Action Comics #688 (July 1993)
Action Comics #688 (July 1993)
REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! The Last Son of Krypton bumps into Superman’s greatest friend and ally: the dark, bat-themed vigilante known as GUY GARDNER. (“Bat” is for “batshit”.) Okay, so Guy actually hated Superman up until a few months ago, but this issue quickly establishes that everyone's least favorite former Green Lantern gained a lot of respect for Supes after watching him punch an indestructible alien to death and die himself in the process. So, what better way to honor Superman than going to Metropolis and punching those four dudes claiming to be him?
Guy lures the Last Son into a confrontation by using his knock-off Green (Yellow) Lantern ring to create a fake fire. The Last Son isn’t amused and knocks Guy around for a few pages…
…eventually throwing him right into the middle of a suspicious biker get-together he’d spotted earlier, because why not kill a dozen birds with one stone? The biker meeting turns out to be a drugs-for-guns deal, so the Last Son diverts his attention from Guy to “deal” with the gang members. Guy then witnesses as the Last Son brutally punishes the criminals… and realizes he's found his new kink.
At this point, Guy instantly switches to Team Last Son and declares him the One True Superman. Guy even gives a press conference in support of his new idol and offers to help him get rid of the other three pretenders, but the Last Son wants to do that alone.
The Last Son, however, is actually disturbed that Guy Gardner likes him and ends the issue wondering if there’s a better way of dealing truth and justice than just burning criminals to death.
Character-Watch:
Kidding aside, this is a big step on Guy’s ongoing evolution from jerk-who-is-a-hero to hero-who-is-a-jerk. We’re nearing the era when he ditches his most annoying traits along with his Moe haircut. It is my responsibility to point out a continuity problem, though: he sees the Man of Steel on the cover of Newstime magazine and doesn’t recognize the barely-disguised features of his college roommate, John Henry Irons.
Plotline-Watch:
The most important development in the issue: the Last Son of Krypton installs a bunch of monitors and satellite TV at the Fortress of Solitude. He says it’s because he wants to keep an eye on Metropolis from afar, but I’m pretty sure he just didn’t want to miss the Cheers finale.
At the Fortress, we get some clues about the Last Son’s true identity: we see him draw power from his mysterious “regeneration matrix”, and one of his robot servants keeps teasing him about changing to a traditional Kryptonian garb. Hmmm, who was the last one to wear one of those…?
Lois Lane interviews a would-be bank thief who had his arms completely broken by someone claiming to be Superman, and quickly deduces that he’s talking about the Last Son. See, that’s why she has a Pulitzer. Then she mistakes an old guy with a fedora and glasses for Clark, so maybe they should take that Pulitzer away.
At the hospital, Lois runs into Cat Grant (also doing reporter stuff) and as they’re talking shit about the four Supermen, a Superboy interview by Tana Moon comes up on TV. Cat sees Tana and worries that the network is gonna replace her with a younger model – which is foreshadowing for the upcoming storyline, “Reign of the Cat Grants”.
As a result of the crime wave that followed Superman’s death, Metropolis’ police commissioner resigns, Inspector Henderson is bumped up to Commissioner Henderson, and Captain Maggie Sawyer is bumped up to Inspector Maggie Sawyer. There’s a nice little scene with the two proclaiming respect for each other despite their long-running rivalry, and DC inching a little bit closer to actually using the word “lesbian”.
And that’s all from me, but for more commentary and cool details I missed, read Don Sparrow's section after the jump!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We start with a pretty great looking cover by Kerry Gamill & Jackson Guice (apparently from a sketch by Ed Hannigan) coloured by Denis Rodier. It's the colour that really set this one apart for me, with the yellow from Guy Gardner's Sinestro ring meshing well with the yellow from the Last Son's hand energy beams, with just enough red to keep it from being totally monochromatic. It also looks like they're in a real struggle, and not a posed "fight" stance. Just great.
Inside, the first splash page does a great job of showing what the readers are feeling, after reading those issues introducing the four new Superman characters, and decides to investigate.
Guice and Rodier do a great job of Guy's unique, less-than-handsome character face, particularly as Guy's intention in looking into the new Supermen is to honour his fallen comrade, after Superman "did what nobody else could do" in stopping Doomsday. There's a look of genuine care on Guy's angular face as he sets out to figure out just who these new Superman are.
The Last Son's intercepting of the bank robber is well drawn, and it's still jarring to see a Superman who moves so threateningly, and robotically--though he seems to have already developed a movie-character-like ability to crack one-liners, making him seem like maybe there's a Clark Kent underneath after all.
But, nope, then he breaks every bone in the bank-robber's arms, which is something so harsh even Batman wouldn't do! (Even Punisher doesn't torture people so ironically--this is Spectre territory!)
The update of goings-on with the police department is interesting, and Guice draws a more feminine Maggie Sawyer than we're used to seeing, though with the vest and gray temples, Inspector Henderson is essentially identical to Perry White in this scene. (Behind the scenes note: I was grateful that Maggie's scene was so short, given that the Supergirl TV show currently airing has more or less been taken over completely by her relationship with Alex Danvers. Digression over!)
The battle between the Last Son and Gardner is well choreographed--I appreciated seeing a brawler like Gardner actually think to use his ring (with a neat reference to Sir Justin from Seven Soldiers of Victory) and the array of facial expressions Gardner shows as the Last Son wallops the crooks is pretty funny.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Betty's Page is the name of the newsstand that Guy is browsing at, and just happens to be run by a pretty gal with bangs and gloves (who Guy disturbingly dismisses as a "smart mouth").
BEATLESWATCH! Just because he's a safe-cracker doesn't mean our would-be robber has poor taste in music, parodying "Fixing a Hole" as he takes an acetylene torch to the vault.
Man, that Lois Lane sure has a reporter's knack for invention! Imagine, thinking that the Last Son isn't actually Superman, but that he merely stole his body… [Max: OK, she can have the Pulitzer back.]
GODWATCH! The Last Son thanks "the creator" that he can retire to "this fine fortress" and plan my next move. Notice he doesn't say "his" fortress… [Max: Weird that he didn't say "Thank Rao".]
I completely forgot about that little scene where the Last Son "draws more energy" from the Regeneration Matrix. Very telling, not only about how the Last Son is so powerful, but also why someone ISN'T powerful in issues to come.
I might buy that the Last Son intentionally threw Gardner into the warehouse full of crooks, but were the overpass and water tower also up to no good? [Max: Those were Hydro-Man and, uh, Overpass Man!]
The Last Son seems to borrow liberally from his Gotham counterpart, right down to inexplicably being anti-gun.
Is Guy actually convinced this is the Superman he knew in the Justice League, or is he actually afraid of him? His facial expression as he explains that he's convinced would seem to indicate that he just plain doesn't want to fight anymore.