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The Kryptonian Cybernet Issue 53
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T H E K R Y P T O N I A N C Y B E R N E T
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http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sykes/kc
Issue #53 - August 1998
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CONTENTS
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Section 1: Superscripts: Notes from the Editor(s)
Good Things for a Change!
Ratings At A Glance
Titles Shipped July 1998
The KC Newsroom
Even more news on upcoming Superman comics projects, a ton
of info on the new season of STAS, a L&C time change, some
new toy news, and some teasers for next month's news!
Section 2: And Who Disguised As...
Superman - It's a Dirty Job, But Someone's Gotta Do It
We've all dreamed about the plusses of being a Superman,
but what about the negatives? By J.D. Rummel
The Phantom Zone
The One, True, Original Superman!
Episode 6 - The Terrible Toyman, by Bob Hughes
Section 3: New Comic Reviews
The Triangle Titles
Superman #138, by Thomas Deja
Adventures of Superman #561, by Dan Radice
Action Comics #748, by Shane Travis
Section 4: New Comics Reviews
The Triangle Titles (cont)
Superman: The Man of Steel #83, by Mike Smith
Super-Family Titles
Superboy #55, by Rene' Gobeyn
Supergirl #25, by Thomas Deja
Section 5: New Comic Reviews
Super-Family Titles (cont)
Superman Adventures #23, by Cory Strode
Team Titles
JLA #22, by Anatole Wilson
Young Justice #1, by Jeff Sykes
Section 6: New Comic Reviews
Specials and Guest Appearances
Superman for all Seasons #1, by Douglas Wolk
JLA: World Without Grown-Ups #2, by G.M. Nelson
Resurrection Man #17, by Thomas Deja
Section 7: After-Byrne
Manuscripts of Steel
It's Bloodlines month, as Denes House takes a look
at Superman: Man of Steel Annual #2 and Superman
Annual #5, from 1993's annuals event.
Section 8: After-Byrne
Superman Stories - Brainiac
Sean Hogan recaps the post-Crisis appearances of
one of Superman's deadliest of enemies!
Section 9: The Mailbag
STAFF:
------
Jeffery D. Sykes, Publisher and Co-Editor-in-Chief
Shane Travis, Co-Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor of Comic Reviews
Neil Ottenstein, Executive Editor of STAS 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 information.
All original material published in The Kryptonian Cybernet, including but
not limited to reviews, articles, and editorials, are copyright 1998 by The
Kryptonian Cybernet and the respective authors. Reprinting in any format
is expressly forbidden without the permission of The Kryptonian Cybernet
and the contributing author.
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 can be distributed, in whole, freely via e-mail. Should you
desire to share this publication with other on-line services, please
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__________________________________________
SUPERSCRIPTS: Notes from the Editor(s)
-----------------------------------------
By Jeff Sykes (sykes@ms.uky.edu)
GOOD THINGS FOR A CHANGE!
Howsabout we start things off with Jeff eating a little crow? Remember how
I keep whining about there being too many of the high-priced specials, such
as the prestige format books? Well, it would seem that DC's been taking
the fans in mind a little bit.
First of all, do you realize that there was only one Superman annual this
year? Certainly, the 80-Page Giant could be considered to be a type of
annual, but even if you throw that in, we're only talking eight bucks.
Last year, there were four Superman annuals at three bucks a pop. I
imagine that even if you add up the 8 "Ghosts" annuals and the once-a-month
80-Page Giants, there were fewer "annuals" than last year.
Then let's look at a couple of miniseries. _Superman: Silver Banshee_ was
originally solicited as a prestige format title. Depending on whether that
was a 48-page story or a 64-page story, it would have run $4.95 or $5.95.
Now, DC has resolicited the story as a two-issue miniseries, each issue
with a $2.25 cover price, and with no reduction in story!
Then there's another miniseries worth noting. I was certain that with the
involvement of the JLA and the return of the original Titans, the 3-issue
miniseries _JLA/Titans_ would be offered as a Prestige Format series.
Instead, DC surprises me with a first issue of 48 pages and a price of
$2.95.
So there's at least *some* evidence that DC's beginning to realize how
taxing their increasingly frequent prestige format specials were becoming.
Now if we can just get them to cut back on the number of *Superman*
specials in that particular format (four in September, if you count the
Supergirl/Batgirl Elseworlds; four in October; and at least three in
November -- see Coming Attractions in a week or two).
I'd also like to add that I'm quite excited by the talk of a possible JLA
animated series (see News and Notes) -- it's been well too long since the
SuperFriends were on the air, and I think that it's about time that the DCU
returned in force to the tube! Of course, it doesn't hurt that this would
be produced by the same way-more-than-capable team who has brought us the
magnificent Superman and Batman animated series.
Something else I'd kind of like to see, even if the JLA animated series
never comes to pass. DC should at least bribe those guys into fleshing out
some character designs for other prominent DC heroes and villains --
they're already well on their way with all the guest heroes lined up for
the Superman series. This would allow the creation of a DCU or JLA comic
in the "Adventures" style, but which would actually be a part of the
"Adventures" continuity. I firmly believe that the problem with
_Adventures in the DC Universe_ was that it was simply tangential to the
standard DCU -- the Batman and Superman characters were true to their
animated designs, but this was clearly the actual DCU underneath the
stories. For example, Superboy's appearance in last year's _Adventures in
the DC Universe Annual_ #1 actually referred to events in his mainstream
continuity title. Furthermore, the Aquaman and Green Lantern which have
been seen in _Adventures in the DC Universe_ are obviously different
characters than their counterparts which will be showing up on _Superman_
this year.
Anyway, my main goal here is to get a fairly large animated version of the
DC Universe created by Alan Burchett, Paul Dini, and Bruce Timm. They've
certainly proven their ability with Superman and Batman.
And, of course, if these multiverse rumors turn out to be true, we could
probably just call it Earth-WB! :-)
See ya next month!
__________________________________________
RATINGS AT A GLANCE: Titles shipped July 1998
----------------------------------------------------
Prepared by Shane Travis (travis@sedsystems.ca)
Last month, everything was clumped together around 3.0 to 3.5 Shields. That
meant that everything was decent, but nothing stood out. This month, things
are a lot more spread out; what's good is *great*, but the low-points
are... well... lower. As a pleasant change, _Action Comics_ clawed its way
out of the bottom spot with a well-received tale by Immonen and actually
tops the Triangle Titles this month. Will wonders never cease?
Key:
----
Issue -- Issue for which 'Current' Rating and Rank are calculated.
The 'Previous' columns refer to the issue immediately prior
to this.
Rating -- Average Rating, in Shields (maximum rating is 5.0). The number
in () indicates how many people submitted ratings.
Rank -- The relative ranking of the book among the regularly-published
Superman titles.
Average -- Average of the ratings for this title over the indicated number
of months, based on the book's cumulative average. Each month
is weighted equally, regardless of the number of people rating
the book that month. If this book is averaged over fewer months
than the rest, the number of months is displayed in ().
Current Previous Avg (6Mth)
Title Issue Rating Rank Rating Rank Rating Rank
----- ----- ------------ ------------ ------------
S. For All Seasons 1 4.6(7) - --- - -- -
Supergirl 25 4.1(7) 1 3.4(6) 3 3.58 1
Young Justice 1 4.1(6) 2 --- - -- -
JLA 22 3.7(7) 3 3.7(10) 1 3.48 3
JLA W/Grown-ups 2 3.5(7) - 3.5(7) - -- -
Resurrection Man 17 3.3(3) - --- - -- -
Superman Adv. 23 3.2(5) 4 3.3(6) 5(T) 3.47 4
Action Comics 748 3.2(10) 5 2.1(7) 8 2.73 7
Superman 138 3.0(9) 6 3.3(11) 5(T) 2.70 8
Man of Steel 83 3.0(7) 7 3.2(10) 7 3.20 5
Adv. of Superman 561 2.9(11) 8 3.6(12) 2 2.87 6
Superboy 55 2.5(7) 9 3.3(7) 4 3.55 2
"And the First shall become Last..."
SUPERBOY #55 (2.5 Shields, -0.8 Shields, last place)
- (Alright, it's second-place overall, not first, but it sounded better
this way.) The absence of Grummett was at least partly responsible for the
lackadaisical ratings, but the issue-long fight didn't help much either.
Response to the 'Hex' character was also mixed. To be fair, this was the
first clunker since Karl and Tom got back; things will likely get better
next month when Grummett returns and the 'new direction' gels.
"And the winner in the 'Never Saw It Coming' award is..."
SUPERGIRL #25 (4.1 Shields, +0.7 Shields, 1st, 1st overall)
- Two titles hit a milestone 25th issue this month -- this one, and
_Nightwing_. In what I hope is the beginning of a trend, DC didn't gimmick
or over-hype or cover-enhance either one. Instead, both had well-crafted
stories with solid characterization, interesting plot developments, and
only a token fight scene. Peter David threw everything into this one but
the kitchen sink, and pulled a huge surprise out of his hat for the last
page to boot.
"Starting fast out of the gate..."
SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS #1 (4.6 Shields)
YOUNG JUSTICE #1 (4.1 Shields)
- Two number-one issues this month, and both of them well-received. _Young
Justice_, the new team book starring Superboy, Robin, and Impulse brought
much mirth. Written by Peter David (of _Supergirl_), people are expecting
big things from this title. People also expected big things from Jeph Loeb
and Tim Sale after their critically-acclaimed _Batman: The Long Halloween_,
and they got 'em. _Superman For All Seasons_ received rave reviews from all
comers in its first-issue recap of Clark's departure from Smallville. Keep
an eye on this one during the Kaycee awards.
Information for 'Ratings at a Glance' and the ratings accompanying the
monthly reviews of Superman comics are obtained from KC readers. Anyone
interested in contributing may contact Shane Travis <travis@sedsystems.ca>
and will be added to the monthly mailing-list to receive a Ratings Form.
__________________________________________
THE KC NEWSROOM
-------------------
UPCOMING IN COMICS
** Roger Stern continues to crank out the Superman projects, according to
Michael Doran's Newsarama (http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html).
In addition to _Superman: A Nation Divided_, the Elseworlds story we
told you about last month, Stern is also writing the Man of Steel's next
clash with Marvel's green behemoth. _Superman vs The Incredible Hulk:
Double Lives_, a 48-page bookshelf format one-shot, takes place
primarily in the early parts of both characters careers, roughly between
issues 4 and 5 of John Byrne's _Man of Steel_ miniseries. The book will
be pencilled by Steve Rude (_World's Finest_, _Nexus_), and has not yet
been scheduled.
** Remember that _Team Superman_ project we told you about several months
ago? Writer Mark Millar passed along a bit more information to
Newsarama, including the fact that the book is a 48-page one-shot
scheduled for late this year or early next year, and that it will be
pencilled by Georges Jeanty (_Superboy_). The plot revolves around
Superman *really* screwing up a rescue, resulting in the deaths of more
than 200 people. The event leads to Superman's resignation of his
"position" as Superman of Earth, and his requesting that Superboy,
Supergirl, and Steel take over for him. Millar also claims that the
story includes "the best plot twist I've ever come up with."
** Millar will also be turning the known Superman mythos on its ear in an
upcoming two-part story in _Superman Adventures_ this winter. The tale
features Darkseid, the brief return of Krypton, the revelation of
Superman's secret identity, the death of all of Superman's villains,
and an alien invasion led by Superman's Kryptonian half-brother! Sure
you can fit it all into two issues, Mark? :-)
** So you're thinking about buying the big _Crisis on Infinite Earths_
hardcover collection this winter? You know which one I mean -- re-
mastered art; a brand new cover featuring *every* character who appeared
in the maxiseries, painted by Alex Ross over George Perez's pencils;
probably gonna cost somewhere between fifty bucks and your first-born?
Well, now there's a new twist.
Marv Wolfman, who wrote the original maxiseries, has come up with a new
54-page "lost issue" of _Crisis_, which will give pre-Crisis fans one
more chance to see the Earth-1 heroes in an all-new story. The new tale
takes place between the fourth and fifth issues (leading fans to refer
to it as _Crisis_ #4.5), and is pencilled by Paul Ryan (_Superman: Man
of Tomorrow_). Look for it to hit stores at the same time as the
hardcover collection (though not as part of the collection, as I
understand it).
** WildStorm Productions (of Image Comics fame) has announced plans for a
Superman/Gen13 crossover by Adam Hughes, due sometime next year.
Supergirl will also appear in the one-shot.
** Writer Gerard Jones, penciller Chris Marrinan, and inker Al Gordon
are working on a three-issue Superman story for _Legends of the DC
Universe_. (Why aren't there any single-issue stories in that title?)
The Year One-style story features a super-powered alien woman named
Allura who arrives on Earth, warning the planet of impending doom in the
form of a wormhole beast. Allura's attraction to Superman is a sub-
plot, as well as how Lois Lane deals with her own feelings for the Man
of Steel in the face of this super-woman.
** Walt Simonson is writing a new Superman tale, _Superman: The Last God
of Krypton_, a one-shot special featuring fully-painted artwork by the
Hildebrandt brothers. It is tentatively scheduled for early 1999
release.
STAS: THE THIRD SEASON
** The new season of _Superman_ begins on September 19, and the schedule
will change a bit. Kids' WB is still lumping Superman and Batman
together as _The New Batman/Superman Adventures_, and this hour-long
program will air weekday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern,
presumably with one Superman and one Batman episode each day. The
hour-long program also airs on Saturday mornings from 8:00 to 9:00 AM
Eastern. (These may be shown at different times on different stations,
so check your local listings for the exact day and time in your area.)
Also, as was the practice this year, new episodes will debut on the
weekend airing, while weekdays will feature reruns.
** Andy Mangels' Hollywood Heroes (part of Mania Magazine, located at
http://www.mania.com) has also spilled a lot of information about the
new season of _Superman_, as well as information about the new season
of _Batman_ and the premiere season of _Batman Beyond_. 13 new Superman
episodes are planned for the third season, and more new episodes have
already been confirmed for the 1999-2000 season. Here's some info:
** "Knight Time," the "World's Finest" sequel teaming Superman and Batman
against Ra's Al Ghul, is a multi-part episode which apparently doesn't
count as part of Superman's 13 episodes.
** Melissa Joan Hart (_Sabrina the Teenage Witch_) will provide the voice
of Saturn Girl in the Legion crossover, in which three members of the
Legion of Super-Heroes travel back in time for an adventure with
Superman. The other two Legion members are reportedly Cosmic Boy and
Chameleon, but there will likely be a brief glimpse of the entire Legion
(perhaps similar to how the New Gods were shown briefly during
"Apokolips... Now!").
** Supergirl and Steel will appear in more episodes, though it is unclear
whether any of the episodes will feature either of the two. There is a
rumor that a Supergirl/Batgirl team-up will occur on one of the two
series.
** Green Lantern will team-up with Superman against Sinestro. GL will be
Kyle Rayner, but he will have Hal Jordan's origin and costume. The
producers say it took them this long to use GL because they had a hard
time coming up with something that GL couldn't do but that Superman
could...
** Aquaman shows up in the series finale, and will be voiced by Miguel
Ferrer. Unlike his current DCU rendition, this King of the Seas will
not sport a hook for a hand.
** Paul Dini has said that Captain Marvel may appear on the series, marking
his first animated appearance as part of DC continuity.
** The introduction of the three characters above, in addition to the
already seen Flash, and perhaps others is leading up to a large
Superman/Batman crossover (probably not until the fourth season,
though). The intention of this crossover is to help push Alan Burnett's
proposal for a new JLA animated series to begin in 1999 or 2000!
** Darkseid will be featured in the third season premiere, as well as in
another episode later in the season. Fans can also expect the return
of Mr. Mxyzptlk, Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Metallo, Parasite, and Toyman, as
well as the introduction of Volcana, a new fire-based villainess voiced
by Peri Gilpin (_Frasier_).
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS AND RUMORS
** TNT will be changing its Lois and Clark air times once again, due to
the addition of E.R. to its schedule. Beginning Tuesday, September 8,
weekday evening episodes of L&C will air at 5:00 PM Eastern, an hour
earlier than their current slot. Sunday morning episodes are unaffected.
** Ain't It Cool News (http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com) reports several
rumors that _Superman Lives_ is still on, that Nicolas Cage is still
attached to the project, but that the participation of Tim Burton and
Jon Peters is now up in the air. Warner Bros. last announcement about
the movie was that production would be delayed until September, so
perhaps we'll hear something in the next month or so. Keep your
fingers crossed!
** In July we passed along word of an upcoming DCU role-playing game.
Well, due to difficulties at West End Games, that project has now been
cancelled.
** The Raving Toy Maniac (http://www.toymania.com) reports a new Superman
figure that will be exclusive to Diamond Comics Distributors. This 12-
inch animated-style figure comes with a newly-sculpted head to more
accurately capture the feel of the animated series, features a cloth
outfit and cape, and comes in collector's packaging.
** RTM also reports that the Kryptonian Eradicator, one of the unreleased
figures from Kenner's Superman: Man of Steel line, will also be offered
as an exclusive from Diamond.
NEXT MONTH'S NEWS...
** Dan Jurgens has finally engineered a fantastic team-up for Superman and
a certain foursome from Marvel Comics.
** Karl Kesel. World's Finest. Nuff said... for now :-)
** December's "Kingdom Event" picks up where last year's _Gog_ special left
off, and writer Mark Waid is quoted by Newsarama as saying, "Gog seeks
his vengeance on Superman, and it's maybe the single most cruel thing
ever done to him." And that's just in the first issue!
** Not big enough news for you? How about "the return of the Multiverse"?
__________________________________________
AND WHO DISGUISED AS...
---------------------------------------------------------
A Column of Opinion by J.D. Rummel (rummel@creighton.edu)
Superman -- It's a Dirty Job, But Someone's Gotta Do It.
The other day I was at a friend's house. Adjacent to his backyard is a
cornfield. For whatever reasons these things happen, I began to imagine a
scene from a movie that hasn't been made:
The camera sees from the perspective of young Clark Kent as he plunges down
from the sky towards a corn crop. At the last second he straightens out and
flies parallel to the top of the corn. His fingers dangle beneath him and
lightly brush the tops of the cornrows as he hurtles forward. He arcs up
toward a blue sky and rolls over toward the corn again.
The camera cuts to a distant view of young Clark plunging in and out of the
corn like a dolphin swimming in the sea. He is whooping and laughing.
Geez, to be Superman, haven't we all thought about it? It would be great,
right? To be able to soar up among the white, puffed clouds would be
magnificent. And forget changing the course of rivers, just being able to
change a tire without a jack, or stand up to some jerk on the street
without fear of getting killed would be great. Certainly we've all seen the
disasters on CNN and wanted to make a difference. Who hasn't wanted to whip
off their glasses and become a blur as we lift out of the window and speed
toward the sky (never questioning where Nairobi is, nor how exactly to get
there)? It's a whole different world Superman lives in.
Yes, it looks really great. No one would choose to have their parents
murdered so the horror could make them Batman, but we'd all like to be
Superman. As I sat there looking at the cornfield I began to question that.
On many levels Superman is a tragic figure. You may wonder how a character
that can do anything, go anywhere, accomplish any task could be tragic, but
it's not that hard to see. Look at the facts:
He is an orphan. He is the last of his kind -- some might argue a freak.
