Adventures of Superman #449 (December 1988)
Adventures of Superman #449 (December 1988)
Superman is missing! Will he ever turn up? Of course he will, because the cover image spoiled that part for us.
Last issue, Superman was fighting a combo of alien invaders and voodoo magic, when he fell into a sewer and vanished. The Guardian (the yellow/blue dude on the cover) goes looking for Superman, but instead runs into the new Gangbuster as he’s about to throw a child molester into the river. Guardian tries to stop him, and the surprsingly strong Gangbuster kicks his ass. Fortunately for the Guardian, those pesky kids from the Newsboy Legion were hiding inside his advanced super-car and step on the pedal to save him from Gangbuster – unfortunately, they’re still right next to the river, so they all end up in the bottom of it.
That’s when the scene from the cover takes place, as Superman reappears just in time to save Guardian and the kids while Gangbuster mysteriously vanishes. Superman has no memory of where he’s been for the past 24 hours, but doesn’t seem extremely alarmed by this. He’s more worried about the whole “Earth is being invaded” thing – Superman meets with Captain Atom (the new boss of the superheroes, apparently), who asks Superman to negotiate a temporary cease-fire with the evil aliens. Surprisingly, the aliens say “sure, what the hell,” and Superman goes off to tell the other superheroes about it in an issue of the Invasion! series.
Character-Watch:
This issue contains the most sizeable Bibbo Bibbowski appearance yet, and his first meeting with Jimmy Olsen! While Superman is still missing, Jimmy has the bright idea of taking a cab to the Ace O'Clubs bar (the cab is $6.50) to ask Bibbo if he knows where the big S went, since he’s Superman informant and all. Jimmy arrives just in time to watch the bar’s owner getting kicked out by the rowdy drunks as a fight unfolds inside. On top of that, Bibbo is less than welcoming:
Yeah, he’s got a point there. You’re kind of a dumbass, Jimmy. Anyway, one of Bibbo’s friends tries to steal Jimmy’s signal watch and ends up calling the recently reappeared Superman, who takes care of Bibbo’s crowd and makes them promise to be nice and never to kick out the bar owner again. (Bibbo will eventually kick out the Ace O'Clubs’ owner – when he legally purchases the bar from him.)
Plotline-Watch:
For some reason, the “Next Issue” boxes in the previous issue made me think Superman would be missing for a lot longer. Maybe that was the plan originally, but then they realized they had to make him appear in the Invasion! crossover (especially since he was in the cover and all).
Former LexCorp employee Amanda McCoy is still stalking Clark Kent to find out if he’s really Superman, and the writers are still trying to make us think that her pal Matt might be Gangbuster (right after Gangie disappears in the river, Matt is inexplicable wet).
Speaking of people that have been dumped by Lex Luthor: Perry White’s wife Alice is telling him that their son Jerry has a new girlfriend and a job, and Perry calls him “your son.” Alice corrects him, and Perry is like “Oh, yeah, he’s totally my son too, sure thing.” Poor Perry, it must be tough raising a kid that you know is actually the son of a bald supervillain.
Lois Lane Can’t Make Up Her Damn Mind: Lois is worried because Clark Kent is acting strangely. Didn’t she hate him like two issues ago?
WTF-Watch:
Hey, wait a minute, what happened to that child molester that Guardian saved from being thrown in the river? Guardian says the cops will catch him, but Gangbuster specifically says the cops couldn’t pin anything on him. This is made even more disturbing by the fact that the Newsboy Legion was right there when Guardian let the guy go. Hopefully he slipped on the bathroom the next day and drowned in the toilet.
See comments on Tumblr: https://superman86to99.tumblr.com/post/73756850443/adventures-of-superman-449-december-1988#disqus_thread
Missed an issue? Looking for an old storyline? Check out our new chronological issue index!
This newsletter is free and always will be, but if you'd like to support us with $1 a month or more, you'll get access to extra articles about non-continuity '90s Superman stuff (shows, video games, Elseworlds, etc) and cool giveaways. Click here to become a paid supporter!