Adventures of Superman #424 (January 1987)
Adventures of Superman #424 (January 1987)
Terrorist robots from the Middle-Eastern nation of Qurac attack Metropolis, and they seem to be controlled by a bunch of people with matching costumes and weird headgear inside (basically, evil Power Rangers). Superman punches them for a while until they assemble into a bigger robot, and… to be continued.
Meanwhile, Lois Lane’s mom was in an accident in a chemical factory and will die soon, but then Lex Luthor calls up Lois and says he just discovered a cure for her mom. What a swell guy! Of course, Luthor orchestrated the whole thing and this was his extremely roundabout way of getting into Lois’ pants. You could just hire a prostitute, Lex.
Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of Superman’s characterization in these early Adventures issues (they’re trying so hard to make him edgy that sometimes he’s just “Batman but with flying”), but on the other hand I like that writer Marv Wolfman took the time to populate Metropolis with lots of new characters, and his work would pay off for years to come.
Character-Watch:
As I said, this issue presents a whole bunch of long-running characters:
Cat Grant: The Daily Planet’s newly-hired gossip columnist and resident sexy vixen. Lois says that she’s known for sleeping with celebrities to get interviews out of them, and Clark’s reaction to that is “Oh, erm, let’s go on an assignment together, Cat.” He takes Cat to meet…
Professor Emil Hamilton: The Professor was meant to be a minor villain who was going to show up for just two issues, but he’d end up becoming Superman’s trusted scientist pal. Here he has invented some cool force field technology, but says the government is trying to keep him down (presumably because sometimes he’s black).
Inspector Bill Henderson: The Commissioner Gordon of Metropolis. He tells Superman he should come have dinner with him and his wife again, and Superman says “when I have a moment.” Yeah, that never happened. (They’re probably swingers.)
General Sam Lane: Lois’ dad, not on speaking terms with her. We also see Lois’ sister Lucy again, and I was wrong on my review of MoS #5: they do mention the fact that she was blind again, but now I’m super-sure this was the last time.
WTF-Watch:
Clark flirting with Cat Grant is kinda hilarious. Five pages after they meet, they’re practically dating. Meanwhile, over in the Superman series, he’s going on about how much he loves Lois.
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We start with the cover, and it's quite frankly one of the best covers in the history of comics--certainly in the top three of my favourite Superman covers of this run, so it's way, way up there for me. It's worth pointing out that, unlike Byrne's Superman#1 last week, which went with an original image, this is an homage to 1942's Superman #14, so the iconic nature is somewhat built in. But the rim lighting, and eye-catching colour choices, the painted background, along with Jerry Ordway's great figure work, show that Ordway is pretty much rising to his prime here. I also want to highlight the great trade dress of the "Adventures of Superman" logo, which I just love. It's definitely Superman without the classic telescoping Superman curve. I quite miss this logo. Just awesome.
As we enter the issue, we can almost feel like we missed something, as we're dropped into the middle of an intimate family setting of the Lanes around Ella's hospital bed. A common criticism of writer Marv Wolfman's run on Adventures is that, while more adult and sophisticated than Byrne's titles, Wolfman's stories are a lot more boring. It's hard to argue against that, here, as the inaugural issue kicks off with disease and family sadness rather than the "Adventures" we are promised by the title. Sam Lane, Lois' father laments that Ella is in her condition due to an explosion at a chemical plant--that might have been a better way to establish her illness, certainly a more visual one. Jerry Ordway (inked by studio partner Mike Machlan in these early issues)does his best to serve the story, and certainly his likenesses are consistent and highly realistic, but it takes a few pages for the story to kick into gear.
Slowly, the story about tank-like weapons destroying targeted buildings emerges, and again, the weaponry is remarkably consistent--Ordway shows the transformer-like robots from multiple angles, and they always look real, and detailed.
Page 12's near full page splash is the kind of image that made me fall in love with Ordway's art--an utterly powerful, utterly nimble Superman soaring over realistic streets is just a jaw-dropper--and one of the more fun panels Ordway gets to draw in this issue. As Superman engages the gold coloured robot, we get visual indication of just how de-powered the post-Crisis Superman is, as he huffs and puffs, Spider-man style, to lift the section of building that has fallen on him. Like every time they've tried to depower Superman, it won't last, but it's interesting to see it here.
Another great panel is Superman's powerful arm punching out of the debris, though the coolness of the moment is undercut slightly by the goofy "klonk" sound effect that accompanies it. The panel where Superman knocks at Inspector Henderson's window is a great way of framing the action, as we see Superman in the foreground, his reflection, and Bill Henderson through the window--no easy task.
It’s jarring seeing Lex in anything but the black suits he's favoured in the Man of Steel series, and in that first issue of Superman, though I suspect if it were coloured navy and not the light orangey brown we have here, it wouldn't be as noticeable. Ordway's Luthor also seems to be quite a bit slimmer than Byrne's, though he looks just as much like Albert Finney as he did in the other titles, so that's consistent. The cliffhanger with Superman on the marquee of a movie theatre is a great appetizer (I also dig how of its time it is, with a reference to one of Stallone's lesser action films at the multiplex) but we didn't get to see Superman throw down much more than that, making this issue a bit of a disappointment in that department.
However, the art does a lot of little things well--in the last few pages, Ordway draws a crowded street with killer robots, the interior of a Concorde jet,and an island getaway patio, all as fully realized as each other.
So, like the whole of Wolfman's Adventures of Superman run, it's a mixed bag. In terms of world-building, he's surpassing even Byrne here. We are casually introduced to numerous characters who will prove to be important--Cat Grant, who would become such an important character that she'd be portrayed on two different Superman-related series, Inspector Henderson (who originally appeared on the old Superman radio serials), and Emil Hamilton, who again would prove to be a durable part of the scenery in the comics for years, as well as extended Superman media, like TV series, cartoons, and films. Not only that, but they all feel authentic and in-character (though, as Max pointed out, Clark's strong interest in Cat Grant is another bit of contrast from Byrne's Clark,where he seems to appreciate her, but have zero sexual interest in her). But in terms of actual adventuring, it's a bit of a miss, a rare one given how many classic stories Marv Wolfman was producing around this time.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Was it the smartest move for Clark to test the force field with his super strength? It didn't seem to do any damage, but had it cracked the field, how would he have explained it?
Lois refers to Cat as "Cathy", and it seems out of place. Was Lois, in her dislike for Cat's sensationalism (or out of possessiveness of Clark) intentionally misnaming her
I know Clark doesn't want to reveal his super identity, but he puts a lot of faith in the beat cop and the construction crew that they're going to rescue the guy pinned under the debris. Clark already gets way out of the car in disobedience of the policeman, why not walk a few feet further and move the cement himself? He mentions laboured breathing, and I would think every second would count in a situation like that.
Interesting that the Terrorist group calls itsel fthe "Freedom League" which is quite close to the Unabomber's "Freedom Club".
I've always felt Qurac was a clumsy fake country name but have become somewhat inured to it over its years and years of use. Wolfman's America seems to be far closer to our own real world than Byrne's, as Superman rattles off Libya and Syria as "crazed terrorist nations" (I might have liked him to refer to their leadership, rather than painting those whole countries that way, but it's the 80s, I suppose).
Boy, Luthor sure gives away the whole plot to this Lilya lady, who, as far as I know, we never see again. He admits about a half dozen crimes that directly affect one of the world's most famous columnists pretty casually.
In spite of the story flaws, this is one of a handful of comics that I buy pretty much whenever I see it available. I just love the cover so much, and that it's the first Ordway Superman book (aside from his cameos in All-Star Squadron or Infinity Inc).
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