Highlights Thus Far:

-Man of Steel #2: Quirky story that establishes the whimsical sides of both Lois and Superman's personas.

-Man of Steel #4: Establishes the post-Crisis sexually charged and competitive Clark and Lois relationship; 1st full post-Crisis appearance of Lex Luthor

-Adventures of Superman #425: 1st appearance of the endearing but misguided Professor Emil Hamilton. Additionally, Superman becomes disturbed by the moral dilemmas surrounding terrorism.

-Superman #4: Our first real quality time with the post-Crisis Jimmy Olsen, a surprisingly brutal portrayal of mass killings, and a touching message about healing in the wake of the Vietnam War.

-Superman #9: The lead story is a disaster, but the backup, in which Lex Luthor torments a small town woman by making her an indecent proposal, is well remembered by many.

-Adventures of Superman Annual #1: A solid sci-fi story by Jim Starlin with a surprisingly bitter ending for The Man of Steel.

-Adventures of Superman #432-434: Wolfman's "Gang War" storyline starts very strong but ends on a weak note. First appearance of Gangbuster.

- Adventures of Superman #437: A clever experiment in parallel perspective storytelling, as well as an important Jose DelGado/Gangbuster story.

- World of Krypton (1987): Not a consistently well done series, but Byrne's take on the history of Krypton is unique and occasionally exciting (especially in the second issue), and the Mike Mignola artwork (though often poorly inked) is worthwhile.

- Superman: The Earth Stealers: Highly uneven work, but it features the first post-Crisis kiss between Superman and Lois, and it also features the post-Crisis return of Curt Swan on pencils.

- World of Smallville #1-2: The touching and reasonably compelling story of how Jonathan Kent and Martha Clark got together.

- Superman Annual #2 -- resurrects the Newsboy Legion and several other classic Simon/Kirby properties into the Post-Crisis DCU in a compelling and enjoyable double-sized adventure.

- Adventures of Superman #444/Superman #22 -- Origin of the Post Crisis Supergirl (from the Pocket Universe) is revealed, and Superman makes a shocking decision at the close of the storyline.

- Adventures of Superman #445 -- Superman wrestles with guilt in the wake of Superman #22, Cat Grant begins to self-destruct in the most touching of ways. Really powerful character-driven stuff, as well as some dense plotting, and an early appearance from the Post-Crisis Brainiac.

- Superman #30 -- "King of All He Surveys" is a great 8 page crash-course on the Post-Crisis Lex Luthor, pretty much summarizing everything you need to know about the character from Man of Steel on.

- Superman #31 -- Lex Luthor vs. Mister Mxyzptlk. Every bit as awesome as it sounds.

- Adventures of Superman #455 -- Amazingy well paced, well-written semi-climax to the Warworld saga

- Action Comics Weekly #642 -- Elliot S. Maggins' weird and half awesome/half terrible swan song for the ACW format is more a Green Lantern story than a Superman one, but it's worth the read.

- Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography -- a brilliantly written story that truly showcases Luthor's cold-blooded instincts and resourcefulness, even while revealing key secrets from his past in a unique inversion of Citizen Kane.

- Action Comics # 643 -- A subtle reset on the franchise, returning Superman to his more classic characterization as a goody-goody upon his return from exile in space. Also ushers in the new creative teams on all three titles and wipes clean most of the unresolved story arcs in play prior to that moment.

- Adventures of Superman #457 -- Powerful issue as Matrix (formerly the Pocket Universe Supergirl) begins to grow tragically unstable.

- Action Comics #644 -- a brilliantly executed, action-intensive George Perez pencilled throwdown between Superman and Matrix (now functioning as his double). Concludes the Matrix story arc as well.

- Adventures of Superman #463 -- Superman races the Wally West Flash, and Mxyzptlk created Red Kryptonite. Exciting story.

- Action Comics #650 -- Established Superman's Post-Crisis history and relationship with The Justice League

- Adventures of Superman #465 -- First cameo appearance of Hank Henshaw

- Superman #43 -- Clark and Lois' relationship begins to progress for the first time with an affectionate hug and an agreement to try a first date.

- Adventures of Superman #466 -- First full appearance and origin of Hank Henshaw

- Action Comics #654 -- After two issues of working together, Batman and Superman arrive at a tenuous Post-Crisis friendship of sorts, Superman entrusting Batman with Lex Luthor's Kryptonite ring in case he ever becomes a danger to others and must be taken down. This event also knocks Dark Knight Returns out of possible future continuity.

- Superman #50 -- Clark proposes to Lois, and she accepts.

- Action Comics #660 -- The apparent death of Lex Luthor

- Action Comics #662 -- Clark reveals his dual identity to Lois.

- Action Comics #672 -- Lex Luthor II rises to power in one brief but well-done story.

- Superman #64 -- In his annual Dan Jurgens Christmas story, Superman answers letters written to him, and some of them prove supremely touching.

- Action Comics #674-675, Superman: The Man of Steel #-109, Superman #65-66, and Adventures of Superman #488-489: "Panic in the Sky," arguably DC's finest crossover event ever, but featured only in the Superman titles.

- Action Comics #676-677: Strong development of Lex Luthor II as an antagonist and fantastic Butch Guise work.

- Superman: The Man of Steel #11: Two small-time arsonists happen upon an extra-dimensional fire demon that wants to be their friend. Hilarity ensues.

- Superman: The Man of Steel #16 and Superman #72 -- "Crisis At Hand". A powerful and nuanced exploration of domestic abuse that also reveals key details about Superman's evolution as a character/hero in his first week on the job.

The Post-Crisis Superman Timeline

(note: years are based upon the assumption that Superman #1 takes place in 1987. Comic writers generally avoid providing dates so that the present day remains timeless, but Wolfman outright dates Luthor's career as having begun to peak in the Late 1970s, Byrne has Jonathan Kent fight in World War II and Perry White fight in Vietnam, and we're even given the exact date that Superman made his first public appearance, so I'm accepting their invitations to apply real world dates/history to this continuity)

Approximately 500000 BC: The earliest recorded history of Krypton. Their technology began "outpacing their mastery of social order," leading to an age of scientifically advanced barbarism (Action Comics #652).

Approximately 199000 BC: Krypton has become far more civilized and devoted to logic. "Cleric," a missionary for the Holy Commune, arrives on Krypton and preaches against cloning, polarizing the Science Council in reaction and inspiring Sen-M to continue opposing cloning after his departure. Inadvertently, this sets into motion events that will result in Krypton's destruction two hundred thousand years later (Action Comics Annual #2, using dates from World of Krypton #2). In response to the threat posed by "Cleric," The Kryptonian Science Council orders Kem-L, an ancestor of Jor-El and Kal-El, to build a device that will silence all future heresy. Kem-L develops The Eradicator Device, which ensures that no Kryptonian can leave Krypton without dying, no non-Kryptonian may visit Krypton without dying, and it's ultimate mission is to ensure the survival of Krypton's heritage (Adventures of Superman #460). Cleric soon steals the device and leaves Krypton, ending up on Warworld, kept alive by the device for eons, and ultimately giving it to Superman before dying in 1989 (Action Comics Annual #2).