He has no peers; there is no one to tell him that his pain is not unique;
there are very few lessons that he can learn from us, and most of them he
must filter for any application to his experience -- he is staggeringly
alone. Did young Clark Kent have choices about who he was going to be? Not
really.
Remember in _Superman: The Movie_, how Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent comforts
young Clark? There is a scene where Clark is feeling tremendously
frustrated about his abilities (I'm paraphrasing here):
Young Clark: "Pa, if I get the ball I can get a touchdown every time, I
mean every time."
Pa Kent: "I know, you think about all these things you can do and you think
you will just go bust if you can't tell someone. Well son there is one
thing I do know, you are here for a reason, and it isn't to make
touchdowns."
That is a tremendous realization to bring to someone. We all like to
believe we are here for a reason, but most of us come and go and don't
leave a very big hole when we do. The implications for young Clark are
enormous: you aren't one of us, you are above us. Clark had three real
options: he could be a major slacker and do nothing, he could rule us and
abuse us, or he could strive to help us all. As Lois points out in the
second movie, he belongs to the whole world.
What a terrible price he has to pay for all his abilities; he can never
really have many of the things we all take for granted: a wife, a family a
safe home (Don't be fooled by the comics. Within those fantastic pages
Superman is married, but anyone today who is really married knows that his
marriage is a major crock. How many wives would tolerate the pitiful amount
of time he parcels out to Lois? Most of us who have careers must make
choices on our usage of time. Superman is not above us in this, and his
career is a mama jama of commitment. If he is going to work on a
relationship, he has to be there and Superman cannot be. Lois might be very
special, but being married to Superman is probably one of the loneliest
places to be. Probably only being Superman is worse).
So, the next time you are imagining flying somewhere, even doing some
wonderful deed for the betterment of mankind, remember, there is a price
for even the most noble acts.
Away!
And Who Disguised As... is copyright 1998 by J. D. Rummel. Its contents may
not be reproduced in any format without the written permission of the
author.
__________________________________________
THE PHANTOM ZONE: Reviews of the pre-Crisis Man of Steel
------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ONE, TRUE, ORIGINAL SUPERMAN!
---------------------------------------
by Bob Hughes (rhughes3@ix.netcom.com)
(or see my web page, "Who's Whose in The DC Universe" at
pw2.netcom.com/~rhughes3/whoswho.htm)
Episode 6 - The Terrible Toyman
(Before we get too deep into this month's column, I would like to
acknowledge one mistake which crept into my "Superman vs the Atom Man"
articles. The part of Batman was played by Matt Crowley at that time. Gary
Merrill took over the role in 1948.)
The last of Superman's major villains of the 1940's was also the only one
not to be created by Jerry Siegel himself. The Terrible Toyman debuted in
_Action Comics_ #64 in a story by Don Cameron and artist Ed Dobrotka in
September 1943 after Siegel had left for military service. Possibly taking
a lead from the already existing Prankster, Cameron fashioned a character
whose seeming innocuousness made him all the more deadly. The cover itself
(one of the few of that era which actually had something to do with the
story) showed the Toyman hopping over a startled Superman with his pogo
stick. How deadly could that be?
Lois and Clark are about to find out as their stroll in the park is
interrupted -- a runaway miniature Superman figure zips by. Startled, Clark
reaches out and catches it. "I've never seen you move so fast!" remarks
Lois.
The owner turns out to be a sweet old man with long blond hair, dressed in
a green baggy suit with a florid red Oscar Wilde type tie and a black and
white striped shirt. Making toys is his hobby, he tells them, and he gives
them away to children when he's done.
The Toyman appears to be sweet and generous, but once back in his
underground hideaway, the real Toyman emerges: "Riches and power shall be
mine because of my ingenious toys! Then it will be my turn to laugh at the
world! HA-HA-HA-HA- HA-HA!"
Soon the Toyman 's army of toy soldiers is marching through Metropolis to
the amusement of its citizens, an amusement which ceases when the toy
soldiers hold up a bank! After his toy firing squad gasses the bank
employees, Toyman bounces in on his pogo stick and begins looting the
teller cages.
Superman arrives, but his concern for the injured gives the Toyman the
diversion he needs to get away, a ploy that will soon become his trademark.
Superman is frustrated time and time again as the Toyman once again escapes
while the Man of Steel has to perform one rescue after another.
However, success goes to the Toyman's head and the publicity-mad criminal
begins issuing direct challenges to Superman via Lois Lane. He boasts he
can make an armored car disappear in the middle of East Bridge! Though
prepared, the Metropolis police and Superman are unable to handle the
Toyman's double diversion! Just as Superman stops one toy armored truck
from totaling the bridge, another one appears! To keep the shattered bridge
from falling, Superman knots the girders together!
"Not very fancy, but it will hold!"
Lois meanwhile, has discovered the Toyman's hide-out. Unfortunately, the
Toyman has discovered her! But, no matter, he gives her some dolls to play
with. "The only unpleasant thing about them is that their fingers are
sharpened to needle points and dipped in poison! The effect is swift once
the skin is pierced!"
The Toyman, however, has reckoned without Superman's uncanny powers and
soon he is spirited off to prison, where he threatens to be back soon and
make Superman into a laughing stock. Meanwhile, poor Lois pleads with Clark
to untie her. "Superman left me this way and everybody seems to think it's
funny!"
"I'll untie you in a jiffy, Lois. Just as soon as I finish writing the big
story Superman gave me about the end of the Toyman!
"Why, you--- you-- you-- I'll fix you! Wait and see if I don't!" (Clark and
Lois had such a mature and adult relationship back then.)
Not much is known about Ed Dobrotka. He apparently worked for Lloyd
Jacquet's Funnies, Inc. (the shop that packaged the first issue of _Marvel
Comics_) for a while and then became an assistant to Joe Shuster. He worked
closely with John Sikela, with the result that some of their early stories
are hard to tell apart. I've always assumed the ones with the wilder panel
layouts were penciled by Dobrotka and inked by Sikela, and the other ones
were the other way around. Dobrotka specialized in the kind of unorthodox
page layouts that were generally frowned upon at DC. There would be six
panels to the page as the script called for, but one of them would be
round, or the right side panels wouldn't line up exactly with the left side
ones causing a kind of step effect so that the reader was reading down the
page rather than across.
Ed did about half of the four page Lois Lane strips that were used as
fillers about this time, as his style was deemed more appropriate to the
sillier stories. I've always thought I've seen a touch of Basil Wolverton
in his faces, particularly the villains. He also drew a few "Starman"
stories and worked on "Captain Triumph" for Quality before leaving comics
shortly after the war ended.
Until then, Dobrotka did all the Toyman stories, including "The Palace of
Perilous Play" in _Superman_ #27 in March 1944. True to his word, the
Toyman uses his seeming innocence and childish nature to escape from
prison. Given the run of the prison workshop, he fashions toys for orphan
children -- and one Superman glider for himself that wafts him over the
prison walls.
Clark and Lois get right on the story. "Hurry, Clark! This is a daily
paper, not a year book!"
"Forgot my hat, Lois! I'll catch up to you!"
The Toyman disguises himself with a black wig and van dyke and dumps the
Oscar Wilde get-up for an outfit that looks more like Disraelli. Thus
disguised (?!) he seeks new worlds to conquer. The scheme this time --
build the world's most expensive penny arcade! "Diversions that attract
those of modest means will also attract the elite if only they are made
expensive enough!" (Remember this was way before the days of Las Vegas and
Atlantic City.)
The Toyman is raking in the dough legitimately, but he can't resist a
little blackmail on the side and soon Lois Lane shows up, just in time to
be captured and used as bait to trap Superman! Toyman sticks her in a
sealed, air-tight glass tube and drops it into a vat of acid! And Superman
can't pull the tube out, because it's rigged to a gas bomb that will kill
Lois if it's disturbed. Plus! (Plus!?) the floor around the acid vat is
mined with electrical contacts that will set off the bomb if anyone goes
near it. Why, the only way to approach Lois safely, the Toyman tells
Superman, is go down one particular passage! "It's only fair to warn you
that you will meet with certain -er-obstacles!" Superman has to battle
needle-sharp spikes, high tension current, flame throwers, and dynamite
before he finally reaches Lois's side. Surprised at Superman's capacity to
take punishment, the Toyman tries to escape by putting all the patrons in
his arcade into jeopardy...
Still, Clark gets to write up another Superman story, much to Lois's
chagrin. "I suppose he's sorry for you, because you're so colorless
compared to him!"
"I wouldn't be surprised if you've got something there!" replies the Man of
Meek.
Speaking of color, this is one of many early tales in which the S on
Superman's cape is blue.
(Right next to this is a full page ad for a Baby Ruth bar. Baby Ruth is
high in food-energy that guards against fatigue, provides extra stamina to
our troops and raises their spirits. "If you cannot find Baby Ruth on the
candy counter, remember Uncle Sam's needs come first with us as with you."
The ads in these old comics are almost as interesting as the stories.)
One of the strangest battles between the Toyman and Superman is one in
which the mischievous miscreant does not even appear! The Superman radio
show almost certainly had a wider audience than did the comic series. After
all, it was on every day and it was free! The publishers always tried to
capitalize on this free publicity with ads in the comics pointing out the
existence of the radio program (and vice versa) but in _Superman_ #39 in
March, 1946, they took the readers into the radio studio itself for "the
amazing story of the radio debut of the Man of Tomorrow! The Big Superman
Broadcast!" They even went so far as to feature the story on the cover, as
Superman hides behind a giant console radio and "broadcasts" his adventures
to a group of excited youngsters. (Jack Burnley, noted Starman creator and
Batman artist, contributed this and many other covers around this time.)
As Lois and Clark read the Planet headlines, a new radio show is announced
in which Superman and Lois will play themselves! Clark is, of course,
skeptical.
"I'll bet Superman gets mike fright!"
The criminals of Metropolis, meanwhile, are ecstatic. While Superman is on
the radio every day at 5:15 they'll have free rein over the city. Superman,
of course, has thought of this and has a plan. While Lois and Clark wait in
the broadcast booth, a very late Superman finally shows up! How can this
be? Clark has cleverly hired an actor to take his place, but is on the
scene to make sure the fellow doesn't "ham it up" too badly. The show runs
smoothly and Clark soon gets bored listening to himself battle the Toyman
(Thus, Toyman became the only comic book villain to ever "appear" on the
Superman radio show) and changes to another station. Sure enough, Boss
Biggins is robbing the subway! A job for Superman! A short one, but long
enough for the public to notice he's been in two places at once!
"That program is a phoney!" a disgruntled police officer tells Superman.
The public is now aware that while he was supposedly on the radio saving a
little girl from Toyman's tiny cannon, he was actually stopping the subway
thieves. The next day the Planet headlines trumpet the Superman radio
program as a hoax. Superman's veracity and honor is now in jeopardy! The
only way to get it back is to vows to Lois that he really will do the next
episode himself, no matter what happens!
How can he do this and stop crime too? The answer is revealed as he stops
at the studio and drops off the script (which he wrote himself). He then
puts on a wireless mike and takes off to resume his patrol.
"I'll ad lib my lines from wherever I may be -- and radio them here for
rebroadcasting!"
So Boss Biggins's gang is surely surprised to find themselves starring live
in "The Adventure of the Auto Show Bandits!" as Superman narrates their
capture live on the air. The audience in Metropolis is riveted to their
seats, including Lois and a very underworked radio director.
"This is the most realistic program I've ever heard!" he says.
"If only it were television!" Lois responds.
The gang is quickly rounded up, but Boss Biggins escapes in a helicopter
and is soon back in his penthouse. Superman shortly catches up to him, but
the Boss brags and boasts that Superman can't lay a finger on him.
Unfortunately for him Superman is still wired and the Boss's confession
goes out over the airwaves to all of Metropolis! Next day even Clark
praises the broadcast.
"You were so enthusiastic you might almost have been writing about
yourself!" says Lois.
"You think so?" is Clark's witty rejoinder.
The story ends with an admonishment to readers to tune in to the Mutual
radio network every day for more exciting adventures of Superman.
This particular Don Cameron yarn featured the artwork of Ira Yarbrough, the
original artist of Mxyztplk. He drew Superman with a Li'l Abner pompadour,
very prominent spit curl and a lantern jaw, a la Jerry Ordway, years later.
Yarbrough left the book with Siegel and Shuster and went on to his own
newspaper strip, Tallulah.
The Toyman went on to plague Superman a number of times throughout the
Forties, but after Don Cameron left the strip in 1948, other writers just
couldn't seem to work up the same level of enthusiasm. His last big splash
was in _Superman_ #88 in March 1954, when he joined Luthor and the
Prankster as "The Terrible Trio". After a cameo in _Jimmy Olsen_ #9 he was
gone, phased out in favor of the space aliens, monsters, and "imaginary
stories" that formed the staples of the Weisinger era. He did try for a
comeback in _Superman_ #182 in January 1966, in a Leo Dorfman scripted
8-pager with art by Curt Swan, done probably to promote the _Superman
Giant_ released the same month in which Golden Age stories were reprinted
for the very first time.
Toyman uses a Superman toy to foil a jail break and win his parole. He
claims that he's gone straight and Superman is now his hero. Soon Superman
finds himself imitating the actions of Toyman's action figures -- ripping
up bridges, dragging ocean liners onto dry land -- that sort of thing.
Toyman claims innocence, and since the figures upon examination are exactly
what they appear to be, no one can prove otherwise.
It's all part of a grand scheme, of course, involving a life-size toy, but
when the real Superman breaks it up, this tired Toyman has no back-up plan
and falls to pieces, crying over his lost toys. Rallying, he vows revenge
in the last panel. And the last caption warns the readers to watch for
Toyman's "Doom-Toy" in the near-future, but the story must not have gone
over very well, for there were no further appearances.
Eight pages really just isn't enough room for a Superman story. And the
Comics Code probably frowned on the Toyman's tried-and-true plan of putting
innocents in mortal jeopardy in order to distract Superman. Without that he
just couldn't hold the readers' attention. Back to the space aliens.
Still in all, the era when Superman's brain was challenged as often as his
brawn required the writers to think of clever conundrums to keep both
Superman and the reader engaged. I'm sure the Toyman has appeared in more
Superman stories and entertained more Superman readers than Doomsday ever
will.
__________________________________________
NEW COMIC REVIEWS
-----------------------------------------
Comics Arriving In Stores July 1998
"So," you find yourself wondering, "what could they *possibly* have chosen
not to review this month?" Wonder no more! In _Adventures in the DC
Universe_ #19, Superman and the rest of the JLA battle Amazo 2000, the
android creation of Professor Ivo. Superman and the JLA make guest
appearances in _Green Lantern_ #103, as Kyle Rayner re-introduces them to
the time-displaced Hal Jordan. Finally, Superman provides a small assist
to the Titans in _Teen Titans_ #24, the final issue of that series.
Ratings Panelists:
-----------------
AW: Anatole Wilson ES: Emmanuel Soupidis RG: Rene' Gobeyn
CoS: Cory Strode GS: Gabe Smith ST: Shane Travis
DC: David Chappell GN: G.M. Nelson SDM: Simon DelMonte
DR: Daniel Radice JO: Joey Ochoa TD: Thomas Deja
DWd: Darrin Wood JSy: Jeff Sykes VV: Vic Vitek
DWk: Douglas Wolk MS: Mike Smith
As always, the first rating given after the average is that of the
reviewer. The average rating given for each book may correspond to a larger
sample of ratings than what is printed following the average.
===============================================
THE TRIANGLE TITLES:
-------------------
33. SUPERMAN #138 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"Dominus"
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artists: Paul Ryan and Joe Rubinstein
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Separator: Digital Chameleon
Assistant: Maureen McTigue
Futurist: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Dan Jurgens, Joe Rubinstein, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 3.0/5.0 Shields
TD: 2.8 Shields
DWd: 2.0 Shields - What a letdown from the earlier storyline. Something
had better happen soon or they might lose a fan.
ES: 2.5 Shields - This feels more like a turf war than a battle on a
cosmic scale. Ryan's art was weak on _Flash_ and it is weak here;
how anyone can like this guy over Bogdanove is beyond me.
GS: 2.9 Shields - I really enjoyed Paul Ryan's artwork in this issue.
One complaint: The dialogue of the couple from Idaho who were
explaining what happened to Superman was just *horrible!*
JO: 4.0 Shields - Finally, normal continuity returns! I enjoyed the
trips into different times, but it's nice to be home.
MS: 3.0 Shields - Nice to finally get an explanation (although they
still owe us one for _Superman Forever_), but the 'future
Superman' storyline ended pretty abruptly. I thought these were
three-issue tributes, not two-and-a-quarter.
VV: 3.5 Shields - Despite the hokey name ("Dominus" for someone who
wants ultimate power? Why not Fred?), this has the makings of a
great arc.
*sigh*
I honest to God thought this silly 'blood and thunder style' had
disappeared.
It's not that I don't like this issue; I do (although I think I preferred
the stuff leading up to the issue better than the issue itself). It's just
that the villain has been revealed -- a world-shaking menace supposedly on
par with Doomsday -- yet now that we know his plan, we find out not only
that Supes was incidental to it, but that it's a pretty hazy plan to begin
with. In fact, Dominus himself is a pretty hazy character, indistinct and
without much except a bit of bluster....
Sorry. Got ahead of myself.
As you know, for the last three months, Superman has been trapped in four
separate eras. This has resulted in stories that ranged from the brilliant
(the Simonson and Bogdanove 30's sequence) to the amusing (Hey, I *liked*
JLA 2999...) to the fun (Immonen's very precise 70's spoof) to the confused
(I'm sorry, but Kesel's Weisinger take was all over the place). Now, in the
flagship book, we learn that this schism was all because of Dominus, who
has been playing with Superman in order to attract the attention of Kismet
-- a being last seen in _Superman Forever_. In fact, thanks to more of
Jurgens' patented expositionary bystanders, we learn that Supes never
really left one city block of Metropolis -- he's been tearing it up
thinking he's been in all of these parallel worlds. So Kismet takes
Superman to her home plane to explain Dominus' plan.
Okay, the plan is this: Dominus aspires to be a 'cosmic entity,' and to do
that he must kill Kismet. He screwed with Superman, warping reality into
various 'tests' for him, so that Kismet would come out of hiding and try to
re-establish her bond with the Man of Steel. Before she can go further and
actually -- *gasp* -- explain things to us readers, Dominus shows up,
blasts Kismet and backhands Supes into a mountain. Luckily, Superman's
distraction is enough to allow Kismet to go into hiding, which means there
*will* be another 'to be continued' box at the end of this story.
I guess we're supposed to be really impressed with Dominus because he bitch
slaps Big Blue, but the fact is his 'plan' is so ill-defined I don't have a
handle on what he actually *does*. On top of that, the boy is so generic in
his language and posturing, I can't imagine why Team Superman thought he
was going to be the 'next Doomsday.' We learn nothing about what he's like
or his motivations -- in fact, we learned more about his thought processes
in one page of _Man of Steel_ #82 than we do in this whole issue.
The story reads as if rushed -- a five-page sequence stretched out with
splash pages (2), double page spreads (1), extra-large figures a la
_Infinity Inc._-era McFarlane (4), 'duplicate panels' to reflect reality
shifts (3) and special computer effects (2). I would have much rather
gotten something more substantial than super-villain posturing.
