Superman: The Earth Stealers
writer: John Byrne
pencils: Curt Swan
inks: Jerry Ordway
colors: Bill Wray
letters: ?
editor: ?

grade: B-


It's interesting to view this release in the context of the emerging graphic novel medium. DC was clearly in the midst of experimentation/marketing research in 1988. They'd experienced success with the limited series (most notably DKR, Watchmen, and Man of Steel), they'd already begun releasing reprint anthologies in the form of premium Archive Editions, softcover tpbs of high interest stories such as Batman: Year One, Man of Steel, Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, etc (and I believe The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told had recently hit shelves), but, to the best of my knowledge, this was only DC's second original content graphic novel.

The first (again, as far as I know) was Batman: Son of the Demon. While that volume was 80 pages long and initially released in a gorgious premium hardback edition, this follow up graphic novel, released a year later, comes off far less impressive. Without even discussing its content, Earth Stealers is a paltry 47 pages and was only released in an inexpensive softcover format with no forward, afterward, nor supplemental information of any kind. Perhaps DC was experimenting with a less expensive format? It just seems odd that a property currently enjoying three monthly series and an ongoing parade of limited series wouldn't receive its first graphic novel with a little more gusto than this. Perhaps this was an early sign that DC was cooling to Byrne? He'll be off of Action Comics in three more months and leaving the entire franchise only three months after that, complaining that he wasn't supported enough by the DC editorial staff (boy, wait until I get into this one with my review of Superman #22...). Or perhaps someone at DC took a look at Earth Stealers and simply decided it wasn't going to amount to a big deal.

Essentially, if I wanted to compress all that the Byrne Superman run is, the good and the bad, into 47 pages, this would be it. You've got the clear affection for the Weisinger Era Superman stories nodded to with an absurd sci-fi plot (and, of course, Curt Swan signed on for penciling chores -- which I'll get into later in this review), an odd attempt to handle such a story with a little more depth and thought that sometimes works, more often doesn't, and generally comes at the cost of capturing any of the simplistic charm of those early stories, an overly cynical, complaining, and sarcastically joking Superman that's hard to admire, and plot holes a mile wide. All that's really missing is the heavy handed preaching and an unflattering stereotypical depiction of a minority group.

To be fair, Earth Stealers encaptures ALL of Byrne's approach to Superman (Barda sex tapes aside), and so it is successful at times too. He certainly lends more sci-fi authenticity to the premise than a Superman story from 1957 would have, going into detail about the resources required to build so massive a ship as the one that is doing the "Earth stealing," and attempting to explain how an advanced race might move through space so efficiently via a sort of tear in space (that I assume functions like a wormhole or space-fold), but then he also leaves nagging little problems like how there's still light on Earth (and, in fact, blinding light) when the Earth has been ensnared in a semi-permeable black aura and is being carried away from the sun at faster than light speed. There are a million smaller problems as well, but they aren't worth getting into. Essentially, Byrne hits that same old uncomfortable balance of simple/fun and mature/thoughtful, never quite mastering either tone, and leaving me entirely unclear on how much suspension of disbelief to afford him. And, of course, he still misses the point that the true innate charm of those old Superman stories was the character, himself, as a beacon of goodness that we could all believe in, even when he felt the need to have some fun at Lois' expense. Byrne's Superman is a jaded whiner throughout this story, and it irks me.

What should be the high point of this volume is Curt Swan's return to Superman. You'd think that would be the key factor to highlight, but a number of odd choices are made, all of which diminish Swan's impact upon the story:

1. Having Ordway ink over Swan's pencils. Don't get me wrong. I like Ordway, but his style is completely different from Swan's and takes away any sense of charming nostaliga that one would expect Swan's pencils to provide.

2. Having Ordway do the cover. WHY??? If you've brought back Swan to do Superman, shouldn't the cover be advertising this fact?

3. To go along with this, Swan is credited second on the cover (after Byrne).

4. Maybe he declined the offer, but it seems like it would have been fun to allow Swan to co-plot this story. I don't know how much input he had for the old stories, but he certainly knew that style of plotting better than Byrne does.


In the end, this was somewhat fun in its execution, but there's still that weird uncomfortable balance between modern and retro going on in both the writing and the artwork, and diminishing Swan's contributions to the issue on so many levels really disappoints me as well.


Continuity Alerts:

- Lexcorp has its hands in more things than we'd previously been led to believe. They are now outfitting NASA (if, in fact, the space agency depicted in this story is NASA) with technology that is beyond its own capabilities, and WLEX is quickly emerging as a leading news source in Metropolis, frequently scooping other news sources because, "they're boss, Lex Luthor, creates most of the best stories."

