Action Comics #586 (March 1987)
Action Comics #586 (March 1987)
Due to a series of wacky circumstances, Superman thinks he’s the son of the evil alien god Darkseid and, accordingly, got a bunch of people killed. Superman also hooked up with a woman called Amazing Grace, the one who brainwashed him into evilness with her suggestion-based powers (and boobs). At this point Superman runs into the real son of Darkseid, the hero Orion, who attempts to punch some sense into Superman. Since this approach isn’t working, Orion takes off his helmet and shows Superman what one’s face actually looks like when your dad is a stone monster – he’s so fucking ugly that the shock restores Superman’s memory and turns him good again.
Superman goes after Darkseid and cleverly turns his own deathly eye-lasers against him. Darkseid goes “ha, nicely played” and just sends Superman back to Earth. The end. Personally, I liked the ending of the animated adaptation of this story much better (I won’t spoil it because it’s awesome).
Plotline-Watch:
And that’s the end of the Legends crossover! I was looking forward to re-reading this storyline and the first two issues didn’t disappoint, but this one was kinda weak. The end is very sudden and kind of a cop-out, and with the massacre at the end of last issue it feels like Superman already lost.
By the way, Orion deleted the whole “you got a bunch of people killed, asshole” thing from Superman’s memory to spare him the trauma, but at some point it all came back, because in future issues Superman will occasionally go “Remember that time I led a revolution in an alien planet and then betrayed them? That was crazy.” I also like to think that the suppressed memory subconsciously influenced Superman’s decisions during the Exile in Space saga (in that he didn’t let the same thing happen again), but more on that later.
WTF-Watch:
You’d think I’d include the scene where Orion’s ugliness brings back Superman’s memory in this section, but I won’t. Dude looks like butt.
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