That being said, I have to admit the book's opening sequence, announcing
Superman 2999's founding of the Justice Alliance was pretty neat. Ryan has
a lot of fun cramming these eight pages with future versions of DC Universe
heroes -- including a Martian Captain Marvel (!), a female Robin, and a
gray-haired wonder Woman. Ryan also sneaks in a nice visual clue of
Dominus' presence on a telescreen that looks perfectly at home in the
context of the panel in which it appears. Of course, since three of those
pages are a splash panel and a double-page spread, it only proves my
earlier point.
If this is what we have to look forward to post-Sparky the Wonder
Kryptonian(**), I am not exactly heartened. Bland, generic villains are
bland, generic villains whether on a cosmic scale or not, vague plotlines
do not gain any clarity from fancy pencilling effects, and stories that are
so thin they seem to be inspired by Rob Liefeld aren't gonna cut it. Unless
Jurgens and company realize that, the sales spike this recent 'tribute
phase' engendered will quickly be lost. Considering the work Jurgens has
been doing of late, with its hints of greatness, that would be too damn
bad.
Like I said earlier, it's not like I dislike this issue... or maybe I
did... I just wanted a real story, not an excuse for a series of pin-up
pages.
*sigh*
(**) This final usage of the phrase 'Sparky the Wonder Kryptonian' is
dedicated to Shane Travis, who found the initial coining of the title so
funny. Thanks, Shane.
Thomas Deja
<tdj723@webtv.net>
===============================================
34. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #561 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"Waves of Deception"
Plot: Kesel
Script: Ordway
Pencils: Grummett
Finishes: Rodier
Letters: DeGuzman
Colors: Whitmore
Separations: DigiCham
Intrigue: McTigue
Danger: Cavalieri
Cover: Tom Grummett, Denis Rodier, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 2.9/5.0 Shields
DR: 2.8 Shields (Story)
3.1 Shields (Art)
DC: 2.6 Shields - Interesting masquerade by Dominus, though I wish he had
turned out to be Extant. Nice to see the subplots advancing.
ES: 2.7 Shields - Waverider is a dull character, and having Dominus
masquerade as him didn't help. Thank goodness for Grummett!
GS: 4.5 Shields - Ordway did a fine job of threading the story together;
This issue didn't skip a beat. Grummett's pencils weren't too
shabby, either!
JSy: 2.4 Shields - Just didn't do much for me. Grummett's art seemed a bit
rushed, and Superman felt out of character in the alley scene. On
the other hand, Kesel and Ordway have Clark and Lois' married life
down to a tee.
MS: 3.0 Shields - Nice story, but Dominus has been wasting time since last
issue. If this guy's so powerful, what's the holdup? Fortunately,
the Planet plot makes up for it.
ST: 2.7 Shields - (Story: 2.1, Art: 3.5) Nice scenes with L&C, and good-
but-not-great art from Grummett, but things just didn't gel. The
Planet sub-plot has been bubbling a while and builds well, but too
much re-cap, and too much whining from Jimmy weakened things.
Hot on the heels of the recent time-slip stories, Superman finds himself
dealing with the dilemma that is Dominus and his ever-important quest for
God-hood. In this issue, the Man of Steel is confronted by Waverider, in an
effort to get down to the bottom of the recent time anomalies. All is not
as it seems, however, and to top it off, the Daily Planet goes up for sale!
Hoo boy. There goes *my* chance at an internship...
Our story opens with Lois Lane berating Superman for his haphazard handling
of their Super-children, while their Super-son and Super-daughter burst
through the side of their obviously not-super-reinforced house. Another
fake reality? Just a dream, actually. Superman is woken up by his dear
wife, and he quickly dresses and rushes off to work. First, however, a
disaster awaits him: a crane in the hypersector has collapsed!
As the Man of Steel approaches two falling men, the girders and workers
freeze in mid-air. Enter Waverider! He and the other Linear Men seek Kismet
in an effort to restore her to her proper position in the Universe.
Superman promises to do everything in his power to find her, and the two
part ways.
The scene shifts to the Daily Planet. Perry White and Franklin Stern call
an impromptu meeting of the entire Planet staff. The news is as bad as
people feared: The Daily Planet is up for sale. After the news, while Lois,
Clark, and Jimmy Olsen all grab a bite at the local "Big Belly Burger", a
very familiar girl runs by, shouting a very familiar statement. Clark runs
off to investigate.
The girl turns out to be just that: A girl. She is merely a pawn in a
scheme to rob people, set up by her father. Waverider turns up and 'reads'
her, learning her identity and history, and establishing that she is not
Kismet. Superman flies off with the father and the girl to deliver them to
the authorities and her mother, respectively. Waverider stays behind, and
reveals a secret. If I have to tell you what it is, I'm going to be very
disappointed in you, oh faithful Super-reader!
So how was this story, you ask? It was okay. Nothing special, and I'll tell
you why. The plot is simple: Waverider appears to enlist Superman's help in
finding Kismet, and the Daily Planet goes up for sale. The subplot, about
the Planet, is actually more interesting than the actual main story. To top
it off, I have a problem with the scripting.
"What problem?", you say? Why, not much, really. Just that Superman comes
off sounding like Captain Marvel. Oh, it's slight, and I probably only
noticed because I pick up both books, but Jerry Ordway scripts the Man of
Steel like the World's Mightiest Mortal. Thing is, they're two *very*
different characters, and should be treated as such. The Superman here
sounds a little more like a teenager, more prone to sarcasm and the odd
statement like "Yep" and "I'll bet!" Just not Superman, to me.
That's my only characterization gripe, however, as Ordway pulls off many
excellent depictions, and even a few gems. Lois' explanation as to why
Clark ditched after seeing 'Kismet', was quite humorous. Moreso was Jimmy's
offhanded remark, "Sure, go. Distance yourself from the guy with no
future." It is his Superman errors that stand out in my mind, though, as he
tends to sound too expositional. Heck, even the opening few pages, though
trying to continue a nice splash page gag, seemed forced. I hope he
tightens up on his Supes.
Looking at the art, well, it's fine. While I admit that I really miss Doug
Hazlewood's tight inks over Tom Grummett's tight pencils, I'm starting to
... tolerate ... Denis Rodier's interpretations of Tom's layouts. Their
combined work still seems too loose, and as such, is missing that
Grummett-quality that the books should have. Check, oh, 50 or so issues
ago, and you'll see the difference. I can't sell them short, though; the
opening splash page was well-done, and the backgrounds are getting sharper
and more detailed.
I'm a Super-phile, my friends. As such, I'll never stop reading the Man of
Steel (unless it's a life-or-death situation, and even *then*, I'm not
sure...), but I can't assume the same of you. The Superman books, in all
honesty, haven't been horribly exciting since, oh, the end of "Reign of the
Supermen". Since then, barring the random diamond in the rough, the gems
have been too few and far between. The books need some life injected into
them, and how. New creators -- big name creators -- could do the trick, but
until that day comes, we've got average tales about a Super guy.
And that just ain't right.
Dan Radice
<dradice@caninet.com>
===============================================
35. ACTION COMICS #748 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"Chasing the Ancient of Days"
Writer/Penciller: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Jose Marzan Jr.
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Assistant: Maureen McTigue
Ancient: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Stuart Immonen, Jose Marzan Jr., and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 3.2/5.0 Shields
ST: 3.8 Shields
DC: 2.6 Shields - Nice to see the real Linear Men joining in. It will be
interesting to see if the subplot merges with the main plot.
ES: 2.2 Shields - Oh, yea, here come The Linear Men. Yawn! Please end
this storyline!
GS: 4.8 Shields - Without a doubt, the best artwork I have yet seen
from Immonen. He continues to come up with innovative ideas for
storytelling, but unlike last issue, this method worked well.
JSy: 4.1 Shields - Gorgeous artwork, as always, but I bet it took Stuart
forever to draw this one. His experimentation works well this
issue, and the supporting stories are all very well told.
MS: 1.6 Shields - We ended the "tribute story arcs" for this? Cosmic
double-talk and panels too small to look at? Stu's art is good,
but not at 1/16 scale.
SDM: 3.6 Shields - It's ironic that the Superman writer who has failed to
engage me more than twice since taking over Action is the first
writer to bring Dominus to life. Maybe there *is* a method to his
maddening efforts at experimentation. His art is stellar!
VV: 2.9 Shields - I can't imagine that the "oldest house in Metropolis"
wasn't put on the historical register for the city years ago, but
any plot with Luthor involved is loaded with potential. Is 128
panels on a page a record? <g>
Greetings all! I'm back from my review-writing hiatus. My son, Samuel
Richard Doran Travis, (the reason I took the break) is almost 12 weeks old
now, and doing just great. A happier baby is hard to find -- or a bigger
one! At 2 months, he was already nearing 15 lbs... Guess he's gonna be a
linebacker or sumthin. :-) Anyway, on to what you all _really_ came to hear
about -- Immonen's best outing as a writer on _Action Comics_!
Synopsis:
After posing as Waverider to fool Superman in _Adventures of Superman_
#561, Dominus continues to go with what works and poses as Superman to get
near Jonathan Kent and question him about the one time he met Kismet.
Learning nothing, he wipes Pa's memory and leaves.
Back in Metropolis, Lex Luthor pays a concerned visit to Jerome Odetts, the
lone holdout slowing down progress of his Hypersector. Despite Luthor's
more-than-generous offers, Odetts has refused to sell his home and make way
for the Hypersector expansion. Always the concerned citizen, Lex cautions
the old man about how 'accidents' can happen in such a busy neighborhood.
Odetts still refuses to sell, though, mostly because of his new houseguest.
Seems there's a lady swimming in a ball of green energy tucked in Odetts'
basement...
Now that the Planet is up for sale, Clark reminds the younger staff that
everyone's job is on the line. Unfortunately, his point is lost when Stern
reprimands him for not showing up until mid-afternoon! He is only to happy
to escape the office when Waverider contacts him -- the *real* Waverider --
and Clark soon learns of Dominus' deception.
Lois, meanwhile, is tootling around the Hypersector in her Lambourghini,
looking for Odetts and his little lost farmhouse so she can write a
human-interest piece, when she runs into Lex. Gloating about the paper's
troubles, he offers her a job, but it ain't cue-ball's day and he gets
rejected for a second time.
>From here, we focus on Superman and his attempt to find Kismet with the
help of Waverider. Err... I mean, of Matthew Ryder. No, wait, it's Hunter
-- or is it another of the linear men, Liri Lee? The panels get smaller and
smaller and Superman's companion changes faster than you can blink. The
only thing that remains constant is the speech the companion is giving
about not being able to trust your senses. As this finally gets through to
him, Superman realizes that his companion is really Dominus, and exposes
him.
The panels continue to shrink in size as Dominus, sick of subtlety, now
tries beating the location of Kismet out of Superman. Superman bears
everything no-neck can throw at him, though, and refuses to help; "I know
you will never hold ultimate power while Kismet lives, and you'll never
find her while *I* live... You'll have to kill me first." Dominus throws a
hissy-fit at this, and traps Superman's mind inside a web of alternate and
parallel worlds in an attempt to drive him mad...
Opinions:
This issue marks another of Immonen's attempts at experimentation, only
this time, instead of playing with the writing -- a skill at which he is
still a Journeyman at best -- he has fun with the art, which is where his
talents truly lie.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not implying that Stuart can't write, only that he
is still new at it, and should stick to straight fare until he is more
adept. It takes skill to write comics -- but it takes even more skill to
write in a non-standard way andhave things work out. As "Chanticleer's
Tale" in _Action #741_ and last issue's wordless story both demonstrate,
Stuart is long on ideas but short on experience. By way of analogy, I think
of Bill Sienkiewicz' work on _New Mutants_. I'm willing to bet that Bill
didn't start out drawing that way. At the same time, I'd also bet that he
had a *damn* good grasp of the fundamentals of art before settling on such
an out-there and unusual style.
Having said all that, let's get back to the task at hand. Stuart's writing
in this issue is, for the most part, quite solid. Stuart does a great job
of moving all the sub-plots along, introducing new ones (Odetts) and making
everyone seem *real*. Furthermore, he does things with a subtlety we don't
often see. Example: long-time readers know that Mayor Sackett is firmly in
Luthor's pocket. His reasons for trying to get Lois to write a piece
against Odetts is obviously an attempt to curry favour with Lex. His
transparent attempt at manipulation -- which produces a result opposite to
the one desired -- tells us more about the man in a single page than some
writers could express in three. It is when I see scenes like this, the
two-page scene in the Planet's newsroom that immediately follows, and his
characterization of Dominus (i.e. he gives him some, for the first time)
that I understand why DC has given him a chance to write.
The only place where the writing really breaks down is on page 18. Superman
has just spent 4 pages in the presence of an ever-changing companion. Said
companion (whatever his or her identity) has been talking to Superman --
cautioning him, and trying to get him to open his eyes. As late as that
same page, panel 5, Waverider warns that keeping away from Kismet may be
the best thing in the long run. Imagine my surprise, then, when it is
revealed that Superman's companion is really Dominus! Maybe I missed
something, but... Huh? Why was Dominus (as Waverider) advising Superman
*not* to find Kismet? Unless he really *was* Waverider just then, and only
became Dominus four panels later, but why would Dominus show up just then?
Unless it was Superman's *belief* that his companion was Dominus that
turned him *into* Dominus... my head hurts...
To be fair, I never really noticed this inconsistency until I was
re-reading the comic closely for this review, so it wasn't too glaring.
Stuart nicely balanced my throbbing temples by turning in art that was easy
on the eyes. Throughout this book, the art really complemented the writing.
Evidence of this can be seen in small things, like the scene shift between
Pa Kent and Jerome Odetts as they both chop wood, and the body language of
everyone in the newsroom scene. Also, as I mentioned, his experiment with
the art worked really well; starting on page 14, which was a full-page shot
of Superman and Waverider, each successive page had double the number of
panels as the previous page. This means that by the time we reached page
21, Stuart had squeezed in an amazing 128 panels on a single page! All
these panels meant more work for Jose Marzan Jr. and Glenn Whitmore as
well, and they both covered admirably. In fact, this issue is one of the
better colouring jobs I've seen from Glenn in quite some time.
All in all, a pretty darn good issue. Keep up the solid work, Stuart, and
the upcoming change in writers on all the triangle titles will have a lot
of people clamoring for your return.
Final Thought: Did anyone else notice that Mercy (Luthor's female
chauffeur/bodyguard from S:TAS) seems to have made it into mainstream
continuity? Although she is never named, she appears on the cover and again
inside on pages 4, 5, and 11. Lest you think that she was merely
easter-egged in by Stuart, a similar-looking character makes an appearance
in issue #1 and #2 of _Superman for all Seasons_. It's nice to see that the
same cross-pollination of ideas across media that brought us Jimmy Olsen,
Perry White, and kryptonite may be showing its head again.
Shane Travis
<travis@sedsystems.ca>
__________________________________________
THE TRIANGLE TITLES (cont):
--------------------------
36. SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #83 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"Shattered Illusions"
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Scot Eaton
Inker: Dennis Janke
Letterer: Lois Buhalis
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Asst. Ed.: Maureen McTigue
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Jon Bogdanove, Dennis Janke, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 3.0/5.0 Shields
MS: 4.0 Shields
DC: 2.5 Shields - Nice to have the Linear Men, although it's sad that
they're of such little use.
ES: 2.4 Shields - I don't really care what this guy's got in the basement;
just quit dragging out transparent plot threads.
JO: 4.0 Shields - You don't know what you have till it's gone. Superman
fighting for the universe used to be stale; now that big blue is
back I realize how much I missed it.
JSy: 3.0 Shields - Some interesting bits with the confused realities, and
Janke even turns in some nice inkwork this issue, but let's get one
thing straight; there's no way an *infinity* of linear men could
fit in a finite space, so something more needed to be explained
there.
VV: 2.8 Shields - Waverider has faced Parallax, yet says Dominus has more
power? Why is Odetts guarding Kismet? And where is Luthor when
Dominus is in his office holding Lena? (Unless, of course, the
whole thing was an illusion...) A treadmill issue.
Well, back to the present. Not that I didn't like the World War II story
going on in _Man of Steel_ for the last few months, but it's good to move
on to something a little lighter -- maybe a nonsensical romp with the
Linear Men. Yes, that would cleanse the palate.
A side note on the Linear Men for the uninitiated. Back in 1991, Dan
Jurgens created these time-traveling guys to pop up and annoy Superman. "We
can't interfere, but always wind up interfering anyway" is their credo. The
gold shiny one is Waverider, an energy being who can see your past,
present, and future with physical contact. Two of their ranks, Matt Ryder
and Rip Hunter, died during 1994's Zero Hour crossover.
Now, just to set things up, Dominus has been torturing Superman to get him
to find Kismet for him. Since neither Dominus nor Stuart Immonen can do
something simple like a chunk of Kryptonite, Dommy impersonates the Linear
Men and gets Superman stuck in a "web of alternate timelines". Or
something. Well, I was in pain, anyway.
So now Louise "Got to explain my silly powers to you as I use them!"
Simonson takes over the story. I like Weezie. I know a lot of people don't,
but it's times like these when she stands out among the other writers. This
chapter opens with the Linear Men finding Supes trapped in the "timeline
cage" Immonen spent six pages trying to explain -- and they shoot it.
Waverider just blasts it and it's gone. Ah, clarity.
Waverider tries to help Superman up, but Superman lashes out at him. See,
Superman thinks that these guys might just be Dominus in disguise again.
Even if they're the real thing, Waverider's touch would reveal Kismet's
whereabouts. Either way, Superman's finally showing some brains here.
Oh yeah, and those two dead Linear Men I mentioned? They're suddenly
alive. I don't know who goofed this up, but Simonson is quick to point out
that they only died in one possible timeline. Yeah, it's dumb, but Jurgens
would have wasted three pages on it. Better to get it over with and move
on, I say.
That's about it for the Linear Men. They try to help Superman fight
Dominus, but there isn't a whole lot they can do except distract him.
Perhaps the most confusing guest stars of all time, but Weezie manages to
utilize them quickly and simply.
OK, that's covered, now for Mr. Odetts! Quit groaning, this will only take
a minute. See, Luthor is building this swell Epcot Center lookalike called
Hypersector in downtown Metropolis. Odetts is the lone holdout who refuses
to sell his property and make way for the Captain Eo theater.
Lois Lane is doing a story on the situation, and conveniently enough, some
kids on a field trip find a bomb in the cellar of Odetts' house. Superman
races in to save the day, and one of the kids turns out to be Dominus. He
makes his usual threats about controlling reality and killing Kismet. Of
course as powerful as this guy is, I don't see why he can't find Kismet
himself, but that's for next week, I guess.
Meanwhile, Lucy Lane is pregnant. See, when Dominus escaped Waverider's
causality loop it -- oh, wait. Leave it to Simonson to floor us with
something perfectly normal. Lucy runs through all the typical thoughts
(i.e. "We only did it once," "Mom will kill me", etc.) It's all very
routine, and somehow that's what makes it even more surprising. Of course,
it doesn't hurt that Lucy and Ron have been getting so little attention in
the Superman books that I nearly forgot about their relationship and all
the implications.
A few things came to mind:
1) Uncle Superman. We were so busy thinking about Lois having kids someday
that nobody even considered Lucy. Of course, even if she decides to keep
the baby, it'll be three years before it's born. I'm willing to wait.