Approximately 99000 BC: The Fifth Age of Krypton (Action Comics #652). The great war, fought over the ethics of cloning, begins on Krypton, the major factions being the Kryptonian government and the Black Zero terrorist organization. The capital city of Kandor is destroyed, and most of Kryptonian civilization is subsequently destroyed as the war continues for approximately a thousand years after (World of Krypton #1-4; this given date is based on World of Smallville #2's assertion that Kal-El arrived on Earth roughly 30 years after Krypton exploded).

Approximately 98000 BC: The final confrontation occurs between the Kryptonian authorities (led by Van-L, great ancestor to Superman) and the Black Zero terrorist organization (led by Kan-Ze). Black Zero is defeated, but not before Kan-Ze sets in motion events that will cause the destruction of Krypton approximately one hundred thousand years later (World of Krypton #2-4).

June 16, 1735: Metropolis is founded (Adventures of Superman #494 establishes that Superman's debut on June 15, 1985, happened one day before Metropolis' 250th anniversary)

Approximately the 1780s: The Pocket Universe Supergirl arrives on Earth in stasis, only to be uncovered 200 years later.

Prior to 1930: The Seventh Age of Krypton, "a world purged of emotional weakness...an age of reason. A smaller, more enlightened population dwelt in great towering complexes, many times larger than Earthly cities, leading lives of quiet contemplation". This was the world of Jor-El and Lara, and was considered to be the height of Kryptonian culture (Action Comics #652, using information provided in World of Smallville #2 to establish a time frame).

Approximately 1922: Jonathan Kent and Martha Clark are born. This assumes they are approximately the same age (they were childhood friends, according to World of Smallville #1), that Jonathan was 18 when the draft began in 1940 and returned home from WWII in his early 20s (World of Smallville #1, he was away for 5 years, the war appears to be recently concluded), that they were in their late 30s in 1959 when, resolved that they would never be able to have their own children, they were still able to convince people that Clark was Martha's biological baby (Man of Steel #1), and in their mid 60s in 1987 (they now have gray/white hair and appear elderly but still self-sufficient in running their farm).

1920s and 1930s: Jonathan Kent and Martha Clark grow up together in Smallville as close friends and are expected by most to one day marry (World of Smallville #1). Jonathan's older brother is Harry Kent (Man of Steel #1).

1930 or 1931: Krypton explodes. Superman, son of Jor-El and Lara, is sent to Earth as an infant (MoS #1). Superman's Kryptonian name is "Kal-El" (Action Comics #597). The journey takes approximately 28 to 30 years, using warp drive engines travelling through hyperspace (World of Smallville #2)

Approximately 1933: Perry White born (working math from World of Metropolis #1 and Adventures of Superman #433) (contradicted by Lex Luthor: the Unauthorized Biography)

Prior to 1940: Jonathan Kent's older brother, Harry, falls under their father's thresher and dies (first mentioned in Man of Steel #1, indicated to have occurred prior to World War II in Superman #33)

Presumably 1940 to 1945: Jonathan Kent is drafted, serves in the Pacific Theater during WWII from 1941 to 1944, is captured for the final year of the war, kept in a Japanese POW camp, considered missing in action, and ultimately returned after 5 years away (World of Smallville #1 and #2. We know the length of time he was gone and the length of time for which he was missing in action as a POW, but not when he went to war nor when he returned. We know the American draft started in 1940 and American soldiers joined the fighting in 1941, and it seems likely that Jonathan would have been returned by the Japanese government soon after the conclusion of the war in 1945).

Approximately 1943: Perry White begins working at the Daily Planet as a copy boy at the age of ten (World of Metropolis #1) (contradicted by Lex Luthor: the Unauthorized Biography)

1943: Superman is thrown back in time, travels with Hale's circus as a strongman, saves FDR from German assassins, and meets The Spectre (Action Comics #663)

September 30, 1944: Martha Clark marries Daniel Fordman, presuming Jonathan Kent is dead.

Late 1945 or early 1946: The events of World of Smallville #1 and #2. Dan Fordman dies.

1946: Perry White born (Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography implies he is the same age as Lex Luthor, and Luthor is 13 in 1959).

1946: Lex Luthor born. Raised in Suicide Slum until the age of thirteen by implicitly abusive parents (Lex Luthor: the Unauthorized Biography, working back from Lex being 13 in 1959).

1946 or (more likely) 1947: Martha Clark remarries to Jonathan Kent (World of Smallville #2 indicates they married 12 months after the events of that issue)

1956: Perry White begins working at the Daily Planet as a copy boy at the age of ten (reconciling World of Metropolis #1 and Lex Luthor: the Unauthorized Biography)

1960: The Manhunters attempt to abduct the infant Superman on his way to Earth but are thwarted by members of the Green Lantern Corps (Adventures of Superman #436)

February 29, 1960: Superman arrives on Earth in his birth matrix and is "born" when the Kents remove him from it (Man of Steel #1 and Action Comics #655). Jonathan and Martha Kent are 38 at the time (see my notes on "1922"), discover him, and pass him off as their own with the help of a five month blizzard during which no one sees Martha (MoS #1). The blizzard was created by The Manhunters in an attempt to keep humans from interfering with Clark while they pursued him, but once the Kents find him, the Manhunters give up, perceiving him as now tainted by human love and emotion (Adventures of Superman #436)

1960: The Manhunters enact a B plan, replacing Smallville's Dr. Whitney with an android double who puts implants in all newborns delivered between 1959 and 1987 in order to make them sleeper agents for the Manhunters (Adventures of Superman #436).

1960: At age 13, Lex Luthor attends the seventh grade and is best friends with Perry White. Around this time, he begins associating with adults in the neighborhood that he pays to rough people up for him, starting with two kids who had been picking on him (Edward Kelley and Richard McGuire). Luthor's teacher was Mrs. Anderson. Later that year, Luthor sabotages his parents' car after taking out a massive insurance policy on them. He uses his adult lackeys to intimidate a mechanic into issuing a false report about the cause of the accident. He acquires his first fortune from this (Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography).

1960 to 1978: Clark Kent grows up in Smallville, is best friends with Lana Lang, has a dog named Rusty, and becomes a high school football star, exhibiting limited enhanced speed, X-Ray vision, and possibly other early facets of his abilities (MoS #1, #6, Rusty first mentioned in Adventures of Superman #468).

Prior to 1966: Perry White is the star reporter at The Daily Planet and adored by Metropolis (World of Metropolis #1)

1966: Six year old Clark Kent gets into a shoving match with Steve Davis, causing the Principal to get involved. It is the last (and possibly only) physical fight Clark ever engaged in.

