Superman (1987) #32



“Gladiator”
writer: Roger Stern
pencils: Kerry Gammill
inks:Dennis Janke
letters: John Costanza
colors: Glenn Whitmore
editor: Mike Carlin
plotting assist by Jerry Ordway and George Perez
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

grade: B-


It's been half a year since Byrne left the Superman office, and yet I still feel like the franchise is spinning its wheels trying to tell a story. We've got solid continuity now, but we spent forever in the Exile storyline that went nowhere and are now spending a whole lot of time on Warworld even without a plotline that's particularly compelling. We all know Superman's getting out of this one alive and there's not much more at stake beyond that. He's already thoroughly redeemed himself as a hero and has nothing left to prove, so all that's left to care about at all is the mystery of the Eradicator device, but I'm not all that interested.

However, I do like how Mongul is handled here. Stern and Gammill work together through visuals and writing to portray a supremely arrogant and yet intelligent dictator who is acutely aware of how to maintain his power at all times. I'm not particularly familiar with the Pre-Crisis Mongul, so I'm not sure if this is a different or tired old approach to the character, nor if the brief origin provided, explaining that he's conquered countless planetary systems, is in any way new.



I suppose Carlin, Stern, Ordway, and Perez are trying to slowly acclimate us to the change of now having three Superman titles thoroughly intertwined with each other. In addition to having the write-up after the final panel reminding us to check out Adventures of Superman #455 next, as well as solicits in the letter column for both that issue and the next issue of Superman, this issue begins with a four page recap of all that's transpired in the story thus far, just in case you were only reading the core Superman title up until now.


My one hang-up with this issue is the conveniences Stern depends upon. For example, we've been hearing throughout this story that Superman is vastly depowered after having nearly died in space and being away from the yellow sun for so long, but in a climactic moment with Mongul, after having been beaten within an inch of his life, Superman is suddenly at full power again, the narration randomly popping in to explain:



A witness to this even wonders why Superman didn't fight like this in his original battle against Mongul. Why? Because then there would have been no drama/story.

A second convenience comes in Matrix, now disguised as Clark Kent, being more confused than ever and yet suddenly fully articulate, speaking like Clark instead of a grown woman-child.

And yet a third convenience comes when Superman is literally killed by Mongul's energy ray and than inexplicably resurrected by the Eradicator device. This one had better get explained convincingly next issue.

Stern just feels very sloppy in this issue.



plot synopsis in one sentence:

After a brief flashback on Mongul conquering planets and all that has transpired in this storyline thus far, Superman threatens Mongul to a one-on-one match in the gladiator ring, Mongul kicks his butt, Jimmy Olsen finds a disoriented Matrix posing as Clark Kent, Cleric uses his psychic abilities to revive Superman in time to break free of his restraints and fight Mongul a second time, he kicks Mongul's butt, Mongul then uses some type of energy weapon, and Superman is killed but then resurrected before Cleric by the mysterious Eradicator Device.

I suppose that makes a lot more sense, but the writing strongly implies a death and resurrection, and both Mongul and the warrior viewing the moment believe they saw Superman killed. You are correct that Gammill's pencils leave it ambiguous. That absolutely is how they can explain it away next issue.

So how would an alien techonology, no matter how advanced, know to teleport him away at the last second? I find it more believable that it can detect the termination of the life signs of the last Kryptonian.

Action Comics Weekly #641



The final issue of the standard Action Comics Weekly format. Next week is the Elliot S. Maggin Green Lantern/Superman story (after which I'll review the original, unpublished Neil Gaiman story), and then a return to full length Superman stories. Can't wait.

This issue definitely didn't feel like any kind of special send-off. The Demon ends on a cliff-hanger, promising "To be continued..." but I guess that's going to have to wait until the launch of the regular series in three months' time (Gold is still calling it a limited series as of next issue's letter column). Phantom Lady ended...thankfully, as did Wild Dog. And we got two decent filler stories: The Human Target, by Mark Waid and Curt Swan, and The Phantom Stranger, by Paul Kupperberg (once again), and Jose Garcia-Lopez.

Next issue, Mike Gold will once again reiterate his claim that ACW isn't ending due to sales, and that, in fact, sales were good enough to keep the book going, but this issue contains the annual statement of ownership, management and circulation, and here we see that, in the span of a single year, the book averaged 116,416 copies per issue, and yet was down to only 61,807 copies as of the latest issue. Sales must have declined by well over 70% if 116,416 was only the average for the year-long descent. Don't tell me that wasn't part of the reason for abandoning the experiment.



