Action Comics #696 (February 1994)
Action Comics #696 (February 1994)
Superman fights THE CHAMPION: the sensational character find of 1994! Yes, it's another new '90s hero who (as far as I can tell) will never appear again. We start with Superman literally kicking rocks in space, where he's been lost since his recent fight with Lobo. Oh yeah, and he doesn't need to breathe anymore, for some reason.
After three issues of aimless wandering, he finally runs into a somewhat Earth-like planet and decides to go down to ask for directions. Unfortunately he can't do that, because the giant city he saw from space is completely empty and encased in something like amber. Superman tries to create a small opening in the "amber" with his heat vision to go snooping inside one of the buildings, but his super-charged powers cause him to melt the coating off of half the building. That's when he meets a big bug-like guy in a green armor called Champion, who isn't too happy about Superman defacing the empty buildings under his care.
Superman tries to push Champion away to explain himself, but of course he ends up punching him across the city due to his extra strength (he should really be used to that by now). More punching and property damage ensue.
Champion eventually manages to knock Superman out and takes him to his satellite base to have him analyzed by his AI companion, Outpost. Outpost finds out that Superman is 1) a Kryptonian, and 2) only pretending to be unconscious, so the fight resumes. To prevent those two from destroying the satellite with their brawling, Outpost zaps Champion with some sort of sleeping ray and explains their whole backstory to Superman (having learned English by reading his mind). Turns out this planet was rendered uninhabitable by alien invaders a long time ago, causing the survivors to go into suspended animation chambers underground – except for Champion, who had to stay up there rebuilding the cities and sealing them from the toxic elements (hence the "amber" stuff).
Now Champion just sits in his satellite all day, waiting for the planet to become inhabitable again and protecting it from destructive visitors like Superman. Having explained all that, Outpost finally tells Superman how to get back to Earth… mostly just to keep him away from this planet since his powers are growing so much that pretty soon he'll be a danger to everyone around him.
Yay, Superman's going back home! I mean, uh-oh.
Plotline-Watch:
As Superman goes through the wormhole Outpost pointed him to, he misses a familiar-looking being crossing in the opposite direction. Don Sparrow says: "As if the issue seemed aware that essentially nothing happened, they toss in a glimpse at Doomsday, who has been freed into 'normal space' by the wormhole through which Superman traveled." Doomsday has been tied up to that asteroid since the Cyborg Superman put him there and tossed him into space back in Superman #78. It would have been darkly funny if Doomsday had landed on Champion's world and proceeded to tear the whole place apart, but his destiny lies in a more… apocalyptic location.
The only other plot this week is about Lois Lane's ongoing investigation into Sasha Green, Lex Luthor Jr.'s personal trainer who went missing (because he choked her to death). Lois stops by Lex's office to ask him about Sasha, and apparently this criminal mastermind didn't fully think his alibi through: he's been telling people Sasha disappeared because she moved to Coast City right before it turned into a big crater, but he also admits that she reappeared in Metropolis with metahuman powers during an alien invasion and seemingly died again in a helicopter crash (during the "Bloodlines" crossover). Lois informs Lex that she has evidence Sasha didn't move to Coast City and didn't die in that crash, and he's so upset that he almost chokes his top lackey to death, too.
I'm not clear on when Lois found out about the "Bloodlines" stuff. When Sasha's dad asked her to look into her disappearance, he seemed to think no one had seen her since that day she kicked Lex in the face during training. Has Lois told Mr. Green that his daughter was turned into a super-zombie by aliens and might still be around? Should she tell him?
As a continuity nerd, I appreciate Champion being confused about how a Kryptonian can exist outside Krypton considering the "defective gene" that made them drop dead if they tried to exit their world (a gene created by Superman's ancestor Kem-L via the Eradicator).
Patreon-Watch:
Don and I also appreciate our patrons Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and newcomers Andrew Loduha and Hank Curry! Thanks, all! As a perk of joining us at patreon.com/superman86to99, they got to read Don's section two weeks ago, but it can now be shared with the world (because I finally got around to finishing mine). Take it away, Don:
Art-Watch (by Don Sparrow):
While this sojourn into space has felt generally a little like filler, it has still provided some great visuals. This month's cover would make a great poster, and I was especially impressed by the detail in Superman's hair, as well as the subtle trail of red from his cape within the speed lines. Great, great stuff.
The opening splash has a great sense of motion, as Superman kicks an asteroid in frustration (though there's something comedically Rockette-like in his follow-through). Soon after we get our first look at Champion, and for a character with such a cool name, it's a puzzling design. He looks a little like an armoured, green version of the Tick, apart from his very alien face. There's also a strange thing happening on the full body shots, where his torso looks like a big nosed face gritting his teeth. [Max: For some reason I can't stop thinking about Wario.]
As the story progresses we get a nice view of Metropolis at Christmastime, complete with a performance of the Nutcracker ballet in Metropolis' version of Broadway. Jackson Guice generally pays pretty good attention to Lois' fashion choices, though,perhaps due to the colouring, this one looks like it came from the Nicholson-as-Joker collection.
As Superman goes toe to toe with Champion we get another perfectly bowl-like crater, another Guice specialty.
A few pages later, the star-warp in space is well done, particularly the shimmer colour involved.
On the whole, I'm thrilled Superman will soon be returning to Earth. Unlike the "Exile in Space" saga, this entire journey into space has been pretty uneventful, other than documenting that Superman's powers are continually increasing. Even this issue is a deeply weird summary: Superman goes to a suspended animation planet and its protector thinks he's a threat, but he's not. So Superman leaves. [Max: You forgot "and Lex chokes a dude".]