- Superman's ability to hold his breath for several hours at a time is a byproduct of his super fast metabolism (Superman, himself, explains this, but how would he know this?).

- Lois begins to suspect that Clark is Superman and explains her rationale to Perry White. I thought the one dimension of the Superman reboot Byrne was most proud of was the idea that no one would suspect Superman had an alternate identity. He outright mocked the concept and called it "lazy writing" in his preface to the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman tpb; a preface that was written years after this story. Yet he's now played this card twice in two years of writing Superman (the first time being in Superman #2 when Luthor is confronted with this possibility too).

Lois and Superman share a passionate kiss (they're first in the Post-Crisis) when they believe all may be lost. Afterwards, Superman tells her:

"You...don't have to say anything, Lois, Nothing is really changed by what happened aboard the gatherer. We both have...things to come to terms with. When you're ready, I'll be here."

What things does Superman have to come to terms with? And let's keep in mind this kiss comes one month (probably only a matter of days, by their time) after Lois confided in Superman that she had feelings for Clark, and that happened almost concurrently with her visiting Jose DelGado in the hospital and telling him that Superman was nothing and her feelings were for him.

Does Byrne at least realize he's doing this?

And wow, providing a moment as pivotal as Superman and Lois' first kiss outside of the regular Superman titles? I wonder how many of the regular readers actually picked up Earth Stealers? It's not like it was even solicited in the regular Superman titles, so how many other readers completely missed this moment, unaware of this dinky little direct-market only graphic novel and/or assuming it was unimportant?




Minor Details


- As has become customary, Byrne begins this story with Superman either reflecting on all the adventures we've watched him face as of late or an adventure he's just coming back from that we didn't read about in order to perpetuate the idea that he's always busy and these adventures are only the highlights. The latter is again true this time, as he explains he just got back from dealing with a burning oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.

- An unusual amount of agnosticim comes through in the early parts of this issue as, on the very first page, an engineer on the Moonbase informs his colleagues they should worship at "the first church of me" because he fixed a problem and, only, two pages later, Superman reflects, "...all the RIGHT gods must have been watching over me today." Personally, I've no qualms with comic book writers espousing religious, agnostic, nor athiestic view in their pages when appropriate, but...it's Superman. You know, the American Way and all that? Surely, impressionable kids were reading.

- John Byrne beats Superman: Red Son by thirteen years in having a Russian Cosmonaut ponder out loud how things would have worked out differently if Superman had arrived on Earth in Russia instead of America.

- On page 4, Clark stares after Jimmy Olsen and thinks, "But you've still got all the makings of a FINE reporter. Agile of mind, and body...". Creeeeeepy.

- Gee, Perry. Maybe the reason WLEX gets the news leaks faster is that they aren't working in the print medium. How in the world is a paper that gets released in two daily editions going to scoop a radio news network in a fair fight?

- I'll accept the premise that Superman can hold his breath for several hours, but wouldn't that all get thrown out the window when he gets knocked unconscious in space?

- Not the first time that Superman makes a comment like, "Let's face it, I've been playing this game too long to..." yet every clue we've been offered about Byrne's Post-Crisis Timeline suggests that Superman first became Superman in 1984, and that the current day is still 1987. Does serving as Metropolis' protector for three years really afford him the right to refer to that time as a "game" he's been playing for a long while now? Tireless as the work may be, he must still be figuring things out.

- Upon speculating whether or not the space vessel is intending to harm Superman, he comments that, "Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, when I've been attacked in the past, the attacker meant it." Maybe I'm being nitpicky on this one, but I can think of at least two adventures off the top of my head where the attacker didn't mean it (Titano and the irradiated nuclear engineer, and even then you've got murkier examples like Prof. Emil Hamilton and Combattor, and note that I'm coming up with these from memory; I'm sure there have been more examples), and there's no way we've seen a hundred Superman adventures yet. Maybe every single one of those minor adventures we haven't seen involved antagonists who meant to hurt Supes?

- "Forgive the cliche, but...where am I?" I'm sorry? That's a cliche?

- Why does Superman still have super powers in the absence of Earth's yellow sun? Heck, he's initially drained and waits for his powers to recover aboard the Earth Stealers' ship, yet there is no sun of any kind around.

