.
Superman starts tooling through the Fortress at super-speed, taking inventory
and trying to figure out how his Fortress could end up causing the explosion
of Earth. He showers with a super-blowtorch to get rid of any alien germs. He
visits his atomic cauldron, which contains Kryptonian elements that he got
from Kandor. It can dissolve anything, including him. He recalls when he and
Supergirl melted down lots of illegal super-weapons. Then the cousins turned
on each other, till they discovered that a hate-gas from one of the weapons
had done the deed.
Cut to Dominus. He tells his goon that they'll take a ship to a parallel
Earth without a Superman, and conquer it, when he blows up this one.
Back to the Fortress. Superman visits a special wing of his weapons room
devoted to Luthor. He wonders if Dominus is Luthor, and decides that Luthor
would rather everyone know it was him.
The tour continues of the first level, and the giant statues of Jor-El and
Lara at the Krypton memorial. There's a 3-D hologram screen here which shows
Krypton exploding, over and over again. At an exhibit of a typical Krypton
living room, he remembers Lois sleeping over one night wherein he discouraged
her from chasing him. There's the communications room, with TV broadcasts from
all over the world and hyperspace radios for other planets. A volcano erupts,
and Superman is torn about abandoning his search. Then the volcano quiets
down on its own.
Superman checks his gas-jets, which release anti-bacterial gas once a month to
destroy alien microbes that he might carry into the Fortress with him. He
checks his trophy room and recalls when a hood, his son, and an electronics
expert took Clark Kent as a hostage and busted into the Fortress. The
captured Clark arranges a cave-in so he can change to Superman and make a
rescue far away. The electronics expert turns out to be Luthor, who double
crosses the hood and kills him. Superman threw everybody in the clink.
He checks in Supergirl's room, and remarks about how someday she'll call
herself Superwoman. Then he recalls saving the bottle-city of Kandor from
Brainiac, and how he kept it for years, until he enlarged them and placed them
on New Kandor, a phase-world that only appears every few years. He checks his
collection of robot doubles, his super-computer with "the most extensive crime
files on Earth", his Kryptonite storage room, and the Phantom Zone viewer. He
visits his alien zoo, where he sees a bravado-beast, which goes crazy when it
sees the color yellow.
Another distress call, this time from space. But Hal Jordan takes care of
business! Dominus tells his goon that he won't tell him his true identity.
Superman heads for the top level of the Fortress. A footnote reads that DC
has been promising to show the readers this level for YEARS!
Therein lies his giant diary. He writes in it in Kryptonese, then reads it
cover to cover, but comes up with no clues. He passes by a wax museum of his
entire supporting cast, which includes a wax Clark, if for some reason,
somebody who didn't know showed up at the top level of the Fortress. He also
checks on a display of statues of his super-hero friends, standing next to
their secret identities. It shifts into hyperspace when unauthorized people
enter the Fortress. Superman realizes that he still has no answers, and time
is running out.
Dominus shows his goon a spaceship that will be activated by the Earth blowing
up. He tells the goon that the answer is right under Superman's nose.
Back in the fortress, Superman checks in one final room, where no one besides
him has ever gone. It contains a cosmic ark, which he could use to save only
a few people if the Earth were doomed.
In his living room, with only a minute left, he drops down a thought-viewer
where he views an infinite number of possible chain reactions that could cause
the explosion that he witnessed. He imagines a scenario wherein microbes
weren't killed by his super- blowtorch, but were activated by it. This might
turn a plant in his alien zoo yellow, enraging the bravado beast, who would
eat the plant. Today's the day his antibacterial gas jets were to go
off--they do, and this drives the beast crazy, since he has a bacteriated
plant in his stomach. The crazed beast sets off a bunch of weapons, which
chain-reacts with the atomic cauldron, which releases kryptonite fumes, which
kill Superman, then blows up the Fortress, then finally destroys Earth.
