Adventures of Superman #474 (January 1991)
Adventures of Superman #474 (January 1991)
Superman vs. drunk driving! And Superman loses.
In this very special episode, Clark Kent returns to Smallville to visit an old school pal named Scott who, unfortunately, is about to be euthanized right before New Year’s Eve. Why? Because he’s been in a coma for like ten years after being in a car accident with a bunch of drunken teenagers… one of whom was called “Clark Kent”. Cue Wayne and Garth going doodoodoo doodoodoo (that means there’s a flashback coming).
Back during his high school years, Clark was one of the lame “farm kids” in Smallville High along with Pete Ross and Lana Lang, while Scott was one of the cool, cigarette-smoking, booze-drinking, car-having boys. After Clark made Scott look good during a football practice (by simply not kicking his ass with his latent alien powers), Scott invited Clark and his pals to a New Year’s party at his house. Pete is desperate to fit in and starts chugging beer right away, and Clark is eventually peer-pressured into joining in.
Later, the kids have to go back home but their driver is wasted (as is Pete), so Scott offers them a ride in his cool car. Clark, who has just discovered he has the same resistance to alcohol as a Russian miner despite never drinking before, questions whether Scott is sober enough to drive. Scott says they’ll be okay.
Clark escapes the inevitable accident unharmed, but Scott lands in a hospital bed and he’s been there since. Afterward, Clark gets a stern talk from his parents about great powers and great responsibility (plus great drinking and not-so-great driving). Back in the present of 1991, Clark tells Scott’s parents how that night shaped him as a person, and they’re moved by his story. The issue ends with Clark leaving the hospital and encountering some feisty drunks about to get into a car… when their wheels are mysteriously melted, as if someone had hit them with heat vision or something.
“Oh, hey, there’s Shuperman. Hey Shuperman! Anyway, back on topic, who could have done this?!”
Plotline-Watch:
This issue cements the tradition of Dan Jurgens touching serious issues on Holidays stories: exactly a year earlier we had “Homeless for the Holidays” (Adventures #462), but that one was actually written by Roger Stern. I like these stories because they don’t just show Superman facing societal problems for the heck of it, but the fact that he can’t solve everything actually ties into his character development. For instance, in this story we get the crucial moment when Clark finds out his body is unbreakable (and his first thought after that is to help others):
The scene with Ma and Pa Kent is also important – you hear a lot about how they “made him the man he is”, but you rarely see how that happened. This issue is the entire reason I was excited about the show Smallville when it was first announced, since I thought we’d get to see more character-shaping stories like this one (as opposed to, you know, vapid soap opera crap laced with DC Comics references).
Another important plot development: this issue reveals Clark always knew that Pete secretly had the hots for Lana since they were kids. And you let him suffer in silence? What a jerk.
Metropolis Mailbag:
On my entry for Superman #51, donsparrow (I should probably just give Don a section in this blog) mentioned that Sam Foswell, the new editor at the Planet, is likely a reference to Fred Foswell, a Spider-Man villain/ally from the ‘60s. It’s true! Not only do they look alike…
…but they both work at major metropolitan newspapers (the Dailies Planet and Bugle) and they both eventually fall in with a bad crowd and meet a tragic end. I’VE SAID TOO MUCH!