1966 to 1968: Perry White fights in Vietnam from ages 33 to 35 20 to 22 (World of Metropolis #1, using some math from Adventures of Superman #433 Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography, which contradicts earlier references to Perry White's age)

1967: Year in which Lex Luthor II would have allegedly been born (he is 21 in Action Comics #677. That issue was published in 1992, but, recognizing that Superman's present day begins in 1987, and using the Superman Office's general guideline that 1 month in our time equals approximately 1 week in Superman's time, that issue would have occurred in 1988. 88-21=67. Note: this would make Lex Luthor I only twenty years old at the time.

1968: Clark develops invulnerability at age 8 (Amazing Heroes #98), though later flashbacks suggest he was unaware of this (see Adventures of Superman #474)

Unspecificed time prior to 1969: The rise of Lexcorp. Luthor acquires the Daily Planet and uses it to embarrass companies that bid against him for government contracts, effectively destroying his enemies via the media (Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography). The Lex Wing aircraft design is the invention that "founded" Luthor's financial empire (Superman #13).

1968 or 1969: Perry White returns to Metropolis, discovers Lex Luthor has been sleeping with his wife (thus terminating their friendship) and assembles a team to buy the Daily Planet as a means of avoiding its shut-down. Part of the deal entails that he become Editor-in-Chief (World of Metropolis #1)

1969: Jerry White is born (Adventures of Superman #433)

1973: Clark develops X-Ray vision around the age of 13 (Amazing Heroes #98)

Approximately 1972: In response to the dismantling of The French Connection, Lex Luthor creats a designer drug and distrubution system and sells it to the Mafia for two million dollars (Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography)

Sometime between 1972 and 1978: Lex Luthor unveils the majority of his scientific breakthroughs, Lexcorp experiences tremendous growth, and Luthor amasses tremendous wealth and power (Adventures of Superman #425: Luthor's "discoveries in the mid-seventies were astounding.").

Sometime between 1974 and 1978: Clark Kent wrestles in high school "before my powers fully developed" (Starman #14). He also plays football for an unspecified length of time (Man of Steel #1).

Sometime prior to 1978: Clark, Lana Lang, and Pete Ross attend a high school party and end up in a car with Scott Brubaker. There is an accident and Brubaker remains on life support until Adventures of Superman #474, when his parents pull the plug. Clark states that this event helped inspire him to become a righter of injustice. This is also when Clark and the Kents begin to suspect that he has some form of invulnerability.

1976: Lois Lane gets her first serious job at the Daily Planet at the age of fifteen (World of Metropolis #2, previously indicated to be sixteen in Action Comics #594 and Adventures of Superman #1), (World of Metropolis established this occurred five years prior to Clark arriving in Metropolis, which is established to have occurred in 1981, working from the Man of Steel #1-2 timeline).

1978: Clark learns he can fly at age 18 (Amazing Heroes #98)

1978: Clark Kent learns he is an alien from another planet and decides to leave Smallville to use his powers for good; unknowingly breaks Lana Lang's heart in the process (MoS #1, #6).

From 1978 thru 1985: Clark secretly uses his powers to prevent disasters and presumably discovers the full extent of his abilities (MoS #1).

After 1981 and prior to Action Comics #597: Lois publishes at least one book (Action #597, World of Metropolis #3)

1981: Clark moves to Metropolis, continues to secretly use his powers to prevent disasters (MoS #1). He enrolls in Metropolis University (Superman #2) as a journalism major in order to become a journalist and "keep tabs on world events -- to have immediate knowledge of trouble that might need my special help." (all from Superman #12). Adventures of Superman #461 adds that Clark "wanted to become a journalist long before I became Superman," suggesting a deep-seeded desire beyond the practical explanation.

1983: Clark's senior year at Metropolis University (1983-1984 school year?), falls in love for the first time with Lori Lemaris, proposes to her, and is rejected because they are from different worlds (Superman #12). World of Metropolis #3 will later undo the idea of Lori being his first love, having it be a waitress named Ruby two years prior to Clark's meeting Lori.

Prior to June 15, 1985: Lois Lane rises to be a top reporter in her field (presumed from the events of MoS #1 and #2, as well as the fact that she always appears to be Perry White's #1 reporter in all stories after). Gets to know Lex Luthor quite well at this time (MoS #2 -- she is calling in favors from his helicopter pilot and knows the pilot by name).

Prior to June 15, 1985: Clark publishes one book, and it becomes a best seller (Adventures of Superman #1, Amazing Heroes #98). It is entitled "The Janus Contract" (Superman #49).

June 15, 1985: Clark is outed while forced to publicly use his powers to rescue an experimental spacecraft with Lois Lane onboard. First meeting with Lois Lane. She coins the name "Superman." Clark creates a costume and identity, publicly becoming Superman (Man of Steel #1, date provided in Superman #45)

Immediately after June 15 1985: Clark starts to don the glasses in order to avoid recognition and gets a job at the Daily Planet by scooping Lois on the story of Superman (MoS #1, #2, date provided in Superman #45). Superman is either the first or one of the first superheroes since WWII, and Batman, the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, the Wally West Flash, and Hawkman soon follow (Action Comics #597, conflicted with Batman's post-Crisis timeline which indicated he'd been active for ten years as of 1988, as well as a reference in Man of Steel indicating that Batman was already active). Superman had also met and gotten to know the Barry Allen Flash in that time (Adventures of Superman #463).

June 15 thru approximately June 22, 1985: Clark overextends himself as Superman, pushing himself relentlessly to help others at the cost of his own health and well-being, until Martha and Jonathan Kent convince him to start setting boundaries (Superman, The Man of Steel #16). He also meets Inspector Henderson for the first time, both as Clark and as Superman, during the Robyn McGill murder investigation, and Clark's internal journey in the wake of that murder leads him to realize that using his head is more important than using his fists, as well as the importance of putting the law above his own sense of right and wrong (Superman #72).

Just prior to June 22, 1985: At least one of the events of Action Comics #1 take place (the abusive husband incident), though in a somewhat different way (Superman, The Man of Steel #16).

Presumably beginning in 1985: Clark learns most of what he knows about fighting from covering boxing matches for the Daily Planet (Starman #14).

Sometime after June 1985: Superman meets Aquaman for the first time and is briefly reunited with Lori Lemaris shortly after (Superman #12).

Sometime after June 1985: Superman and Batman meet for the first time (Man of Steel #3, this technically could have occurred in 1986, but it seems unlikely Superman and Batman wouldn't have met during The Crisis on Infinite Earths).

Sometime after June 1985: Superman meets several founding members of the Justice Society of America around this time (Action Comics #663).

Later still in 1985: The Crisis on Infinite Earths occurs. Even though this event actually occurred in a differently configured "Pre-Crisis" timeline and its aftermath was responsible for the creation of this timeline, characters including Superman recall at least some aspects of the Crisis (Action Comics #591). Lorie Lemaris, though reconfigured into the Post-Crisis timeline along with everyone else, still died during this event (Superman #12).

1986: Superman's first meeting with Lex Luthor. Arrests Luthor by order of the mayor. Luthor swears revenge (MoS #4).

1986: Lucy Lane and Jimmy Olsen begin dating (Superman #4).

