Action Comics #671 (November 1991)
Action Comics #671 (November 1991)
“Blackout” Part 2! Amnesiac, shirtless Superman fights dinosaurs! Why does Superman have amnesia? Simple: because a mind-control helmet exploded on his head as he flew over Antarctica with an immortal villain called Mr. Z (as seen in Part 1). Now, why are there dinosaurs in this comic? That’s a little more complicated. The issue starts with Superman stumbling into a French research base in Antarctica with the corpse of Mr. Z. (I’m not sure if it was the explosion that killed him or the fall, but it makes no difference.)
Since Supes doesn’t remember how to fly (or even that he can fly), the French scientists agree to take him to America in their plane. However, in an extremely unlucky series of events, the plane gets caught up in a storm, everyone ends up in rafts in the sea, and Superman (along with Z’s corpse in a body bag) gets dragged underwater by a passing plesiosaur and carried for several miles. Superman’s day continues getting exponentially weirder when the corpse he’s been carrying around wakes up and has a pleasant conversation with him – turns out Mr. Z lost his memory, too.
Superman and Z end up reaching a seemingly abandoned island (this is when Supes removes his shirt and fashions a Rambo-esque headband, like in the cover), and I say “seemingly” because pretty soon they come across a pack of giant dinosaurs with every intention of trampling them. CONTINUED!
Character-Watch:
I love Mr. Z in this storyline. My favorite part about “Blackout” is that once they lose their memories, Superman and Z basically become a comedy team. Z (clearly the Moe to Superman’s Shemp) convinces Superman to climb a palm tree so he can fetch some coconuts, and when Superman inevitably falls down, he discovers he can fly. Z is astonished by this. Cut to:
Oh, Z.
Plotline-Watch:
Oh, right, the actual blackout: Metropolis is completely in the dark because Professor Hamilton clumsily screwed up the entire electrical system, leading to chaos and looting everywhere. Ham feels terrible about it. He should.
Since Superman’s off on some tropical vacation somewhere, someone else steps up to be the city’s savior: Lex Luthor! Young Lex Luthor II, that is, who has just arrived from Australia to take over his dead father’s company and promises to use all of LexCorp’s resources to fix Metropolis (except the resources he’s using to broadcast his giant face over the surface of the LexCorp building, that is).
Metropolis’ other superheroes also go out to the streets to help out, and I say “superheroes” in the loosest sense of the word since it’s just a substitute teacher with nunchakus (Gangbuster) and a schizophrenic lady in a wig (Thorn). This leads to the most epic team-up in comic book history: Gangbuster/Thorn in the “The Case of the Stolen Sneakers!”
Superman may not remember his name, his powers, or (as we'll see in upcoming issues) even his fiancee, but his expert knowledge of dinosaur names, first demonstrated in Action #664, remains intact. I bet he still misses Dromie.
Before Thorn joins the action, we see her alter ego Rose Forrest sleepwalking to the abandoned costume shop where she keeps her costume, but that's not the only costume there. Don Sparrow says: “I am glad that Rose decided on the green costume rather than the clown one on page 6. Though it’s kinda funny that this Poison Ivy lookalike had a chance of maybe being a Harley Quinn lookalike all these years before Harley was invented (especially how often the Harley and Ivy are paired).”
And since I’m just quoting Don now I might as well let him talk. Click “Keep Reading” for more!
Art-Watch (by donsparrow):
We start off this Art watch, as we always do, with the cover, and since this is an artist fill-in issue, I have to say, this is the highlight for me. It’s always interesting to see Superman with a different uniform, and the waves and bubbles do a good job of suggesting motion, conveying the dizzying “blackout” feel well. The sea monster Superman has his grips on looks menacing, with convincing textures on his tongue, and skin. It’s also a rarely seen pairing of Dan Jurgens and Bob McLeod, and the combination works well (though at first glance, I only saw McLeod’s style).
Inside is a different story,art-wise, as Kieron Dwyer (onetime step-son to Superman reboot architect John Byrne) and Brad Vacata handle art chores, and, due to the consistency of the usual art teams, the art feels little looser and sketchier than the other titles. [Max: When I saw Dwyer's name on the cover I thought for a second he might get paired up with Denis Rodier; they made an awesome art team in this same comic in '95, I think.] They do well with backgrounds and city scenes though, which is exemplified on the establishing shots of the first page. Dwyer’s pencils convey motion well, and put me in the mind of Batman great Norm Breyfogle (the speeding car on page 5, for instance).
But on the whole, characters look thicker and squatter than I’m used to seeing them. As mentioned in previous reviews, Bob McLeod really was drawing every sinew on Thorn, but Dwyer’s Thorn on page 8 [Max: Plotline-Watch up there.] looks quite a lot broader than other artists have captured her. Other things are a matter of (admittedly weird) preference, but as a Superman lifer, there’s a certain way I’m used to seeing Superman’s hair drawn,but Dwyer’s Superman’s hair is flatter and straighter than the other artists of the day draw it (even before he goes into the water) on page 10.
Dwyer’s art certainly doesn’t get in the way of the story–the action is all clear and moves along nicely, but lacks the detail or excitement some of the scenes might demand. The double page spread on pages 12-13 for instance should be a jaw-dropper moment, but looks a little placid for what’s actually happening. Ditto the last page reveal of the dinosaurs advancing on Superman and Mr. Z–they all look a little stiff and thickly limbed, which undercuts the peril slightly.
Dwyer’s style does work well for the less herculean physique of Mr. Z. Even if his face feels a little off-model, he is shown with age and heft in a believable way. The island beach environs are also well observed, with the flotsam of other shipwrecks looking sufficiently aged. Not a bad effort with all the different kinds of storytelling (city hall, looters, beach, underwater, etc)required, but also not the knockout punch we’re used to from guys like Jurgens, Ordway and Grummett. Oh, all the regulars, really!
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Now Professor Hamilton looks as though his hair is short as usual. Maybe I’m wrong about it slowly lengthening. [Max: He pulled it out between this issue and last.]
What is Professor Hamilton a professor of? I can’t really remember what college he’s affiliated with.
What does Rose (alter ego of Thorn) do for a living? She seems to have a lot of free-time to squirm sleeplessly on couches and fight crime. I want to say flower shop?
Imagine! The one guy in the world who knows Gangbuster by name happens to be th eone guy Gangbuster catches looting!
Luckily Gangbuster knew the hat-backwards guy’s one weakness–a conventional blow to the stomach.
Geez, how important are these shoes? If I were a looter that saw my partner in crime leveled by a gut punch, I’d just say ‘forget it’. Then again, I’d never be a looter anyway.
Freudian slip alert! In panel 4 of page 9 Gangbuster blurts out precisely what he’s looking at.
Right before we joined our French pilots on page 10, they were saying “Tout ce que nous devons corriger l'avion est un pied de biche. Tant que notre pied de biche reste intact, l'avion va atterrir en toute sécurité. Assurez-vous simplement ne plie notre pied de biche.” Wonder what that all means! [Max: When I dropped that on Google Translate, I expected to see 'Mr. Thornton! Sorry to interrupt…']
I have never seen a coconut and gotten ravenously hungry.
Mr. Z orders Superman to “dispense with unneeded clothing” and all Superman thinks is that he’s a bit bossy?
Is that a “Free Peewee” jacket on page 20? [Max: On the Luthor II panels above.] Was that a thing? No wonder they coloured that crowd so dark.