As the final 5 seconds tick down, Dominus and goon make their escape into the
spaceship. Superman tries to break the chain of events. The time of
explosion passes. Dominus hits the button anyway, and the ship lifts off--
only to be stopped by a pair of blue-sleeved arms.
Dominus zaps Superman with an atomic handgun, which keeps Superman at bay. So
he screams at the top of his lungs, and the sonic waves knock Dominus loopy.
He yanks off Dominus' mask, revealing (surprise!) Luthor.
Luthor memorized the Fortress when he was there posing as the electronics
expert. Superman asks "Do you really hate me so much, that you'd have
destroyed the world to be rid of me?" Luthor answers "Can you doubt it? You
make it sound -- so EASY to defeat me!" Superman answers, "It wasn't really
all that hard, Luthor, once I had the time...!"
Did anybody out there even know this book existed? The Fortress is really the
star of this book. All the historical elements that have been written about
the Fortress over the years are blended together as if they were all written
at the same time. Of course, the writer is Roy Thomas, who's known for this
sort of thing.
They don't make super-hero headquarters like they used to. The only thing
missing from this book is a map with cutaways like we used to see all the
time. I don't know of any other place where the Fortress has been explored or
catalogued, and this is a very nice reference. Who among us knew where
Superman got that giant yellow key?
The tabloid editions were apparently used for stories that were, literally,
too big. It seems that the only way artists back then could depict size was
to print the comic on really big paper. :)
And the story framed around the walking tour is very nice, as well. We've
seen bad guys threaten to blow up Earth lots of times, but they never actually
succeeded. Here, Superman has to race against time like I had never seen him
do before. He imagines having to escape a doomed Earth with his friends in
his cosmic ark. In a chilling six-page sequence we see the destruction of
Earth through Superman's mind's eye. The earth cracks, cities crumble, then
the whole planet explodes in a two-page spread.
The Fortress is a repository for all the goofiness we remember about the pre-
Crisis Superman. There's the scene of he and Supergirl destroying super-
weapons, and then pages later, we see the super-weapons room. There's the
Phantom Zone viewer, so Superman can watch poor Mon-El stare at him all day,
every day. The place is laid out like a museum, but he has vowed that only
his close friends will ever go there. That 3-D replay of Krypton blowing up
got me. Why in the heck?
Despite all this, there were certainly no other headquarters like the
Fortress. Batman used the Batcave for work. The Justice League used its
satellite for meetings. Superman used the Fortress for a reason we could all
relate to: a place where he could go to be by himself.
One of my favorite things about the Byrne Superman came early on. He said
that "Clark Kent is my fortress of solitude." That's fine, but where's Clark
going to keep that Venusian lizard-dog?
Joe Crowe (j.crowe4@genie.geis.com)
________________________________________________________________
THE SILVER AGE SUPERMAN
-----------------------
by Bill Morse (billmorse@aol.com)
Superman on Krypton: Part 5
I started out my series of articles on the Silver Age Superman with several
stories that featured Superman back on his home planet, Krypton. This is the
fifth and final Krypton story. Future installments will focus on other
memorable stories from the Silver Age. In particular, the stories that always
impressed me the most were the 3-part novels. In those days, a typical
Superman comic featured three short stories. While the scripting and plot
devices were often contrived and silly, there was a lot of storytelling packed
into those three stories. There were no full-page battle scenes and extended
subplots as there are in today's comics. Without being sarcastic, I can say
that there was more advancement of plot in 1/3 of a Silver Age comic than in
two or three of today's comics.
So a so-called "3-part novel" was really something special. It would often
throw out some of the rigid rule book, and allow some significant advancement
of the Superman mythos. My favorite form of the 3-part novel was the
Imaginary story, the forerunner of the modern Elseworlds and Marvel's WHAT
IF...? series. It allowed the creative team to explore fresh ground, and to
look at Superman's character more deeply.