- When the Earth Stealers scan Superman's brain to relive each and every one of his memories (what a useless procedure to employ on a minor threat to your ship), the visual includes key figures in Superman's life including his Kryptonian parents (but not Ma and Pa Kent), and only two villains -- one of which is Metallo, a one-time villain from the first issue of Superman that didn't seem all that important. Why this particular selection of persons? Perhaps a crowd of figures, spanning beyond the width of the panel, would have been more appropriate? Of course, if the Earth Stealers had seen Ma and Pa Kent in Superman's memories, they would have been abducted instead of Lois, Jimmy, and Perry, and that would have cost this story much of its Weisinger Era feel.

- I love how Perry introduces himself to the alien leader as "Perry White, Managing Editor of the Daily Planet!" as if he expected that to mean something to him.

- The arena combat sequence on pages 32-34 is probably as fun as this story gets. GREAT Swan pencilwork!

- Okay, so Superman wins the match in the arena. Why in the world does that cause the aliens to abandon their ship, critical to the survival of their entire race? Couldn't they just sap Superman's strength again and capture him a second time? Could an ancient alien race have truly survived this long when making stupid and abitrary decisions like this one?

- We build up all this tension that Superman will likely die while pushing the Earth and moon back to the proper solar system, and then he just doesn't. No particular acknowledgement of "Wow! I made it -- just barely!" or "That was easier than I thought!" He just does it.

- We can make some assumptions, but Superman never makes clear his rationale for why he doesn't want this story published. Earth has faced potential destruction before in this continuity.



plot synopsis in one sentence:

An alien race that abducts planets to scrap into raw material captures Earth, Superman intervenes, is captured, has his memories scanned, and is then forced to fight in an arena for the fate of Earth and the lives of Lois, Jimmy and Perry, he wins, the aliens abandon ship (thus condemning their ancient race to extinction), and Superman returns things to normal, asking the Daily Planet not to publish what has happened, presumably since it would upset the order of things on Earth.

Superman #17

"Cries in the Night"
writer & pencils: John Byrne
colors: Petra Scotese
letters: John Costanza
editor: Michael Carlin

grade: B+

Silver Banshee is the only villain Byrne has introduced thus far that seemed as though she was intended to come back, and here she is. Her power, turning people into shriveled corpses with her screams, is, of course, visually interesting, and her enigmatic backstory gets teased further along here, as we learn her last name (McDougal), either her name or a traditional word her clan has for what she has become ("Siobhan," pronounced "Shee-Vaughn"), meet her brother (Bevan), and learn that she has violated her family's most ancient tradition that has kept her clan strong for a thousand generations. However, we still never learn what book she has been looking for, why she feels she is running out of time, nor how she manages to keep appearing to destroy herself, only to come back whole again later.

But, truthfully, she's not the memorable part of this story.

Instead, it's watching Byrne continue to finally flesh out his cast of characters. In Action #599, he started becoming playful with Luthor and giving some real thought to who Superman is beyond his powers. In World of Smallville #2, he made Jonathan and Martha Kent come alive with characterization and integrity. Now he's spending a little more time on Clark and his quest to straighten out his priorities, balancing out a desire to take down Lex Luthor as a reporter since he's unable to do so as Superman (about time he arrived at this conclusion!) with his loyalty to both Perry White's demands and Jimmy Olsen's needs. We also learn more about Jimmy and watch Lois begin to get herself into trouble with some sort of underground work we'll be learning about in later issues. In short, rather than getting another run of the mill story in which Superman fights some super powered villain (though that does occur here), Byrne is finally paying attention to the characters who make up Superman's world and their appropriate characterizations. It's all coming two years late, but better late than never.

Fun issue that does a whole lot right. Really, the only problem with the issue is that the whole conflict with Silver Banshee is thoroughly anti-climactic. It feels like little more than a tease designed to keep us wanting to know more about the character (which I don't).



Important Details:

- Silver Banshee is from the clan McDougal, and is addressed by her brother as "Siobhan" (pronounced "Shee-Vaughn"). Her brother is Bevan, and he attempts to take her back to Scotland to answer for breaking her clan's most sacred tradition, responsible for keeping them strong for a thousand generations. Her powers are somehow connected to her vision -- she seems only to be able to generate enough power to kill what appears to be before her. Thus, if Superman is disguised as Clark Kent, she can only supply enough power to kill an ordinary human. This needs more explaining.

- Jimmy Olsen is under 21 years of age, the legal age of adulthood in Metropolis.

- Jimmy's mother is remarkably younger than she seemed in her previous appearances and explains that she had Jimmy when she was only 18 (making her no older than 38). Her husband is missing in action in Southeast Asia. Is there an intended parallel here with Jonathan and Martha Kent's story in World of Smallville? Mrs. Olsen even looks a bit like Ma Kent in her younger days.