And then there was the (thankfully final installment of) Superman...

"Justice for All"
writer: Roger Stern
pencils: Curt Swan
inks: Murphy Anderson
letters: Bill Oakley
colors: Tom Ziuko
editor: Mike Carlin

grade: A-

This was actually a really good final installment, and while it was as preachy as one would expect about not judging immigrants because we're all immigrants (even Superman), it's important to remember how sensitive the world was (and is) to immigrants of Arabic descent. Even stating the obvious can be a controversial, courageous, and necessary course of action at times.

But that wasn't the best part of this issue.

Rather, it was just the pacing and the attitude of the whole thing. Superman came off like a boss this time around, dealing with folks that you knew he wanted to pound. You can just feel the restraint he's employing with comedic effect across the following three panels:



It also subtly reflects the inner struggle and resulting growth he's experienced in the Superman and Adventures of Superman titles over the past few months.


As for the delinquents, he then lectures them and ends by flying off and not looking back, explaining:




Like a boss.

Well here's a biggy I've been waiting to tackle. I'll review the original Gaiman script next:






Action Comics Weekly #642 (final issue as Action Comics Weekly)

"Where There is a Will...!"

writer: Elliot S. Maggin

pencils: Gil Kane (pages 1-4); Steve Ditko (pages 5-12), Curt Swan (pages 13, 17, 18, 20, top half of pages 28 and 29; bottom half of pages 33 and 37; page 38); Jim Aparo (pages 14-16, 21; page 31; top half of page 32; bottom half of page 36); Jim Mooney (pages 19, 22-27; bottom half of page 34); Carmine Infantino (bottom half of pages 28, 29, 30, and 32; top half of pages 33, 34, 36, and 37; page 35).

inks: Gil Kane (pages 1-4), Art Thibert (pages 5-12), Ty Templeton (pages 13, 17, 18, 20; top half of pages 28 and 29; bottom half of pages 33 and 37; page 38); John Nyberg (pages 14-16, 21, page 31; top half of page 32; bottom half of page 36); Ian Akin (pages19, 22-27, bottom half of page 34); Brian Garvey (pages19, 22-27, bottom half of page 34); Kevin Nowlan (bottom of pages 28, 29, 30, and 32; top half of pages 33, 34, 36, and 37; page 35)

colors: Glenn Whitmore
letters: John E. Workman, Jr.
Editors: Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn



For those that don't know the story, the plan was to give ACW a final send-off with a double-length full issue story utilizing heroes from the ACW cast of characters (an experiment tried once before in ACW #635). The job was originally given to Neil Gaiman, but his script was rejected when it was determined that Hal Jordan and Clark Kent should not know each other's secret identities (I explain the history of that decision here), an idea central to Gaiman's script. So Elliot S. Maggin was brought in at the zero hour to write a replacement story with which to conclude ACW. It's a big story, and not one that's easy to dismiss as simply being "good" or "bad", so I will break it down as follows:


The Plot: A+

Central to this story is the question of what a hero is. Why did Abin Sur's ring pick Hal Jordan all those years ago, who else did it pass up, and what does it really mean to not have fear? The ring's choices are fascinating in these respects, selecting the following potential candidates, all meeting the requirements of being good people with strong morals, strong wills, and no self-doubt:



Clark Kent, Boston Brand (Deadman, inhabiting a terrorist's body at the time), A Native American, Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Guy Gardner (Green Lantern), John Stewart (off planet, and, thus, mentioned but not present in the story), and characters who either are, or are strongly based upon, non-super heroes Terry Waite, Lech Walesa, and Desmond Tutu.

The last three are the most fascinating part -- real world "heroes" who fought to accomplish larger scale change without ever resorting to physical combat. And before you chuckle, asking yourself what Bishop Desmond Tutu would do with a Green Lantern ring, you should know that we get an answer to that very question. Each of the assembled heroes gets an opportunity to (briefly) use Green Lantern energy in resolving a conflict they face in the story. I've never heard of a Green Lantern ring being able to control/influence the minds of others before, but perhaps that's just because previous candidates' wills have never leaned towards persuading people to change their attitudes/beliefs.