But this preamble is more appropriate to subsequent articles I will be writing
than to this last Superman on Krypton piece. I wanted to include this because
it is a fitting final chapter.
The story is titled "For the Man Who Has Everything". You would have to
stretch it to call this a Silver Age story, but it tied up loose ends from the
Silver Age. I really consider the Silver Age Superman to have ended when Mort
Weisinger turned it over to Julius Schwartz. That was sometime in the late
sixties or early seventies, and the new unnamed era featured a mild, but still
significant, revamping of the legend. It began with all Kryptonite on Earth
being transformed into a metal that was harmless to Superman. A by-product of
that process reduced Superman's powers to more manageable levels, and created
an anti-Superman made out of sand. This coincided with Jack Kirby's jump to
DC, and his New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Forever People series. He was
involved in the revamping of Superman, and in fact, introduced several of his
Apokolips/New Genesis characters in the Jimmy Olsen comic, his first actual
assignment of that era.
"For the Man Who Has Everything" appeared in SUPERMAN ANNUAL #11, 1985. It was
one of the last stories of the pre-Crisis Superman, before Byrne's revamping.
The creative team was Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, of WATCHMEN fame. I
believe that this was their way of doing a farewell to the Silver Age and
Schwartz-age Superman.
Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin visit Superman's fortress to celebrate their
friend's birthday. They are shocked to see him standing rigid, comatose, with
an alien "flower" implanted in his chest.
They can't know that Superman is hallucinating, living an entire lifetime in
this coma. It is his life as it might have been if he had grown up on
Krypton. However, it doesn't work out so neatly as earlier stories. He is
married to Lyla Lerrol (the actress he lost in an earlier Superman on Krypton
story), and they have children. Krypton has devolved into a post-Apocalyptic
culture. Jor-El has become an intolerant right-wing extremist. Cousin Kara
is attacked by an angry mob, who are protesting Jor-El's Phantom Zone ray as
an instrument of torture.
In the real world of Superman's Fortress, Mongul reveals himself as the source
of the plant and says it gives people their heart's desire. Since I read very
few Superman comics in that era, this may have been Mongul's first appearance.
He tells the others that the plant is "... telepathic. It reads them like a
book, and feeds them a logical simulation of the happy ending they desire. Of
course, its victims could shrug it off ... they just don't want to." But then
why has Superman's happy ending taken a turn for the worse?
As Mongul battles Wonder Woman, Batman tries to awaken Superman. Superman's
own powerful subconscious will, coupled with Batman's attempts, seem to be
what is causing the dream Krypton to turn into a nightmare - so that soon,
Superman will have the desire to shrug it off. The dream Kal-El realizes that
he is living in a dream, and says a heart-rending good-bye to his son, as his
dream world dissolves.
At this point, the flower's hold on Superman is weakened enough for Batman to
pull it off. But it grafts onto Batman, and he starts to fantasize a world in
which his parents survive their mugging, and Bruce Wayne is a well-adjusted
family man, married to Kathy Kane (the Silver Age Batwoman) and with a teenage
daughter.
As an awakened and enraged Superman battles Mongul, Robin saves the day by
plucking the flower off of Batman, and putting it onto Mongul. Mongul
fantasies are not quite so domestic as those of our heroes.
What fascinates me about this story is the concept of living an entire life in
your head, and yet coming away with the memories of an entire lifetime.
Kal-El raised a son into adulthood, and then lost him. That grief must be
fully as real as any other kind of grief.
I'm not a fanatic Trekkie, but this story reminds me of my favorite Star Trek:
The Next Generation story, in which Captain Picard's mind simulates 30 or 40
years on a planet. After the first five years of knowing logically that it
can't be real, he finally realizes that it has become a solid, durable reality
of its own. He marries, has children, and raises them to adulthood, even
becomes a grandfather. During this time he masters the flute. As crises on
the planet come to a head, the inhabitants (including his family) die, and as
he is about to die with them, he returns to the "real" reality of the
Enterprise, where he has been lying comatose for a half-hour. I would have
thought that it would have taken him a few days at least to come back to full
familiarity with his "real" life, considering that in his mind, he had been
away for many years.
