Action Comics #675 (March 1992)
Action Comics #675 (March 1992)
PANIC IN THE SKY, Part 4 – Brainiac is like "Look! Look at all these action figures I bought on eBay!" Part 3 of this storyline ended with an army of Earth's superheroes invading Brainiac's planet-killing spaceship, Warworld, and Brainiac going, "Ah, yes, that was my plan all along." It turns out he wasn't bullshitting us: Brainiac now drops some gizmos on the heroes' heads, turning them evil.
Deathstroke: "Sorry, you're a little old for my tastes."
Luckily, the good guys also have someone with mind powers in their team: ugly-ass Dubbilex, who finds out Brainiac's plan with the help of his magic space chair and warns the S-shield squad (Superman, Supergirl and uglier-ass Draaga) about it. Superman is able to defeat the mind-controlled Green Lantern Kilowog simply by using the yellow part of his cape (comics are silly), while Supergirl interrupts this scene of marital abuse:
(Every time Barda gets mind-controlled, someone gets screwed.)
Meanwhile, Dubbilex and Draaga sabotage Brainiac's communications and teleportation systems. This just pisses off Brainy even more, and he sends the dozen heroes still in his control to kick Dubbilex's ass. Uh-oh, someone's gonna get killed.
NEXT ISSUE: Someone gets killed!
Plotline-Watch:
I love seeing Dubbilex step up like this. Brainiac is so ridiculously more powerful than him that two years ago, he was able to remotely control Dubbi's mind and turn him into a puppet from another planet. Now, Dubbilex's powers are enhanced by all the Kirby gizmos he's accumulated recently: Metron's Mobius Chair in Superman #65 and Lightray and Orion's Mother Boxes (the iPads of the gods) in this issue.
I also like seeing Draaga as a good guy, which makes complete sense despite the fact that he's been trying to kill Superman (or get killed by him) since his first appearance. His new friendship with Supergirl also feels pretty natural, since they were both mind-jacked by Brainiac at the same time before freeing themselves. Ah, good ol' Draaga. (He should really wash that old Superman shirt at some point, though.)
The other guest stars in this issue aren't completely worthless: there's a pretty cool team-up between Captain Marvel (a teen who turns into a superhero upon uttering a magic word) and Infinity Man (several teens who turn into a superhero upon uttering a magic word). Too bad Captain Planet was too much of a snob to show up in this issue.
At this point, I actually feel sorry for Brainiac's ground forces on Earth. In this issue, not only do they get beaten up by heroes of the stature of Gangbuster and Crimson Fox, shot by Lex Luthor II's flying bodyguards and pushed into the docks by a Metropolis police water cannon, but the final blow is delivered by Aquaman. I'd quit my job as a space invader after that. It's just not worth the indignities.
And finally, after months of unemployment woes, Jimmy Olsen gets a job! (At Newstime Magazine, after literally bumping into publisher Colin Thornton in Man of Steel #9.) And at said job he meets the guy who's eventually gonna steal his girlfriend, Ron Troupe. He's still Jimmy, after all.
Don Sparrow has more to tell you about this issue after the jump, so jump!
Art-Watch (by donsparrow\xe2\x80\x8b):
We begin with the cover, as usual, and it’s a very nice Silver Age-style symbolic cover with our familiar heroes (and Deathstroke) squeezed between Brainiac’s fingers. It’s an eye-grabbing look, and McLeod and Rodier do a good job on the different poses, and in particular, the surface texture–the lack of shadow on the glowing Fire, the slickness of the Wall West Flash suit, etc. I also liked the diversity of wires used on Brainiac’s headpiece–not just straight ones, but ones that look like phone cords or beaker tubes. Without saying too much, it’s a nice touch to bring those wires to mind, in a subtle way, early-ish into the story.
It’s a great first place splash of the ice cold Brainiac and the hot blooded Maxima, whose poses reveal a lot about their character on the first page. The two page spread on pages 2 and 3 do a good job of re-introducing the reader to all the different players in this oversized cast. Page 9’s weather-worn Superman is harrowing to see, as are the heroes who, one by one, get taken in by Brainiac’s diodes.
Back on Earth, the fight scenes are interesting–it’s a pretty intense Batman duking it out with what appear to be Gordanians and a revived Aquaman firing out of the water is a pretty cool visual. [Max: Hey, when did Warworld get so close to Earth? I thought it was still in deep space.]
PANEL OF THE WEEK: Goes to the last panel on page 17 where an ashamed Kilowog weeps at lacking the will to resist Brainiac’s diode. There’s something very affecting about that big face expressing such sorrow.
Lastly that final spread of the possessed heroes charge is pretty intimidating on page 22. Again, such a tightly packed issue, with at least a line from virtually every guest star.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Bob McLeod really emphasizes Flash’s ear-wings, and it’s a nice look.
Dubbilex is really gonna miss that chair.
Apparently in 1992 you could still smoke indoors, at the Newstime offices anyway.
Bob McLeod draws a pretty cute Supergirl. [Max: Her thought balloon in that page could apply to any of the men there.]
More Sugar Floops! These mentions are approaching Soder Cola territory.
Is Turpin’s partner, Bayas’ skin green, or is that just in my copy? [Max: He's green-ish here too. Also, is it my copy or does Blue Beetle look rather bored with the battle?]
GODWATCH: Even a synthetic lifeform like a protoplasmic shape-shifter can wish someone Godspeed and Superman invokes the almighty in horror after seeing what Kilowog did to the Metal Men.
What happened to the “mouth” on Brainiac’s skull ship?
I’m not sure I realized Maxima has red eyes. [Max: Maybe she's just super, super angry at Brainiac for talking to her that way.]
There’s that ‘wisdom of Solomon’ again!
“Society of Monsters” is a pretty cute line from Cap as is the line on the next page about the commonality he shares with the magic-word-summoned Infinity Man.
One member of the Superman Family nearly destroys Barda and Scott’s marriage, another saves it.
