Action Comics #686 (February 1993)
Action Comics #686 (February 1993)
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, Part 6! The quest for Superman's corpse continues! The cover asks "Who's buried in Superman's TOMB?" but the issue itself quickly answers "no one" – it was stolen, remember? This whole situation has Lex Luthor Jr. pretty paranoid that Superman actually faked his death, but it's not like anyone's ever pulled off something like… oh, right.
(Yes, Lex Luthor Jr. just called himself "fine".)
Anyway, Lex, Dr. Happersen, Supergirl, Captain Maggie, and Dan "Where Are My Pants" Turpin venture into the tunnels under Metropolis to look for whoever cribbed Superman's casket, but it turns out that those mysterious graverobbers left a bomb down there to cover their tracks… and it has a big Project Cadmus logo on it. Hmmm. The bomb goes off and the tunnels are flooded, but Supergirl saves everyone because she's boss. Lex and the gang have to turn back, but at least now they know that Cadmus might be behind everything, maybe.
Meanwhile, at Cadmus, Guardian and the other non-evil members of the staff find out that their boss (Director Westfield) stole a beloved superhero's corpse while they weren't looking. You can't turn your back on that guy for one second.
Guardian is prepared to give Westfield his third punch (if psychokinetic ones count) since this storyline started, but Westfield makes the point that Cadmus has a responsibility to clone Superman for the sake of the world… and the others buy it. Now they just have to figure out how to get DNA samples from an unbreakable chunk of alien flesh shaped like a man.
Character-Watch:
During the Cadmus scenes, there's a doctor working on Superman's body who goes "uh-oh!" when Westfield and his team are busted. That's Dr. Packard, who will be important later on.
Plotline-Watch:
Remember those crazy people who worshipped Superman as a some sort of deity simply because he's a man who can fly and shoot eye lasers and punch through walls? (We met them in Action Comics Weekly.) They're back, and now they think he's actually gonna come back from the dead. It's sad how delusional some people can be.
The issue opens with an extended sequence about Guardian chasing some bad guys (more in Don Sparrow's section below), but the most interesting part is that we find out he had a dash-cam all the way back in 1993 – and DVDs! You have no excuse now, 2016 cops.
Not a whole lot happens this issue (we've known Cadmus has Superman for the past two weeks), but there's a little scene that saves it for me: the grieving Lois Lane insists that she's okay and tells Ma Kent, Pa Kent, and Lana Lang to go back to Smallville, then drops them off at the airport. Perhaps Roger Stern simply realized he had half a page left in the issue, but he had Lana turn back at the last moment and share a little "the dude we loved is dead" moment with Lois. They've come a long way from trying to punch each other (in a cover only, but still).
And now: Don's section! After the jump! Exclamation!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We open with a pretty well-drawn, if literal, cover, of Supergirl peering into an empty catacomb. The thin lines indicate this is a Jackson Guice solo effort–not of the thick, brushy lines Rodier is known for. My favourite part of this cover is the detail of the leaves blowing around which really place the scene in the late fall, and give a cold and blustery feel.
Inside we get some very nice large scale panels to kick off the story–I wonder if it was tough letting go of those increasingly bigger panels from the Doomsday storyline–including a double page spread of Guardian leaping into a van of thugs with automatic weaponry.
Appropriately, this spread has a real Jack Kirby feel to it, as so much of Rodier’s inks tend to. [Max: The Kirby homages/influences are some of the main things I never noticed as a kid (since I didn't know the guy) that now jump at me. It's amazing how much these titles owe to him.] The choreography of the following page (4) is very easy to follow, and it’s impressive.
Page 7 and 8 do a good job of retelling the story of Lex’s “resurrection” as Lex Luthor II–a necessary reminder for all the new readers who stuck around after the Doomsday storyline. [Max: I certainly appreciated it at the time.] The other big eye-grabber from this issue is of course the double page spread (another one!) with Superman laid out on the gurney at Cadmus.
The image is striking enough, but I think it might have been more effective to have a little more mystery to it–not showing his face, say? Anyone else agree? [Max: Something always felt off about this image for me and I never knew what, but yep, that's it.] Also, hey, lab tech, how about not letting Superman’s cape touch the ground of your filthy cloning lab? Sheesh.
Lastly, the tender scene between, of all people, Lana Lang and Lois Lane is just so well handled. These two women, united in their grief over a man they both once loved is just so quietly powerful, with Guice wisely, and movingly moving the “camera” in to the detail of the tear.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Some interesting hints of things to come in these pages. Lex, of all people, makes mention of the possibility of Superman living on through a son, after a story about how he himself came back as a clone.
Man, Happersen’s really sticking with that bowlcut, huh? [Max: There's only so much genetic engineering can do for man.]
Once again, Lois’ grief is just so heart-wrenching. Her thought that Clark will “never be found, never be married…” is so, so sad.
They make mention of Morty Beckman, who gets a little more exposure in the coming Newstime supplement, but we’ll talk about that when it’s out.
I’m trying to view this issue both how it was written at the time, and also with the benefit of hindsight and retroactive continuity. With that in mind, isn’t it interesting how Lex stymies Supergirl’s efforts to track Superman’s body to Cadmus, both in the tunnel, when he clumsily finds the charge left there (resulting in them getting washed far away) and then later, he seems to argue with Captain Sawyer about delaying the announcement that Superman’s body is missing. Almost like he’s allowing Cadmus to stall for time. (I know that a page later, he expresses curiosity about what they’re up to to Happersen, but still, it’s interesting to try to make it fit with some additions to the continuity that Geoff Johns makes, years later.
I love that little moment in the airport, where the big brother threatens bodily harm if the little brother bothers Lois Lane in her grief. Metropolitans watch out for one another!