Minor Details

- This issue ends with Wonder Woman's publicist, Mindy Mayor, having left a note for Clark to call her back. Events are building towards the big date in Action Comics #600, which I recall as having been a pretty useless story.

- 2nd appearance of Pete Shoemaker, Jimmy's homeless friend. I didn't really think Byrne intended to do anything with this character after his first appearance last issue, but he's back.

- Scotese, who usually fails to impress me with her coloring, positively comes alive in the bookstore scenes. Maybe she just doesn't handle empty spaces well.

- This is also some of the finest penciling I've seen Byrne do in some time.

- Maggie Sawyer's special anti-super villain unit is still comprised of only a handful of under-armed agents (two are visible this time. I believe there was a third last time they faced off with Silver Banshee). Perhaps Byrne has sort of a Howling Commandos concept for them here. We still know nothing about any of them.



Plot synopsis in one sentence:

Silver Banshee is back, Lois is about to go undercover on some dangerous assignment, Clark decides that his best means of taking down Lex Luthor is as a reporter, Perry has asked Clark to talk Mrs. Olsen into allowing Jimmy to continue working at the Planet (she thinks it's too dangerous), Clark and Jimmy run into Silver Banshee robbing a bookstore before they can talk to his mom, Maggie Sawyer and her special unit arrive on the scene, Clark disguises himself as Batman to throw off Silver Banshee's visually cued power, her brother, Bevan, intervenes, Silver Banshee escapes and Bevan disappears, Superman drops Jimmy off, meeting his mom for the first time, leaving Jimmy to believe there may be romantic potential between the two, and Clark returns to the Planet, learning that Wonder Woman's publicist wants him to call her back.

Superman #19

"The Power That Failed!"
story/pencils: John Byrne
colors: Petra Scotese
inks: John Beatty (new inker as of this issue)
letters: John Costanza
asst. editor: Renee Witterstaetter
editor: Michael Carlin

grade: D

Oh Byrne, Byrne, Byrne. Just when you were starting to do some things right, you do so much wrong in this issue. If only your creative tenure on Superman were about to end. If only there were something like eight issues written by you remaining after this lousy one.

Wait a second...

It really does make all of this more tolerable, doesn't it?


The basic tally for this issue is as follows:

- Really creepy scene with a drunk Cat grant coming on to an unwilling Jimmy Olsen
- Really creepy gratuitous shot of Maggie Sawyers' legs depantsing from a hazmat suit
- Substantial continuity errors/revisions, ranging from how many years it's been since Superman #2 (should be one at this point, but Luthor says it's been "years" since he made the Kryptonite ring), to whether or not Superman is invulnerable (so many previous stories made it clear that he was definitely not -- in this issue, we're given a plethora of indications that he is; even Supes says so)
- Yet another tacked on conflict coming out of nowhere with new villain Prof. Thaddeus Killgrave -- and it's ridiculous
- More teasing with Supergirl. That plot is taking waaaaay too long to go anywhere
- Excessive references to past issues. I counted 8, and virtually none served a purpose; just sort of a "Hey, look, remember when that happened?" Byrne has taken one of the few good things he was starting to do too far.


Important Details:

- 1st appearance of Prof. Thaddeus Killgrave
- 1st appearance of Dreadnaught
- Supergirl heads to Smallville, knowing that is her destination, but not knowing why
- A new mystery is introduced, in which Jimmy Olsen's father, missing in action since the Vietnam War (?) appears in the background of a picture of Perry White taken at the time (if it's hanging in the office, why has Jimmy never noticed this before???)
- Perry White served in Vietnam. I wonder if Byrne sees this as having inspired his career in journalism and unyeilding quest to always give the public the truth (though that was a Wolfman sentiment which may now be forgotten).
- Lex Luthor has his hand amputated and receives a cybernetic replacement. He blames Superman

- Superman is now apparently invulnerable. He can take massive energy weapons blasts, where normal electrical shock once knocked him out, as did explosive sewer gasses and giant tanks. He refers to his own power of invulnerability, and even has others comment with astonishment when they see him actually get hurt. Apparently, they've never seen a John Byrne Superman cover.

- Luthor claims his Kryptonite ring kept Superman at bay "for years," yet he first had it made in Superman #2, and all references to the passing of time offered so far suggest it's been a year OR LESS since that issue occurred.

- Superman apparently makes regular (implied to be daily) patrols of Earth, looking for trouble. How come, then, nearly all of his stories take place in Metropolis?


Minor Details:

- Superman was away on Krypton for "a couple of weeks"

- Metropolis' major body of water is the West River. Cute mirroring of New York. Is this a new detail, or is it established in Superman lore?