2) Ron's sister will freak. Lenda objected to Ron dating a white woman,
what's she going to think about kids? Handled carefully, this could make
an interesting story.
3) Ron's job is in trouble. The Daily Planet's up for sale, remember? One
page after Lucy we find the father-to-be wondering if he'll still be
employed when all this is over. Vintage Simonson.
4) Where's Ashbury and Scorn? Remember them? It's getting so you have to
marry, start a family, or change powers just to get noticed in Metropolis.
So let's see, what else? Dominus tries to torture Superman with Kryptonite.
(See, Stuart? It's easy when you know how.) to lure Kismet out of hiding.
Oh, and Odetts is keeping Kismet in his closet. She's recuperating quite
nicely.
There you have it. "Shattered Illusions" successfully continues the Dominus
storyline while seamlessly leading into the _Save the Planet_ one-shot,
plus at no extra cost, Weezie ties both storylines into the Hypersector
subplot and drops a bombshell into the supporting cast. My only beef with
this intricate plot is that it makes it harder to recap for this review.
Small price to pay, I guess.
This issue also features the return of guest-penciller Scot Eaton, and Lois
Buhalis pinch-lettering for Ken Lopez. I admit that I was uneasy about
Eaton coming back for this fill-in issue. Scot's pencils and Janke's inks
were at war for most of Jon Bogdanove's sabbatical (issues #69-74). Things
finally improved in #74, but now they've really got their act together! I
don't know how they fixed it, but suddenly I'm looking forward to Eaton and
Rodier on the _Save the Planet_ special.
As for Buhalis, I found her letters noteworthy just because they were so
different from the norm. It seemed bolder somehow, grittier, and it was
enough to make me go back and check the credits. I thought it was
appropriate with Janke's thick inks, and I suggest that her talents could
also be useful with some of the Batbooks, where dark and gritty is always
in style.
This a fun issue all around, and that's good because it'll have to last you
for a while. Say... 83,273 years! Or two months. Something like that.
Mike Smith
<mike_p_smith@hotmail.com>
__________________________________________
SUPER-FAMILY TITLES:
-------------------
SUPERBOY #55 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"Hexed"
Words: Karl Kesel
Guest Pencils: Scott Kolins
Guest Inks: Norm Rapmund
Colors: Buzz Setzer
Letters: Comicraft
Assistant: Frank Berrios
Editor: Mike McAvennie
Legend: Jack Kirby
Cover: Tom Grummett, Karl Kesel, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 2.5/5.0 Shields
RG: 3.0 Shields (Story)
2.5 Shields (Art)
DWd: 2.5 Shields - Another letdown in the Super-camp. From the Wild Lands
to some pointless fight with a rock monster and a reincarnated
Jonah Hex. Poohey!
ES: 2.0 Shields - Hex reincarnated as an Elle MacPherson wannabe? Kooky,
but considering the lack of plot in the regular titles, it was
offbeat enough. Now if only Grummett had drawn it; Norm Rapmund
is a brutal inker, here and on 'Titans'!
JO: 4.0 Shields - Hex and the Contessa; two reasons why women in the DC
Universe kick butt!
JSy: 3.6 Shields - Interesting twist, having a supermodel channeling an
old west sharpshooter, but I've seen stranger things in the DCU.
All together, not a bad book, especially considering it was just
an issue-long fight scene...
SDM: 3.0 Shields - Cute, and a good set-up for the upcoming new direction,
but not much of a story under all the fighting. The Hex bit is also
cute, but James Robinson did the "old western hero reincarnated"
bit a lot better in Starman.
ST: 1.9 Shields - An issue long fight-scene, art without Grummett, Jonah
Hex reincarnated as a supermodel, The Guardian condoning wanton
violence and destruction, and Contessa as head of the Agenda.
Nope... not much here to like...
While Superboy and Hex -- and Grokk -- break free of the rubble that buried
them at the close of last issue, the mystery-man Alpha learns the hard way
how the Agenda deals with failures. Beta takes over using a squad of
soldier clones whose orders are simple: deal with Grokk, and kill Superboy.
As the soldiers position themselves, one has a run-in with Superboy,
slashing him across the face. Superboy's telepathic cry of pain alerts
Dubbilex and brings Guardian to the scene, but it seems that it was Hex,
not Superboy who was injured? Meanwhile Hex is finding that Grokk may not
be all that bad -- at least by comparison to the Agenda soldiers. Too bad
she doesn't get to tell Superboy or The Guardian before they start pounding
on the dragon again.
This is when things get strange, even for Superboy. Hex undergoes a
possession, where-in she is taken over by (you guessed it) Jonah Hex! Just
in time too, as Superboy and Guardian are about to be bushwhacked by a
group of the clones. She manages to save them, and Superboy subdues Grokk
(with a little help from Dubbilex). The story ends as Dubbilex and Guardian
offer Superboy a job of investigating "genetic anomalies" for Cadmus. The
panel showing the destruction from the battle was probably a preview of
things to come.
The book closes with a look at The Agenda Headquarters, where a surprise
villain (from the Superman books) makes an appearance. We also find that
Cadmus has a few unexpected problems in the works that will certainly spell
trouble for our hero.
After five months of superlative issues, this one was something of a let
down. What we have here is pretty much your standard super-hero fight book
-- maybe a bit better than most, but still just one long fight scene.
Little is done in the way of characterization, though we do find out some
very interesting things about the Agenda organization. All-in-all, even
with the non-guest appearance of Jonah Hex (my favorite DC western hero)
this book fell short of the mark for me. That's too bad, because I was
really enjoying the characterization and by-play of the past few months.
It seems that Kesel is gearing up to take Superboy in a new, and hopefully
interesting direction. As a monster hunter for Cadmus, Superboy should be
in his element. As a bonus it will give him some much-needed focus that
should keep him from his whining, and going all angsty over Tana leaving
him.
Still, I hope that he doesn't get too far from his base in Hawaii, and
further away from his friends and existing supporting cast. I miss Roxy,
Tana, Rex, and even Krypto. We've gone six issues with little more than a
glimpse of his old life. While I like the direction that the book is
taking, I hope that events will allow him to get back to the islands. One
thing I really missed was the Wild Men. I hope that next issue will at
least give us a look at what they are up to. They've only been around for
five issues, but they are some of the most fun characters in the book.
The art in the book was a bit sketchy and over-inked for my taste. While
the perspectives were excellent, there were far too many panels with little
to no background to establish settings. Tom should be back again next
issue; none too soon for me.
Overall, while there were some interesting developments and a lot of
sub-plots started, this one didn't make it.
Rene Gobeyn
<bedlam@frontiernet.net>
===============================================
SUPERGIRL #25 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"Desperate Times"
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Leonard Kirk
Inks: Robin Riggs
Letters: Pat Prentice
Colors: Gene D'Angelo
Seps: Digital Chameleon
Asst. Ed: Frank Berrios
Editor: Mike McAvennie
Cover: Leonard Kirk, Robin Riggs, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 4.1/5.0 Shields
===TEXT
TD: 4.5 Shields
DWd: 3.0 Shields - I'll be interested to see the next issue, so I gather
this one has done its job.
ES: 4.0 Shields - Wally bless PAD for this great tale! Not only was the
theological angle thought-provoking enough for a re-read, but the
final panel has my vote for 'Best Last Page Of The Year'!
JSy: 4.0 Shields - Since this issue likely exhausted his supply, I think it
must be time for PAD to buy some new cans of worms. Racism, free
speech, religion, homosexuality, alcoholism, divorce; what could he
*possibly* throw at us next? And, no, that's not a challenge! :-)
ST: 4.4 Shields - One of the most meaty issues of this comic (or any other
Super-family comic) in a long time. Theology, philosophy, ideology,
subplots, relationships, and even a belly laugh. ("Your prayer
technique needs a lot of work." Hah!) What more could you ask for?
VV: 4.3 Shields - Nice to see the "Issue of the Day" issue isn't going
away, at least not yet. So many nice little touches; Linda's
"prayer", Cutter's resignation, The Garden of Eden, Wally's exit,
Dick's answered question...
===WWW
TD: 4.5 Shields
DWd: 3.0 Shields - I'll be interested to see the next issue, so I gather
this one has done the it's job.
ES: 4.0 Shields - Wally bless PAD for this great tale! Not only was the
theological angle thought-provoking enough for a re-read, but the
final panel has my vote for 'Best Last Page Of The Year'!
JO: 4.5 Shields - The Gospel according to David is a big hit with me. As
for Comet, she can't be a bad guy if she ain't a guy at all :-)
JSy: 4.0 Shields - Since this issue likely exhausted his supply, I think it
must be time for PAD to buy some new cans of worms. Racism, free
speech, religion, homosexuality, alcoholism, divorce; what could he
*possibly* throw at us next? And, no, that's not a challenge! :-)
ST: 4.4 Shields - One of the most meaty issues of this comic (or any other
Super-family comic) in a long time. Theology, philosophy, ideology,
subplots, relationships, and even a belly laugh. ("Your prayer
technique needs a lot of work." Hah!) What more could you ask for?
VV: 4.3 Shields - Nice to see the "Issue of the Day" issue isn't going away,
at least not yet. So many nice little touches; Linda's "prayer",
Cutter's resignation, The Garden of Eden, Wally's exit, Dick's
answered question... Is Andy *really* Comet? And does she know more
about Linda than we suspect?
Okay, before we begin: raise your hands if you saw this issue's ending
coming.
Thought not.
This may very well be my favorite issue of _Supergirl_ since the incredible
"My Dinner With Buzz" way back when. David does a lot to tamp Supergirl
down here, forcing her to make a decision that isn't going to bode well in
the greater scheme of things. David also gives us copious amounts of Wally
(says the man who bemoaned his lack of appearance in the last few issues),
and throws us a curveball or two that I didn't see coming. As if that
wasn't enough, he gives us a monologue ala' Buzz's discussion on his
origins... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The story begins with Supergirl at her wits end. Due to her actions in
issue #23, the media is branding her a racist (to the point that the Klu
Klux Klan have endorsed her actions!). Mattie is angry at her not only for
defending the views of the racist professor (#23), but for helping Wanda
Lee's caretaker to get out of assault charges (issue #24's crossover with
_Resurrection Man_). In spite of Linda's pleas, Fred is still going through
with his divorce of Sylvia, and Sylvia is still viciously, willfully afraid
of her daughter. Even John and Martha Kent are at a loss for words.
Enter Wally.
Seeing the child-who-says-he's-God walk by, Linda runs off in pursuit --
ignoring Dick Malverne, who just got a friendly warning from Andy Jones to
stay away from Linda -- and tracks Wally down. Before Wally can feed her
any of the standard lines he's been spouting earlier in the book's run,
Linda picks him up, slams him against the wall of a batting cage, and
demands help. After Wally demonstrates his authority (and power!) by
batting Linda clear out of the park, he agrees to help her in two ways: by
solving Sylvia's spiritual crisis and by revealing what Comet has been
hiding from her. In doing so, however, Wally cryptically points out that
since he's agreed to help her now, he won't help her when The Carnivore
comes, but Linda is too worried about the measures she's taken to dwell on
that little hint of trouble to come.
Sure enough, Wally comes to Sylvia's door and talks with her. Their
conversation involves the concept of 'Why do bad things happen to good
people', and is some of David's most succinct writing in a while. When
Sylvia balks at reconciling with Linda and her husband, though, Wally does
a little trick he last did, "...for an artist thirty years ago." Which is
where he leaves *that* scene...
...and switches to Wally's other promise, namely, Supergirl meeting Comet.
Comet refuses to reveal any secrets, and the speedster takes off. Supergirl
follows the creature to a motel room and discovers....
...well, that would be telling. Needless to say, I didn't see it as
obvious, even with David all-but-trumpeting it earlier on. Let's leave it
at noting that Comet's outfit conceals more than identity.
This is a great work; no fights (save a batting swing and Cutter throwing a
monitor at his boss as a notification of resignation), no evil villains,
just good clean character interaction -- and David knows his character
interaction. Even with some pretty lame jokes (one a tip of the that to Jim
Croce), even with the way David stops a story cold for a gag, the tale he's
telling *works*. I would rather read a David philosophical discussion than
the biggest action sequence from the other Team Super scribes any day --
his contentions, while maybe not always agreeable, are always well
thought-out and excellently written.
Kirk does his usual superb job, although an attempt to do a goofy, cartoony
style for a story about the Garden of Eden falls flat. I also have to
wonder if he's getting pressure to mimic Gary Frank -- some shots seem a
bit too Frank-ish, and they're quite frankly lacking.
"Desperate Times" works because it lets the characters be themselves, and
ends up setting up a plotline that is bound to be interesting in the
future. In a market where the 25th issue of most books herald a goofy,
blood-and-thunder fight scene that lasts forever, this is refreshing.
Tom Deja
<tdj723@webtv.net>
__________________________________________
SUPER-FAMILY TITLES (cont):
--------------------------
SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #23 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"War Games, Part 2"
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Aluir Amancio
Inker: Terry Austin
Colorist: Marie Severin
Letterer: Lois Buhalis
Asst. Ed.: Frank Berrios
Editor: Mike McAvennie
Cover: Rick Burchett and Terry Austin
RATINGS
Average: 3.2/5.0 Shields
CoS: 2.0 Shields
DWd: 4.0 Shields - Time and time again this comic outdoes the regular
titles. I might drop the regulars and just read this if things
don't improve.
ES: 3.5 Shields - This one finished up a lot better than it started!
Nice one, Millar! Once again, the artwork is every bit as tight
as Burchett's.
ST: 2.8 Shields - The individual elements were often excellent -- Lois
reaming out Livewire, Hamilton's ingenuity, Luthor's character
-- but somehow the whole didn't add up to the sum of its parts.
Superman's brutality with Brainiac and his casual murder of a
sentient being really jarred me.
All good stories come down to a choice. In the creation and resolution of
this choice, the writer defines and gives us insight into the character.
Some of the most memorable post-Crisis Superman stories all come down to a
simple decision. Does Superman save Lois or does he stop the Joker from
killing thousands? Stripped of his powers, does Clark Kent finally propose
to Lois Lane? Left with no other options, does Superman kill? This issue of
_Superman Adventures_ shows us two choices, but it ultimately fails because
of the clumsy set-up of one choice and the resolution of the other in such
a way that it reveals nothing about how the choice was made.
Last issue, Brainiac caused a power outage all over Earth, trapped Superman
in the Phantom Zone and rigged the world's nuclear arsenal to go off in
thirty minutes. The only person with a chance to stop Brainiac was
Professor Hamilton, who held Brainiac's globe containing all of Earth's
accumulated information. Things don't look good for our side.
Opening this issue, Hamilton uses the resources of the Fortress of Solitude
to evade Brainiac, knowing Brainiac won't allow Earth to be destroyed
without the globe of information in his possession.
Meanwhile, in Metropolis, rescue crews are overwhelmed with emergency
calls. As Jimmy Olsen is pulled from the rubble caused by an explosion in
the Daily Planet building, Livewire appears from a rescue worker's radio.
For unknown reasons, she agrees to go to the Fortress to attempt to stop
the nuclear missiles from being launched. Just as Professor Hamilton runs
out of places to hide from Brainiac, Livewire comes to his rescue. She
momentarily disables Brainiac, but he is contemptuous of her and her
abilities. "Oh, I didn't come here for a head-to-head," she quips; "I just
dropped by to free the boy scout." Enter Superman with a resounding
Thwaakk!, punching Brainy out of the Fortress for their Big Battle Scene.
As Superman fights Brainiac, Livewire fries all the computer systems
controlling the missile-launches -- but only at the cost of sacrificing
herself. All the warheads are stopped; all but one. Superman must make a
choice: defeat Brainiac or stop the missile from destroying Metropolis.
Oddly, the story allows him to do both; he grab the missile and hurls it
skyward, atomizing both Brainiac and his spaceship, and saves the day.
Clark discusses Livewire's sacrifice with a recuperating Jimmy, and we
learn that even if her body survives, her memory has been wiped clean.
Finally, we see that Luthor has somehow been able to capture Brainiac's
computer core. He begins dissecting it with malicious glee to learn what
made the computer program tick.
When I first read this story, what immediately struck me was Superman
throwing a nuclear bomb at one of his foes, blowing him up with a smile on
his face. I had to check with a couple of avid fans of the animated series
to see if I was missing something, and was informed that it has been firmly
established that Brainiac isn't a life form at all, but a rogue computer
program. Still, as I read the story in detail for this review, the scene
seems out of character for Superman. It feels more like a Sylvester
Stallone movie hero, blowing away bad guys with big guns and wise guy
lines. Superman is supposed to be the Best of us, not someone who would
casually nuke an opponent.
Even without that scene, this issue fails due to poor story construction
and missed opportunities. The first third of the book shows Brainiac trying
to reclaim the globe from Professor Hamilton without damaging it, yet when
Hamilton destroys it in an attempt to make Brainiac stop the missiles, he
pauses for a panel and goes on with his plan. Livewire chooses to help not
due to any discernible change of heart, but because it fits the story.
Superman's choice -- stop the missile or the bad guy -- was a throw away.
He was able to do both, which makes the dramatic choice no choice at all,
and undercuts the suspense.
There were other flaws too that should have been cleaned up, the most
glaring of which was the dialogue between Livewire and Lois Lane. "Do you
really think these people care what a high-voltage former shock jock has to
say?" is a good example of how not to write expository dialogue. It gives
us unnecessary information (former shock jock? is that needed in the
story?) and information we need (her powers) in an unrealistic way. I
almost prefer the caption boxes from the Golden Age that gave us the
history and powers of each character as they made an appearance.
The one saving grace of this issue was the artwork. Last issue it seemed
that Amancio was having trouble with the characters and their posing. This
issue, other than a poor outfit choice for Lois Lane (wearing some kind of
lingerie top with the straps falling down is not what I expect for a
professional reporter), the art was dead on here. The splash page is
Kirby-inspired without being an obvious swipe. Throughout the issue, he
uses Kirby-esque dynamic layouts and poses, giving the battle scenes an
immense amount of power in each punch and explosion. Especially impressive
is the three-panel sequence on page 12 where Superman loses his temper
while fighting Brainiac. Amancio shows Superman's rage and power so well
that the final panel of Superman punching Brainiac into the ice nearly
jumps off the page.
Sadly, good art isn't enough if the story flaws keep the reader from
enjoying it. This is a mixed bag of an issue which makes me wonder about
Millar's story construction abilities. A good tale could have been told
here, showing how Livewire came to her decision to sacrifice herself to
save the Earth. Instead, Millar chose to keep her reason a secret, marring
a powerfully- and dynamically-drawn story.
Cory Strode
<Solitaire.Rose@worldnet.att.net>
__________________________________________
TEAM TITLES:
-----------
JLA #22 Sep 1998 $1.99 US/$2.85 CAN
"IT"
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciller: Howard Porter
Inker: John Dell
Letterer: Kenny Lopez
Colorist: Pat Garrahy
Separator: Heroic Age
Asst. Editor: L.A. Williams
Editor: Dan Raspler
Cover: Howard Porter and John Dell
RATINGS
Average: 3.7/5.0 Shields
AW: 4.8 Shields
DWd: 3.5 Shields - Enjoyable yet reminiscent of the Starro story (in
places). Those who never read Sandman will know nothing about
Daniel.
ES: 3.6 Shields - _Nightmare On Elm Street_ meets the Sandman? Okay,
it'll keep me interested. My eyes are just thankful that Porter
and Dell are back.
