Adventures of Superman #457 (August 1989)
Adventures of Superman #457 (August 1989)
Apparently, those goofballs at Intergang are still mad at some Daily Planet reporters for blowing the lid off their criminal operation in recent issues, so they send a whole bunch of assassins to kill them during a party. You have to learn to let things go, guys.
The issue starts with Maggie Sawyer thanking Superman for saving her daughter, because I guess she forgot to do it the other day on Superman #34 and didn’t want to seem rude. Superman is like “It’s nothing” and flies off right away, because he has to put on his Clark Kent pants and attend an awards dinner. At the dinner, Clark is dancing with Lois Lane when a bunch of Intergang goons come in and try to kill them both, plus Cat Grant while they’re at it. Unfortunately for them, Superman always seems to be hanging out around that Clark guy and shows up to thwart their murder plans.
Meanwhile, something creepy is going in Smallville: Ma and Pa Kent are once again stuck taking care of Matrix, the protoplasmic being formerly known as Supergirl, who started impersonating Clark a while ago. Not only is Matrix convinced she really is Clark now, but she’s been getting weird flashes of what Superman is doing in Metropolis and replaying his actions. So, while Superman fights those Intergangsters at the party, Matrix terrorizes some poor cops in Smallville while dressed in Clark’s pajamas (I mean his sleeping pajamas, not his blue work ones).
Lana Lang eventually makes Matrix snap out of it before she crushes that guy’s neck, but Matrix still thinks she’s Superman. The issue ends with Matrix hugging Lana and saying she’ll “always be here protect you. Always!” while Lana makes her best “OH FUCK THIS IS CRAZY” face.
Character-Watch:
The current Matrix storyline will end in the next issue of Action, where we’ll find out why she and Superman suddenly have a mental link. Incidentally, I love this sequence of panels:
First of all, the image of Matrix dancing alone in an empty place in the middle of the night while talking to herself is incredibly creepy. But, more importantly: that moment when Clark says “Why, Ms. Lane! I didn’t know you cared!” That’s it. That’s the unofficial beginning of the Clark/Lois romance. For the past few years Lois’ characterization has been all over the place, mainly because they had to keep finding increasingly implausible ways of not letting her guess Clark’s secret, but this is the moment when they decided to start building towards a serious relationship. She even acknowledges they’ve had their ups and downs, but thinking he was dead for a while made her appreciate him more. As a result, Lois will become a much more consistent (and less dumb) character from now on.
Plotline-Watch:
All through the award dinner, we see Jimmy Olsen sulking in the background: he’s being all emo because Cat Grant is no longer sexually molesting him, plus his mom left the country several issues ago to look for Jimmy’s presumed dead dad and still isn’t back. Also, in Superman #34 he was kinda grumpy because he thought Superman wasn’t treating him like his best pal anymore. Overall it’s a bad time for the bowtie-wearing ginger, emotionally, but don’t worry Jimbo: you’ll have plenty of actual troubles to worry about soon!
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