- Weird publishing mis-information offered on the letters page. We're once again told that Superman is going bi-weekly, but Mike's Amazing World does not show this to be true. Additionally, we're told that World of Metropolis will come out "a few months down the road," but it's hitting stands next month.


Plot synopsis:

What plot? Once again, Byrne just tosses us a lot of continuity (perhaps because he knows he's about to leave and is trying to get through ideas?) and an obligatory villain for a couple of pages, but okay. Here goes:

A small spacecraft crashes into Metropolis' West River while a drunk Cat Grant attempts to seduce a creeped out Jimmy Olsen, Superman returns to Earth just in time to investigate, he finds nothing in the small ship but discovers his powers beginning to wink out inexplicably, Supergirl heads for Smallville, not knowing why, Lois is ticked at Clark and seems to have made up her mind that Delgado is the man for her, Jimmy's mother comes to the Planet and recognizes her missing husband in an old war pic of Perry, Luthor gets his cybernetic hand and blames Superman for it, Prof. Killgrave randomly escapes from prison in a giant machine, and Superman stops him even with his powers winking out, he ends up drowning in the river and depends upon some sailors to help him, he also asks them for a favor that isn't revealed to us, he figures out that someone is trying to make him use his powers, which is causing them to go away, and an alien named Dreadnaught arrives, ready to attack Superman, and explaining that "Psi-Phon" has transferred Superman's powers to him.


It's going to take me a long time to get that image of Cat Grant coming on to Jimmy out of my head...

World of Metropolis #1

"A Reporter's Story"
writer: John Byrne
pencils: Win Mortimer
inks: Frank McLaughlin & Dick Giordano
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Tom Ziuko
assistant editor: Renee Witterstaetter
editor: Michael Carlin

grade: C+

Two interesting things to note about this series before even reviewing its contents.

First, whereas World of Krypton and World of Smallville were relatively disposable limited series, embellishing upon backstory we already knew and not adding anything readers of Superman truly needed to know, World of Metropolis is positioned to do a lot more, revealing origins of supporting cast members for the first time and, of course, revealing the big secret surrounding Jerry White (but we're not supposed to know that yet).

Second, this is the last major storyline of Byrne's. Everything else is just filler at this point. So it's a bit odd to watch the culmination of his building the foundation of the Post-Crisis Superman Universe with the full knowledge that he's about to walk away on bad terms with the company. Fortunately, Jurgens and Ordway will be more respectful to the foundations Byrne laid than he was to the foundations Carlin and Wolfman tried to lay.

Regarding the issue, itself, it's ambitious in its scope, but it's ultimately a disappointing installment. Most of the drama of the story is centered around a big twist that's given away by the cover, itself. The rest of the drama lies in the relationship and competition between Lex Luthor and Perry White, but it doesn't work. If Perry has always been brimming with integrity, and Lex has always been Lex, how in the world have the two been the oldest of friends for all this time? Couldn't Byrne have given us some snapshot of what that friendship was like before having Lex try to destroy him? And I can't accept that Luthor's sole motivation for all he does is to buy the adoration Metropolis already gives to Perry White. Newspapers may have already been on their way out in 1988 (hard to believe this has been true for so long now), but I sincerely doubt there was EVER a time that a city worshipped a single newspaper reporter like that, especially one who'd been off to war for the past two years and, therefore, had not been writing for a while now. And, surely, in the present day of 1988, with Perry having been editor for two decades now, he wasn't enjoying that adoration any longer, so why would Lex still be doing what Lex does? Are we supposed to assume he got bored for a decade or so and then sprung to life with jealousy again as soon as Superman showed up?

It seems like the whole Perry and Alice love conflict is intended to provide a contrast to the relationship between Jonathan and Martha in World of Smallville. In both cases, our idealistic protagonist returns from war to find his lover with another man, but the morality is far more blurred this second time, and while Alice tries to put it all on Lex, I'm not sure she succeeds in doing so. Really though, Byrne utterly fails to help us understand where her temptation came from. What did she see in Lex that was so appealing? Byrne has too much fun depicting him as a soulless, jealous devil. Poor writing for a guy trying to add some complexity, really. And, whereas the whole infidelity bit makes the potential for great emotional conflict, it goes under-used. What does any of this really mean to Perry? And how can we understand the impact this has upon his relationship with Alice when their relationship remains so undefined? All we do is see them kiss and push the plot forward through expository dialogue. There's no heart; no relationship evident, even though Byrne expects us to root for these two somehow.

