Adventures of Superman #486 (January 1992)
Adventures of Superman #486 (January 1992)
THE PURGE COMES TO METROPOLIS! Not that purge, though. This Purge is a robot who is trying to break into Stryker's Island to murder a prisoner: Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim, the former boss of Intergang. After Mannheim agreed to testify against his own criminal organization, his second in command, Gillespie, sends Purge\xe2\x84\xa2 to snuff him. Seems pretty cold of Gillespie, but then again Mannheim did break his neck for pretty much no reason back when Superman arrested both of them in Superman #60. In fact, the only way poor Gillespie is even able to give the kill order is by using some weird contact lenses and staring at a keyboard in a computer screen.
"But now I have to empty your bedpan."
So, Purge attacks the prison and starts looking for Mannheim – which was Mannheim's plan all along, since he wanted to use the robot to break out of jail, somehow. At this point Superman shows up and immediately tears Purge's arms off, but the thing just shrugs it off and springs out new ones. Superman ends up taking Purge away from the prison so it can't do whatever it's supposed to do there. While Superman fights Purge above the water, the robot's disembodied arms (the first pair) sneak into Mannheim's cell and start choking him. If it wasn't for the fancy X-Men-style power inhibiting collar they gave him, he'd be dead.
Superman figures out he can stop Purge by burying him "deep in the nasty stuff" (poop and garbage, basically). The toxins block the radio signal controlling Purge, so the robot just goes limp and turns into yet another piece of junk at the bottom of the river. Man's careless destruction of the planet saves the day again!
Meanwhile, Mannheim keeps the robot arms that were just trying to kill him and hides them under his bunk, figuring he can use them to break out eventually. (And by "eventually" I mean in next week's issue of Action.)
Jimmy-Watch:
Yeah, all the plots in this issue are Jimmy Olsen related, so I might as well change the title of this section to reflect that. We are nearly at the climax of the "Jimmy seriously can't catch a freaking break" storyline:
Last week's Superman #63 had Jimmy wake up in his car after getting kicked out of his apartment. This issue tops that by having Jimmy wake up in his car… in an impound lot. Surrounded by furious dogs. Jimmy manages to startle the dogs with the flash of a toy camera (an undelivered present for Cat Grant's son, presumably from back when Jimmy was trying to get inside Cat's pants) and runs to safety, but has to sacrifice his last clean pants. The ones he's using right now clearly aren't clean after that.
Later, Jimmy witnesses Purge emerging from a basement door and snaps a picture with the toy camera before it speeds away toward the prison. Jimmy decides to investigate by asking around in the place that basement belonged to: the Peter Shoemaker Memorial Shelter. No one at the shelter believes Jimmy about the robot that sprung out of their building, but they do give him food since he's, you know, a homeless person now. And that's how Jimmy Olsen ended up staying in the same shelter he helped found (exactly forty issues ago).
While at the shelter, Jimmy has to fight a guy who tries to steal his toy camera (since he has the photos of Purge there), but that's not his most undignified moment: that would be when he's spotted by Lucy Lane, who's volunteering at the shelter, and Jimmy just bolts out of there. Outside the shelter, Jimmy runs into Ace O'Clubs regular (and infamous piano thief) High Pockets, who invites him to Bibbo's Thanksgiving dinner.
There's also a plot about Lois and Clark spending Thanksgiving with both their families (separately, by flying across the country at superspeed). What does that have to do with Jimmy? Everything, because they can't start eating at the Lane home until Lucy arrives from the shelter, and when she does, she starts crying over Jimmy. Aww.
For more about Superman and Lois' Thanksgiving adventure (and more about everything) check out Don Sparrow's section after the jump!
Art-Watch (by donsparrow):
Another solid cover effort by Jerry Ordway, with not only a pretty accurate summary of the story within, but also a nicely detailed bird’s-eye view of the prison below. The attention to detail and research done on these images really makes a huge difference, especially since this issue was drawn about a decade before Google Image Search. Ordway’s Superman often strains, and this cover is a good example of it. Lastly, Superman’s uniform being stretched at the neck once again serves to ground Superman in a reality rarely seen in the hands of lesser artists.
Inside the comic we get a page of anticipation before Purge’s reveal [Max: I love that part! It kinda reminds me of Doomsday's slow introduction]. It’s a very retro design, and one I appreciate (am I nuts, or does the torso seem to have a cartoon face on it?) and as far as drone soldiers go, it’s actually ahead of its time, as this looks very similar to real world versions of robotic advancements that have only recently come into being.