1986, but at least 3 months prior to Superman #1: Superman fights the first Bizarro (secretly created by Luthor), Luthor loses his remaining hair sometime after (MoS #5, Superman #1, and Amazing Heroes #96)

Unspecified time after Man of Steel #1, but prior to Man of Steel #6: Superman assists the Justice League of America on at least three occasions, including facing Darkseid for the first time. He is offered membership in The League but declines due to time constraints (Action Comics #650)

Three months prior to Superman #1: Superman learns about his Kryptonian heritage (MoS #6)

Less than three months prior to Superman #1 Clark Kent is summoned by Abin Sur's power ring and initially chosen to replace him as the Green Lantern for his sector. The offer is revoked when Abin Sur realizes Clark is not a native of Earth, and Clark recommends Hal Jordan (a pilot he had recently interviewed and been impressed with) instead (Action Comics Weekly #642: Prior to Superman #1 since Hal Jordan was not yet Green Lantern, but after Clark learns about his Kryptonian heritage in Man of Steel #6).

Unspecified, prior to Superman #1: Superman meets Hawkman and the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, and battles several supervillains (Superman #1), meets the Teen Titans on several occasions (Action Comics #584), and battles Booster Gold (Booster Gold #7 -- a pre-Crisis story, but Superman acknowledges it in Action #594)

-----

1987-1992: Superman's present day begins with Superman #1 (everything prior to this was told in flashback). According to my calculations, Superman is 27 years old. Lois Lane is 26, Perry White is 54 41 (contradicted by Lex Luthor: the Unauthorized Biography), Lex Luthor is likely the same age as Perry, and Ma and Pa Kent are 65. Action Comics #668 will ultimately demonstrate that 1 month in our world is roughly equal to a week in Superman's world, meaning that 1987-1991 accounts for roughly one year in this universe¹.

(At this point in the timeline, our year is not necessarily the same as Superman's year. Thus, the year I am providing for each event going forward is the publication year.)

1988: Superman meets Hal Jordan for the first time. Superman #1 contradicts this, and Action Comics #606 portrayed them as being old acquaintances, with the two knowing their secret identities, but Action Comics #622 heavily revised this moment, making it their very first meeting.

1988: By this point, Superman is largely considered the greatest of the Superheroes (suggested in both Action Comics #623 and Adventures of Superman #449)

1990: Clark and Lois begin dating (Superman #43) and become engaged (Superman #50). After several uneasy encounters, Superman and Batman begin a sort of friendship, and Superman entrusts Batman with Lex Luthor's Kryptonite ring in case he ever needs to be taken down (Action Comics #654). Lex Luthor appears to commit suicide (Action Comics #660).

1991: Clark reveals his identity to Lois Lane (Action Comics #662). Lex Luthor II assumes control of Lexcorp (Action Comics #672)

The 30th Century: Superman briefly meets several iterations of the Legion of Super-Heroes, including the founding members, and witnesses the destruction of Earth's moon. (Adventures of Superman #476-478).


Note: there are several glitches in the continuity Byrne constructs, most notably Lois's comment in Man of Steel #5 that she has been dreaming of being kissed by Superman for five years. This event HAD to occur less than two years prior to current day, and Clark first became Superman 3 years prior to current day based upon the timeline offered in Man of Steel #1 and #6 (left Smallville ten years prior to current day, became Superman seven years later). An interview with Wolfman, Helfer, and Byrne in Amazing Heroes #98 backs up this timeline.

A more minor problem is posed in Adventures of Superman #430, which indicates that Jonathan and Martha Kent had been married for 48 years in 1987. World of Smallville later clearly indicates that they had not yet married as of the mid 1940s, instead suggesting they married in 1946 or 1947.

The most glaring error encountered yet occurs as a discrepancy between World of Metropolis #1 (having Perry White ten years old in 1943) and Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography (having Perry White 13 years old in 1959). Both works agree that Perry White and Lex Luthor are approximately the same age. I have gone with Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography's timeline because it makes more sense, especially in having Perry White fight in Korea when he is twenty instead of in his thirties.



¹ Obviously there are some problems with making five years count as one, most notably the annual Christmas story in Adventures of Superman. How did they have five Christmases in one year?

Man of Steel #2

writer/pencils: John Byrne
inks: Dick Giordano
letters: John Costanza
colors: Ton Ziuko
editor: Andrew Helfer

grade: A+

Well well, Mr. Byrne. You have it in you after all.

This is a darn good story, full of important continuity, dense characterization, and the kind of momentum only one artist/writer tightly controlling the marriage of words, plotting, and visuals can bring to a book. I am impressed.

This is really the tale of Lois Lane who, in a sense, spends the entire issue attempting to make up for the first panel, where Superman whizzes by without her seeing him. It becomes a very personal quest to get the story of Superman, with no real concern for personal attraction at this point, and it manages to make two adorable homages to past Superman continuity in the process (the interview she ultimately gets proceeds much like the 1978 film, and Clark scooping her at the end was straight out of the old 1940s dailies).

Beyond that though, there's tons of continuity to explore here:

1. Time has ceased to skip forward in this issue, and this now appears to be the modern day Metropolis/DCU, meaning Superman has just arrived in Metropolis in the present day. Batman has already been active for upwards of ten years at this point (that info kept changing in Batman continuity), and we're not clear yet on whether there are any other super-powered heroes out there, or if Superman is the first.

2. This is the first post-Crisis appearance of Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor (in cameo), Guthrie (Lex's driver/assistant), Chuck (a helicoptor pilot for Lexcorp), and Captain Reagan of the Special Weapons and Tactics Squad.

3. This is clearly a different Lois Lane who is perhaps more gutsy than ever (jumps out of a helicopter to get a story), competent (only a damsel in distress as a means of purposefully attracting Superman's behavior), connected (she knows how to get a helicopter on the fly), independent (Luthor wants her, but she doesn't want him), and extremely fashionable (hair and clothing change constantly and noticeably) -- A true icon of the 1980s feminist ideal.

4. Lex Luthor is now a business tycoon and desires Lois Lane. The idea of Superman's greatest villain being a capitalist is still probably the most brilliant contribution made to the franchise as, in the 1980s and beyond, uninhibited big business became a more palpable evil in the world than uninhibited scientific progress.

5. Lois coined the name "Superman," though he clearly chose to own that name by putting two giant "S"s on his costume last issue.

6. Superman has super speed and heat ray vision, in addition to all that we saw last issue.

7. Jimmy Olsen and Perry White are briefly introduced.

8. Clark Kent gets a job at the daily planet by scooping Lois on the exclusive Superman story.


What's working: Both Superman and Lois are extremely charming -- Lois in her persistence and frustrations, Superman in his Christopher Reeve boy-scout approach to the character.