Beyond this all, though, possibly the greatest failing of the issue is Mortimer's pencils. They're awkward at times (ex: Clark and Lois smiling adorably at each other as they continue the very serious fight over Clark getting all the Superman stories that's been going for a while now), and downright jarring/confusing at others (ex: Mortimer never indicates when we are moving between the present and a flashback!). Nothing about his style is deficient; if you asked the guy to do a sample drawing of Superman for you, you'd be pleased, but he's utterly failing at all the nuances an artist must understand to keep a story flowing and comprehensible.


Important Details:

-Perry White and Lex Luthor were best friends for many years

-Perry worked for the Planet for close to 23 years before going to Vietnam. He began working there at the age of ten as a copy boy.

-Perry fought in Vietnam for two years

- ten years old, plus 23 years, plus 2 more years makes Perry 35 years old in this story. We also know from Adventures of Superman #433 that Jerry White was born in 1969, making this story set in either 1968 or 1969. Therefore, if the present day of the Superman title is 1988, we can assume Perry White is approximately 55 years old in the current day.

-His fiance, Alice, had an affair with Lex Luthor while he was gone

-Upon returning to America, Perry saved the Daily Planet by rallying together a team of investors, and became editor in chief as part of the deal.

-We are given a TREMENDOUS amount of facts surrounding the history of the Daily Planet, including its relationship to George Washington, that probably aren't relevant here.



Minor Details:

- I love how Perry remarks that he was once young and like Jimmy, and the story soon cuts to a flashback where he still looks old and out of shape, just without the gray hairs.

- Pages 6 and 7: Okay, Byrne. We GET that Lex Luthor is evil. Tone it down and try telling a more mature story that doesn't involve him cackling with triumph and then oggling all the female help just because he enjoys being cruel.

- A young (probably 5 year old) Lois Lane takes a tour of the Daily Planet with her class and watches Perry White curse out his complacent peers with righteous anger. I have to admit it's damn cute that this moment becomes the prototype for all that Lois Lane is. This is truly the ONLY reason this issue gets a C+ as opposed to a C or C-.

- Are we supposed to know who Ling is? He's the wealthy, high profile Chinese(?) investor that Perry used his investigative skills and influence as a reporter to turn away from a life of crime.

- Seriously, even IF a city could worship a reporter the way that Byrne seems to be claiming they can in this issue, how could said reporter getting married make a major headline in a paper? (especially the paper said reporter works for -- awkward)

- Adventures of Superman #433 establishes that Jerry White was born in 1969 (thus making the present day of the story 1968 or 1969). Yet America remained engaged in Vietnam until 1975, so why did Perry serve only two years?

- Who's sick to death of Jerry White and has two thumbs? THIS GUY!


plot synopsis:

Perry and the gang are celebrating a great front page Superman scoop by Jimmy Olsen, Perry thinks back to how he used to be like him (you know, Vietnam Vet with a fiance looking to save his newspaper single-handedly; the resemblances are abundant!), he starts having an awkward amount of internal thought balloons while still in the presence of his employees, we finally get to a full-fledged flashback about him returning from 'Nam, Lex is having an affair with his fiance, she regrets it and resents Lex, arguing that he manipulated her, Perry finds out that Lex is going to sell The Daily Planet and confronts Lex, during this time Lex makes it obvious he has been sleeping with Alice, Perry calls in all his favors to assemble a team of buyers for the paper, a young Lois Lane on a fieldtrip witnesses Perry at his most dramatic, he accepts the condition that he must take the position of Editor in Chief, Perry and Alice reconcile and marry, she becomes pregnant, and, while Perry is celebrating, she looks at the Lexcorp building and sheds a tear, while the present day Perry, Alice, and Jerry White meet for lunch.

Adventures of Superman #443

"Prisoner of Conscience"
writer: Jerry Ordway
pencils: John Statema
inks: Doug Hazelwood
letters: Albert De Guzman
colors: Julianna Ferriter
editor: Michael Carlin
associate editorL Renee Witterstaetter

grade: C-

What goes on here?

Just as the most recent issue of Superman seemed like two different stories cut and pasted together in a disjointed manner, this issue has its own share of dual identities going on. What begins as a grounded and powerful extension of Wolfman's exploration of terrorism abruptly shifts into a story involving alien abductors, with the life of Jimmy Olsen on the line. It's the type of fluff we've come to expect from Byrne, carelessly tacked onto the second half of this story, and yet there's no indication that Byrne was involved.

There are other oddities this time around -- 30 pages of content instead of the normal 20, a fill-in penciler, inker, and colorist. Does this all have something to do with Byrne leaving and the mad rush to get all his ideas in before he does so? After all, the next issue of this title is going to be hijacked by Byrne in order to get the three part Supergirl storyline done before his departure.

