Adventures of Superman #480 (July 1991)
Adventures of Superman #480 (July 1991)
Superman wrestles the Eradicator on the sun! Or near the sun, anyway. In Superman #57, everyone’s least favorite Kryptonian-murder-machine-turned-supervillain effed up Superman’s face and tossed him into the nearest star, as revenge for that time Supes did the same thing to him/it. Superman manages to pull himself away from the sun’s gravity and tackles the Eradicator as he smugly flies back to Earth.
The two crash land on planet Mercury, where the fight goes poorly for Superman – it doesn’t help that, due to the mental link the two have had since the Eradicator’s first appearence, he can read Superman’s mind and tell where he’s gonna punch next. The Eradicator senses that Superman has given up after the latest beating, and leaves his limp body drifting towards the sun, to suffocate or burn up. Whatever happens first.
HOWEVER! This was just a plan by Superman to get the Eradicator off his back (he intentionally filled his head with super defeatist thoughts). Supes flies back to Earth, barely making it before running out of air… and then he passes out anyway.
Meanwhile, the Eradicator heads to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (which is within his rights, after all, since he’s the one who built it exactly twenty issues ago) and finds Professor Hamilton playing tag with some Kryptonian robots there. The issue ends with the displeased Eradicator bursting in and telling Hamilton: “You, human, are it.” UH-OH.
Character-Watch:
Ron Troupe’s first appearance! I was surprised to see Ron show up so early, since, to my recollection, it’s gonna be a little while before he joins the Daily Planet staff as one of several new minority characters (who were all eventually forgotten, leaving Ron as the token black guy). In this issue, he comes to apply for a job at the Planet but new editor Sam Foswell immediately shoots him down:
Don Sparrow says I should be happy that Ron is here, because “he pretty much replaces Jimmy Olsen in every way as the storylines go on, particularly in the Lucy Lane romance department. Which is no small feat considering they never give Ron any sort of discernible personality.” Don has some thoughts about Foswell, too: “In this same scene, we’re given more ‘Evidence’ that Mr. Foswell is a bad managing editor, but I just don’t buy it–he continues to make hard decisions in tight financial times. And we’re supposed to feel irked that he doesn’t give some college kid as much time to visit as he wants? He really does have a newspaper to run! The guy can’t catch a break!”
I don’t know, Don. I kinda agree with Ron in that “Fosdick” is a pretty fitting name, and I shall call him that from now on.
Plotline-Watch:
Nope, I didn’t make up the “Hamilton playing tag with robots” stuff: he’s in the Fortress to use the equipment there to examine Mr. Z’s soul-sucking crystal (after Superman: The Man of Steel #1). After a while Hamilton gets bored and one of Superman’s floating robots suggests a tour of the Fortress, including a ride in an Awesome Kryptonian Battle Armor… which Hamilton uses to play a schoolyard game with an advanced alien AI, naturally. I love that guy.
The guys at Cadmus are worried about Superman’s mental health, probably with good reason, since the previous Eradicator storyline was sandwiched between Superman’s two split personality incidents (Gangbuster and Krypton Man). Don says: this “hints at Project Bloodhound, the unrealistically effective Cadmus team that debuts in a few months, and then are never heard from again.”
Weird natural disasters continue happening all over the world because of the Eradicator’s efforts to turn Earth into New Krypton. Intrepid WGBS reporter Cat Grant is trying to cover the news, but her boss/evil ex-boyfriend’s father Vinnie Edge has more important matters in his mind: Cat’s butt.
The Misadventures of Jose Delgado: As if his girlfriend getting hit on by an older man wasn’t bad enough, in this issue Jose gets kidnapped and taken to some sewers by a street gang called the Dukes. Why? Because their boss is in a wheelchair and wants to know how Jose got out of his. Since “Lex Luthor used me as a guinea pig in an experiment” isn’t a satisfying answer, the Dukes try to kill Jose and he whoops their asses… but he’s still lost in the sewers.
Incidentally, Jose was captured while he and Cat’s son Adam were visiting the grave of Jerry White (Perry’s son, Luthor’s bastard and Jose’s student/friend). It’s a poignant little moment… made slightly creepy by the part where Jose compares Jerry to Adam, saying he hopes to “steer him down a different path.” Sadly, that won’t be the case…
And on that same subject, Perry White and his wife went on a cruise for old people to forget all about Jerry’s death, but then Pa Kent had to go and remind him. Fortunately, the awkward moment is interrupted when an Eradicator-caused tidal wave nearly turns over the ship.
Speaking of old people, like seven months after her unspecified deadly disease cured itself without explanation (Superman #50), Lois Lane’s mom is finally out of the hospital! I know you were all wondering about that. Lois is more concerned about the rapidly rising price of cab rides in post-Luthor Metropolis, though.
WTF-Watch:
In a normal issue, the “tag, you’re it” scene would be the weirdest part of the story. This isn’t a normal issue, though – this is the issue where the Eradicator goes to Washington and repairs the Lincoln Monument (destroyed last week) but takes a few liberties with the design, such as putting Lincoln in a Kryptonian nun habit. Then he does the same thing with the Big Belly Burger mascot. Is nothing sacred to this guy?!
