Adventures of Superman #441 (June 1988)
Adventures of Superman #441 (June 1988)
Oh crap, it’s been 90 days already? That means it’s time for another visit from the handsome Mr. Mxyzptlk, last seen back in Superman #11. This time, the inter-dimensional imp invades California and desecrates the Hollywood sign by replacing the letters with his own name. He also turns Superman into a cartoon and makes him fight off-brand versions of Fred Flintstone, Mighty Mouse and The Smurfs (“The Dorfs”, making their second appearance in Superman comics).
To further complicate matters, Mxyzptlk has changed the rules of the game since his last appearance: simply being tricked into saying his name backwards was apparently too easy, so in this occasion Superman has to get him to paint his face blue to get rid of him. When Mxyzptlk invades a taping of Wheel of Fortune and powders his face for the cameras, Superman tampers with the make up and fools him into using a special powder that turns blue under the studio lights. Defeated, Mxyzptlk vanishes back to his dimension for another 90 days (in comic book time, so it’s actually “anywhere from one to five years”).
Plotline-Watch:
Jerry Ordway is starting to populate the comic with brands that will keep popping up for the next 11 years, like Koula Beer (a future favorite of the Ace O'Clubs) or Big Belly Burger (which apparently has been showing up in the current Arrow TV show). Like last issue, there are plotlines galore:
Lois Lane has been investigating that Combattor guy who crippled her boyfriend(?) Jose and then dropped dead in Adventures #437. Combattor’s brother Ronnie (one of the hoodlums who hanged out with Jerry White in his gang days) tells Lois that he thinks Lex Luthor turned Combattor into a supervillain, and mentions something called “Phoenix”.
Telekinetic circus magician Milton Fine (last seen in Adventures #438) has been declared sane, but he doesn’t want to leave the mental hospital because he can feel the “Brainiac” personality returning. Then his wife leaves him and that just makes everything worse.
The mysterious Supergirl found in the arctic is now unfrozen, as seen last issue… but she doesn’t remember who she is or where she comes from. All she knows is that her name is Supergirl, but she could have guessed that from looking in the mirror.
And there’s also a scene with some deformed guy in a trenchcoat breaking into a LexOil facility in Australia, not finding what he’s looking for, and making the whole place explode. I have no clue what’s going on there (my memory is spotty on the mid-1988 to mid-1989 period) so you’ll just have to discover it with me.
WTF-Watch:
Cat Grant’s little son Adam is very perceptive for his young age:
He’s talking about Jimmy Olsen, by the way.
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