Adventures of Superman #485 (December 1991)
Adventures of Superman #485 (December 1991)
"Blackout" Conclusion, a.k.a. HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THAT JERRY ORDWAY COVER. That is awesome, as is the rest of this issue. Previously on "Blackout": Superman lost his memory, became stranded in an island with dinosaurs, befriended his former enemy Mr. Z (who is also amnesiac) and nearly married a hot cavewoman. Oh, and there was a blackout in Metropolis, but that's like the least interesting part. Lois Lane, Professor Hamilton and the Guardian (and the Guardian's flying car, the Whiz Wagon) come to "rescue" Superman from the island of the topless babes and intend to take Mr. Z with them so he can answer for his crimes. However, Superman convinces them to leave his "friend" alone, knowing he might regret it once he remembers how much of a dick Z was.
Back in Metropolis, Superman is taken to Dubbilex (the Guardian's psychic pal) to see if he can repair his mind. Dubbilex helps Superman break down the mental walls that caused his amnesia (represented as punching through some actual walls) until they arrive at a wall that looks different from the others. More… Silver Age-ish.
Superman has to go through that giant door to recover the most important part of his psyche, but his mind resists that and makes Dubbilex look like past villains like Metallo, Sleez and Brainiac. When the villain cycle reaches Mr. Z, however, Superman stops fighting poor Dubbilex and listens to his advice about crossing the door. On the other side are his most important memories as Clark Kent, like the day he saved that space plane (Man of Steel #1), friendzoning and later being confronted by poor Lana Lang (Man of Steel #6) and telling his secret identity to Lois (Action #662).
In fact, as his mind comes together, Superman almost tells his secret identity to Hamilton and the Guardian by remembering that moment out loud, but Lois kisses him at the last moment to shut him up. Anyway, SUPERMAN IS BACK! Now he just has to deal with those nasty rumors that he has an affair with an engaged Daily Planet journalist.
Character-Watch:
So what happens with Mr. Z? Unlike Superman he didn't get his memory back, but I don't see him complaining:
Despite Mr. Z being one of my favorites, for once I like the fact that they gave him a happy ending and mostly retired the character. I say "mostly" because I've read that he made a cameo in an issue of Karl Kesel's Superboy, so I'm gonna keep an eye for that.
Plotline-Watch:
Yep, a happy ending for everyone… except Professor Hamilton, who is immediately arrested for his role in the Metropolis blackout (specifically, for causing the whole thing). At the end of the issue a kind philanthropist pays for Hamilton's bail: young Lex Luthor II! Don Sparrow points out: "Delicious irony on that last page, when Lex Junior assures the reporter that he’s no more of a criminal than Emil Hamilton, who, as we all remember, is an ex-con." And of course, there's also the fact that Lex Senior was the one who indirectly put Emil in jail the first time around.
Jimmy Olsen unemployment update: still unemployed, still can't afford rent, and now he's lying to his mom because he's ashamed. On top of everything, Mrs. Olsen is a Lex Junior fan. We're reaching peak Delgado levels with Jimmy.
So, if Dubbilex has been inside Superman's mind, does that mean he learned he's Clark Kent? Nope… because he already learned that a few months ago in Superman #58 (the one with the Bloodhounds). I sort of see that issue as setting the stage for the epicness of this one, which makes up for the fact that we never saw the Bloodhounds again. Unrelated: Don and I agree that Dubbilex's introduction in this issue is pretty amazing:
Says Don: "Grummett manages to make him look at once like the blocky, Kirby creation he is, and also so fully realistic that we get Hamilton’s distress at seeing someone with such a strange appearance." And for way more from Mr. Sparrow, keep reading…
Art-Watch (by donsparro):
We begin with a stunner of a cover, one of the nicest of this era, of Superman symbolically smashing through the brick walls of his memory. Jerry Ordway’s Superman has always seemed the most rooted in reality this side of Alex Ross’ photorealistic (if a tad chubby) Man of Steel. This cover exemplifies this perfectly, as Superman wears the weight of age and effort as he punches his way through the walls. As usual, Ordway’s hatchy style also nails the textures, be they dust clouds, or rubble, or the slickness of his hair. One last thing I love about Ordway’s approach to Superman is in his colour choice. A rarity in these days, Ordway would typically colour his own covers, and when he did, he’d usually blend quite a bit of gray into the usual blue shine of Superman’s hair. Not so much that you’d think Superman’s natural colour was charcoal, but enough that it looked a lot more like realistic black hair than the blue we’re so used to. I love the way the artists of this era would work with the limitations of four-colour print. Even today, with all the digital tricks now available to artists, it’s rare to see a cover this nice on the shelves.