Click on “Read more” for much more from Don! Including: some Pa Kent on Alice White action, and Lois Lane in stretch pants! And loooooots of pictures.
Art-Watch (by Don Sparrow):
Continuing with the Krypton Man storyline, which has all the creative teams working on the same story. The art teams seem to have switched up a bit. (These are all educated guesses, so I could be wrong) Tom Grummett’s pages seem to be inked by Denis Roder’s thicker, ink brush hand, while Jerry Ordway, who had been inking Grummett in Man of Steel #1, now appears to be embellishing Jim Mooney. [Max: It’s weird seeing Grummett/Rodier at this point for me, since they became the art team i nAction Comics much later, in 1996.]
Similar to Mooney, another classic Superman artist, the great Curt Swan appears to be working with Dennis Janke (or is that Ordway?–looks like Ordway on the butt-pinching scene on page 6, but it’s hard to tell) on the Cat Grant and Jimmy Olsen stories while Bogdanove and Janke are definitely covering part of the Jose Delgado story, as well as the cruise ship plotline. Hard to tell who is inking Bob McLeod’s pages, possibly also Denis Rodier, given that thick shine on the taxicab on page 21 which is a Rodier signature. Jurgens pages are with the great Brett Breeding, a perfect match. Lastly, Art Thibert seems to be working completely on his own in the Professor Hamilton at the Fortress plot, and his pages seem to stand out from the other art styles the most. Art Thibert’s style is much looser and cartoony than the others, and we recognize that same energetic stroky line from when he used to ink Dan Jurgens. However, his figures lack the same dynamic realism Jurgens’ characters did, which unfortunately makes Thibert’s pages a little jarring–he especially seems to stylize the bottom of people’s legs (page 34).
However, in the context of the time, Thibert’s style was probably the most in-step with what was popular, as Thibert’s look is very Image comics, whose sales at this time were crushing the entire DC line, for good or for ill.
In the art department, there’s lots of great stuff to focus on. The cover is great, and not only does it sell the heat-wave feel the book has going for it, but it actually depicts a scene that takes place within the issue. One comics trope I can’t stand is the “symbolic” cover, where the cover bears no resemblance to the interior story.
One thing this storyline does very well is showing the dire consequences Krypton Man’s actions have for the entire world. We actually see the devastation the wild weather wreaks in terms of ordinary people (page 6), and not just Superman, or his supporting cast.
Speaking of supporting cast, the character design on the creepy Vinnie Edge is great–we still see shades of Morgan’s face, but underneath a white Caesar cut. There was always something very familiar about the look of Vinnie Edge, at times he’s drawn to look like Orson Bean, but I suspect there’s a little of TV executive Aaron Spelling in there for good measure.
There are a lot of small, nicely observed drawings in this issue. I can’t think of an inker that represents textures better than Dennis Janke. Page 8 [Max: see the cemetery scene above] is a great showcase for that, as we see the rough texture of cement on buildings, wood grain, tree bark, and the cold coarseness of a tombstone, all drawn differently, and realistically. Great stuff. This could be cross-promotion for the John Wesley Shipp version of the Flash TV show, but my hunch is there’s a running gag at this point that Adam Grant never wears a Superman shirt. In the past we’ve seen Adam wear versions of Spider-man and Punisher logos, so at last we can feel good he’s at least reading DC.
Related: Even though they’re ruffians who abduct a beloved (and well documentedly unlucky) regular, it’s nice to see the Dukes are such an ethnically diverse gang, all getting along, and working together. There appears to be black guys, white guys, and even the odd gray guy.
Back to the art, my favourite pages are the Mooney/Ordway combination. From the scars on Superman’s face, to the unsteadiness of his posture, Superman’s battle-weariness feels painfully real, and brings to mind another title fight Superman has coming up in a few years’ time (which doesn’t turn out so well). There are some really great textures on the planet Mercury, as well as in Alaska, where Superman lands. Another great touch is that his hair doesn’t revert immediately to its spit-curled glory after coming out of the water.
I love the spooky way The Krypton Man flies standing up. It’s just a little alien touch that’s off-putting when we’re so used to the prone way that Superman flies (it reminds me of an SNL skit when Catherine O'Hara hosted, where her character is asked to leave the Justice League because she flies standing up. She accuses the league of having become a bunch of calciumated old men–then adding “No offense, Calcium Man” to a very elaborately costumed character bearing that description).
Other observations:
The cruise ship has some pretty huge beds! They appear to be Kilowog sized.
I wish we had the embarrassed Pa Kent reaction shot to Ma Kent’s weird “veddy British” half-joke. And after a bumpkin-like “land sakes” no less!
Page 19 has a paraphrasing of what might be my favorite line of the first Superman film.
Nobody draws rubble like Tom Grummett! (page 5)
Does anyone else hear the voice of the Russian landlord Mr. Ditkovich from Spider-Man 2 when reading dialogue from Jimmy’s landlord? (page 11)
Waitaminute, DITKOvich? I get it.
I like Lois Lane in stretch pants more than I probably should say. (page 20) That is all.