Tom Grummett’s staging of Jimmy’s latest predicament is easy to follow, and gives us a good sense of environment, both within Jummy’s Guardian-coloured car, and also in the junkyard itself.
A little later into the story, it’s a pretty ingenious way for the paralyzed Gillespie to command Purge. I’d like to know a little more about the fake nurse they get to deliver the high-tech computer device. Apparently Intergang isn’t as dead as we thought Clark’s exposes left it.
The highlight of the issue for me, both in the art and story departments, is Superman’s flight to Kansas with Lois. The full page spread on page 8 is a great image, and Lois and Clark’s dorky-cute banter on the pages that follow is pretty adorable. Whenever people contend that married couples are hard to write, or lack drama, I think of this era, and how well Lois and Clark work. There’s plenty of drama in this issue, it just doesn’t come from them not getting along as a couple. Their romance is solid, and the story comes from how they deal with the external challenges, rather than from bickering with each other.
As the story progresses, Purge’s design is pretty interesting, as at times ‘he’ looks like a vehicle and then later can withstand the Metropolis river floor. Makes me a bit surprised Intergang didn’t put this thing to use a tad sooner.
There’s an interesting visual contrast between the pages 13 and 14, of the spacious, warm Kent farmhouse Thanksgiving supper, and the cramped and unfriendly environs of the Shoemaker Mission. There’s also a great fatherly moment when Pa Kent tells the indestructible Clark to be careful, especially since Clark has “Lois to think about now” which rings very true. Even though Superman is the one who least needs to worry about his own well-being, Pa doesn’t stop worrying about his son. He also reminds Clark of his commitment to Lois, and his responsibility to come home to her in one piece. It’s just one line of dialogue, but it really tugged at my heartstrings.
The action as Superman dismantles Purge looks pretty dynamic in a large splash panel on page 15, and it’s a nice touch that Superman shows concern for the guard who was injured in the line of duty, avoiding a pun that might not land in the circumstances. The back and forth as Superman battles Purge while “Ugly” Mannheim tussles with the disembodied arms is pretty well staged, too. I like seeing Superman think his way through a fight. When brute strength didn’t work, Superman had to use his environment, and use the underwater silt to clog the machine’s gears.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
I’m having trouble remembering when Gillespie broke his neck. Then I looked back, and realized it was just when Mannheim slammed him against the trash can in Superman #60. Yikes, that’s pretty awful. [Max: Yeah, when I first read that issue, I actually thought Mannheim had killed him.]
Wouldn’t it have been easier just to type out “Kill Mannheim” than “Mannheim Must Be Eliminated”? "…And when I say eliminated, I mean that my intention is for the radio controlled mechanical monstrosity to travel to his prison cell and terminate Mannheim’s current existence as a sentient being…“ [Max: I'd go with "KILL UGLY".]
Nice detail about the thin air at flight altitude. I was about to wonder why Clark wouldn’t fly Lois in a car for her comfort, but then remembered it’s an opportunity for some prolonged cuddling.
Ham for Thanksgiving? This is one case where my family is more like the Lanes than the Kents–it’s turkey for us most years.
Another cameo from Optimus Prime on page 11 (see above). Man, that guy lets a lot go, especially since Purge is pretty much a Transformer himself.
Interesting detail that Purge was housed beneath the Shoemaker Shelter. I can’t remember if that’s further explored. [Max: It kinda makes sense, since we saw back in the issue with the Parasite fight that Intergang owns the warehouse next to the shelter. They meet there when Thorn is stalking them.]
Nice call-back to the Parasite hiding out as a homeless person on page 14. Man, between Parasite, Purge and Brainiac, Metropolis’ street people have it rough. [Max: I love that guy who says he's an alien. I think he's telling the truth. Maybe he's an undercover J'onn J'onnz?]
Quite a dramatic change in Lucy from her most recent appearance in Man of Steel, from judging icky street people to serving them on Thanksgiving. But maybe hearing her own words (shortly before being rejected by Jimmy) made her take stock of her entitled attitude. But then on the last page, Sam Lane’s words seem to indicate she regularly helps "strangers”. Doesn’t seem to fit with her attitude from the previous issue, unless maybe she helps them so often she’s begun to develop a prejudice? [Max: We did previously see her helping out at a soup kitchen (along with the rest of Superman's extended cast) back in the "Homeless for the Holidays" issue.]
GODWATCH! Fittingly, our Thanksgiving issue ends with a pretty earnest prayer around the Lane table. Nice stuff.