JO: 4.5 Shields - Leave it to the JLA creative team to take a stale idea
and make it into a great book.
MS: 3.9 Shields - Why does the Star Conqueror use completely different
methods from its first appearance in Secret Files? And why didn't
Daniel just explain that he's too popular a guest star to kill off?
Good story despite a few quirks.
ST: 2.8 Shields - Pardon my ignorance, but who the heck is Daniel, what is
this 'Dreaming', and why should I care? No intro or history, just
stop the story dead in its tracks and expect me to know. Also, I
find it totally unrealistic that there have been no fatalities from
the mass-sleep and the visuals were less-than-smooth in places.
Superman as Messiah?
What else am I to believe when Daniel, also known as "The Sandman," appears
to a boy and says, "Believe [in Superman] and you shall be saved"? In the
past, Grant Morrison has elevated Superman's status to what many (including
myself) consider his rightful place: number one among heroes. Unlike the
Superman titles, the JLA Superman is decisive, charismatic, empathic, and
powerful -- a hero's hero. But with this issue, I do have to ask, has
Morrison crossed a fine line? And what is the cost to the rest of the JLA,
as a team and as a comic?
The action of this comic takes place in the dreams of a boy, Michael Haney.
In this dream, he struggles against the mind control of "The Conqueror."
While everyone about him fails to notice the difference, he somehow
remembers that the Conqueror wasn't always the ruler of the planet, and
deep in his subconscious he remembers heroes -- Green Lantern, Flash, and
Superman. (Notice that his pictures of Green Lantern and Flash are
unaltered--Starro only prevents Michael from drawing the "S" symbol.)
At the same time, on our physical Earth, everyone in North America outside
the town of Blue Valley has fallen into a deep sleep, and the JLA members
who have managed to stay awake are kept busy attempting to avert as many
accidents as possible. There are two keys to this mysterious wave of
narcolepsy: A starfish-like creature that was part of an earlier invasion
of Blue Valley, and the mysterious Daniel, one of the Endless, the Imminent
Ones. (With two editors, you'd think they'd catch the misspelling of
"Imminent.")
Daniel, of course, is no stranger to fans of the late, lamented _Sandman_
comic. In the final issues of that series, Daniel succeeded his father,
Morpheus, as liege of "the Dreaming." His appearance in JLA is rather
surprising, though, since we caught only a few glimpses of the character in
_Sandman_, and saw only veiled references to him in _The Dreaming_, the
Sandman spin-off comic. Daniel is (or pretends to be) as indifferent to the
fate of humans as his father was, yet he has taken pity on the boy, and
wants to help the JLAers battle "It" -- a creature that "conquers first in
dreams, then in reality."
(This raises several questions about the nature of the Dreaming. Has Starro
conquered other races through the Dreaming? If so, why hasn't Morpheus or
Daniel ever interfered before? Do they only care about humans? Or is the
Dreaming as we know it only available to humans?)
While the other JLAers attempt to find an earthly solution to the
catastrophe, Superman and the heroes he selects -- Green Lantern and Wonder
Woman -- follow Daniel into the Dreaming. Superman and Wonder Woman find
their powers waning, but Daniel suggests that Green Lantern's "wishing
ring" may prove the most powerful weapon of all. (Daniel also goes on to
tell Kyle that he will surpass Hal Jordan as a Green Lantern. Sorry, they
can keep saying that through the Trilennium, and it still won't make it
true.)
Meanwhile, a giant starfish (presumably "It") has arrived on Earth, and is
taking up most of the space in Hudson's Bay. This doesn't look good.
Daniel appears to the boy, exhorting him to believe in Superman. As the boy
is about to be covered by a starfish creature (shades of the Body Snatcher
pods), Superman sums up the final situation quite well: "We have no powers,
there are millions of them, and there's a child in there who needs us to
save the world. Let's go."
Yes, Superman is going to save the world against impossible odds because
one boy believes in him. I know Morrison probably wasn't intending to
bestow godhood upon Superman; he was trying to make us suck in our breaths
in wonder, in awe. And it worked. But did he go too far? And what does this
cost the rest of the JLA?
I'll explain:
When I look back at the original Justice League of America (early '60s to
early '80s), two themes ring throughout the collected work regardless of
the individual stories: the themes of teamwork and equality. If I were to
boil down the basic plot of a Justice League story (and this is a very
simple generalization), it would be: 1) Villain strikes; 2) Individual
heroes are defeated as they try and resist villainous plot; 3) Heroes
regroup; 4) Heroes defeat villains using teamwork in mass battle scene.
The mass battle scene is key to understanding the original JLA. Often,
especially in the early Mike Sekowsky days, these final scenes showed the
JLA striking in unison. It didn't matter who was in the scene; they all
struck with the same force and all contributed equally to the villains'
downfall. Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, the Atom, and Black Canary fought
alongside each other as equals whether they fought earthly criminals or
space invaders.
By comparison, today's JLA is a much more fractious, individualistic group,
with clearly defined leaders and followers. Superman and Batman are the
driving force behind the League, with J'onn J'onzz and Wonder Woman as
Second Lieutenants. Green Lantern and the Flash follow closely behind while
the others -- Zauriel, Aquaman, Steel, Plastic Man, et al. -- are
peripheral characters, adding flavor to scenes but rarely making a
substantial contribution. Barda and Orion are completely outside the loop,
and act as divisive elements. Green Arrow dropped out because he perceived
he didn't have enough "power" to fit in with this group. The teamwork we
see is not an instinctive complement of strengths, but the result of
carefully thought out strategies.
I'm not pointing this out to suggest that one approach is better than
another. What I would like to suggest, though, is that we can see how the
former homogeneity of the group has been traded, for better or worse, for a
stronger focus on individual characterization. Superman, Batman, and J'onn
J'onzz have benefited the most from this approach, while secondary
characters such as Zauriel have fared worse, almost to the point of being
ignored as heroic entities.
This point was brought home to me by the splash page of the current issue.
While the boy attempts to draw and remember Superman, it is clear that
Superman surpasses mere heroic status; he is an icon, and one that dwarfs
the other members of the JLA. I've enjoyed Morrison's focus on Superman's
power, charisma, and empathy because I think these qualities are often
ignored or taken for granted in Superman's own comics. In the Superman
titles, Superman is often weaker than his foes, indecisive, and quite
frankly bland in his role as "boy scout." It's as if being good is a result
of a lack of character. Morrison elevates Superman far beyond his current
portrayal in other comics.
I can't, however, see Superman as the god he appears to be in this issue.
He has always represented, to me, what is best in all humankind. He is us,
one step farther on the moral and physical ladder. We can learn from him.
We can emulate him. We can even believe in the Superman within us all. We
don't look to big red "S" to save us, though; that's a power no human (or
Kryptonian) has.
So what about the other heroes in our drama? This is, after all, a team
comic.
Morrison's interplay between characters is, as always, adept and
interesting, as when the Flash asks Batman if he's stepping on the
detective's toes by making some assumptions himself. Once again, though, we
see the hierarchy enforced, and are reminded that today's JLA is not a team
of equals.
We also take time to see Zauriel's aerie. (Porter and Dell's heavy framing
bars, however, obscure their fine art and our view.) While Zauriel is an
interesting character, I still have to note that he has yet to prove
himself valuable as a team member.
I do have to applaud, for the most part, Morrison's writing and Porter and
Dell's art for this issue. Starro the Conqueror is a truly frightening foe.
Morrison made me want to stand up and cheer for Superman. And despite the
similarities to _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_, I found this to be a
compelling story. (That's why I've given this comic such a high rating.)
Sad as I am to say it, though, it's time to give the other JLAers their
due. I'm sure Green Lantern will play a pivotal role in the next issue. I'm
just as sure, however, that he won't be any more confident afterwards. I'm
also confident that Zauriel will do little or nothing to help the team.
The strength of the individual characters and their relationships with each
other is one of the great assets of this comic. In any team dynamic, there
will be leaders and followers. I call on Mr. Morrison, now, to show that
being a follower doesn't mean bowing down to the leader, and that being a
good leader doesn't mean being a god to the followers. Let's make everyone
in the JLA worthy of the title of hero.
Anatole Wilson
<awilson@us.oracle.com>
===============================================
YOUNG JUSTICE #1 Sep 1998 $2.50 US/$3.50 CAN
"Young, Just Us"
Writer: Peter David
Penciller: Todd Nauck
Inker: Lary Stucker
Colors: Jason Wright
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover: Nauck and Stucker
RATINGS
Average: 4.1/5.0 Shields
JSy: 4.2 Shields
DWd: 4.0 Shields - Laugh, Laugh. Laugh! Now if this keeps up I will look
forward to chuckling through each title. Red T's urge to smack them
was hilarious!
ES: 4.1 Shields - I laughed out loud several times; that alone is a big
gold star in my books! The art by Nauck is appropriate and easy to
look at, and PAD has fun at a lot of people's expense, even his own
previous work.
JO: 4.8 Shields - Just seeing Impulse drawn well makes me happy. Add two
more of my favorite heroes and a writer who understands all three
of them and I'm in Heaven!
SDM: 3.5 Shields - At last - the silliest man in comics writes an entirely
silly comic! Jalapeno! PAD gets all the characters right and has a
lot of fun doing so. This is what a team book should be; now if
they'd only lose Nauck.
ST: 3.9 Shields - The first three pages didn't do it for me, and Fite
'n' Madd got old as soon as I heard it, but the rest of this had
me falling out of my chair laughing. So many good quotes...
BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Thank you Peter David! I can't remember the last time that I laughed so
hard at a comic book. Sharp dialogue, *wonderful* characterization, and
tons of fun; this is what comics should be about. And it all begins with
PAD taking a hilarious shot at himself.
For those unfamiliar with his work, let's just say that PAD has a
reputation for introducing radical changes to the characters in any series
he writes. Most of us know how drastically he changed the title character
for his work on _Supergirl_, and he's also the man responsible for the
spear where Aquaman's hand used to be. Perhaps his signature work, though,
has been on _Incredible Hulk_, a book whose character has seen many, many
alterations over PAD's run.
So what does this have to do with _Young Justice_? Well, over the course of
the first few issues of the book, PAD intends to "take potshots and snipes
at assorted conventions of comics, ranging from writing style and editorial
mandates (Robin, for instance, can only come out at night, so in issue #4
the sun vanishes and the moon comes out in half a second's time to
accommodate Robin's entrance) to company-wide crossovers (beware the wrath
of the Millennium Chicken.)" [Posted to rec.arts.comics.dc.universe,
shortly after the first issue's release.]
What better place to begin than with making fun of himself? In the first
three-pages (it was the idea for these three pages which convinced PAD to
take the title), the core members of Young Justice experience pizza-induced
nightmares which seem oddly familiar:
Poor Robin's hand has been eaten by killer cockroaches... and replaced with
a batarang! Batman assures him that no one will notice, but asks if Robin
has ever considered growing a beard...
Poor Superboy has sprouted wings of flame, which Superman attributes to the
Kid's "holier-than-thou" attitude...
Poor Impulse is experiencing high-speed changes in clothes and personality,
including a blue, hulking incarnation who promises, "Puny humans...
Impulse... will FLASH!"
The boys have set up shop in the old Justice League cave, where they
discover that they can get bored rather quickly. Fortunately, a can of
spray paint and the revival of Red Tornado gathers their interest equally
as quickly. Tornado is apparently going to play the mentor/teacher/father
figure in this title, but his first duty is to relate PAD's take on the
three characters -- Impulse as Id, Superboy as Ego, and Robin as Superego.
(If you want more than that, read the issue -- this is a review, not a
psychoanalysis. <g>)
Anyway, the plot device down the road provides yet another diversion for
Impulse's short attention span. It seems that archaeologist Nina Dowd (N.
Dowd -- read it aloud and guess what's coming) and cohorts have unearthed
what appears to be a massive tire, but touching it has left her cocooned in
some sort of crystalline structure. While Robin, Superboy, and Tornado deal
with the DEO operatives on the scene, Impulse behaves... well...
impulsively, and sticks his head into the structure, releasing its captive.
Except that she's no longer Nina Dowd, archaeologist. She's now Mighty
Endowed, enhanced with, as Robin puts it, "huge... tracts of land." Though
Superboy drools over the possibility of combat, the battle is not to be, as
PAD carries the scene to its *realistic* conclusion. Let's just say that
breasts as large as they tend to be drawn these days could cause *quite* a
problem with balance -- and leave it at that...
After an on-hand reporter inadvertently provides the group's name, the Kid
completes the excavation to discover a massive motorcycle. Robin
accidentally activates the cycle, and the three go flying off into the
second issue...
At times, PAD goes *way* too far for a joke, a tendency he's shown in
_Supergirl_ (anyone remember "Show me the Monet"?). Here we have such gems
as Superboy calling contact with the cycle a "booby trap", DEO agents named
Fite 'n' Madd, and, of course, Mighty Endowed herself -- but at least these
elicited "good" groans. I'm also not convinced that either PAD or Nauck
really know how to use Impulse's picto-thoughts, as the two instances which
appear here just didn't feel quite right.
On the positive side, PAD has the best characterization of Impulse that
I've seen since Waid stopped writing Bart's own title. Sticking his head
into the crystal structure, painting graphitti all over the cave, enjoying
the ride on the cycle at the end -- these are all perfectly in character
for Impulse, and exactly the aspect of Bart Allen that Messner-Loebs hasn't
got the hang of on _Impulse_.
As for the Super-aspect of the book, what we have here is Karl Kesel's
Superboy: fun-loving, eager, brash, and chock-full of attitude, but
supremely heroic on a moment's notice. Most importantly (and proving that
his break-up with Tana was a good move), he's a hormone-driven babe-hound
again. His reaction to Mighty Endowed is a bit less subtle than what Kesel
would have done, but it makes for hilarious dialogue.
For my cursory take on the art, I'll first note that my prior experience
with the art of Todd Nauck had me a bit worried about how this book would
look. Fortunately, I've seen a *lot* of improvement in his work over the
past year or so, and his style works very well for this title. The boys
might be a little too muscular for their age, but that's a minor complaint.
On the whole, I was very pleased with this first issue, and I look forward
to seeing what PAD has in store for the kids. (Oh, and if you're not into
comedies, just hold on for a few months. PAD's been talking about some
dramatic surprises down the road...)
Jeff Sykes
<sykes@ms.uky.edu>
__________________________________________
SPECIALS AND GUEST APPEARANCES:
------------------------------
SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS #1 Sep 1998 $4.95 US/$6.95 CAN
"Book One: Spring"
Words: Jeph Loeb
Pictures: Tim Sale
Color: Bjarne Hansen
Letters: Richard Starkings
Cover: Tim Sale and Bjarne Hansen
RATING
Average: 4.6/5.0 Shields
DWk: 4.7 Shields
ES: 4.9 Shields - This book got flavour; this book got style; this book
got nostalgia; this book got warmth... If you're a Superman fan,
YOU NEED THIS BOOK!!! If you're not, it's good enough to turn you
into one.
JO: 4.9 Shields - This is proof that you can hear the same story a
million times over if it's told well. Not _Kingdom Come_ or
_The Dark Knight Returns_, but darn close.
JSy: 4.8 Shields - I know that some people will have a problem with the
stylized art and/or the lack of action in this book, but this is
exactly what I look for in a Superman story. Beautifully written
and illustrated.
SDM: 3.9 Shields - A positively wonderful story, hurt only slightly by
Sale's over-iconic Clark. Loeb does justice to the man for whom
Justice is such an intrinsic part, and everything is right again.
Brilliant!
ST: 4.9 Shields - Nothing here is new, and yet it is told with such love
and reverence and honesty that it reverberates within your soul.
Majestic, detailed, and awe-inspiring.
VV: 4.0 Shields - I really don't like the general appearance of this book
-- too out of proportion -- but I LOVE the story, told by Pa Kent.
Pa's perspective is unique, and one that we see too infrequently;
what do others think about Superman? How do others see him?
There's not much to the plot of the best Superman comic published so far
this year: a reminiscence by Jonathan Kent of the last spring before his
son Clark left Smallville.
Clark, here, is a senior in high school -- a big, sweet, strong kid. The
Kents know that he's different, and they're not sure what the right thing
to do is, but they love him, and they've brought him up right in a little
town where everybody knows everybody else. Clark and Lana Lang have a sweet
little high-school romance going on, though he's not sure if he should tell
her his secret. It's clear, though, that things are about to change.
When a tornado hits Smallville, Clark uses his powers to rescue a gas-
station attendant; he goes back home to his parents, and tells them "I
can't help thinking I could have done more." (He subsequently talks to his
pastor, who's friendly but isn't much help.) Finally, as spring turns to
summer, Clark impulsively reveals his powers to Lana, taking her flying
over the town. She tells him what he already knows -- that he'll have to
leave Smallville to do good in the world -- and kisses him.
Martha and Jonathan spend a few more precious days with their son before he
heads off. The scene shifts to Metropolis, where Superman has just made his
first public appearance and Clark's got a job at the Daily Planet. Lois
Lane says good night to her date, Lex Luthor, just as his hat is blown off
by a faster-than-a-speeding-bullet streak; it's Superman, rescuing a kid
who has fallen off a building. He flies off into the distance as Luthor
considers what's to come.
It's simple, lovely, and head and shoulders above every other Super-title
around right now.
This isn't Loeb and Sale's first collaborative miniseries. _Batman: The
Long Halloween_ had miles of style, but a convoluted mystery plot that
never quite made sense. That miniseries was Loeb's game. This one is
Sale's, an excuse for him to show off his scene-setting prowess. (He gets
extra points for coming up with a Metropolis that looks like Metropolis --
a little ultra-modern, a little retro-ultra-modern -- rather than like a
thinly disguised New York City.) Of the book's 48 pages, two are full-page
images and 10 are devoted to double-page spreads. Normally, this would seem
like padding, or like an artist trying to come up with pages that he can
sell at conventions for a bundle. The point of "Spring," though, is to show
the environment where Clark Kent grew up: the big, wide-open countryside of
Kansas, and the soda shops and general stores of a small town.
It's an idyllic, Norman Rockwell-ish scenario, right down to Clark sneaking
his dog table scraps. And why shouldn't it be? That's exactly the fantasy
of Superman's upbringing, after all -- the iconic American childhood -- and
_Superman For All Seasons_ is devoted to the iconography of Superman. (Note
too the influence of _Superman Adventures_; the way that Lois calls Clark
"Smallville," and what looks like Mercy in the background of Lex's office.)
The line-work, in particular, is a tour de force of style. Clark/Superman
is drawn in a very simple, C.C. Beck-ish style, with a few clean lines for
his face. We see one archetypal image of Superman after another as he
outruns a locomotive and scissors break on his hair, but Sale balances the
iconic visual elements with more realistic ones; contrast the kids' faces
with crinkled, age-weathered features on the senior Kents. (For a long,
interesting discussion of why this is a good idea, see Scott McCloud's
_Understanding Comics_.)
Though the basic elements of the story are utterly straightforward, Loeb
and Sale pull off subtler storytelling tricks than we've seen in the
Super-books lately. Look at pages 10 and 11: we see Jonathan and Martha's
conversation by way of a super-close-up shot of their hands, with their
liver spots slightly visible and their wedding bands prominent. That tells
us something about their relationship right there, and the rest of the
spread tells us more about Clark's relationship with them and with his
home, as the camera pulls around, up and in through the window, then
doubles back to give us a beautiful, contextually ironic shot of Clark in
his room.
