Adventures of Superman #436 (January 1988)
Adventures of Superman #436 (January 1988)
Millennium time! In Superman #13, Supes found out Lana Lang is apparently a Manhunter (in the “evil space robot,” not “loose woman” sense) and followed her into Smallville. In this issue Superman realizes it’s not just Lana but the whole freaking town that’s a Manhunter… or at least those under 30 are. Superman is knocked out and taken to the huge Manhunter spaceship hidden under the town, where explanations are in order.
Turns out, a Manhunter spy in Krypton learned of Jor-El’s plans to send his son to Earth before the planet exploded and informed his superiors about it (before presumably thinking “Wait, I’m also in Krypton. Shit.”). The Manhunters tried to intercept Superman’s spaceship but were stopped by a bunch of Green Lanterns. Since the robots couldn’t raise the super-baby as their own, they did the next best thing: they sent a Manhunter to pose as Smallville’s town physician, Dr. Whitney, allowing them to place controlling chips on all babies born from that point onwards (including Lana). Now the Manhunters have activated the dormant programming in Smallville’s citizens, and that’s why everyone’s suddenly evil. They’ve also kidnapped the older citizens and are keeping them trapped in the ship.
Superman manages to escape the power-suppressing contraption they were keeping him in and goes after Dr. Whitney, who blows himself up rather than face Superman’s fists (second time that happens recently). Unfortunately, his death apparently kills everyone who was being controlled by the Manhunters, too. TO BE CONTINUED!
Character-Watch:
We saw Clark Kent’s childhood friend Pete Ross in Action #591, but that was an alternate-universe version, so this issue is technically Pete’s first appearance. He’s slightly paler than you might remember in the show Smallville. I know Pete is being controlled by Manhunters in this issue, but you can still sort of feel his resentment because Clark is a Metropolis reporter who’s secretly a superhero and he’s a small-town public notary who probably still lives with his mom. So it goes, Pete.
Plotline-Watch:
The premise of the Millennium crossover was that every superhero would find a spy in their supporting cast: in Booster Gold’s case it was his manager, in Flash’s case it was his dad, in Batman’s case it was Aunt Harriet… and in Superman’s case it was the city of Smallville. That’s appropriate, since Supes is a little more powerful than the other guys. Speaking of which:
Manhunters in Smallville: Now we know what happened to Lana in Superman #9: that little robot activated her Manhunter programming and she left with it. So she wasn’t evil or a robot, just hypnotized by her evil robot pediatrician. It all makes sense!
Creator-Watch:
John Byrne takes over as Adventures writer after Marv Wolfman left, making Byrne the writer of the three monthly Superman comics. Expect more weird psycho-sexual stuff in this title from now on.
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