Action Comics #653 (May 1990)
Action Comics #653 (May 1990)
Superman gets drunk and falls asleep on a cemetery with his shirt open. Or at least that’s what someone would say if they hadn’t read this issue and were going just by the cover. Fortunately (or unfortunately, since that does sound like a cool premise), I have read this issue and I’m here to tell you about it.
Remember way back in Superman #2 when a LexCorp scientist, Amanda McCoy, figured out Superman was Clark Kent and told Lex Luthor about it, but the big dummy didn’t believe it and fired her? Well, it only took that lady three years to work up the courage to confront Clark, and it doesn’t go well for either of them. McCoy lures Kent to the cemetery claiming she’s in danger, then whips out a little surprise: Lex Luthor’s old kryptonite ring! (Which she somehow stole.)
McCoy gets Clark to admit he’s Superman, but she freaks out when he goes unconscious from the pain, then freaks out again when she realizes she’s been walking all this time with Luthor’s ring on her finger – the same ring that gave Luthor hand cancer. She drops the ring in the street, and that’s when she’s assaulted by a thug from the future and Billy Dee Williams.
Aaaaand… that’s the last time we see Ms. McCoy alive. TO BE CONTINUED! (But not for her, obviously.)
Character-Watch:
This issue reminds us for the hundredth time that Intergang wants to kill Cat Grant (which is set-up for the upcoming Batman crossover), but at least it also fleshes out Intergang’s power structure a little more: “Ugly” Mannheim is the head honcho, his second in command is a dude named Gillespie (mentioned a year ago in Superman #28), and his “executive assistant” is some bimbo named Leilani.
Heh, “abreast.” I’ve had this comic for like 16 years and I just got that.
Anyway, the Mannheim-Gillespie duo will be recurring villains from now on, especially after Luthor becomes… indisposed. And I don’t remember what happens to Leilani, but since she has two L’s in her name I’m assuming Superman hooks up with her.
Plotline-Watch:
Apparently the entire Daily Planet staff knows about the Clark Kent/Lois Lane affair that just started in Adventures #466, because as soon as they walk into the office, everyone starts applauding. Also, Clark romances Lois with a rose and a poem. Naturally, Jose Delgado (still bodyguarding Cat) arrives just in time to watch them make out, again.
Speaking of unrequited love, Whit’s Clark Kent obsession continues. He even dyed his mustache again and still can’t get Clark to notice him:
The Clark Kent novel mentioned above? It’s called Under a Yellow Sun and we’ll actually get to read it in a few years.
Creator-Watch:
This is the first issue with Bob McLeod as regular Action Comics artist (previously, he guest-inked Superman #39 for Dennis Janke). McLeod is mostly remembered as “the guy who went between George Perez and Jackson Guice,” but he’s actually pretty good when he’s trying. I like some of his shots of Mannheim:
He draws Mannheim as if saying “What if Darkseid was a person?”, which is how everyone should draw Mannheim.
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