What's not: Really just two things: Superman's confrontation with the armed criminals is pretty illogical and should have gotten the hostages killed, and we aren't given a motivation for Clark becoming a reporter. Is it to keep up on the news so that he can save the world, is it to get closer to Lois, or is it to control his own PR? We don't know, nor are we given any indication that he has ANY background in journalism nor writing of any kind. Is this former football star and farmboy going to get by on poorly written exclusives with Superman?

minor detail: WHY doesn't Superman drink wine? Surely, he'd be immune to the effects and could just enjoy the taste. I suspect it's entirely out of homage to the Christopher Reeves depiction, which was highly conscious of children viewing the 1978 film.


All in all, though, this was a GREAT Superman story, encapsulating all the best of the character while raising Lois Lane and Lex Luthor (even in cameo) to new levels of excellence.


plot synopsis: Lois keeps trying to get an interview with Superman but keeps missing him at the scene of the crime (he arrives and flies off before she can get there), she spurns Luthor's advances in pursuit of Superman, Superman takes down a mugger and criminals holding hostages, Lois decides to drive her car into the the river to get Superman's attention, she gets an interview, and Clark Kent arrives at the Daily Planet, scooping her and getting a job on the staff.

The Man of Steel #4

writer/pencils: John Byrne
inks: Dick Giordano
colors: Tom Ziuko
letters: John Costanza
editor: Andrew Helfer
special thanks to: Marv Wolfman

grade: B

Thus far, Man of Steel has felt like a particularly confused series, never quite sure what its scope should be. The first issue was an origin story, the second a cute Lois and Superman interplay, the third a Batman story, and now we're back to exploring the Clark and Lois dynamic, as well as adding Lex Luthor to the mix. Truly, this is what I'd been waiting for. In my mind, the adventures of Clark and Lois was always a more compelling focus than those of the unbeatable and morally unquestionable Superman. I prefer stories where he functions as a deus et machina to the exploits of the Daily Planet's star reporters.

It's easy to see in an issue like this one how these early Byrne stories were the basis for the later Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman television series. The sexy interplay between Clark and Lois, with big business tycoon Lex Luthor as a complication, is positively robust here, from the very first panel with a half dressed Clark and a scantily, yet elaborately, dressed Lois Lane standing dominantly in the doorway, intruding into Clark's life without a second thought. Then there's the rich powerplay that makes the relationship so fun. This is not a Lois Lane who will play second fiddle to Clark Kent. She's fierce, brilliant, independent, and will not be outdone by anyone. Her resentment and rivalry with Clark seems to define their relationship until the end of the issue, when she believes Clark has been killed and reveals a compassion and respect for him; a promise that there may be potential in their relationship after all, whether as colleagues, friends, or (of course) romantic partners. Lois was always strong-willed in the original comics and newspaper strips, but this time she truly holds all the cards -- not likely to be anyone's damsel in distress nor misguided fool that needs to be taught a lesson by the end of the issue. Clark will have to work to earn her respect over a long and tumultuous road, and darn if that doesn't make us care.

Then there's Lex Luthor. The business tycoon concept, apparently introduced by Elliot Maggin pre-Crisis (thanks, Chad), and then further developed by Marv Wolfman (presumably the reason he's thanked in the credits for this issue), is fully introduced here, and he's not quite what I expected. What I like about this approach is that this Lex Luthor is totally legitimate in the public eye. He has his hands in absolutely everything and is therefore far more powerful and dangerous than his pre-Crisis counterpart had ever been, and yet his record is clean. Thus the pure brawn of Superman will never be enough to defeat him. Instead, it will take the careful investigative work of reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane to do the bulk of the work, with Superman functioning as the last minute enforcer needed in tough situations. Again, this is the kind of Superman story I like best.

And yet, I don't care for how Byrne handles Lex at all. Yes, a character like this would necessarily be arrogant, but Luthor comes off like a true fool in this issue, flaunting his evil plan for all to see and essentially undoing himself when there was absolutely no reason to do so. Even his threatening Superman at the end lacks any sense of tact nor subtlety. How in the world could a man this careless have risen as far as Luthor has? I don't fear a man who can so foolishly undo himself in his very first appearance.

Perhaps it's unfair to be judging this character through the lens of the Lois & Clark television series, but I did grow up on that show, and it is carefully embedded in this characterization of Lex. Yet the Lex Luthor on that show (as depicted masterfully by John Shea) was far more meticulous, thorough, and always in total control, even when Superman is in his face, physically threatening him. Add to that a flawless physique, further giving the sense of total control, whereas this Luthor is fat and ugly. Again, not really fair to compare this depiction with a later incarnation that was based upon this one, but I definitely think the show handled Lex better. I expected more from this character and hope he'll come off as a more compelling antagonist in later stories.

Continuity points in this issue:

1. Time is jumping around again. Whereas the second issue gave the sense that we were now in the present day, this issue takes place one to one and a half years later (Lex claims it's been a year, Lois claims it's been "seventeen months, two weeks, four days, and an odd number of hours...").

2. Superman's heat vision is mentioned for the second time, and now shown to be Clark's method of shaving (since a conventional razor blade or shaver could never break one of his hairs). Funny that Superman IV, released in this same year, similarly addresses the point that Superman's hair has the same super density as the rest of his body. I wonder which was copying the other.

3. First full post-Crisis appearance of Lex Luthor.

4. This is the first brief reference made to the post-Crisis past history between Lex Luthor and Perry White. All we learn from Lois is that Perry has a strong and well acknowledged hatred for Luthor; no reason is given.

5. This is the second brief reference made to Lois' father and the impact he has had on her life (the first was in MoS #2). This time, we are told that Lois was an "army brat" and that she gained much of her toughness from that.

6. Superman is photographed for the first time, but we do not learn who did it.


Minor details:

1. This is the first issue to show Clark/Superman's point of view, though it doesn't add much to the issue, as Byrne uses this more to provide excessive explanations as opposed to conveying any kind of personality. All that makes the character compelling for us at this point is his desire to win Lois' approval and affection.

2. Lois is ever the investigative reporter, scrutinizing every detail in Clark's apartment at the beginning of the issue, and yet she clearly sees pictures of him as a high school football star with no glasses, and doesn't notice any similarity with Superman.

3. MoS #2 left me wondering how many times we were going to see spontaneous extreme crimes pop up in an otherwise healthy city in order to keep providing Superman with crimes to stop. I'm glad that, in this issue, the spontaneous crime we see ends up having been orchestrated by Luthor as a means of testing Superman.

4. What was the point of Superman lifting Lex's ship and moving it? Shouldn't he have tried to stop the gunmen first???

5. The return to focusing on Clark and Lois leaves me wondering if MoS #3 wasn't a last minute addition created to cash in on the DKR phenomenon. As Polar Bear has pointed out, a philosophical tension between Superman and Batman had been established prior to DKR (I had not been aware of this), but MoS #3 felt so closely aligned with DKR #4, plus it felt like a totally arbitrary disruption in the flow of this series.


Plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Lex Luthor has returned from a year abroad, Clark and Lois have been invited on a cruise to Lex's private island, Lois still holds a grudge for Clark scooping her on the first real Superman story, Clark is attracted to her nonetheless, Luthor is trying to get Lois to marry him but she'll have none of it, the ship is hijacked by guerilla militants, they throw Clark overboard and appear to kill him, Lex watches approvingly from the sidelines, Superman lifts the ship while Lois uses the distraction to grab an uzi and start fighting back, Superman jumps in and saves the day, Luthor reveals he allowed it to happen in order to test Superman's skills and offer him a job as his private security guard, Superman declines and the mayor orders Superman to arrest Luthor for reckless endangerment, Luthor evades the charges and threatens to get Superman back for this embarrassment.


Exactly the kind of Superman story I was looking for, though I was a bit disappointed by how unintimidating Luthor proved to be, and I could have done without the excessive explanations offered intermittently via Clark's thought bubbles.

Man of Steel #6

writer/pencils: John Byrne
inks: Dick Giordano
colors: Tom Ziuko
letters: John Costanza
editor: Andrew Helfer

grade: D+

Another awkwardly arranged issue. Okay, so it was inevitable that Clark would have to learn his true legacy and piece together who he really is in contrast, but what was that whole Lana Lang subplot doing in there? It was abrupt and went absolutely nowhere. I know Byrne is an artist first and a writer second, but someone needs to take this man back to seventh grade and show him a plot diagram.

I'll readily confess that I've never read a good Lana Lang story, so I have no idea what standard of expectation I should hold for the character, but she just comes off as pathetic here -- the woman whose future and very identity was shattered by the high school boy she loved not requiting her affections. Maybe there's an attempt to draw a contrast here -- Lois as the progressive and independent city woman, and Lana as the hitch-your-life-to-a-MAN-and-raise-some-kids farm girl, but I'm not feeling it. I hate this Lana for the very same reasons I love this Lois -- no self respect, no life of her own; just a regretful and formerly love sick puppy dog. Lois could not be farther from any of these generic female romantic interest tropes, and that's ALL Lana Lang is in contrast. Am I being too harsh?

After six issues, we finally spend time getting a sense of who Clark is. Perhaps Byrne's purpose in avoiding providing any true characterization for Clark before was that Clark, himself, didn't know who he was, but I'm not buying it. The very act of becoming Superman speaks of strong moral convications that come from a solid sense of self, so this introspective view of Superman comes five issues too late for me, and it truly isn't half as deep or rewarding as it attempts to be. Superman arrives at answers mere seconds after posing big questions. There's no true inner conflict at all. He remains pretty one dimensional beyond the implied question (or maybe I'm inferring something that isn't there) as to whether Clark Kent or Superman is his true identity. He feels he's really Clark when speaking with Ma and Pa Kent on page 4, but seems to see himself more as Superman when off on his own. In the end, he's comfortable balancing the dual worlds of Krypton and Earth, but he hasn't really addressed the dual worlds of Clark and Superman, nor Smallville and Metropolis. Was Byrne intending to leave these matters unresolved, or am I projecting concepts and questions onto the story that Byrne never intended?

Either way, Clark/Superman still feels disappointingly dull and uncomplicated by the close. How does Byrne put forth a proposal to totally revamp Superman and neglect to consider his characterization? Certainly, the Superman playing on movie screens at the time was more complicated and human than this, especially in Superman II (a seven year old movie at this point, but still getting re-run on network television during prime time at least once a year).

Additionally, there are some major unanswered questions left about this character's motivations: What prompted him to become a reporter right after donning the Superman costume when it's implied he'd already been living in Metropolis for some time by this point? What about the fact that, as Superman, he was flying across the world to witness events like the revolution in Zimbabwe? Where was that critical debate about whether or not Superman should interfere in war and foreign politics? How does he stand witness to such events and then satisfy himself picking up muggers and the occasional bank robber? Isn't that a more important story to show than his awkward reunion with Lana Lang?


Continuity points:

1. Superman has "super fast thought processes." Is this a new power?

2. Lana Lang knows Superman's identity. Was this true in the pre-Crisis as well?

3. Superman is 28 at this point, indicating that it has now been 10 years since Clark left Smallville to start saving the world. Still shaky is the question of how long he spent secretly saving people before he was outed at the end of MoS #1 and forced to take on the Superman persona. Since five years passed between MoS #2 and #5, the time frame in question couldn't have been more than five years, but then Clark was only 23 at the time and, assuming Lois is close to his age, she had already become a top reporter in Metropolis at the age of 23?? This timeline isn't entirely working for me.

4. The reference to the revolution in Zimbabwe dates this story as having occurred at the end of the 1970s, at least 7 years prior to the current day at the time. So, essentially, the post-Crisis Superman is at least 35 years old and has been operating in Metropolis for at least 12 years. Of course, Lois was dressed in the trendiest late '80s fashions in MoS #2, so either I'm confused or Byrne is.


Minor details:

Why doesn't Clark get home to visit his family more often when he can fly faster than a speeding bullet? What's stopping him from flying home for dinner every night?



plot synopsis: Clark returns to Smallville, his parents are keeping a secret from him, he is haunted by a holographic image that we know to be his real father, he runs into Lana Lang and is told he ruined her life by not marrying her and showing her his powers, he goes looking for answers in regard to the hologram at the birth matrix he arrived in only to discover a heavy truck carted it off in recent months, the hologram appears again and instills in him all the collected knowledge of Krypton as well as the nature of his true identity, and he decides that "It was Krypton that made me Superman...but it is the Earth that makes me human!!".


I respect the concept for this issue, but the execution was disappointing. I still care nothing for the character of Superman at this point.

Adventures of Superman #424

"Man O' War!"
writer: Marv Wolfman
pencils: Jerry Ordway
inks: Mike Machlan
letters: John Costanza
colors: Tom Ziuko
editor: Andy Helfer

grade: B

Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway jump onboard to bring their own talents to the new Superman mythos. Few overt attempts are made to reference Byrne's specific continuity (aside from the further development of Lucy Lane after MoS #5), but Helfer seems to keep the story well aligned with what's happening on Byrne's watch in Superman. Still, there's a subtly different flavor that the Wolfman/Ordway pair brings to this new Superman mythology.

On the surface level, the differences are obviously in art and writing style. I definitely prefer Ordway's leaner/less apish depictions of Superman and his far out sci-fi gadgetry and dynamic panel arrangements. Meanwhile, while I'm generally a big fan of Wolfman, I find his writing problematic here as the momentum he strives for via overlapping narration is jarring, and his need to have characters over-explain themselves is quite annoying, especially when Luthor's motivations had already been subtly implied prior to the long debriefing he provides for our sake at the end of this issue.

But, on a deeper level, we also see slight differences in how this creative team perceives their characters. Much attention is given to portraying how much more limited the post-Crisis Superman's powers are as we get six panels of extensive internal monologue as Superman attempts to pep talk himself into finding the strength to climb out of rubble that he's been crushed under. It's certainly the most dramatically powerful moment in the issue.