Bjarne Hansen, it should also be noted, is a spectacular colorist. He gets
a lot of set-pieces here to show off, chiefly the Smallville skies
(sunsets, a clear starry night, a storm, an uncloudy day at the church) as
well as that two-page spread of the more citified sky over Metropolis, and
he nails them all--the sky behind the Kents as they embrace after the storm
is _exactly_ what a Midwestern sky looks like as the sun sets after a
storm. As well as the grandeur, he gets all the little details right too:
the burnished metal of a train engine, the way the light falls in a barber
shop.
The one thing that's frustrating about this issue is that there's no reason
all the Superman titles couldn't be this good. Loeb and Sale aren't berserk
individualists. They aren't making significant changes to the Superman
legend; in fact, there's basically nothing in this issue that we haven't
seen on-panel before. They've just worked out a specific aesthetic for the
miniseries--a particular way of presenting their story and making it
attractive and interesting. It'd be great to see more Superman stories this
distinctively told.
Douglas Wolk
<dbcloud@panix.com>
===============================================
JLA: WORLD WITHOUT GROWN-UPS #2 Sep 1998 $4.95 US/$6.95 CAN
Writer: Todd Dezago
Kid Pencils: Humberto Ramos
Grown-up Pencils: Mike McKone
Kid Inks: Paul Neary
Grown-up Inks: Mark McKenna
Colorist: Jason Wright
Separator: Digital Chameleon
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover: Humberto Ramos & Wayne Faucher,
Mike McKone & Mark McKenna
Cover Separator: Heroic Age
Special thanks to Grant Morrison
RATINGS
Average: 3.5/5.0 Shields
GN: 3.4 Shields
DC: 2.6 Shields - Fun, but it seems too oriented around teens.
ES: 4.0 Shields - Great finish to a good book. The artwork from both
teams rocked my world several times. Easily, the best part was
Impulse's reaction to seeing a portrait of Barry Allen...
JO: 4.5 Shields - This book would have got a few more points out of me
if I didn't have problems with the art. It's still well worth the
price of admission.
JSy: 4.0 Shields - I'm not exactly sure how Bedlam knew that Captain
Marvel is actually a child, but that question doesn't erase the
many good parts of this book. Really smooth scene with Batman and
Robin at the end. "Reset!" Heh. :-)
MS: 2.0 Shields - Where was Natasha Irons? Is it that much trouble to
incorporate Steel into a JLA story? Admit it DC -- this was a
Young Justice story titled "JLA" by mistake.
ST: 3.7 Shields (Kidworld: 4.8, Adultworld: 2.7) - The story and visuals
in Kidworld were about as perfect as can be, but the adults were
quite blah. As an issue of _Young Justice_, I'd have given this a
near-perfect score, but a $7 price-tag makes me expect more.
Picking up where Part One left off, young Billy Batson utters the rest of
his magic word "Shazam" -- but instead of being transformed into Captain
Marvel, the unchanged Batson finds himself flung into a space-like limbo
where he sees a pair of Earths. Batson deduces that one Earth must be the
KidWorld (where he had been previously) while the other must contain the
absent adults. Somehow retaining a portion of his power even in this state,
he heads off to find help on Adultworld.
On KidWorld, the united Robin, Superboy and Impulse are imperiled outside
the lair of the being responsible for the twin Earths; the youth Matt
Stuart, now calling himself "Bedlam," and the mystic being linked with him.
Impulse notes that the hostile environment reminds him of the video game
'Nazi Dinosaurs from Venus'. As though on cue, a dinosaur wearing a jacket
emblazoned with a Nazi swastika appears. Robin co-ordinates the efforts of
Impulse and Superboy in dispatching the dinosaur. Superboy and Impulse
congratulate each other, but Robin directs their attention to a newly
created passageway leading them to Bedlam. Inside the grotto, Bedlam basks
in his new-found power....
Adultworld, JLA Watchtower: As Superman relays Batman's findings that this
earth is a duplicate, Billy Batson materializes among them and tells those
JLAers who know his dual identity about KidWorld, his visit by Superboy,
Impulse and Robin, and his attempt to change into Captain Marvel. He also
details the purple energy trail he saw while between the two Earths that
led to the East Coast, near where Robin, Impulse and Superboy were going to
investigate -- someplace called Happy Harbor. Superman and the veteran
JLAers recognize the significance of the location as the JLA's original
cavern HQ and head toward their former base of operations.
KidWorld: Robin, Superboy, and Impulse cannot make any progress due to
Bedlam's reality-warping powers. An encounter with a 'funny animal' version
of the Justice League and a remark from Impulse on how he had just been
thinking of the JLA and cartoons, leads the heroes to conclude that their
foe must be tapping into their minds. An unfortunate utterance by Superboy
leads Bedlam toseparate the three heroes, pitting each against a "kid"
version of their worst enemies -- Superboy against a kryptonite Metallo,
Impulse pursued by Grodd, and Robin facing the mind games of a Joker.
Robin, realizing that his thoughts are controlling the scenario decides to
exert some control. He switches places with Superboy and makes short work
of the young Metallo. As the now-gigantic Grodd pursues Impulse to the top
of a building a la King Kong, Superboy trades places with the speedster and
dispatches the super-gorilla, leaving Impulse to match wits with Li'l
Joker. By the time Impulse is done incessantly asking questions, the young
Clown Prince of Crime is more than ready for the peace and quite of a jail
cell.
The JLA arrives at Happy Harbor on Adultworld. Batson can feel the magic
emanating from the JLA's former cavern HQ and the ground erupts to attack.
Meanwhile, on KidWorld, the three teen heroes finally reach the main part
of the JLA headquarters, where Impulse stares at the portrait of the JLA
founders, including his grandfather Barry Allen -- the Silver Age Flash.
Superboy and Robin figure Bedlam has been stalling them because he isn't
ready for them yet, so they have to find him now.
Batson slips away from the JLA's fight and discovers the form of Captain
Marvel floating in some form of suspended animation. The Martian Manhunter
uses Batson as a conduit to tap into the catatonic mind of Captain Marvel,
and discovers Bedlam's involvement. After breaking the link, J'onn explains
how Bedlam warped CM's mind to create this world. Plastic man wonders: if
the world they are on now is all Captain Marvel's dream, what happens if
they wake him up?
On KidWorld, the young heroes come face-to-face with Bedlam. Not confident
in his own ability to come up with a way to defeat the trio, he taps the
minds of Impulse, Robin and Superboy to find ways each would use to defeat
the other. Robin orders his colleagues to clear their minds -- easy enough
for the Boys Wonder and Steel, but a little tougher for Impulse, and the
heroes find themselves up against the Nazi dinosaurs and killer clowns.
Adultworld: Batman theorizes that if the JLAers were to link with Captain
Marvel via J'onn's telepathy, they might be able to influence his dream and
merge the realities again.
Kidworld: Bedlam gloats as Superboy and Robin fight for their lives, while
Impulse tries (without success) to clear his thoughts and thus eliminate
the conjured foes. He is inspired, though, when Superboy yells at him about
his obsession with video games; Just as Bedlam turns his attention to him,
Impulse focuses his thoughts and shouts "Reset!" -- causing the creatures
to vanish. Bedlam cannot recreate the foes in the face of Bart continually
"reset"ing him. As Bedlam tries to regain control, Robin erodes his
confidence; the purple being fades away while the JLA, Billy Batson, and
Captain Marvel phase back into the real Earth.
As the depowered, now-catatonic Matt Stuart is taken into custody, the
Leaguers congratulate the young heroes. Batman, proud of Tim Drake and his
accomplishments, leaves him to hang out with Superboy and Impulse.
I can't say I enjoyed this installment as much as the first chapter. The
plot seemed a little muddy; the whole Bedlam-Captain Marvel business came
out of nowhere. Given the kids-adults theme of the story, it would have
been a natural development had it been alluded to in the first chapter; as
it was, it seemed like a forced plot element that didn't add much to the
overall story. It was also disappointing not to see any more of the twin
worlds than we did last issue; it might have been nice to see what the
heroes were fighting for, as well as more of the consequences of the
splitting of the worlds, which were only hinted at last issue.
While everyone was in character during the story, we didn't get much depth
on either Robin or Superboy this time out (other than when Li'l Joker tried
to play on Robin's insecurities). On the other hand, Dezago gave Impulse
better treatment than he sometimes receives in his own book. Especially
touching was Bart focusing on his "Grampa," Barry Allen, in the portrait of
the original JLA -- in fact, it's the first time I can really recall Bart
thinking much about Barry Allen.
The "Li'l" villains were a clever invention. I was initially puzzled that
Superboy would have "chosen" Metallo to go up against; both Robin and
Impulse faced villains who have been called their mentor's deadliest foes,
and Superboy has had personal experience with Superman's arch enemy, Lex
Luthor. Even in a dream, however, Superboy would be more likely to see
Luthor as a behind-the-scenes manipulator and is probably more inclined to
go up against a "cool-looking robot guy". Impulse came off particularly
good in this installment, not only with his clever defeat of "Li'l Joker,"
but in his role in the ultimate victory over Bedlam. It should be
interesting to see how these three get along on a long-term basis in the
"Young Justice" series under Peter David's guidance.
The adults pretty much got short shrift in this story, though the JLA
played as crucial a role as their young counterparts in solving the crisis.
Dezago -- perhaps because of space -- missed the opportunity to explore the
reactions of the adults; Steel in particular, as guardian of his niece
Natasha, would have been a good character to give this crisis a 'personal'
face. Also, the threats facing the JLA seemed rather unimaginative,
especially when contrasted with Kidworld.
The art team (or teams, rather) pulled off another solid job this
installment, with Paul Neary taking over seamlessly for Wayne Faucher in
inking Ramos' pencils. The "kid" art was light without being silly; I got a
kick out of the animal JLA, especially the Snoopy/Nightwing. I wasn't as
impressed with McKone and McKenna on the adult art this time, though it
seemed to improve once the JLA got out of the Watchtower and the shadows.
All the colors had a nice, textured feel throughout.
G.M. Nelson
<KALEL224@aol.com>
===============================================
RESURRECTION MAN #17 Sep 1998 $2.50 US/$3.50 CAN
"Avenging Angels Part Three: Body and Soul"
Story: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art: Butch Guice
Additional Inks: John Stanisci
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover: Guice
Thanks to Peter David and Mike McAvennie
RATINGS
Average: 3.3/5.0 Shields
TD: 4.0 Shields
JO: 3.0 Shields - Nothing special here, but you know it's been a good
month when this is the lowest rating you give.
JSy: 2.9 Shields - They really should have just ended this crossover with
last month's _Supergirl_. Instead, Lament is introduced as an
unnecessary plot device towards that end, and his tussle with
Supergirl features some horrible dialogue.
This is the last part of a crossover with _Supergirl_. (How else did you
expect it to end up in the Kryptonian Cybernet?) Considering how part 2
ended, with the threat of the Rider apparently gone and the heroes all
smiles, I wondered why there was a need for a third part. I now know that
it's because writers Lanning and Abnett want to show they can out-David
Peter David, and do so with style.
The only real confusion in this tale comes from the opening scene:
Supergirl bursting into Leesburg General, demanding that Mattie revive the
obviously dead Mitch Shelley. We get a very brief recap of the _Supergirl_
leg of the crossover (Mitch is possessed by Leesburg founder Wanda Lee's
alter-ego The Rider; the Rider wanted to flood the town with the Chaos
Stream and take over the town; Supergirl and Mitch made it go boom) before
Mitch is revived with a 'danger sense.' As Mitch discusses heroism with
Supergirl, it starts tingling, and with good reason: not only has The Rider
taken control of Wanda Lee's corpse in an effort to repossess Mitch, but
Lament (an angel charged with helping reluctant spirits into Heaven) has
also located this Resurrection Man.
What follows is a wild and wooly chase. The rider runs after Mitch (if it
doesn't repossess him, the spirit will die), Lament confronts Mitch,
Supergirl mixes it up with Lament, and Mitch comes up with a clever way to
get both of his problems off his back.
The writing here is sharp and quick; just as David preserved the feel of
_Resurrection Man_ in _Supergirl_, so do Abnett and Lanning preserve the
feel of _Supergirl_ in this book. The benefit is that the vaudeville
aspects that sometimes annoy me in _Supergirl_ go down smoothly here; these
fellows know when to use comedy as a grace note. Of course, the fact that
they have an artist who knows how to lay out a page helps; Guice's set-up
of a hilarious gag involving Supergirl trying to contact Mitch's friend as
the Rider-possessed body of Wanda Lee subtly shambles by is choice.
Oddly enough, Abnett and Lanning even get around to discussing and
advancing some of David's subplots. One of the biggest dramatic moments
come when Lament and Supergirl bust into Sylvia Danvers' hospital room.
Sylvia starts panicking, and Supergirl tries to comfort her -- until Lament
points out that the monster Sylvia is afraid of is her, not him. Even
Cutter is used well, in a hilarious moment that reads like "Abbott and
Costello meet the Body Possessing She-Demon."
Now I'm not one of those people who think Butch Guice is the definitive
Supergirl artist (she always comes off as too gawky to me), but he does a
great job at creating some nice dynamic visuals. He also comes across good
in the atmosphere department; the single panel alerting us to Lament's
presence is creepy as all hell. Guice also creates what has to be some of
the most singularly ugly and nasty looking monstrosities on the face of the
planet: his Wanda Lee/Rider is so wizened, so decayed that you can't help
*but* shudder.
Judging from both this crossover and the upcoming SUPERMAN/DC 1 MILLION
dealie, it seems like Team Super is getting behind this book. The nice
thing is, unlike with crossovers, 'Avenging Angels' is faithful in tone to
both books, and generates a desire in the reader of one to read the other.
If that gets the adventures of Mitch Shelley new readers, I'm happy.
One last note: I wanted to draw attention to the covers for _Resurrection
Man_, which are some of the best in the business right now. They appear to
be fully painted and are laid out like they were covers to Gold Medal
novels we will never see. They're always eyecatchers; this one features
Supergirl and Lament fighting over Mitch Shelley's departing soul. Sweet.
Tom Deja
<tdj723@webtv.net>
__________________________________________
AFTER-BYRNE: Reviews of the post-Crisis Man of Steel
------------------------------------------------------------
MANUSCRIPTS OF STEEL
------------------------------
Reviews of After-Byrne Superman Special Stories
by Denes House (househld@borg.com)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL ANNUAL #2
"Cutting Edge"
Written by Louise Simonson
Art by Eddy Newell and Mike Barreiro
Colored by Glenn Whitmore
1993
Squarebound Format, $2.50 US/$3.25 CAN
Rating:
1.8/5.0 Shields
-and-
SUPERMAN ANNUAL #5
"Myriad"
Written by Dan Jurgens
Art by David Lapham and Mike Machlan
Colored by Glenn Whitmore
1993
Squarebound Format, $2.50 US/$3.25 CAN
Rating:
3.0/5.0 Shields
--------------------------------------------------------
"BLOODLINES: New Heroes. New Villains. New Blood."
That's how the house ads touted DC's 1993 summer Annuals tie-in. Well, one
out of three ain't bad. DC Comics were at an all-time high in visibility.
They had just killed Superman, after all. With the whole world watching, DC
wanted to introduce a whole slew of new characters, to bring a new breed of
the DC Universe to the fore. Instead, what readers got was a bloodbath of
epic proportions and characters that were easily forgotten.
I have to confess that I've not read all of the Bloodlines annuals. In
fact, the two I am reviewing here are the only ones I own and have read. I
have no clue how the story eventually turned out (if anyone wants to send
me a synopsis, I'd love to read it) basically because I lost interest. This
was a time when the Superman comics were as a whole *very* interesting, and
anything less bored me. Does it say anything about where we've been lately
that I found some elements of these Annuals creative this time around?
The Bloodlines storyline, as far as I can tell, involves six strange aliens
crash-landing on Earth to accomplish some mission, along the way feeding on
the spinal fluids of human beings. Some of the humans on which they feed
mysteriously rise from the dead with strange powers and no memory of who
they once were.
_Man of Steel Annual_ #2 jumps right in there, showing the aliens' ship
crashing, and the giant monsters feeding on a group of bikers who happen
by. The aliens are giant, scaly monsters in different colors. They are,
unfortunately, difficult to tell apart until they shape-shift into vaguely
human forms. One alien, named Angon, shape-shifts into a good-looking
armored woman, hops on an abandoned motorcycle, and heads off for
Metropolis to suck the vital fluids of as many inhabitants as she can. The
five others criticize her rashness, muttering that she will jeopardize
their mission...
The scene shifts to The Iron Factory, a Metropolis gym where John Henry
Irons, the Man of Steel, is working out alongside his friend Tom O'Brien,
who works at the gym. Tom is the older brother in a fatherless family, and
is in many ways that family's hero. He works multiple jobs, provides for
the family's needs, and is widely respected throughout the neighborhood. He
tries hard to keep his brother Petey in school and away from the gangs that
are getting ever bolder since the death of Superman. Petey has taken work
as a paperboy, learning the importance of work from his brother. John Henry
and Petey walk along together, John showing Petey how school knowledge can
help in the real world by delivering Petey's papers via accurate
trajectories across the street.
Suddenly, Petey is almost run down by Angon, who rides her bike into an
alley. Encountering a wino, she transforms into her true shape, and
graphically devours his spinal fluid. Angon tosses the body down under a
sewer grate to hide it, and walks away, a woman once again.
It turns out Tom's family lives in the same building as John Henry and
Rosie the fortune teller, a supporting character for the Man of Steel.
Rosie invites Mary O'Brien, Tom and Petey's mom, inside her apartment for a
practice Tarot reading. Mary is uncertain, her Priest having told her Tarot
cards aren't Christian. Brushing her reservations aside, Rosie reads Mary's
fortune. In the cards, she sees catastrophic death for Tom. Stunned, she
doesn't tell Mary, but goes looking for John Henry Irons.
Leaving work, Tom sees a man attacking a woman down the alley. He charges
to her rescue, only to discover that the man is one of the guys who works
at the gym, and that it's the woman who is attacking *him*. She is Angon,
and she repays Tom's concern by killing him and draining his juices,
remarking that he was the tastiest morsel she had yet found in her
smorgasbord of death.
Obviously, Tom does not return home that night, so Petey sneaks out to look
for him. Also on guard is the Man of Steel, alerted by Rosie's concerns.
Meanwhile, Metropolis' underground denizens, the Underworlders, discover
Angon's body disposal site. One of the bodies begins to move -- it is Tom!
Suddenly, jagged-edged knives sprout from Tom's body, shards replacing his
hair and fingernails, and poking out from every inch of skin. Frightened at
the appearance of the Underworlders, Tom flings scores of blades at them,
fortunately inflicting only minor injuries. Realizing that they are scared
of him, that they think he killed the other bodies, Tom runs away,
terrified, amnesiac, and alone.
Enter the Man of Steel, who discovers the remains of Tom's shirt. Suddenly,
another body drops from above. the Man of Steel charges out, discovering
Angon's monstrous form. They do battle, and Angon escapes. Steel begins to
search for the transformed Tom. Maggie Sawyer and the SCU are also on the
case, pursuing Tom as a suspect in the weird murders perpetuated by Angon.