Future episodes referred to this alternative life of Picard's, and one episode
featured him playing the flute and recollecting that it was his only surviving
evidence of an entire lifetime that he had lived.
Enough about Star Trek. Next up - great 3-part novels of the Silver Age.
________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************
End of Section 6
________________________________________________________________
COMING ATTRACTIONS
------------------
A List of Upcoming Comics Featuring The Superman Family of Characters
Assembled by Jeffery D. Sykes
This monthly section is dedicated to giving you official information
concerning which comics you should watch for in the near future in order
to keep up with Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, and all the rest of the
Superman family of characters.
The information which follows is reprinted without permission from Diamond
Previews and is in no way meant to serve as a replacement for that magazine.
I strongly recommend that each reader find his or her own copy for additional
detailed information on the entire DC Universe! Note that Diamond is now
the exclusive distributor of DC Comics!
Notes: October brings the final "Superman" Annual of the year in the form of
the DOOMSDAY ANNUAL #1. This features several tales of the history
of the Man of Steel's mortal foe, written and illustrated by several
creative teams. In the main Superbooks, "The Trial of Superman"
continues, and a few of the issues tie into UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED,
as does SUPERBOY #22. STEEL #22 ties into the "Trial" story, and
THE NEW TITANS continues the run to its final issue. Finally, in
the tradition of THE SUPERMAN GALLERY (offered in 1993 during the
pre-"Reign" hiatus of the Super-books), DC offers SUPERMAN: THE MAN
OF STEEL GALLERY, a collection of portraits and action shots by
past and present illustrators of the Man of Steel.
As UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED draws to a close with its final issues this
month, readers should note that longtime Superman villains Blaze and
Satanus play an apparently strong role. They appear prominently in
UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED: ABYSS--HELL'S SENTINEL #1 ($2.95, 10/17). Also,
SUPERMAN #107 has an UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED "side-bar," and
SHOWCASE '95 #12 has an UU-related story. Finally, UNDERWORLD
UNLEASHED: PATTERNS OF FEAR #1 ($2.95, 10/24) features a WHO'S WHO
type format, presenting information about the "updated" villains
affected by UU.
1. List of Titles by Shipping Date:
-----------------------------------
Date: Comic title and information:
---- ---------------------------
August 1: Action Comics #714
Michelinie, Dwyer, & Rodier
$1.95
Green Arrow #101 (Superman)
Dixon, Damaggio, Campanella
$2.25
August 8: Superboy #20
K. Kesel, Grummett, & Hazlewood
$1.95
Superman: The Man of Steel #49
L. Simonson, Pelletier, & Austin
$1.95
August 15: The New Titans #126
Hrebik & Mays
$2.25
Showcase '95 #9 (of 12)