Additionally, this Luthor is more clever and subtle than Byrne's brazen and foolish antagonist, actually managing to confuse Lois as to whether he's truly a villain or not after she was dead set against him following Byrne's Man of Steel series. Luthor as business tycoon was Wolfman's pitch in the post Crisis, and so it's no surprise to find Wolfman depicting him better than Byrne did.

Wolfman and Ordway also spend more time at the Daily Planet, concocting soap opera style complications for the characters (Lois' mother dying, Cat Grant as vixen rival for Lois, Lex Luthor as the dark suitor rival for Clark), and depicting Clark as a true klutz even while strong, confident, and attractive.

Finally, the team also gives an exciting and advanced sci-fi feel to Metropolis, in which villains utilize super advanced robot technology, and even nutty professors can concoct magnetic repulsor fields. Perhaps this is largely due to the advances made by Luthor and his company.

In contrast, the actual conflict of this story isn't all that interesting to me -- a terrorist organization implied to be backed by Luthor and inevitably being used as a front to eliminate his own enemies without getting his hands dirty. I find what Luthor is doing with Lois far more interesting than the main conflict, though I do applaud Wolfman for doing a bit of universe building here by bringing back the terrorist nation of Qurac (first introduced by him in Teen Titans Spotlight 3-6, a non-Superman story). Qurac surfaces again in some later non-Wolfman, non-Superman stories, most notably including Starlin and Aparo's Batman: A Death in the Family.

Important details:

-1st post-Crisis appearance of Sam Lane (Lois' father) and the revelation that he and Lois are not on speaking terms. This comes as a surprise since, in Man of Steel #2, while praising her own strength, Lois identifies herself with her father. We can also deduce that Sam Lane was in the military since Man of Steel #4 refers to Lois having been an army brat.

-1st post-Crisis appearance of Elinore Lane (Lois' mother) in a coma. Works at a chemical plant owned by Luthor.

-1st appearance Cat Grant. Gossip columnist from LA hired by Perry White. Reputation for promiscuity.

-1st appearance of Professor Emil Hamilton

-Clark Kent has published more than one novel, and it is implied that they are widely read. Perhaps this is what he was doing prior to working for the Daily Planet.

-The Daily Planet was Lois' first serious job.

-1st appearance of The Freedom League (though I do not suspect they'll show up again)

- 1st post-Crisis appearance of Bill Henderson, Superman's equivalent of Commissioner Gordon. I was not aware of this character previously, though wikipedia indicates he has a long history in the Superman mythos, stemming back to the 1940s radio show and 1950s television series.

- 1st appearance of Lilya. Is Wolfman conflicting Byrne in giving Luthor a second female assistant/implied sexual partner that isn't Pearl (from Superman #1), or are we instead meant to infer that Luthor has an endless supply of such trusted assistants/sexual partners with whom he enjoys discussing his most intimate thoughts and intricate plans?

- post-Crisis re-introduction of Suicide Slum, Metropolis' crime-infested section. I suspect this was done to give Superman more crime to fight and Clark more victims of social injustice to champion. Meanwhile, Man of Steel #3 implied that Metropolis was relatively crime-free compared to Gotham.

- Luthor is still a scientist, though he has largely moved away from this in order to run his empire. So, essentially, the concept is not that Luthor is now a business tycoon instead of a scientist, but rather that a scientist with Luthor's hunger for power operating in the 1980s would inevitably utilize his gifts to further his own quest for power via the business world, the easiest and most admired way to legitimately amass power in such a time period.

- Luthor views everything in terms of winners and losers, even counting Lois the loser to his victory as he begins to succeed in wooing her.

- Wolfman attempts to create a return to the foundational Superman concept of news reporters as agents of social justice. People call the Planet for help when they have no other recourse, and we also see a "Mr. Gunderson" contact Clark in the hopes that he can reach Superman.

- The professor that Clark and Cat are assigned to help is not given a name in this issue. Is this a purposeful omission? Will he turn out to be a famous villain or supporting character in the Superman mythos?

- When responding to the Qurac terrorists' assertion that they are entitled to their course of action because they are taking a war that America started in their land back to the West, Superman responds by saying “Not in my town. In fact, not in my country.” I find this surprising in that it shows Superman having a greater allegiance to America than to justice. As I discussed in my review of Man of Steel #6, I find it disconcerting that Byrne never had Superman reflect on whether or not to get involved in international justice before deciding to settle for a life of stopping petty criminals in Metropolis and saving the average citizen from occasional disaster. Now, I find it further disturbing that, when confronted with such injustice in this context, his rationale for continuing to fight the terrorists is not that two wrongs don't make a right, but rather that they should not bring this battle to his territory, entirely ignoring the injustice of which they speak.

This is further exacerbated by the fact that Superman earlier asks “What’s this war they keep talking about?” implying he's not even aware of what has been happening in Qurac. Surely, as a news reporter, he'd be up on current events, wouldn't he? Certainly, the terrorist acts of the Freedom League should not be condoned, but to totally ignore the initial injustice that has bred their hatred seems irresponsible, especially for a writer like Wolfman who has proven to be conscious of international affairs and injustices in several other stories he has written.

So is Superman a blind patriot who defends America simply because his rocket fell there? The Superman I've always believed in supported America because he generally felt it was an agent of justice in the world. Maybe it's just me, but I've always felt that a true patriot questions his country when it commits acts that conflict with the basic ideals upon which it was founded -- basic ideals that any true patriot is passionate about defending. I therefore find Superman's blind patriotism here disturbing.

Minor details:

- Where did these enormous robots/vehicles come from that they weren’t noticed until the last moment? Certainly, someone would have noticed their rolling down the streets of Metropolis, descending from an aircraft, or rising from beneath the Earth, yet no one seems to see them until a moment before they begin destroying things.

- Why would Clark attempt to punch the professor’s magnetic defense system with full strength? If he succeeded in breaking it with his super strength, wouldn't he have a few questions to answer for the professor?

- Robot vehicles that combine together at the last moment to create a super robot creature? Seriously? Even Superman acknowledges how ridiculously they resemble children's toys of the time period (Voltron, Transformers, etc).

- No letter column to address the renaming of this title nor the introduction of the Wolfman/Ordway creative team?


plot synopsis in one long sentence:

Lois' mother is in a coma and dying after an explosion at a chemical factory she was unexpectedly sent to, Lucy Lane is falling apart as a result of this, a terrorist group using advanced robot vehicles begins attacking various corporate and government targets, Cat Grant joins the Daily Planet staff and she and Clark begin flirting, they meet an unnamed professor who wants their help because the government has shut down his work on a magnetic defense shielf, Superman fights the terrorists' robot vehicles and loses, Luthor gains Lois' cooperation and (he utimately hopes) her affection by finding a cure for her mother that must be administered once a month for the rest of her life, we learn that he was responsible for Lois' mother's accident and could have cured her permanently if he wanted to.


Not a great story, but I respect Wolfman's efforts to create compelling conflicts in Clark's personal life, developed in parallel to the conflicts he faces as Superman. I also much prefer his depiction of Luthor to Byrne's and respect the attempt at inter-title/inter-office continuity with the re-emergence of terrorists from Qurac.

