Adventures of Superman #479 (June 1991)
Adventures of Superman #479 (June 1991)
“The Red Glass Trilogy” Part 2 – Superman has a bad acid trip and destroys Metropolis! Or thinks he did, anyway. The bizarre world Superman somehow ended up in last issue turns a million times weirder as Superman’s worst enemy, Jimmy Olsen, reveals that he married Lois Lane and hates Supes for killing her. Also, Jimmy was the same person as Lex Luthor last issue, but suddenly he’s not anymore. The very confused Superman falls into a black void after Jimmy exposes him to kryptonite, and then this happens:
Okay. When Superman wakes up from… that, he realizes all of Metropolis has been destroyed, and apparently he was the one who did it. Superman has a conversation with someone called “Houston” over a dead guy’s radio, but it’s interrupted when the Justice League’s Martian Manhunter and Guy Gardner come to fight him. Superman, however, is getting tired of this storyline and just whoops their asses. Right before dying from being shaken too hard by Superman, the Manhunter mutters something about being trapped in the moon and a “red glass.” Then the whole army shows up to arrest Superman for his crimes against humanity and… TO BE CONCLUDED!
Plotline-Watch:
I actually liked this issue a lot more than the last one. Whereas part one of this storyline read like a slightly darker version of a wacky Silver Age comic, this one ups the crazy to Vertigo-esque levels and it works much better. Seriously, this comic should have a “Recommended for mature readers” warning just for Superman’s traumatized expression in this page:
One thing I didn’t like is that by the end of the issue, Superman sorta gives up and accepts that he really went crazy like everyone in this world is saying. Really? After resisting Sleez, Brainiac, Maxima and the Eradicator, you’d think Superman would be immune to mental manipulation by now. Even accounting for the extreme circumstances he’s (or thinks he’s) going through, this doesn’t really feel like the Superman we’ve been reading about for the past five years.
This is the fourth issue of Adventures in a row where Booster Gold appears – he should get co-star billing by now. In this case, Superman rescues him from under the destroyed Daily Planet globe, only for Booster to call him a murderer and die. Superman is surprisingly affected by Booster’s death (or maybe he’s just hurt by the insult).
NEXT: Action Comics #666! Insert devil emoji or something here.