Lois Lane story
Goff & Staton
Cover by Gosier
48 pgs, $2.95
Superman #106
Jurgens, Garcia-Lopez, & Rubinstein
Cover by Jurgens & Rubinstein
$1.95
August 22: Adventures of Superman #528
K. Kesel, Immonen, & Marzan Jr.
$1.95
Steel #20
L. Simonson, Gosier, & Faber
$1.95
August 29: Shadowdragon Annual #1
Michelinie/Breeding, Giordano, & Breeding
Cover by Breeding & Janson
56 pgs, $3.50
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #2
Stern, Grummett, & Breeding
$1.95
AUGUST Super-Fan's Total: $18.85
Hopeless Completist's Total: $24.60
September 5: Action Comics #715
Michelinie, G. Kane, & Rodier
Cover by Dwyer & Rodier
$1.95
Showcase '95 #10 (of 12)
Gangbuster Story
Ordway & Staton
Cover by Frenz
48 pgs, $2.95
Superboy Annual #2
K. Kesel/B. Kesel, Brewer, & Parks
Cover by Brewer & K. Kesel
56 pgs, $3.95
Underworld Unleashed #1 (of 3)
Waid, Porter, & Green
48 pgs, $2.95
September 12: The New Titans #127
Wolfman, Rosado, & Blyberg
$2.25
Superboy #21
FUTURE TENSE: Part 1 (of 3)
K. Kesel, Grummett, & Hazlewood
Cover by Grummett & K. Kesel
$1.95
Superman: The Man of Steel #50
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 1 (of 12)
L. Simonson, Bogdanove, & Janke
48 pgs, $2.95
September 19: Legion of Super-Heroes #74 (Superboy)
FUTURE TENSE: Part 2 (of 3)
Peyer/McCraw, Moder, & Boyd
Cover by A. Davis & Farmer
$2.25
Showcase '95 #11 (of 12)
Agent Liberty Story
Jurgens & St. Pierre
Cover by Dan Jurgens
48 pgs, $2.95
Superman #106
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 2 (of 12)
Jurgens, Frenz, & Rubinstein
Cover by Jurgens & Rubinstein
$1.95
Superman: At Earth's End
Tom Veitch & Frank Gomez
48 pgs, Prestige Format, $4.95
September 26: Action Comics Annual #7
Michelinie, D. Robertson, & Vancata
Cover by Walt Simonson
56 pgs, $3.95
Adventures of Superman #529
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 3 (of 12)
K. Kesel, Immonen, & Marzan Jr.
$1.95
League of Justice #1 (of 2)
Hannigan & Giordano
48 pgs, Prestige Format, $5.95
Legionnaires #31 (Superboy)
FUTURE TENSE: Part 3 (of 3)
Peyer/McCraw, Moy, & Carani
$2.25
The Outsiders #24 (Supergirl, Steel, Superboy, etc)
M. Barr, C. Jones, & Hunt
$2.25
Steel #21
UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tie-in
L. Simonson, Gosier, & Faber
Cover by Gosier & Janke
$1.95
SEPTEMBER Super-Fan's Total: $28.75
Hopeless Completist's Total: $49.35 (!!!)
October 3: Action Comics #716
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 4 (of 12)
Michelinie, Dwyer, & Rodier
$1.95
Underworld Unleashed #2 (of 3)
Waid, Porter, & Green
48 pgs, $2.95
October 10: Superboy #22
UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tie-in
K. Kesel, Grummett, & Hazlewood
$1.95
Superman: The Man of Steel #51
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 5 (of 12)
L. Simonson, Bogdanove, & Janke
$1.95
October 17: Doomsday Annual #1
Various
Cover by Jurgens & Ordway
56 pgs, $3.95
The New Titans #128
Wolfman, Rosado, & Blyberg
$2.25
Superman #107
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 6 (of 12)
Jurgens, Frenz, & Rubinstein
Cover by Jurgens & Rubinstein
$1.95
October 24: Adventures of Superman #530
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 7 (of 12)
UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tie-in
K. Kesel, Immonen, & Marzan Jr
$1.95
Showcase '95 #12 (of 12)
Supergirl Story
Charles Moore & Phil Jimenez
Cover by Tom Grummett
48 pgs, $2.95
Steel #22
A TRIAL OF SUPERMAN tie-in
L. Simonson, Gosier, & Faber
$1.95
Superman: The Man of Steel Gallery #1
Various Artists
Cover by Kevin Nowlan
32 pgs, $3.50
October 31: Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #3
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 8 (of 12)
UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tie-in
Stern, Grummett, & Breeding
$1.95
Underworld Unleashed #3 (of 3)
Waid, Porter, & Green
48 pgs, $2.95
2. Spoilers:
------------
October 3:
---------
Action Comics #716
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 4 (of 12) - Chained to a gang of alien
fugitives from an interstellar prison, Superman faces an entire planet of
murderous monsters while a Tribunal agent, assigned to recapture the
convicts, closes in for the kill.
