Action Comics #682 (October 1992)
Action Comics #682 (October 1992)
Superman vs. Hi-Tech! Not in the "Superman can't work out how to use this MP3 player" sense, but in the "he fights a woman whose name is Hi-Tech" one. She's apparently just a random lady with too much time on her hands who decides she wants to beat Superman up. To that end, she equips herself with some highly technological equipment and hires career supervillain Professor Killgrave (no relation with David Tennant) to assist her and offer moral support.
The plan Hi-Tech and Killgrave come up with is simple: wear Superman down with a nuclear explosion, then whoop his ass.
(Oh, yeah: she's wearing a giant robot armor at this point, but she slowly strips down as the issue advances.)
Superman copes with the nuclear explosion pretty well, so Hi-Tech forces him to chase her for a while until he's all tired. It's only once she's thrown several explosions at his face, made him fly across the world and trapped him in an underground cave that Hi-Tech finally beats him in a "fair" fight. Killgrave (who's monitoring the whole thing from afar) congratulates Hi-Tech on her victory over Superman… and then announces he's gonna kill them both. Turns out he hid another nuclear bomb in the cave they're both currently trapped in, just to be a dick. Killgrave detonates the bomb and brings out the champagne, but then…
Superman and Hi-Tech joined forces to escape Killgrave's trap, which… you really should have seen coming, dude. What kind of Professor are you? Anyway, Superman captures Killgrave and tells Hi-Tech "and you're coming with me too, little lady," only to find out she'd replaced herself with a hologram at some point. And so, the gutsy and resourceful Hi-Tech lives on to challenge Superman another day!
Character-Watch:
"Another day" = like once more and that's it, I'm pretty sure. She did have a two-part solo story during DC's Showcase ‘95 serial (I forget what year this came out on), which hopefully sheds some light on her origin. Is she a bored socialite, like I've always imagined? A rebooted version of the robot woman from the end of Superman III? Freaking Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught? I'll update you all when we get to that point.
Plotline-Watch:
We find out in this issue that it was Killgrave who sold a nuclear bomb to the Joker way back in Superman #9, meaning that he was pestering Superman even before first being mentioned in World of Krypton #4. Wait, didn't Killgrave also supply Intergang with the nuke they almost used to blow up Metropolis? Every time you see a nuclear bomb in a comic, assume Professor Killgrave made it. This does explain why he's so tragically ugly: it's the effects of working with radiation all day.
This issue cleverly reminds us of a couple of basic rules about Superman: sunlight can help him recover from catastrophic injuries (that's why Hi-Tech attacks him at night), and he can be defeated if you wear him down sufficiently. Why, you might even kill him.
In a completely unrelated note: what's that "DOOMSDAY IS COMING" ad on the cover about? Is that a new DC series or something?
I have nothing more to say about this issue, but luckily for you, Don Sparrow does! Read his thoughts after the jump:
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We begin this issue with a pretty good cover (mention must be made of the corner blurb which makes anything that isn’t that particular storyline a little less interesting) with a new character resembling a sexy Robocop menacing Superman. [Max: I wish I'd thought of that description of her…] Terminator-style technological vision gives the cover a little more visual interest. While I’m a big fan of Jackson Guice, I’ll admit my excitement for guest artist Dusty Abell doing this issue, after his work on the excellent Armageddon 2001 Annual. However, in this issue he emulates Superman great John Byrne to a point approaching swipe territory (full disclosure: I came close to madness trying to place some particularly familiar poses throughout this issue, but could never find direct examples, so maybe it’s just Byrne-inspired, rather than Byrne-traced? Unless you guys can find some).
[Max: I'm sure I've seen the pose above in a Byrne comic, but I can't place it either. I think the style is pretty appropriate, though, since the whole issue is pretty Byrne-esque: self-contained, heavy use of science, exposition about Superman's powers, etc. We even get callbacks to a couple of Byrne stories. Maybe this was a conscious choice on Roger Stern's part, to sorta take us down memory lane before what's coming. Also, Stern is a pal of Byrne, of course.]
This cover reminded me of Superman #3, where a giant Darkseid held Superman aloft by his cape, rather than his hair, but again, when the two are compared side by side, the poses are a little different. So maybe it’s inker Terry Austin reminding me of Byrne, since he inked Byrne pretty consistently back in the day.
Inside the issue, we see lots of technology, something Abell really excels at, so he’s a great fit for this story, as all the computer parts and robots and even chairs have a pleasing, blocky three-dimensionality to them. Abell is a rare artist in the way that his backgrounds tend to outshine even the characters in the foreground (which tend to be slightly cartoonier). I also dig the way he’ll give characters an outline, or halo to distinguish them from the background. It’s not exactly realistic, but in the space scenes it really makes Superman pop.
As the story progresses, the worldwide chase scenes are pretty great–the sharp, straight lines really give a sense of tremendous speed, though the way Superman keeps walking into traps puts me in the mind of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote.
PANEL OF THE WEEK: A perhaps oddball choice, but the first panel of Superman zooming and looking ahead on page 11 looks nice and Chris Reeve-y, so I’m making it my panel of the week!
There’s more great technology, as Superman flies alongside the fighter jets. The reveal of Hi-Tech under the robot suit is well done–even though her metallic thong is a weird design element (to say nothing of the 220v nipples), I do like her look overall, particularly the care taken with things like her knee joints, which really look like they’d function.
Speaking of reveals, I love Thaddeus Killgrave, so it’s nice to see him again–part of the decades worth of stories I have on file for when DC Comics inevitably lets me take over (Dan DiDio, let’s talk!) the Superman comics involves Killgrave, though we might have to re-name him now that that other feller is so popular. I realize there’s only so many ways you can draw a guy who looks as odd as Thaddeus Killgrave, but this is a pretty clear cut swipe file, I’d say.
It’s always neat seeing Superman sans cape, though I picture his boat-neck shirt going a little further down, to the collar bone.
Kudos also to the colourist Glenn Whitmore for the shading on Superman’s suit–the two tones he uses consistently really make it seem like it’s a shiny material.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Hey, man, I was alive in the ‘90s, and there’s just no way that a pink and pink striped shirt with a light teal and yellow paisley tie was an acceptable look.
More dramatic irony, as Artie (do we know him? Seems new to me) inquires as to when Clark and Lois will marry. A fair question–it’s not like there’s any terrible, foreboding reason they won’t, right?
If Superman’s already sure that Hi-Tech is a woman under there, then why does he go straight for the boobs? Come on, Superman, be a gentleman.
Lefevre and Buquet are the fighter pilots in this issue–does this make Killgrave, and his hidden until the end machinations a weird Phantom of the Opera?
In this era of actual photocopies when artists wanted to repeat a graphic, they really jump out at you.