So, essentially, we're evaluating two only loosely related and entirely different stories. The first was a fantastic return to Wolfman's work on Qurac, showing the natural result of Superman just going in and dismantling the military by force. Now terrorist groups are rising up and using Superman's image/reputation to fan the fires that rally their base. Yet another ingenious way of exploring the post-Crisis concept of limiting Superman's powers. Instead of doing so literally, we see that even his use of brute strength, as well as his image, can work against him with devastating results.

The second story was just ridiculous. There's little more to say about it beyond the idea that I feel like we're drowning in stories of ancient alien races that have been visiting Earth all along. We had that group from Superman #5 and 6, The Circle (which, at least, gets a minor acknowledgement in this issue), and even the ancient race Deadman recently encountered in Action Comics Weekly (though, to be fair, that feature is overseen by a different editor). Only a year into the Superman relaunch (not counting Man of Steel, since it was only six issues) Superman has already come across THREE such ancient races. Seems like a bit much.


Minor Details:

- Superman rescues two hostages who were about to be executed after being held for a year, ties up their captors, gives them the guns, and tells them to call the police while flying off to save Jimmy Olsen. THAT was the story I wanted to see -- what kind of psychological ordeal it would be to suddenly have your captors/would-be-executioners at your mercy; I could give a f**k about following Superman to instead discover whether or not the space aliens will suck the life out of Jimmy Olsen.

- How is Clark going to write up his article for this adventure? "And then I took out six heavily armed terrorists all by myself and, by the way, I'm not Superman"?


plot synopsis in one sentence:

Terrorist activity is on the rise across the Middle East in response to Superman's actions in Qurac several months back, a woman with connections to Perry White is demanding to find out what happened to her husband, a reporter taken hostage a year ago by one such terrorist group, Clark and Jimmy are sent to Jordan to find out, they meet with a group of terrorists, they attack him as a means of trying to draw out Superman, Clark takes them out as Clark Kent, Jimmy and their guide/connection escape, they end up in another dimension controlled by space aliens who have been visiting since the time of ancient Egypt and need Jimmy's body in order to augment their own, Superman follows and gets a history of their people (which I won't go into here; it's truly not worth it), and he manages to enable a righteous insurrection while also rescuing Jimmy and learning the fate of the reporter he and Jimmy came to find in the first place (he died a year ago and had his body used by the alien leader since then).


So really, what the heck was all that?

Superman #21

"You Can't Go Home Again" (The Supergirl Saga, Part I)
writing/art: John Byrne
inks: John Beatty
colors: Petra Scotese
letters: John Costanza
editor: Mike Carlin
assistant editor: Renee Witterstaetter

grade: B

At most points in his Superman run, it has felt like John Byrne was half assing the whole thing. Yet now, in his final major storyline before his (presumably, at this point) imminent departure, he comes alive on this story, at least in terms of art. This is a beauty of an issue to look at, with exciting panel arrangements, vibrant art, and some really fun ways of expressing movement/momentum (something Byrne always seems to do well when at his best).

The story, on the other hand...

There's A LOT I've outright hated about Byrne's run that I wish would be washed away from continuity. probably #4 or 5 on that list is the absurd "pocket universe" concept he introduced as a means of restoring his favorite aspects of the Silver Age while also allowing the Post-Crisis to move forward. In actuality, all it did was manage to make the concept of a Post-Crisis universe even more confusing and problematic. So, sure enough, we're returning to that terrible concept again as a means of explaining where this Supergirl came from.

And yet why is Supergirl Lana Lang??


Important Details:

What we know about this Supergirl who, most likely, isn't sticking around beyond this storyline anyway:
- Modelled after Lana Lang
- Has "chameleon" power that allows her to change her appearance
- Can become invisible (even to Superman's senses)
- Does not possess most of Superman's powers, including his X-Ray vision
- Cannot fly as fast as Superman
- Has a psycho-kinetic blast


Minor Details:

- How can Perry just keep ordering Clark and Lois to drop everything they're doing in order to go on long trips in pursuit of minor stories? In this case, Lois is essentially being Jimmy Olsen's chaperon. The Daily Planet's top reporter has nothing better to do for a week or so???

- Why would Superman automatically assume Supergirl is from the Pocket Universe? My mind immediately went to her somehow coming out of the Crisis.

- Is Byrne still planning on explaining how Supergirl was buried beneath the surface of the Earth for thousands of years before being uncovered?