Superman #2

"The Secret Revealed"
writer/penciler: John Byrne
inks: Terry Austin
letters: John Costanza
colors: Tom Ziuko
editor: Andrew Helfer
special thanks to: Keith Williams for background inks

grade: B-

Seems a bit odd to me that, while it's publicly acknowledged that the post-Crisis Lex Luthor was Marv Wolfman's idea (we're even told so again in Dick Giordano's "Meanwhile..." column this issue), Wolfman barely got an opportunity to touch him last issue while Byrne is spending tons of time on the character.

And, here's the thing -- Byrne writes him terribly.

I get the idea behind this issue. I see all that Byrne was trying to do, but his Luthor is brazen and foolish to the extreme that I'm constantly left wondering how he ever rose to the position of power he now occupies. To start with, we have to discuss his grand moment of foolishness at the end of this issue, in which he refuses to consider that Superman could be Clark Kent because someone with Superman's power would never lower himself to such a standing when he could be out exploiting his gifts. Sure, a more subtle writer could have made me understand how a man who has the shrewd brilliance to build and run a multi-national empire makes such a foolish error, but Byrne didnt.

And I'm not clear on why Luthor allows Superman to go free towards the end when he could easily kill him. What does he have to gain by making Superman sweat it out? Byrne's writing really doesn't provide a convincing motivation for me here at all. Byrne easily could have had Luthor reflect back on the insult he felt when Superman arrested him in MoS #4, discuss his jealousy over Superman's natural power and how he chooses to use it, etc., but we get none of that. Wolfman absolutely would have handled this moment better.

Still, worse than all of this is the idea Byrne forces down our throats throughout this issue that Luthor's underlings are all disposable to him. As was hinted at in earlier stories, ALL of his first ring subordinates are attractive young women that he candidly discusses his plans with, uses sexually, and then discards and financially/socially destroys when he is done. How in the world can you run an effective organization with that kind of turn around rate? There must be a steep learning curve when walking into one of those positions, but Amanda (the underling focused on in this issue) lasts a total of two days in her position, and that's without making any unusual errors or missteps. One has to assume her experience working under (and perhaps on top of) Lex is the norm and not the exception.

Luthor does the same with his hitmen (dispose of them, not sleep with them), as if quality assassins grow on trees. Eventually, you think he'd get a reputation in the underworld, and established criminals would stop working for him.

And seriously, why are these employees constantly surprised by Luthor's actions? All companies spread gossip about the boss, and I have to imagine a company with a boss that regularly flies into rages, seduces underlings, and fires people on a daily basis, would generate a TON of gossip, so how the heck is Happersen surprised that Luthor sees no moral dilemma in pulling the Kryptonite out of Metallo's body (last seen in Superman #1) when doing so will cause him to die?

Again, stupid.


Then we've got Lana Lang, back by lack of demand, who should probably impress us with her strength in never giving in to torture in order to protect Superman's identity, but it still comes off as the actions of "a super-groupie" (sadly, these are Luthor's words, not even mine), and so she remains pathetic to us.


Fortunately, the one moment in this issue that did impress me enough to send a shiver down my spine is the neat little foreshadowing that occurs in the following discourse between Luthor and Happersen:

Happersen: S-sir--You shouldn't be here without a protective suit. The radiation levels...

Luthor: ...are quite within acceptable tolerances, Happersen. One of the first things we determined was that this so-called Kryptonite could not harm human beings.

Of course, this is the very same issue in which Luthor makes his Kryptonite ring, a brilliant idea in its own right, but my knowledge of what will happen several years down the road with Luthor and the radiation from that ring makes this moment so much more enjoyable. Impressive that Byrne was plotting that far out as he's clearly hinting at such a turn of events here, especially as Luthor waves that over-confident hand to dismiss Happersen's warning.


Important details:

- Death of Metallo (I have to assume he, or another like him, is coming back. Considering this in the context of the Bizarro we met in MoS #5, it sure seems like Byrne is breezing through these classic villains the way Luthor breezes through underlings).

- Byrne works hard to offer two explanations as to why everyone in Superman's world is too stupid to figure out that he's Clark Kent without glasses, but neither really works. The first is that, as Superman, he vibrates his head super fast when he is having his picture taken. First off, how can he always be sure of when his picture is being taken or when he is being video recorded? Secondly, in a world of futuristic technology including camera eyes that fly through the air without wings or exhaust, turn on a dime, and carry enough explosives in a six inch diameter body to level a city block, no one has developed software that can correct for such vibrations?

- The second explanation is that Luthor's hubris won't allow him to accept that Superman would condescend to go about as an average human, but what's to stop someone else from drawing this logical conclusion, especially since Amanda now has this information and will no longer be employed by Luthor. Certainly, Lois sees Superman up close regularly, has seen Clark's high school photos as a football star (sans glasses), and has a reporter's intuition to connect the two. It just seems inevitable that numerous people would put these things together.

- Four years passed between Clark leaving Smallville and enrolling in Metropolis University


Minor details:

- So, wait. How is Lana Lang getting to the scene of every major Superman appearance?? And why does that make her suspicious to Luthor??

- The shooting of Pa Kent. This drawn out, ambiguous moment seems like it was designed to tease old time readers expecting Pa Kent to die (as he had done in the Pre-Crisis era). Sure enough, it's just a drugged dart.

- What were the chances of Lana showing up just when Luthor's men were there, especially since Luthor is conveniently looking for her but doesn't know who she is or where to find her?

- Page 14, panel 2: either Lana has disjointed her right arm and tucked it awkwardly into her shirt or her boob is hanging out.

- So why should we be concerned that Luthor has Ma Kent's photo album? Clearly, he won't accept that Clark and Superman are the same no matter what evidence he's given, and clearly he already has the means to kill Superman, so why should we be further worried here?


plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence:

- We watch the quick rise and fall of Amanda, a subordinate to Luthor who is forced to become his unwilling concubine as she moves up to the #2 rank in his company, all before being dismissed by him at the close of the issue; meanwhile Luthor's underlings identify Lana Lang as having been at the scene for every major Superman sighting up to six months ago and also decides to have his people learn all they can about Clark Kent and his connection to Superman, he takes the Kryptonite from Metallo (killing him in the process), and has his men knock out Ma and Pa Kent in order to search their home for information, but they are accidentally discovered by Lana Lang and take her with them (which proves to be a benefit to Luthor since he has been looking for her but did not know her name), we see Luthor's people try to track Superman with a flying camera eye, but he outsmarts it, Clark discovers a beaten and tortured Lana left to bait him towards getting Superman to walk into a trap, the trap only manages to annoy Superman, he confronts Luthor, Luthor reveals his new Kryptonite ring and decides to let Superman escape/live so that he can savor torturing him, Superman discovers that Luthor's men stole his personal items from the Kent farm and wonders what he'll do with them, and Amanda presents her final findings to Luthor -- that Superman is Clark Kent, and he is so enraged by her "foolish" assertion that he fires her.