Underworld Unleashed #2 (of 2)
Having ensnared Earth's villains, Neron travels the DC Universe offering
deals to its heroes...and a number of them *accept* his terms -- including
a member of the Justice League, whose life will most definitely *never* be
the same! Meanwhile, the members of Neron's Inner Circle conspire against
one another for ultimate power. Plus, Neron faces Green Lantern in a
battle that shakes all of Manhattan.
October 10:
----------
Superboy #22
An UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tie-in - Superboy returns from the 30th Century to
find that Knockout has moved into the compound and has no intention of
leaving! And if that weren't bad enough, Neron has sent the all-new
Killer Frost on a mission of destruction to freeze the Kid in his tracks
once and for all.
Superman: The Man of Steel #51
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 5 (of 12) - Having broken free of the alien
chain gang, Superman speeds across the galaxy in search of the evidence
that will clear him. But *someone* is following close behind. Plus,
there's dissention in the ranks of the "Superman Rescue Squad" as Alpha
Centurion abandons Superboy, Steel, Supergirl, and the Eradicator.
October 17:
----------
Doomsday Annual #1
A YEAR ONE Annual! This year's most unusual Year One Annual looks at the
previous lives of Superman's monstrous killer. Cursed with the ability to
return after every mortal defeat, Doomsday has survived countless "Year
Ones." Four tales are told of the Armageddon Creature's rampage through
the cosmos, before his fateful first encounter with the Man of Steel.
Doomsday faces Darkseid, the Green Lantern Corps and the Khunds in stories
by all-star creators Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Dennis
Janke, Roger Stern, Brett Breeding, Chris Batista, Gil Kane, and others.
The New Titans #128
MELTDOWN continues - Starfire and Blackfire return to gather the troops
for a planet-smashing battle against the Psions.
Superman #107
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 6 (of 12) - This issue has it *all*! First,
the murderous Cyborg returns and defeats Superboy, Steel, Supergirl, and
the Eradicator...but what's become of Alpha Centurion? Meanwhile,
Superman makes an astonishing discovery...*a shrunken city in a bottle*!
Plus, in an UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED "side-bar," Luthor and the Joker have a
meeting.
October 24:
----------
Adventures of Superman #530
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 7 (of 12) - An UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tie-in.
The mega-powered Hellgrammite is on a rampage through Metropolis, seeking
revenge upon Superman for past defeats. But the Man of Steel is light-
years away, trapped on an alien world and pursued through its swamps by
an invisible enemy. Metropolis's last line of defense is the Special
Crimes Unit, which takes on the Hellgrammite with tragic results.
Showcase '95 #12 (of 12)
Supergirl returns to North Carolina to battle a destructive alien menace,
left behind by Lord Dichon in a story by Charles Moore, with art by Phil
Jimenez. Backup stories feature Maitresse, the mother of Sovereign
Seven's Cascade, and an UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tale.
Steel #22
As the "Trial of Superman" continues in the Superman books, Steel becomes
separated from Superboy, Supergirl, and the Eradicator while searching for
the missing Man of Tomorrow. A violent clash with an alien menace may
keep him from coming to Superman's aid.
Superman: The Man of Steel Gallery #1
Featuring all-new portraits and action shots by dozens of artists,
SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL GALLERY is cover-to-cover pinups of Earth's
greatest and most popular comic-book hero. Contributors include Dusty
Abell, Alan Davis, Dave Gibbons, Michael Golden, Paul Pelletier, Curt
Swan, Dave Taylor, Art Thibert, Bruce Timm, and others, including past
and present members of the award-winning Superman team, and a sensational
cover by Kevin Nowlan.
October 31:
----------
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #3
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN: Part 8 (of 12) - An UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED tie-in.