Of course the one disturbing omission here is that absolutely no women are chosen. Clark Kent did briefly point this out in the flashback at the beginning but, years later, the ring makes the same choices again, and nothing more is said about it; not even by Clark.

This really is an excellent concept that could/should have been explored further. Even just the idea that Dick Grayson was picked over Bruce Wayne (really, the fear aspect makes sense though), would have made for a great page or two. Were this same story to be tried in 2015, it would be a major summer event in which eight new limited series titles would be launched, each exploring a candidate's adventures with a Green Lantern ring. Unfortunately, page limitations and time were not this story's friends, and so the idea ends up rushed and not explored as well as it should have been.


The Continuity: F

So the entire reason for rejecting Neil Gaiman's story was that someone felt that Hal Jordan shouldn't know Superman's secret identity (even though Action Comics #606 already established that he did), yet the story that was then green-lighted now retcons Clark Kent as Abin-Sur's first choice as a successor, also clearly indicating that Hal wasn't even in the original running to be a Green Lantern, and that it was Clark's recommendation that got him chosen. Given the choice, it seems to me that Gaiman's script was far less disruptive of existing continuity than what Maggins turned in.

If that's not bad enough, consider that Superman has been active for, at most, 5 years now, and that Clark has only worn the glasses as a disguise for that length of time as well, yet he meets Abin-Sur "many years ago" wearing those glasses. I suspect the intention was for this to take place during that period (1977-1984) when Clark was anonymously saving people before assuming an identity, as he bursts into Abin Sur's cabin, looking to help while adorned in civilian clothing. Maggin's concept is more amusing in that light -- what if Clark had become Green Lantern instead of (not in addition to) being Superman -- but then drawing him like present-day Clark, with the dress shirt, tie, and (most importantly) glasses, was a significant continuity error.

For what it's worth, we already know Hal Jordan is active as of Superman (vol. 2) #1, three years after Clark assumed his dual identity, but less than two years prior to this story in terms of continuity.

Finally, while this story acknowledges the major issues Hal Jordan had gone through during the Peter David Green Lantern stories in ACW, it completely ignores the later James Owsley stories, which were abandoned mid-stream and, in my mind, were far more interesting. While I don't believe Gaiman's script outright acknowledges Owsley's stories either, entitling it "Legend of the Green Flame" was at least a nod to Owsley's run, in which the villain Malvolio referred to the Green Lantern energy as "The Green Flame".



The Writing B-

Maggin has excellent prose style here that I would quote if I thought you cared and if this review wasn't already getting long-winded, but the pacing of this story is an utter train-wreck. it takes half the story (a full length comic book issue) to even assemble the candidates for the ring, none of them gets to actually say or do anything when they meet other than Deadman and Superman, Hal makes the decision to go on living pretty darn quickly when his own self-doubt was supposed to be central to this entire story, and we get that weird, overly comedic coda on the last two pages in which Deadman harasses Clark Kent about wanting to be alive. What the heck?


Great concept; lousy execution.




plot synopsis in one sentence:

Hal Jordan has lost his "umph" in the wake of the death of Katma Tui and the loss of Carol Ferris, finding himself in a situation in which he takes lethal damage and simply loses the will to live, allowing his ring to summon the original candidates that it chose when Abin-Sur died, but Clark Kent (one of the candidates) convinces Hal to go on living, at which point all candidates are returned to their lives with a brief supply of residual Green Lantern energy with which to resolve their conflicts; Deadman then follows Clark Kent home to harass him about loving life so much more than death.

Sadly, he has an incredibly small presence in the story. I wouldn't pick it up just to see Dick wielding GL energy. He gets maybe two pages in this 38 page story.



That's straight from Guy's first appearance way back in GL #59.

Of course, in the Pre-Crisis, Guy was later turned insane as the result of a variety of messed up events. In the Post-Crisis, I don't think they ever explain why he was considered a qualified candidate yet is clearly out of his mind in the present. Even in this story, he gets in one classic Guy moment where he gives the villain his ring and tells him to give it his best while Guy takes him down bare handed.

There really isn't anything more to it than that. Guy says this to the criminal and then gets whisked away to the main plot line, where he stands around, unconscious of what is transpiring.

Nah, Guy did things like that a lot in the Giffen/DeMatteis League book; it's what lead to the classic one punch moment with Batman.

-M