Adventures of Superman #482 (September 1991)
Adventures of Superman #482 (September 1991)
Superman gets punched by the Parasite, and the Daily Planet gets punched by the recession! Last issue, the Parasite stole some of Superman’s powers along with a few of his memories, such as the fact that Supes for some reason frequents the offices of the Daily Planet (maybe he does a lot of interviews?). The Parasite visits the Planet building just as a picket line forms outside, since the workers have gone on strike. After a brief kerfuffle, the Parasite ends up kidnapping Cat Grant and Jimmy Olsen (who doesn’t even work at the Planet anymore, he was just there at the wrong time).
Superman tries to save his friend (and Jimmy), but the Parasite whoops his ass and, on top of everything, steals some more of his powers.
The Parasite flies off with Jimmy and Cat and takes them to S.T.A.R. Labs, his old employer and the place where he had the chemical accident that gave him his powers – he figures they owe him “some disability compensation,” and wants some reporters there to record the proceedings. Rather than going straight to S.T.A.R. and getting beat up again, Superman borrows Professor Hamilton’s famous force field-generating belt and uses it to trick the Parasite into sucking his powers at the same time as an energy blast the cops are shooting at him (Metropolis’ cops are badass), leading to a power indigestion:
And so, the Parasite is defeated and everyone is happy! Except for the still striking Daily Planet workers who had their lawful manifestation hijacked by an asshole, I mean. They won’t even be on the news that day, ironically.
Character-Watch:
This issue introduces one of the sexiest characters in Superman comics: Mildred Krantz! Mildred is a middle-aged waitress that Professor Hamilton is putting the moves on when the weakened Superman sends a cop to fetch him. (Incidentally, I love that Hambone gets spooked when the cop shows up asking for him, given his shameful criminal past.)
Oh, and there’s also a split-personality vigilante called Thorn who is stalking some Intergang guys. We’ll find out more about her in the next Action.
Plotline-Watch:
Superman using Professor Hamilton’s force field belt whenever a villain steals his powers is becoming a tradition by now – he also did that during “Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite” and freaking Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught’s first appearance. I hope Superman is paying him something.
Those Intergang guys I mentioned (including the second in command, Gillespie) are plotting to cause some trouble in the Planet’s picket line as revenge for that expose on them Clark Kent wrote like 30 issues ago. You have to learn to let things go, dudes.
Superman stops by Lois’ place to thank her for the column she wrote about him last week on Superman #59, and they mention that their parents are meeting tonight. That’s gonna be fun (if you think things that are awkward are fun). Speaking of awkward, I like that she still calls him “Superman” when they’re alone even though they’ve been engaged for months now.
Superman visits the Pete Shoemaker Memorial Shelter to ask about the disappearing hobos – not the name of an indie band, but homeless people who are getting recruited by the terrorist organization Cerberus. The lady in charge of the shelter is like, “Yes, it’s true, that’s happening.” Okay then. That was a very informative sequence.
The All-New Misadventures of James B. Olsen: the still unemployed, still ridiculous unlucky Jimmy gets to record the Parasite’s visit to S.T.A.R. Labs and the fight with Superman with a TV camera (from Cat Grant’s crew), and thinks he’s gonna make some money selling the tape to the news. Then Cat tells him there was no tape in the camera, she was just playing along with the Parasite. I was gonna make a joke about Jimmy finally getting his wish of getting screwed by Cat, but I think I’ll lay off on the poor guy for a while.
Plug-Watch:
Hey, thanks to the Collected Editions blog (an indispensable resource for “wait for the trade” readers like me) for giving us a shout out on Twitter! While we’re on the subject, Don Sparrow alerted me that this happened:
Be like Dan Jurgens! Read the @Superman86to99 Twitter account! And speaking of Don, for his commentary on this issue’s best art (and also a crapload of that art), click “keep reading”…
Art-Watch (by donsparrow):
We begin with a great sock-o cover from the great Jerry Ordway. His figures always have a real weight to them, so we really feel it when Superman is being kayoed with his own power. The textures are always a highlight when Jerry inks his own stuff, so I love seeing the smoothness of Superman’s uniform, contrasted with the duty brittleness of the rubble and bricks. It also makes me realize how much I miss this more humanoid Parasite, rather than the more lamprey-eel styled Parasite that followed. It’s no small feat to out-do an artist as legendary as Neal Adams, but with this cover homage, Jerry does just that (and avoided the pitfall of corny cover text). Awesome.
Once we get inside, it’s a moody start, as we find some mob bosses convening while the schizoid Thorn looks on. I love that Grummett actually draws a lens flare from the flashlight on page 2, and miss the pre-digital era where this effect depended on hand drawing, and not just Apple quick-keys.
The credits page (4)is a great piece of drawing, with a great subtle expression of excitement and playfulness on Superman’s face. As Max has pointed out in the past, Tom remains the king of the Superman/Lois window drop-in. [Max: See the window scene in Plotline-Watch above!]
A few pages later, the reveal of the Parasite is also well handled, in a creepy way, as his flesh toned make-up washes away in the water from the storm gutter. [Max: I hope that’s water.]
The fight scene is well choreographed, and I love seeing all the crackly Kirby-dot energy designs on the energy feedback of page 15.
I like the way Superman’s cape drapes realistically on page 18, and how the force field is handled with a solid line of blue colour. [Max: Yeah, that’s the way Hamilton’s force field has been shown since the Byrne era. Incidentally, I think this is a pretty Byrne-esque issue: Superman goes against a baddie, gets his butt handed to him, comes back with some clever scientific solution and saves the day. That was pretty much the formula for every Byrne issue ever.]
Stray observations:
I like the shout-out to regular DC Comics letterer John Costanza as the “typesetter” for the Daily Planet (page 6) [Max: D'oh! This is so obvious, but all this time I thought it was a Seinfeld reference.]
I take it the pressman’s union’s brightest and best don’t get the early morning shift on the picket line? Both their attempts at heckling Foswell were unintentionally hilarious. (page 7)
“I think I’ll marry her” is a really cute line. (Page3)
Aside from the ponytail, I get areal Bazooka from GI Joe vibe off of Cat’s cameraman (page 8)
What was Jimmy’s plan? To capture the guy by the roots of his hair, exclusively? (page 9)
A nice look at the hard-to-find 90s Firestorm costume in the flashback on page 13
Page 20 features the Parasite using Superman’s powers exactly as I think Max might–by looking through Maggie Sawyer’s clothes (give it up Max, you’re not her type!). [Max: I’ll wear a wig for you, Mags!]
I choose to believe the young guy saying “you’re the boss, Doc!” looks and sounds exactly like Michael J Fox under that SCU gear.