Will Steel find Tom in time? Can they defeat Angon?
Louise Simonson specializes in stories that touch on the importance of
family, and it is easy to see where she was going with the O'Brien family
in this story. A group of people, held together by the faithfulness of a
loving provider is a great hook for an emotionally-charged story. The only
thing that ruins it, and it does ruin it, is a tremendous level of brutal,
bloody, graphic violence that, while intended to show the pain when such a
provider is taken away, instead pummels the reader so that no empathy can
be felt. This comic is horrific, and appropriately does not sport the
Comics Code Approval on the cover. Whatever you may think about the
relative value or lack of value of the Code, for it not to appear on a
Superman comic says a lot.
The dialogue is good, and the characters strong -- especially the Man of
Steel himself. The only character that stands out as awkward is Rosie. What
is Simonson saying through her? Does she really tell the future, or not?
Does she know John Henry is the Man of Steel, or not? It is ambiguous, but
not mysterious. The reader frankly does not care, and is rather annoyed by
her presence.
The solution is a clever but open-ended one, leaving room for the rest of
the Annuals while coming to a satisfactory end as a story.
The art is not all that impressive. I've heard of Eddy Newell, though I
can't put my finger on where, and his layouts are decent. He struggles with
faces, poses, and anatomy, but draws some scary monsters, and some
fast-paced death scenes. Inker Mike Barreiro is a mystery name to me,
however, and his work here is truly sub-par.
"Edge," Tom O'Brien's mutated form, is an ugly, badly designed character,
and one that as an artist, I'd dread having to draw on a regular basis. The
aliens as a group are also not well designed, scary looking but too similar
to each other to be easily distinguished. The big difference between them
is color, and that is not an easy delineator in many of the opening scenes.
On the bright side, artwise -- both of these Annuals sport fine covers. I
have no clue who did them -- he or she signs their work "CAJ" -- but the
exterior art outshines the innards, especially for _MOS Annual_ #2.
Capsule review:
Gory and awkward, with sub-par artwork.
Story: You can see where Simonson was going, but the way is obscured by
blood. 1.7 Shields out of 5.
Art: Good layouts, but not much else worth looking at. 2.0 Shields out
of 5.
Overall: 1.8 Shields out of 5.
The _Superman Annual_, however, is more interesting. A lower violence level
makes room for the Comics Code shield on the cover, and strong connections
with the rest of the Superman mythos makes room for a more intriguing
story.
After the death of Superman, Lex Luthor II, the clone of the original Lex
masquerading as his own son, declared his victory over Superman in a
violent but appropriate way. He brutally murdered a young woman, Sasha
Green, who had beaten him while running him through his martial arts
training. He then had her body dumped in a Lexcorp-owned landfill.
Weeks later, the Cyborg Superman attempts to help Commissioner Henderson
with his investigation of the brutal murders perpetuated by Angon and her
cronies. The Commissioner doesn't want him around. He doesn't trust the
Cyborg, doesn't believe that he is Superman, and isn't even sure the Cyborg
didn't commit the murders! Each victim has puncture wounds at the top of
their spinal column.
At the landfill that night, two of the Bloodlines aliens, Venev and Gemir
are startled by a guard, who rapidly becomes food for Gemir's hunger. As
they turn to leave, Gemir smells another human underneath the garbage.
Gemir digs down and discovers the body of Sasha Green, and consumes her
spinal fluids. They leave the scene, and so do not observe that after her
body is discarded, Sasha Green rises, and awkwardly heads for town.
At the Lexcorp building the next day, Commissioner Henderson is asking for
Luthor's help in tracking down the unknown killers besieging the city.
Suddenly, Sasha Green's father bursts in, berating Henderson for not
finding his missing daughter. Luthor pledges the resources of Lexcorp to
track her down, putting the old man at ease.
Meanwhile, the zombie Sasha Green wanders into a suburban athletic club,
showers off the garbage smell, and looks for fresh clothes. She is
confronted by Muriel Rabinovitch, a patron of the club, and as soon as
Muriel touches her, Green steals Muriel's memories. She opens Rabinovitch's
locker, dresses in her clothes, and heads off to complete her day, leaving
the unconscious Muriel behind in the locker room.
The Cyborg Superman uses his vision and hearing powers to discover that
Henderson, while spurning his help, has pursued Luthor's aid. Breaking in
to Lexcorp, the Cyborg interfaces with Lexcorp computers, and learns the
results of tests Lexcorp has done on the murdered bodies. Alien chemicals
were found in the bloodstreams of the bodies.
While Henderson is at Lexcorp, he receives a call from officers in the
field, which the Cyborg intercepts. They have found the bodies at the
landfill. The Cyborg impersonates Henderson's voice, orders them to secure
the crime scene, and instructs them to work with the Cyborg Superman.
In the course of the rest of the story, Sasha absorbs the personalities and
memories of several other people, realizing that she needs to kill them if
she is to keep them. Afraid of the emptiness of her amnesia, Green becomes
Myriad, one of the New Breed. But is she a hero or a villain?
What will Luthor do with the body of Sasha Green running around?
This story proceeds far more sedately than the _Man of Steel Annual_, and
pacing is its main problem. The tale doesn't feel like it has a beginning,
middle, and end but rather a beginning and four or five middles. Still,
finding out the fate of Sasha Green, connecting her with Commissioner
Henderson, and advancing the struggle of the Cyborg Superman for acceptance
all make for an interesting read.
While Edge in the _MOS Annual_ was poorly designed, Myriad is simply an
attractive woman in a jumpsuit, a cliched comics staple. The art by David
Lapham and Mike Machlan is far simpler than the frenetic work of Newell and
Barreiro, but also far more satisfying. Layouts are clear, characters are
consistently drawn, and the action is exciting. All that, plus about a
quart less of blood per page, and you've got an okay comic here.
Capsule review:
Fits in with the Superman continuity, and advances a few interesting
subplots. Satisfying artwork and a good story.
Story: Dan Jurgens creates a solid, if poorly-paced tale. 3.0 Shields out
of 5.
Art: Satisfying and simple, with a third less blood than the leading brand.
3.0 Shields out of 5.
Overall: 3.0 Shields out of 5.
__________________________________________
SUPERMAN STORIES
------------------------------------------
By Sean Hogan (shogan@intergate.bc.ca)
Brainiac
General Introduction: The purpose of these articles is to give readers
pointers for hunting through the back-bins in search of good stories. I'll
try to keep spoiler to a minimum, so you can enjoy the issues when you find
them. If you have suggestions for villains, pals, heroes or other
characters, or just some notable issues, drop me a line at
shogan@intergate.bc.ca.
Brainiac is introduced to the re-booted Superman in _Adventures of
Superman_ #438, (penned by John Byrne with art by Jerry Ordway and John
Beatty). Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen and Cat Grant are visiting a circus that
has a mentalist named The Amazing Brainiac. Jimmy and Cat learn that
Brainiac is really a middle-aged man named Milton Moses Fine who has a
drinking problem and who suffers from bad headaches.
Fine's common-law wife and assistant, Janet Jones, has little sympathy for
him. She wants him to use his powers to make money in the stock market.
Fine tells her that would be wrong. "I shouldn't even have these powers. No
human being should! That's why I get these awful headaches ... why my poor
pitiful hours of sleep are filled with such nightmares! I've been given the
power to probe into the minds of men, and the things I've seen there ...
the awful things..."
To Cat and Jimmy, Fine relates his dreams of a mind that has touched his.
This mind claims to be Vril Dox, a scientist and humanitarian from the
distant planet Colu. Dox tells Fine that his body (greened skinned and
blond haired) was accidentally destroyed. Only his mind has survived.
Suddenly, Fine collapses, grabbing his head and yelling, "It's DOX!! He's
close! He's trying to ... enter my mind..." In another part of the circus,
Clark also reels in pain. Switching to Superman, he follows the source of
the pain -- to Brainiac's tent.
The reader immediately knows something serious has happened to Fine. While
he looks the same, his word balloons are black, with white lettering. That,
and he pounds Superman with psychic blasts. When Superman calls the
mentalist by his stage name, Fine's possessor decides that he likes the
name and will use it when he becomes master of the world (begin ominous
soundtrack!).
Brainiac (Vril Dox) is surprised by the latent power in Fine's body. Even
after blasting Superman several times, he says he has been using but a tiny
portion of the untapped power within this pathetic body, and that, "Locked
within this mortal brain are powers such as we of Colu could only have
dreamed!"
With help from Janet, Superman is able to knock Fine unconscious -- ending
the attack. Fine is hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. Neither Superman
nor the doctors seem to believe him when he warns that Vril Dox is real --
and he will be back.
In _Superman_ #20, Fine loses control of his body after learning of Janet's
death, and Brainiac is able to escape during the funeral service. In
_Adventures of Superman_ #445 (written by Ordway), we learn that Fine's
body is rejecting Dox's alien life-force, and that Brainiac is trying to
find an organic serum to cure himself. Brainiac murders vagrants for their
spinal fluid and, later, for their brains (anybody else having images of
old horror movies?). When he captures Cat and Jimmy, he decides to lure
Superman to his hideout.
While Brainiac's body is still that of Fine's overweight, middle-aged
Caucasian frame, he wears a snazzy pink and black one-piece garment. The
goatee survives, but the hair has been shaved off, except for a long tuft
of hair on the crown of his head. Fine's skin is peeling away, revealing
green skin underneath.
Unknown to Brainiac, Fine's body has a brain tumor. It is never made clear
how Fine's brain tumor may be connected to his body's rejection of Dox.
Similarly, the connection between Fine's mental powers and Vril Dox's own
abilities is never clearly explained. Although later stories imply Dox was
highly intelligent on Colu (a trait also seen in his descendants), there is
no indication that he possessed mental or psychic powers before his
discorporation. That he had some such abilities is evident from the fact
that his spirit survives the destruction of his original body somehow and
is able to possess Fine's body on distant Earth.
Apart from the reference by Fine that he can read minds and to Brainiac's
comments about his possessed body's untapped powers, we don't know much
about Fine's powers, either as an individual or as contributor to
Brainiac's powers. We later see that Brainiac will complain about the
body's limited data storage abilities. Despite the apparent power of Fine's
mind, too often, Brainiac will 'short circuit' during critical
confrontations. And speaking of confrontations, back to the story in
progress...
When Superman arrives, Brainiac decides to probe Superman's mind to find
out his secrets and fears. What Brainiac doesn't know is that this just
isn't a good time to tick Superman off. Superman has recently returned from
a "pocket" universe, where three madmen (Kryptonians from that universe)
have killed everyone on their Earth. Superman felt that he had no choice
but to execute them, and he is struggling to come to terms with his actions
(all recounted in _Superman_ #21, _Adventures of Superman_ #444, and
_Superman_ #22).
Superman allows Brainiac to see his anger -- and the resulting mental
battle causes a huge explosion that leaves Brainiac unconscious and in
custody. Brainiac's tampering has important consequences to Superman --
leading to Superman's self-exile in space (that arc has recently been
released in trade paperback). But that's another story.
Luthor, ever resourceful, is able to gain possession of Brainiac's body. He
has the brain tumor removed and inserts a special device to control
Brainiac. Luthor also provides Brainiac with a psi-amplifier, to better
mentally attack Superman. Brainiac is shaved bald so that the circuitry can
be connected to his head, and the mechanical frame becomes a permanent
feature on Brainiac's cranium.
Superman recognizes the source of the attacks on him and confronts
Brainiac, but Brainiac manages to both fake his own death and turn the
tables on Luthor. Brainiac gains control only briefly, for in _Superman_
#27, the new "Gangbuster" invades LexCorp to attack Luthor. Brainiac
intervenes with a mental attack, but "Gangbuster" repulses the attack, and
Brainiac collapses, allowing Luthor to regain control.
Luthor arranges to keep Brainiac sedated, but in _Superman_ #28, when
Superman leaves for space, Brainiac is instantly aware and tells Luthor, "I
can't feel his mind anymore! He's gone!" This mental connection or
awareness between Brainiac and Superman surfaces in other stories also.
Brainiac remains as a backstory until _Superman_ #35, in which Ordway
writes of the comatose Brainiac and his dreams alongside a story of the
also comatose Morgan Edge, who fights off death in the form of the Black
Racer. There's lots of fun for Silver Age fans, as we see homages to
classic stories (Superman trapped in the birdcage, the living
Brainiac-ship, shrinking a city into a bottle). The major advancement of
the story is that Brainiac learns to free his astral form from his trapped
body.
In "The Brainiac Trilogy" (penned by Roger Stern and George Perez) in
_Action Comics_ #647-649, Superman reviews recent events and realizes that
Luthor and Brainiac must be working together. Brainiac, who seems to have
some mental connection to Superman, knows that Superman is aware of him. He
acts quickly, taking mental control over Luthor's aide, Happersen, and
eventually the other LexCorp employees. He uses mechanical devices to
strengthen his control.
In _Action Comics_ #649, Brainiac tells Luthor that he worked for the
Computer Tyrants on his home planet, Colu. When he failed them, his body
was disintegrated. Somehow, his mind survived and was drawn across space to
the brain of Milton Moses Fine.
Meanwhile, Brainiac's body is submerged in a biochemical bath while it is
treated with recombinant DNA and bionic enhancements. Superman arrives just
as Brainiac emerges from the tank, now green skinned, with a fit, trim and
muscular body. His mustache and beard are yellow, and he has metallic
devices attached to his skull and back.
Brainiac launches a mental attack on Superman, but once again is defeated
by the power of Superman's mind. Brainiac manages to escape in a star-ship
(later called his "head-ship"), designed as a robotic face. He promises to
return, and Superman promises to be waiting for him.
Meanwhile, in the L.E.G.I.O.N. comic book, we learn that Brainiac has a
son. Before his body was destroyed by the Computer Tyrants, Vril Dox
created a fully grown clone -- Vril Dox II (the lineage eventually,
somehow, leading to Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes). Father and
son meet in the 1990 Annuals, beginning in the _Adventures of Superman
Annual_ #2 and concluding in _L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 Annual_ #1.
Vril Dox II (call him Dox) has learned that his father has survived and is
on Earth as Brainiac. On Earth, a brawl ensues between Superman, Cadmus,
and the L.E.G.I.O.N. team. While everyone is distracted, Brainiac takes
telepathic control of Cadmus' Dubbilex and uses him to try and destroy the
facility.
Brainiac reveals that he has conquered Colu and is using a thought
amplification machine to contact them. Dox returns to Colu, where Brainiac
attempts to recruit him and, when refused, then to kill him. Brainiac's
mental attack on Dox fails. Brainiac temporarily has the upper hand by
controlling Dox's teammates, but Superman's arrival leads to Brainiac's
defeat. Eventually, Brainiac escapes in his head-ship.
We learn some of Brainiac's background -- but not much on the character's
motivations or powers (or the limitations on those powers). Brainiac
willingly served the Computer Tyrants until his execution. Through
mechanical augmentation, Brainiac can reach across space to control
Dubbilex and to communicate with people, but exactly how he was able to
conquer Colu is not revealed.
Dox reveals that one of his father's specialties (presumably developed
while serving the Computer Tyrants) is "advanced bio-mutational control"
(turning people into were-beasts). Brainiac can create mental blasts that
can kill or control people and can create mental projections. He has
difficulty continuing to control the 7 L.E.G.I.O.N.-aires when Superman
leaps into battle with them.
Dox's strength of will is Brainiac's equal, if not more. Dox adds, "We are
too close ... our minds too similar ... for you ever to control me!" Dox is
similar to his father in other ways -- as we later discover how Dox has
been controlling the planet's population. However, where Dox is brilliantly
manipulative, Brainiac seemingly prefers using brute strength to oppress
and defeat. He uses behind-the-scene manipulation only briefly, as a
prelude to an outright attack. He may have been brilliant before his body
was destroyed, but he shows few signs of it now. His focus is narrow. He is
motivated almost completely by revenge. His tendency to collapse on meeting
determined resistance would seem to be due to his mental instability.
Brainiac next appears at the head of a full invasion force on the mobile
planet, Warworld. The story is collected in trade paperback as the "Panic
In The Sky" (triangle numbers 1992: 8 to 15; _Action Comics_ #674-675,
_Superman: The Man Of Steel_ #9-10, _Superman_ #65-66, _Adventures of
Superman_ #488-489). Warworld was previously led by Mongul, who was
defeated by Superman. Brainiac has taken control and is heading to Earth
for revenge on Superman. He has recruited Maxima and, through mind control,
Supergirl and several of the New Gods.
Brainiac sends his head-ship to Earth where it attacks Superman. Brainiac
boasts that this is only a diversion in the game, to soften up Superman and
to let him know that Brainiac remembers. As before, Superman is able to
withstand Brainiac's mental attack (with help from some friends), but not
before learning that Warworld is coming.
Superman recruits the world's heroes to assist him. The fight continues on
two fronts. Superman leads a team to Warworld. Batman leads the defense of
Earth against warriors transported to it by Brainiac. Slugfests galore
ensue -- including heroes against each other as Brainiac gains control over
some of them, but the invasion ends when Maxima uses her mental powers to
blast Brainiac, making him comatose. She says, "Consider him lobotomized.
In any case, that which constituted Brainiac, his very mind ... is gone
forever."
Not.
Throughout the story arc, we are not given any significant insight into the
mind of Brainiac. The story is a great action/adventure read, but the
purpose is not to explore or offer insight into or development of Brainiac.
There isn't even a recap of Brainiac's origin, let alone any sign of Milton
Fine. Brainiac's role is that of the generic alien conqueror (albeit with
powers of mental domination).
Since the body shows no sign of life, Metron of the New Gods offers to take
it back to New Genesis for study. Unknown to anyone, Brainiac had sent out
a small probe at the last moment. While its purpose is not stated, it seems
that Brainiac has a fall back plan. Despite the teaser, the writers have
never referred to the probe again. [I believe that the probe was a signal
to attract the swarm, which appeared in an issue soon thereafter. --Jeff]
Brainiac next appears in the 10-issue "Dead Again!" story arc (triangle
numbers 1994: 41 to 1995: 3; I'm not listing all the issues). Workers
fixing the Superman statue (where Superman's body was laid to rest
following the Death Of Superman arc) discover that there is still a body in
the tomb -- Superman's body. Speculation goes wild as to whether the living
long-haired Superman is the real one or another false Superman.
Superman investigates his enemies to try and discover who is responsible
for the body. Tests prove that the dead body exactly matches Prof.
Hamilton's original examination of Superman before his death. The living
Superman's does not. Superman becomes increasingly frustrated, angry, and
violent as he tries to prove that he is the real Superman.
In _Superman_ #95, Superman travels to New Genesis to check on Brainiac.
Metron assures Superman that Brainiac is constantly monitored by a Mother
Box and that he is confident that Brainiac will never function again.
Superman's further investigations prove fruitless.
In anger, he steals the corpse and battles the Metropolis Special Crimes
Unit, almost delivering a killing blow to Maggie Sawyer (_Action Comics_
#705). He believes that he is trapped in an illusion -- he can't trust his
senses. His outcry that "I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIIIIIND!!" (yes, I counted
the I's) reverberates all the way to New Genesis where . . .
