Action Comics #676 (April 1992)
Action Comics #676 (April 1992)
Someone tries to murder Lex Luthor II, while Superman tries to murder a piano! (And succeeds.) That someone is Hellgrammite, the bug-faced hitman that was hired three issues ago by a jealous LexCorp board member who wants to move up on the company. After biding his time for months, Hellgrammite decides to strike when he hears that Lex 2 is throwing a party on the Sea Queen – the same luxury yacht where the late Lex 1 first met Superman and the two became mortal enemies (Man of Steel #4). Lois Lane and Clark Kent are guests again, because Metropolis people will never learn that inviting those two guarantees a monster will crash your party.
As Clark picks this moment to visit the men's room, Superman appears and saves Luthor from Hellgrammite (at the great cost of the piano where Lex was entertaining his guests earlier in the evening). The fight takes them to the sea, where Hellgrammite manages to escape by shooting goo at Superman's face and breaking away the tail section of his body, the gross bastard.
So Lex survives the murder attempt, but he's still pretty pissed that his security force was completely useless against Hellgrammite. Lex wants to "supplant the man of steel in the hearts and minds of the citizenry," but all his money and luscious locks aren't enough to achieve that. He needs his own superhero.
Then a solution falls from the sky, literally: LexCorp scientists just found the spaceship where Supergirl traveled from Warworld. Lex introduces himself to the confused Supergirl and immediately puts the moves on her, but obviously it's gonna take a while before she–
Uh, never mind. Holy shit, that guy works fast.
Plotline-Watch:
Long-time readers have probably figured out why Supergirl thinks she already knows (and "knows") young Lex. The rest of you peasants will have to wait until next issue, when it's all explained in detail.
The reason no armored LexMen showed up to save Lex from Hellgrammite is that they were busy fighting Husque, as seen as the end of Adventures #489. We then find out that Husque mopped the floor with them before Superman stopped by and scared him away (which contributes to Lex's grumpiness at the end). Don't worry, the Husque/Professor Hamilton story continues next week.
Before they get on the yacht, Lois tries to get Clark to tell him what happened with an hostage situation Superman and other heroes solved that morning. Clark doesn't say anything, probably so that you'll buy Justice League Spectacular #1 for the full story. We won't say anything either, because we'll have a post about it soon.
I like that they brought back the Sea Queen to stress how different Luthor I and Luthor II are. The yacht's first appearance was about old Luthor hitting on Lois and trying to convince Superman to come work for him, while this one is about young Luthor, uh…
Speaking of which, the issue opens with Lex II hitting on his personal trainer, Arabella, when Dr. Gretchen Kelley (you know, his mom) arrives to give him a routine medical checkup. Don Sparrow muses: "Arabela is kind of a weirdo. ‘Lucky woman.’ He just called her ‘mum,’ and you’re envious she gets to see him naked? Wait, why is his mom his doctor though? That’s weird." Yep, just a normal young guy being examined by his real, normal mother. No subtext here.
"When Dr. Kelley says ‘not that all of them were ladies!' she probably means that the women Lex Sr. was with were not lady-like, not… something else." I'm not so sure, Don. There was palpable tension in the scenes with Brainiac.
This issue is Jackson Guice's debut as Superman artist, meaning that all the creative teams are finally in place for "Death of Superman"! Let Don explain why Guice is awesome (and more) after the jump:
Art-Watch (by donsparrow):
This issue marks two new developments in the art department. One, it introduces Jackson “Butch” Guice as regular penciller on Action Comics, and while I love Bob McLeod’s run, Guice is terrific. The other is that Art Thibert took over covers for Action Comics, which is a real sign of the times. Thibert’s geometric, hatchy inks were definitely more in line with the flavour of the era than the other super-artists at this time. I’m a big fan of his ink works–I thought he gave a real energy to Jurgens’ pencils on Adventures of Superman, but I am less a fan of his pencils. This cover makes Superman look like a member of the X-Men, for good or ill, and bears all the unfortunate marks of a 90s cover. Grit teeth? Check. Almost complete lack of background? Check? Feet hidden by dust cloud or shrub? Check. I kid, I kid. But I can’t really tell what’s happening here, from the cover alone. My guess is, he’s smashing a piano with glue on his hands (which is actually what happens in the issue).
Inside, it’s a very different picture, as Guice eschews the bulk of Thibert’s figures for longer leaner ones, which seem to rely pretty heavily on photo reference. Up to now, we hadn’t seen much of Lex Luthor II’s physique, but Guice informs us, it’s pretty formidable.
Perhaps the thing I remember best about Guice’s run is how intimate he would make Clark’s interactions with Lois–Action Comics seems to be the book most demonstrative of their passion. All of the books do a great job of telling the story of their romance, but it’s rare you see Clark nuzzling Lois’ ear (as he does on page 7) outside of a Guice book. His Lois is always very fetching, and this issue is no exception as Lois looks great in her LBD throughout.
Guice also manages to make Hellgrammite look less ridiculous than other artists, wisely keeping him extensively in shadow (pages 12-14). The effect of Hellgrammite’s webbing melting off is well done on page 17, and credit goes to the writer for having such an unconventional way of fighting Superman.
The best art of the issue comes as Lex travels to New Mexico to see what his team has discovered. The decontamination tent and all the lab equipment is very well drawn, and on that last page, Supergirl and Lex give Lois and Clark a run for their money in the steam department, as Supergirl, still possibly injured from the crash, and at best with a child’s mentality, mistakes THIS Lex Luthor Jr. for the heroic (ish) Lex of the pocket universe and immediately gets physical. [Max: SPOILERS! From, uh, an issue that we covered almost two years ago. OK, I'll allow it.] This whole thing genuinely makes my skin crawl, but it’s so well drawn that last panel of page 22 is our PANEL OF THE WEEK!
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
Unlike his less-than-hirsute poppa, this Lex is all about hair. [Max: Among other things, based on this suggestive dialogue.]
GODWATCH: Lois shows her Bible familiarity, throwing the phrase “chapter and verse” in requesting Clark fill her in on the Justice League doings on page 7–kudos as usual to the Superman creative team for keeping the chronology straight for us fans. Later Superman invokes the Almighty in horror upon realizing he severed an actual limb while fighting Hellgrammite. And lastly, the firmly atheistic Lex Luthor is almost moved to faith, when he considers his great fortune at having been the one to discover Matrix had landed on Earth.
Very cute interplay with Lois and Clark, remembering the last time they were aboard this ship. Clark’s gag about having his jacket cleaned is pretty flirty.
Also interesting that Lex Jr. would sing that particular tune, known well to fans of the first Superman movie as one that Gene Hackman performs in a beloved deleted scene.
Roger Clemens! A rare real-world sports reference!
The names of the doctors (James Binder and Roberta Bernstein) in New Mexico are references to Otto Binder (one of many in these pages) Robert Bernstein, silver age writers of Superman, Jimmy Olsen, and other great stuff. [Max: Hey, it took me a while of seeing the words "New Mexico" to realize: this is the same S.T.A.R./LexCorp facility where the Brainiac Trilogy took place, right? That's pretty cool.]