Action Comics #685 (January 1993)
Action Comics #685 (January 1993)
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, PART 2! After all efforts to revive him fail, Superman is officially declared dead by Dr. Sanchez, the doctor who treated him most times when he was alive (twice). As the world mourns its greatest hero, the authorities fight over what to do with Supes' corpse – literally, they fight, with shooting and all. Project Cadmus wants to keep Superman's body for scientific study (a plot point borrowed from E.T.) but Maggie Sawyer and Metropolis' Special Crimes Unit disagree, and then Lex Luthor Jr.'s armored Lex-Men get involved, too.
Fortunately, Supergirl shows up to make the Cadmus people see reason (by knocking them out with a psychic blast).
This gives Metropolis' Mayor Berkowitz enough time to fax President Clinton (I just said "fax", so people reading from the future, you can probably guess I mean Bill) and get him to rescind Cadmus' jurisdiction over dead aliens, so that Superman can be given a proper burial in the city. Luthor Jr. generously offers to build a tomb/monument for the fallen hero in the city's Centennial Park. The poor kid is taking this pretty bad – he even breaks a chair on Doomsday's corpse at STAR Labs because he's so sad! Awww.
Anyway, as most people cry over Superman (seriously, lots of crying in this issue), others realize it's the perfect time to go out and do crimes. Some ruffians rip off a jewelry store and nearly kill a cop while speeding away in their car, figuring that are no super-strong people with an "S" on their chest to stop them anymore. They forgot about this one, though:
Judging by this moment (and the familiar-looking cover to this issue), we can logically assume that the next 684 issues of Action Comics will be remakes of the first 684 ones, only with Supergirl instead of Superman. You know, because he's dead and never coming back.
Plotline-Watch:
The bulk of the issue (and the best moments in it) show various characters reacting to the sad news, from long-time cast members to total strangers:
First and foremost, the person who loved Superman the most in the world is obviously having a pretty rough time right now. This leads to one of the most moving scenes in Superman comics, or any series: I'm talking about Bibbo "Superman's My Fav'rit" Bibbowski, of course. In the scene, Bibbo refuses a drink from his friends High Pockets and Lamarr, kicks them out of his bar, and kneels down to ask God why he couldn't die instead. Oof.
Oh, Lois Lane is pretty sad too, I guess. The worst part is that everyone tells her they're sure Clark Kent will show up any moment now – since Doomsday knocked down so many buildings, they're still pulling people out of the rubble and everyone assumes Clark must be there too. That, or they figured out the truth years ago and are just being jerks to her.
There's a short scene with Ma and Pa Kent being called by a crying Lana Lang – whose fiancee Pete Ross somehow still doesn't know Clark is Superman, so he must have thought it was pretty weird when they heard the news on their car radio and Lana suddenly broke down.
We also get sad reactions from: the town Superman and Batman saved from vampires in Action Annual #1, some Australians he saved during the alien invasion (sorry, Invasion!), random people crying in random countries, and even the criminals at Stryker's Island (some celebrate but others are sad, like the guy who says Superman saved his grandma).
Speaking of criminals, we also see our old pal the Parasite (still locked in that glass cell in STAR Labs, yelling rude words at the scientists) and Toyman, who is in the "sad about Superman" camp, because Supes was always so kind to children. And, as we all know, Toyman loves children and would never hurt one. That would be extremely out of character.
Interesting that Cadmus director/resident jerk Paul Westfield got knocked out by Supergirl's psychokinetic blast. I wonder if that gave him any ideas for future Cadmus projects…
Have I left anything for the great Don Sparrow to talk about in his section? Unbelievably, yes! Click through to see it:
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We begin with the cover, one of dozens of Action #1 homages we’ve seen over the years, from back when the criminal element still wore neckties. Still, this is a good one, as the terrified guy in the foreground manages to look like Shuster’s version, but also a real, fleshed out person. There also seems to be some joy to Supergirl’s pose, and less menace than the original drawing, which is a unique character distinction.
Inside the issue, the art is good, but serves what feels like a draggy story, especially after the excitement, and star-studded cast of the last few issues. Guice and Rodier do their best to keep the action flying (the panel on page 5 of Guardian watching LexCorp soldiers jump through the roof has a nice, Kirby flair) but there’s only so much interest that can be generated from a jurisdictional disagreement.
Instead the “drama” comes from small-scale emotional moments, shown well in small increments, particularly a series of six panel pages all showing varied reactions. Page 10 had a nice page of macro reactions, from Lois crying on Superman’s cape, and the Kents weeping in each other’s arms,all drawn very effectively and candidly.
Page 12 is identically laid out, but instead shows reactions around the world the news reports of Superman’s passing very effectively, leaving us with the feeling not only that Superman was loved around the world, but perhaps that he personally helped these mourners we see.
The story takes off visually toward the end of the book, as Supergirl takes on the robbers in that famous green car from the cover. The shot of Supergirl in the headlights on page 18 is a great one, as is the last panel on page 19, where a very beautiful Supergirl telekinetically stops the bullets shot in her direction. [Max: This seems like a good moment to include the awesome Supergirl pinup Don drew for this post…]
Lastly, the story shifts back to quiet moments, and the use of cool colours and heavy shadow in the last couple pages is very moving, particularly seeing a big bull of a man like Bibbo kneeling down in humility. More on that in a second.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
It’s interesting seeing Lex so strongly oppose Cadmus getting custody of Superman’s body, especially when viewed with a modern eye. Given the lineage of a character who will come to be named Kon-El (not technically a spoiler!), you can’t help but read these pages as a shell game of Lex’s, where he is saying one thing, but arranging something else in the background. [Max: I took it as Lex taking petty revenge on Westfield for shooting at his TV crew, but I like your idea better.]
GODWATCH: Probably the biggest issue to date for faith in these pages. Perry offers an ‘amen’ to Jimmy’s sentiment of hope that Clark is alive (spoilers, he isn’t!), later adding“Lord, I don’t even want to think about how this must be affecting Kent’s parents!” But one of the most powerful prayers seen in these pages comes from Bibbo on the last page, as he simply, and movingly questions God as to why a 'washed up old roughneck’ like himself could live on, while someone as noble and selfless as Superman should die. The viewpoint zooms out from Bibbo, making the powerful figure seem all the more small in this moment of pain, and desperation. It’s beautiful, and such an important moment in the history of Bibbo. Especially since it comes on the heels of a decision NOT to drink in his sorrow. [Max: Though if there was ever a time when the city of Metropolis needed him to keep the bar open…]
Given what we know about Doomsday, Lex Jr. is playing a dangerous game striking his dead body. [Max: SPOILERS: Good thing Doomsday is a heavy napper.]
Lois sinking to the ground at Clark’s apartment is also pretty heartbreaking. In particular the line “I was almost a part of that family” got to me.