We learn that Brainiac is responsible. Brainiac easily defeats the New Gods
with mental blasts and teleports his body to Earth. Before he leaves,
Brainiac mutates himself -- his head growing large, with the exterior
showing the contours of his brain. Brainiac claims that he only appeared to
be in a coma -- he was actually in a trance to grow and change; to become
stronger and more powerful. He says Superman's madness was the first step,
to break his will. Brainiac continues his indirect attack, using agents and
illusions to madden and confuse Superman. He reveals himself when Superman
figures out that it must be Brainiac (_Superman: The Man Of Steel_ #40 and
_Superman_ #96).
The storyline concludes in _Adventures of Superman_ #513. Brainiac
reanimates "dead Superman" saying, "unlike some of my other attacks, this
one does not depend on your belief for its success". Brainiac's power
drives this one. Brainiac also attacks Superman personally. But when
Superman tells Brainiac that he is only Milton Fine and smashes Brainiac's
forcefield, the villain, looking disoriented, collapses, mumbling that no
one defeats Brainiac.
When Brainiac regains consciousness, it is a confused Milton Fine in
control of the body. He has no recollection of past events and believes
that he has had too much drink again. When he looks in a window's
reflection, he sees Milton's original body, rather than Brainiac's. Prof.
Hamilton theorizes that when Brainiac realized that he was about to be
defeated, his mind convinced itself that he was not Brainiac, and he became
Milton Fine again.
Despite some interesting concepts, I just cannot recommend the "Dead
Again!" storyline. It didn't get any better on re-reading either. First, I
just can't accept that Superman would lose it so thoroughly -- even to the
point of almost killing both Maggie Sawyer and Lois. I might have been
grudgingly accepting if there had been a suggestion that Brainiac was
influencing Superman by reducing his inhibitions and telepathically
enhancing his anger. There isn't. Brainiac's plan is to put Superman in
circumstances designed to confuse, frustrate or anger him. This should not
have worked -- Superman has been in uncountable situations where, despite
enormous pressures, he manages to maintain his calm.
Second, Brainiac's power levels and his sudden collapse at the end are just
inconsistent. While in a coma/trance, his subconscious influenced everyone
on distant Earth into believing there was a corpse (after he is defeated,
all the pictures of the coffin show it empty); he completely fools the New
Gods and the Mother Box; he defeats them with a thought; he wields
tremendous powers without any sign of weakness or exhaustion -- until
Superman comes at him personally and starts calling him names.
Feh.
Brainiac gets better treatment in Tom Peyer and Mark Waid's four issue run
(_Adventures of Superman_ #536, _Action Comics_ #723, _Superman: The Man Of
Steel_ #58 and _Superman_ #114). Not to mention that it has art by the
late, lamented Curt Swan. We learn that Brainiac is in the Lovelace
Psychiatric Hospital. Yah, that'll hold him.
Brainiac's personality re-emerges and takes control of the hospital. When
he learns that one of the patients is a boy who believes he is Superman,
Brainiac lures Superman to the hospital. He transfers Superman's mind into
young Chas Cassidy's body and takes control of Superman's body.
It's lots of fun seeing Superman cope in the powerless, young body (one
scene in particular, where "Chas" disguises himself by slicking back his
hair and borrowing some eye-glasses, is hilarious).
Just as fun is seeing Brainiac explore Superman's body and powers. We learn
that Brainiac is suffering because Fine's brain has no further storage.
However, Superman's Kryptonian physiology prevents Brainiac from using his
mental powers. Through use of a television broadcast, he gains control over
the people of Metropolis, turning them into mindless data storage units. In
the end, Chas manages to save the day -- proving you don't need super
powers to be a hero.
Brainiac's next appearance was a family affair in Showcase '96 #11-12,
courtesy of Tom Peyer. Brainiac's descendant, Brainiac 5, and other members
of the Legion of Super-Heroes are stranded in the present. B5 (trust me,
it's less confusing if I use B5) stumbles across the comatose Brainiac in a
STAR Labs facility. Saturn Girl's mental probe awakens Brainiac, who
mentally rearranges the lab into his "head-ship". He has no difficulty
controlling the six heroes, and so he heads off to Colu, to conquer it
again and use it for his power base.
The family reunion continues as Vril Dox II also returns to Colu (we also
briefly see Dox's son, Lyrl). Together, Dox and B5 defeat Brainiac. The
method of Brainiac's defeat is ironic and certainly not the "battle of
wits" as Dox tells everyone later. Brainiac is apparently placed in a
spaceship, which is sent into space (whether into orbit or to deepest space
is not revealed). Unlike Brainiac's previous appearance, we don't have
Brainiac defeated merely because someone stands up to him mentally. And, at
least no one here pretends that 'Brainiac will never trouble anyone ever
again!'
Since Brainiac seems to appear every couple of years, he should be back
again next year. When he does appear, it would be nice to see more complex
characterization and motivation -- as well as some consistency in his
mental powers. Or at least to deal with his tendency to collapse when
Superman stares at him and says "Boo!"
Next time: Mxyzptlk!
__________________________________________
THE MAILBAG
-------------------------------------
(sykes@ms.uky.edu, KryptonCN@aol.com)
KC Responses are indented and begun with ****
=========================================
From: Lee K. Seitz (lkseitz@hiwaay.net)
Dear Kryptonian Cybernet & DC Comics,
I'm sending this note to explain why, after 12 years, I've stopped reading
the Superman titles. Yes, I've been reading since John Byrne recreated
Superman with the _Man of Steel_ limited series in 1986. (I was 15.) Before
that time, I'd been primarily a Marvel reader. I don't remember exactly
what prompted me to start reading Superman, but I've faithfully bought
every issue of the three, then four, and finally five Superman titles
since, plus the majority of the specials and limited series, until
recently.
It was a gradual thing at first. Due to the increasing costs of comic
books, I decided to shy away from the inter-company crossovers starring
Superman, such as _Superman/Aliens_ and _Superman/Madman_. Then I started
being more selective of which one-shots and limited series I bought.
Finally, I kept started telling myself, "I'll stop after Clark and Lois get
married." But I remained just intrigued enough to keep going and telling
myself I'd stop at the end of the next major plotline. "I'll stop when
Superman gets his powers back," "I'll stop when Superman gets his original
powers back."
The "Superman Red/Superman Blue" arc looked very promising, and I enjoyed
it at first, but it quickly became tiresome. Finally, after the "Millennium
Giants" fiasco, I decided enough was enough. I used the four separate
storylines over the next three months to drop two titles immediately. Then,
when it was obvious that the Dominus arc was going to be another bad one, I
finally dropped all Superman comics off my pull list at my local comic book
shop.
I enjoyed the weekly continuity at first, but now it's gotten old. It seems
to be keeping some talented writers and artists away from the world's
premiere superhero. I think the creators that have stuck with it this far
have been burnt out for a while. The truth is that I have not really
enjoyed the Superman titles since "Reign of the Supermen," but I didn't
really notice the downturn in quality until "Dead Again."
As I think back to what I enjoyed most about the earlier issues, it's the
subplots that come to mind. Byrne and his immediate followers didn't
generally hit the reader over the head with major, gotta-buy-it story arcs.
They wove the plots together, selecting one to bring to the forefront while
others continued in the background. It also wasn't necessary for major
events to have a special, five buck issue to be told in (e.g. Clark and
Lois's hastily thrown together wedding, _Superman Red/Superman Blue_,
_Superman Forever_). Compare that to the cost of standard edition of the
issue where Superman died!
Superman's execution of the pocket universe Kryptonians, his subsequent
exile in space, his death, and his return all were told in the pages of his
regular comics. And it seems to me, it was only when he "died" that these
began being hyped as "events." Before, Superman's life simply proceeded
along naturally (so to speak). Stop trying to top "Funeral for a Friend,"
probably the best Superman story arc ever, and just let the writers tell
some good stories without having to worry about the next big event. If you
have to drop the weekly format and "triangle numbers" to do it, then do it!
It's not easy for me to quit reading Superman, but until things begin to
turn around, I'm going to satisfy myself with flipping through each week,
only buying an occasional issue, and reading the _Kryptonian Cybernet_.
It's been a fun ride, but I should have gotten off sooner. Here's hoping
I'll be back on board again in the future. Please return the world's
greatest superhero to his former glory.
**** Disillusioned readers, long-time fans of Superman dropping the books
essentially because of the event-driven mentality driving the industry
in general, and the super-titles in particular. And in a way, it's
all because of the success of the death and return of Superman.
That's *not* the legacy I would have envisioned for the Man of Steel.
You know, in 1991 and 1992, creators, readers, and trade publications
alike were all calling the Superman books some of the best work on the
market. Has anyone been saying that recently?
=========================================
From: James Brendan McAndrew (macandrew@geocities.com)
I'm sorry. I'll always be a Superman fan. I'll read Kryptonian Cybernet to
find out what I'm missing, and you folks do a great job. I'll pick up an
issue every once in a while and look at it, then sadly put it back on the
shelf. But I have dropped Superman and his books from my comics list.
Why? After three years of subscriptions, and countless other years of
scrounging convenience and grocery stores to find every issue? Even though
I have a complete run of books from May of 1990 to 1997 with only 45 issues
missing (and not in a row)? Even though I liked the idea of Superman Blue
as a new trial for the Clark mythos, even though I'm thrilled they finally
got married, even though I have an S shield tattooed on my left arm (I'm
not kidding either), I have to say stop.
The reason? $1.95 - $2.95 an issue. I'm not going to live through another
sales hike. I was there for the $0.75 to $1.00 hike. To be honest, the
stories were better and so was the art. The triangles ought to be on every
comic (for simple continuity reasons) in the DCU, but I can't handle doing
7 or more a month.
I look back at the last few years of storyline, what do I see? A great plot
device touted as his new look, forever, but when the writers can't agree on
his new powers, we split em and make him normal again, except we screw with
reality enough that I can't get back on the train until I know which is
what. "The Death of Clark Kent", "The Trial of Superman", the art in S:MOS,
the relegation of Lois to Prop (GirlFrenzy, the Australia thing in Superman
Blue, the lack of their even discussing the blue event), Jimmy's dive into
pathetic loserness, and what the heck happened to Perry? It isn't worth the
raise in prices.
I love Superman. I love the fact that he is the modern day proof of the
Chivalric code in today's culture. I love each and every character that
makes up the sub-plots of Superman's reality. I'll always be reading
Supergirl, and looking in on Superboy once in a while, but until they make
a simple Metropolis Monthly where we see Lois, Clark, Jimmy, Perry, Ron,
Martha and John, and Bibbo living and learning and coping with the events
in the DCU, then I'm not buying anymore.
That is until I read that the stories are worth the price from you guys at
KC.
PS, I'm cc ing this message to the DC e-mail address, I hope they listen or
at least notice.
**** Another disillusioned reader. It's sad, really, and I hope that
someone at DC *does* take notice. I'm seeing these types of letters
more and more lately, and it should be pointed out that these are
*fans* of Superman. They're not casual readers picking these up for
all the special events and big changes in Superman's life. These are
the folks who've been around for several years. Is it worth a
temporary sales spike to keep losing established readers?
For those of you who share James' and Lee's views, might I offer a
suggestion? Give _Superman Adventures_ a read. It's self-contained,
enjoyable by readers of *all* ages, and doesn't suffer from the
event-driven mentality of the mainstream DCU continuity.
And as a glimmer of hope, keep up with the KC Newsroom. There are some
interesting rumors and speculation floating about, and I've got an
eerie feeling that the super-books, and perhaps the entire line of DCU
titles, are about to receive a makeover.
=========================================
From: Jim Lesher (jlesher@npr.org)
I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but your recounting of
Superman's battles with Atoman [in Bob Hughes' three-part review of the
Superman radio serial] rang a bell in my memory. I went back to my
collection and, sure enough, the story of Atoman was told (in an
abbreviated fashion) in _World's Finest_ #271, which I think was published
in 1981 or 1982. It was an anniversary issue, commemorating the
Superman-Batman team, and it recounted Batman and Superman's histories
together. I think that they must have met "for the first time" over
half-a-dozen times!
Anyway, the story also involves the return of Atoman, after his defeat in
the 1940's. The story was much the same as the one you related, and it puts
Atoman squarely into both Golden Age and Pre-Crisis continuity. Roy Thomas,
the writer, specializes in stories like that.
WF #271 also recounts one of the "first meetings" between Batman and
Superman, and I think it is the story referred to as "The Mystery of the
Wax Men." In the text portion of WF #271, Roy Thomas acknowledges the same
radio stories *you* mentioned, so I think you would enjoy this comic, if
you have not seen it already.
**** For our readers, I would also like to add some information about how
you can obtain your own copies of recordings of at least some of the
serial that Bob Hughes shared with us. Late last year, Smithsonian
Historical Performances released two audio collections of digitally
remastered recordings of the Superman radio drama. The first was
packaged as "Superman on Radio" and contains the first 27 episodes of
the serial. The second was packaged as "World's Finest Classics:
Superman with Batman & Robin On Radio". The latter contains two
distinct stories -- the first tells of Superman, Batman, and Robin's
effort to rescue Lois from a murder frame-up, and the second is
exactly the Scarlet Widow portion of the Kryptonite saga which Bob
has discussed in recent months. You should be able to buy or order
these collections (on CD or cassette) from any book store.
=========================================
From: Doug Randolph (dvncrandolph@earthlink.net)
In talking with other superfans about the hard times this franchise has had
in recent years, the inability to do a successful Superman TV/film adaption
seems to have been especially damaging.
This decline started with Superman IV -- a disappointing end to the Chris
Reeve movie series. It continued with ABC's disastrous _Lois & Clark_.
Finally, WB's decision to not relaunch the super-movie franchise seems to
be the final nail in the coffin of live-action Superman incarnations.
There have been but two bright spots in recent years. The animated Superman
Adventures, and the Adventures of Superboy TV series. This latter show was
quite good, yet is unknown to many superfans.
The status of the Superboy series remains a mystery. It was suddenly
canceled in its 4th season despite the fact it was a top ten syndicated
show, and was garnering its best ratings ever. Early that season, word was
the show would run for two more years. Both Gerard Christopher and Stacy
Haiduk had agreed to stay on for the 5th/6th seasons. Then, out of nowhere,
the show was canceled with never an explanation offered.
A bigger mystery is that Superboy has never aired in rerun syndication.
Every syndicated series from the early 90's (most quite inferior to
Superboy) is in rerun syndication, except for Superboy.
Makes absolutely no sense. The whole point (from a financial perspective)
in making a TV series is to do 100 episodes, then place the series in rerun
syndication. This is when the studios make the big money. At this point
distribution and promotional expenses are the only costs they incur.
>From the franchise's perspective, reairing Superboy would give a much
needed boost to this fading icon. The show was a big hit a decade ago, and
would undoubtedly be one again. Best of all, unlike L&C's producers, the
producers of Superboy showed a respect for the then 50-year tradition, and
made sure their series remained true to/was informed by that tradition. One
example, they got the super-costume right from day one -- quite a feat when
you consider L&C never got it right.
It remains a creative and financial mystery as to why Superboy is not being
aired today. Its as if it's been purposely deep-sixed. Do you have any
information on what has gone on with this series? Have there been efforts
to bring it back into rerun syndication?
**** Before I talk about the Superboy series, I'm going to take exception
to your comments about _Lois & Clark_. (Hey, I do this with everyone,
so don't feel singled out.) L&C was *far* from a disaster -- at its
most popular, it was a top 30 show, and it was primarily ABC's fault
that the show's popularity dwindled towards the end. Those people who
have had the harshest words about L&C have been comic book fans, and
I simply think that they just never understood that the show was not
meant for them. This was, from the start, meant to be a romance which
just happened to feature the Man of Steel. Perhaps the worst part of
the show was early in the second season when they made a conscious
effort to try and be more like a comic book. It was only when they
returned to romance that the show flourished, not only in quality, but
in ratings.
This was certainly not a disrespect of the 50-year tradition, but an
attempt to tell the story from a different point of view. _L&C_ was
faithful to the characters and their motivations, so I don't care if
they didn't get the costume quite right.
As for the Superboy series, I was in another town at that time, and
we only got to see the first couple of seasons before it went off the
air in our area. What I *did* see was a good series, but I don't know
about any of the background information dealing with the latter years
of the show or its eventual demise. Readers?
=========================================
From: Christopher O'Brien Jr. (mxyzptlk@afn.org)
In the letters column of _Superman: The Man of Tomorrow_ #11, DC says, "If
DC decides to do another fifth-week-event line of books, we'll adjust the
schedules so that _Man of Tomorrow_ will replace one of the four monthly
titles for a month. Good idea, huh?"
Bad idea. By definition, monthly is once a month, 12 times a year, 1200
times a century. If they absolutely must give us fifth-week-events *and*
_Man of Tomorrow_, they need to publish MOT along with one of the monthly
titles in the fourth week of that month. _Showcase_ '93 #7 and 8 were
published the same week, so there should be no problem. Otherwise, drop MOT
and leave the monthly titles (which all came first) alone. A monthly title
shouldn't take over 1,000,000 months to reach #1,000,000.
**** What strikes me about their statement is the "If". We already *know*
that September's fifth-week is being used by the DC One Million event,
December's fifth-week looks to be co-opted by Mark Waid's Kingdom
event, and a fifth-week in thespring is going to be dedicated to a
JSA event, according to word from San Diego. *If* there's another?
Please...
I think you're absolutely right about using MOT as a replacement.
Especially when it comes to subscriptions, I should think that DC has
a (perhaps contractual) obligation to make certain that they publish
twelve issues of each of the four monthlies each year. MOT was
created to fill the skip weeks. If something else has co-opted that
role, then MOT should either be cancelled or turned into a quarterly.
For me, it's a matter of semantics -- I really don't care what the
title is called, as long as I get that Superman story each week. There
are others, however, who don't buy every title, and these folks are
getting short-changed by this constant shifting of books due to fifth-
week events, Superman specials, and shoe-horning of MOT.
The problem is that DC doesn't see the Superman group of titles as a
group of titles at all. Instead, _Superman_, _Man of Steel_, _Action_,
_Adventures of Superman_, _Man of Tomorrow_, and any specials like
_Save the Planet_ are all seen as the same title shipped on a weekly
schedule. Quite frankly, I don't know why they even bother to call
them separate names any more.
=========================================
From: Thomas Myers (TRMyers54@aol.com)
I just found your web site and read your comments about comic sales. I
agree that something has to be done,but I don't like the idea of changing
the paper. I'm really used to the Miraweb format and would hate to see it
go. I think the main problem is comics used to be written by adults for
young people. Now they are written by adults for adults. Most kids just
can't afford to buy them. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people like it
that way. I think you hit that nail right on the head.
Maybe the solution is for the major co. to put out a very low price line of
books and make them available outside the direct market. Maybe even
reprints, how expensive would that be?
**** Have you also noticed that some creators will actually get a bit riled
up if they're "accused" of writing a book for younger readers? I've
seen Ty Templeton (writer of the Batman "Adventures" title) bristle at
just that on Usenet in the past week or two.
I have seen a noticeable trend in recent years, though, to return some
fun to comics, predominately in the form of books focusing on teen
heroes. In the end, however, I don't think that this is enough. What
good is an effort to aim your product at kids if they still can't
afford to buy the product?
And for the record, I think that anyone who prefers to keep kids away
from the industry is an idiot. Without fostering future generations
of comic book readers, this industry *will* die, plain and simple.
-- Jeff Sykes
__________________________________________
************************************************************
End of Section 9/Issue #53