Once we get inside, despite the gorgeous cover by Jerry, the transition to Tom Grummett’s art is hardly jarring, as it’s a great splash page with Will Eisner-styled incidental lettering coming out of the mists of this mysterious, and LOST like island.
The smirk on Guardian’s face is pretty priceless. I wonder if he knows what’s really going on, especially given his assurance, on page 2, that Superman indeed has a life he’s returning to (aaaand, then on page 10, Guardian seems to helpfully change the subject when Clark Kent is mentioned. Hmmmm.)
Page 4 has another great look at the Whiz Wagon, a visual I simply cannot get enough of. Page 5 shows off Tom Grummett’s storytelling abilities. Almost no artist would relish illustrating something as mundane as a phone conversation between two non-powered people, but Tom does a great job of keeping our interest visually, without the changes in perspective and ‘camera’ angle from becoming distracting. Plus, it’s nice, as we’ve mentioned, when the artists remember that Jimmy Olsen’s mother is supposed to be young and vivacious, so the Betty Grable pose on page 5 goes a long way in that.
Page 7’s moonlit colouring is nice, and the vertigo of that bottom panel has a pleasing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang feel. Page 13 is the first of many interesting twists in the pages of Adventures, where silver-age concepts are brought back in sly ways. I’m a big fan of Superman’s mobile South Pole Fortress, but seeing the door to fort Superman is always a trippy visual, even in a dream sequence. The rest of the sequence is pretty fascinating stuff, and I especially love the bleed on the second last panel of page 15 as Dubbilex painfully returns to reality. Very nice visual there. I’m also struck by how often Sleez comes up in these histories of Superman–I think he’s an underrated villain, and is someone I’d definitely use if I ever got a shot at these titles.
Page 16 has a nice look at the 90s Brainiac, which is interesting foreshadowing. While I think I slightly prefer the killer computer Brainiac (though the one that looks human, over the cybernetic version) instead of the mentalist version, these pages usually portray him as the big league villain he is.
I know that I’m supposed to focus primarily on the artwork, but the summary of Superman’s backstory on pages 18 and 19 is amazingly well-written, and so succinct. I appreciate how largely Lana looms in his emotional framework–while Lois is always his TRUE love, a fella’s first love is never far from one’s subconscious, for good or for ill–this is a great detail.
I also love how hard Lois works to protect his identity, even at the risk of everyone in the room thinking less of her for stealing kisses from Superman while engaged to Clark Kent.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Jerry “Bud” Ordway remains the biggest Letterman fan in comics, as Dave gets another shout-out in these pages (Jimmy is revealed to be a fan).
Whoa, Professor Hamilton and Mildred seem to be moving pretty quickly, in the physical realm, unless his dream is more a fantasy than a memory…
Catchphrase watch: Hamilton says poop again, Max and Don rejoice. [Max: I'd actually only read this issue in Spanish version, so this is my first time catching such nuances. I believe the Mexican translators replaced "poop" with an inoffensive "dang" or something.]
Foreshadowing watch: The crop on Thornton’s mayoral campaign sign cuts off the edge. It was supposed to read “New Blood Ceremonies In City Hall”, I bet. And to top it off, Berkowitz even invokes damnation when talking about Thornton. [Max: Oh, shoot, did I forget to mention the developments on the thrilling mayoral race subplot? Whoops, sorry, everyone.]
Dubbilex's thought process: "I’m never outside of the lab, and I look like a monster. So I know what I’ll do: I’ll pretend to be a hobo demanding a payoff. That prank will surely endear me to these strangers I’m about to meet!“
Tom draws the hairiest Superman, hands down.
I still giggle at that very Byrne villain costume on Corben/Metallo. In 1986 everyone was apparently rocking the bullfighter vest/no shirt combo.
Such a great depiction of body language with Tom’s artwork on Pa Kent. Even though he’s confronting a possible burglar, his whole shape is so much less threatening than the rest of Superman’s dream sequence. Great stuff.
Basically the whole dream sequence: Nobody draws rubble like Tom Grummett, so I’m happy about all the smashed bricks.