Secrets are revealed in this tense epilogue to UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED,
including the truth behind Luthor's miraculous return. Meanwhile,
Superman is stranded on a sorcerer's world, unaware of the deadly
dangers he faces...including an ominous meeting between the Cyborg and
the Tribunal.
Underworld Unleashed #3 (of 3)
A conflagration of wills and power erupts as Neron's true plans are
revealed at last in the infernal finale of this major mini-series!
Earth's heroes make their final stand as they storm the gates of Neron's
netherworld in a last-ditch battle for their world and their souls, facing
the demon's terrible fury head-on. But no matter what the outcome, Neron
has forced the heroes to face a permanent, fundamental shift in the
balance of power across the DC Universe, with many characters blessed --
or cursed -- by the choices they made during the war...shaping an
altogether different, and potentially deadly, future.
________________________________________________________________
KRYPTONIAN CYBERNET: INTERNET RESOURCES
---------------------------------------
This is a list of the changes made since in the recent updating of the
Internet resources file. In addition to obtaining the complete version of
this file via the new KC homepage, you can also get it by e-mail or ftp.
Details can be found below.
Needed: If you know of any other Superman-related Internet resources,
please let me know. If you know of the availability of any such files
on online services not given below, please provide me with information
on the locations of such files. I would also like to know of any
WWW homepages which have links to Superman data of any kind.
WWW Homepages:
-------------
NEW! THE KRYPTONIAN CYBERNET HOMEPAGE!
We hope to provide a different "look" to the Cybernet with our new web page.
It's currently in the fledgling stages, so we ask that you let us know what
you think!
http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sykes/kc
The Lois and Clark Media Archive (Australia)
http://modem.circus.cse.unsw.edu.au/%7Es2119349/lncma/
FTP:
---
(Number) indicates the size of the file. Note that capitalization is
important on some of the sites, so you probably want to pay close attention
to it on *all* sites.
SITE CHANGES:
The ftp.dhhalden.no site has been moved to ftp.hiof.no, and
the ftp.hyperion.com site has moved to ftp.best.com.
Kryptonian Cybernet Files:
-------------------------
phoenix.creighton.edu
/pub/zines/kc
kcresrcs.txt (28527) - This file
kc95.zip (490841) - a zipped file containing all 1995 issues
kc95-08.txt (118174) - Issue #16, August 1995
Lois and Clark Files:
--------------------
Pictures: (NOTE SITE AND DIRECTORY CHANGES!)
ftp.best.com
/pub/hyperion/Lois-and-Clark
thatcher.jpg (233470) - a 800x600 collage of Teri Hatcher photos
ftp.best.com/pub/hyperion/Lois-and-Clark is now mirrored at ftp.uml.edu
in the directory /TV/Lois-and-Clark. You may find that the mirror site
will provide better transfer times. In addition, both sites have a
subdirectory (/pub/hyperion/Lois-and-Clark/Thumb for ftp.best.com, and
/TV/Lois-and-Clark/Thumb for ftp.uml.edu) which contains thumbnail size
previews of each picture in the parent directory. You can download these
very quickly to preview the pictures.
Mailing Lists:
-------------
The Comics-L mailing list has ceased operations.
How to obtain the complete Resources file:
-----------------------------------------
Note that the file also contains information about how to use ftp and
ftp e-mail. The file will be located at phoenix.creighton.edu in the
directory /pub/zines/kc and at ftp.hiof.no in the directory
/pub/Comics/Fanzines. For those of you who do not know how to use ftp
or don't have ftp access, e-mail a message to either of the addresses
given below. For the body of your message include only the lines
between the dashes below.
Addresses: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com or ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu
Body:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
connect phoenix.creighton.edu
chdir /pub/zines/kc
get kcresrcs.txt
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Do not include the lines of dashes, and do not include anything else
in the body of the message. You will receive a message telling you
that your request has been queued. Then, about a day later, you will
receive the file itself.
________________________________________________________________
***********************************************************
End of Section 7/Issue #16