Plot synopsis in one sentence:

The Pocket Universe Earth(?) is in the process of being destroyed, the Pocket Universe Pete Ross and Alex Luthor (now ten years older than they were in Superboy continuity) are monitoring Supergirl and counting on her bringing Superman to them as a solution to what is occurring, Supergirl is at first convinced Superman is some imposter Kryptonian but gradually comes to her senses, Superman learns that she tied up Ma and Pa Kent and the real Lana Lang (presumably because she thought they were lying too???), he convinces Supergirl that she is from a different Universe and helps to jog her memory, Jimmy Olsen persuades Perry White to send him and Lois Lane to Ireland in search of the Silver Banshee's past, and Supergirl and Superman are transported back to the universe she came from, where he meets that version of Lex Luthor and is reunited with the Pocket Universe Pete Ross.


A fun issue in terms of action and art, but I dislike the return of the Pocket Universe and am not at all confident that this story is going to pay off. Plus, dangling Supergirl in front of the readers for all these months only for us to learn that she's from the Pocket Universe and, thus, probably not sticking around, must have been infuriating to fans at the time.

Superman #26



"It's Just a Shot Away!"
writer: Roger Stern
pencils: Kerry Gammill
inks: Brett Breeding
letters: John Costanza
colors: Petra Scotese
asst. editor: Renee Witterstaetter
editor: Mike Carlin

grade: B

This issue could have been a simple tie-in to Invasion, but instead Stern and Carlin manage to maintain that sense of numerous plot points up in the air at the same time that's been working so well over in Adventures of Superman. In addition to the Invasion, we've got Brainiac controlling Luthor, the whole Gangbuster problem (more obvious than ever that it's really Superman living a double -- or is it a triple? -- life), the return of The Guardian and Project Cadmus, and the introduction of new villain Baron Sunday.

I know the Post-Crisis Superman is particularly susceptible to magic, but I can't say Baron Sunday impressed me in any way. So far as we can tell, he can create fetish dolls and kill people through them, as well as do some magic without them including a "mystic sphere." However, Sunday's motives remain unclear. It seems implied he heads some kind of criminal syndicate. I assume this will be revisited later.

No further mention of Amanda McCoy here. I guess that's Ordway's baby now. Come to think of it, Intergang doesn't get mentioned either.

Not a particularly memorable issue beyond the fun of watching Superman take down a horde of Thanagarians with slightly excessive cruelty, but not a bad story either, and I really like the multiple plot lines developing concurrently.


Important Details:

-1st appearance of Baron Sunday. Can create fetish dolls to kill people, as well as create a mystic sphere. Possibly possesses other magic, as well. Implied to be the head of a criminal syndicate.



Minor Details:

-How did Superman determine that it was the "voodoo killer" who had remotely attacked him?

-I had been going on the assumption that, with the failure of Superman IV in the theaters, the failure of John Byrne's run to attract and maintain new readership, and the rise in popularity of Batman after DKR and Year One, that Superman's pop culture appeal was in serious decline by this point, but this issue features two ads that suggest otherwise. The first is a Superman hotline, where for $2 for the first minute and 45 cents for each minute after, you can hear an all new Superman story each day. The second is an ad for collectible superhero coins, and the most prominent ones all feature Superman and Superman-related characters. Batman has the same amount of coins shown, but they are in secondary focus. So either I'm off the mark here or these ads were.




(the coins are hard to see in the image above. From top to bottom, left to right, they are: Supergirl, "50th Birthday of Superman", Lex Luthor, Penguin, Robin, Superman, Batman, Joker, Batmobile, Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, "Cartoon Celebrities", and I have no idea on the last one.



plot synopsis in one sentence:

Superman learns about a "voodoo killer" causing people to die with fetish dolls, he decides to begin looking into it as Clark Kent, Baron Sunday (the killer) learns that Superman is looking into his killings and decides to kill him, Perry, Clark, and Lois are informed by Sarge Steel that the government does not want Superman getting involved with the Invasion (which has now conquered Australia), throwing Clark into an out of character rage, Brainiac informs Luthor that he has nothing to do with the Invasion and wants it stopped so that he can rule by himself, the Thanagarians lead an attack on Metropolis, Superman decides to get involved even against the government's wishes, he kicks butt but Baron Sunday decides to strike at the same time, seriously hurting Superman remotely with a fetish doll, the Guardian and Captain Atom meet while investigating whether or not Superman has been killed (assuming the Thanagarians were the ones who hurt him), and "Gangbuster" tracks down Baron Sunday and kicks his butt, demonstrating all sorts of Superman-like powers as well as a succeptability to Jimmy Olsen's signal watch.