Adventures of Superman #504 (September 1993)
Adventures of Superman #504 (September 1993)
REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! The three weakest Supermen team up to take on the most ridiculously overpowered one! Last issue ended with Superboy, the Man of Steel, and the long-haired Man in Black flying towards Coast City (or what used to be Coast City), and this one starts with… the same thing, because it’s a long-ass trip. At least they use this time to ponder on important matters.
When they finally reach the Cyborg Superman’s city-wide robo fortress, the Man in Black loots some giant guns and ammo from an alien mook. You know, just in case you forgot this comic came out in the ‘90s.
(Needs more pouches, though.)
While trying to hide from the 800 aliens shooting at them, the Super-Trio bump into a giant missile that’s about to be launched into Metropolis. The Cyborg Superman wants to nuke the city and replace it with another giant engine, as part of his plan to turn the Earth into a massive evil spaceship (Warworld 2.0). While the Men (in Black and Steel) continue infiltrating the fortress, Superboy manages to latch on to the missile to try to stop it from reaching its destination. It’s not an easy task, but after a Spider-Man #33-esque effort…
…the Kid manages to change the missile’s trajectory, taking it away from Metropolis. He saved the city! And then the missile blows up anyway, right in his face. Good thing he wasn’t wearing his cool jacket in these pages, because there’s no way it could have survived that one. It remains to be seen if HE did.
Character-Watch:
OK, he did. I seriously feel like turning that missile is Superboy’s “Spider-Man lifting the rubble” moment. He’s trapped in an impossible situation and doubts himself, but then gets his shit together and pulls it off because he has no choice. It’s interesting that Karl Kesel made the Kid particularly punny and vapid at the start of this issue, almost like he was daring us to be annoyed by him, only to level him up at the end. I bet a lot of Superboy haters were converted right here.
Plotline-Watch:
Superboy’s Platonic Friend Tana Moon breaks down and cries on camera about Superboy’s sacrifice, probably earning a juicy raise in the process.
When we get to Superboy #60 (the kickass "Hyper-Tension!" storyline), someone remind me to check my suspicion that the page with the big multiverse-crossing missile looks exactly like the page with the regular missile in this issue.
There's a quick cameo by journalist Jack Ryder (secretly The Creeper) as a talking head on Lois Lane's TV, alongside Superboy's manager Rex Leech and one of the wacky Superman cultists who paint their face like the Cyborg. Look at this guy. He shaved his head but only painted the face part? Come on man, you either commit to it or you don't!
In Engine City, Mongul gets snappy with the Cyborg Superman again, and again gets humiliated in front of everyone (Cyborg calls him a "dog"). Why do you do this to yourself? Dump him, girl!
A robot sniper almost headshots the Man in Black, only for some invisible force to yank his gun at the last moment. Hmmm. In unrelated news, Don Sparrow says: “Interesting note that Luthor II can't find Supergirl – I wonder where she is?” Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Don also points out: “The Man in Black asks if he can call John Henry ‘Steel' because the Man of Steel is too much of a mouthful on their mission, setting up for his permanent name change.” Steel should have said “OK, then I’ll call you Black.”
I’ll stop cannibalizing Don’s section and just hand the mic over to him. Click “read more” to keep reading!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We start with the cover, and it has a unique heritage. This cover was sketched and laid out by Karl Kesel, penciled by Tom Grummett, and then inked by Doug Hazlewood, and it's a good, accurate description of what we find in the issue--our three Supermen fighting their way into Engine City. Added points for bringing up the pre-Crisis concept of the Superman Revenge Squad, which was actually a grouping of Superman rogues (an updated version would appear in a few years). Weirdly, editorial is still seeming to hide the Fabio-hair on Superman proper on the covers--I wonder what that's about!
Inside the book we get our first look at a trait that defines this issue visually: grease-pencil clouds!
Max pointed this out to me when we were chatting about the issue, and I think he's right--this book doesn't look like it was inked in Hazlewood's usual way. It's 1993, so it's hard to imagine they could pull off "digital inking", the practice of just darkening the pencils,but we see a pencil-like texture so often in this issue, a guy could begin to wonder if that's maybe what they're up to. So for the whole issue, there is a slightly looser, rushed feel, especially in the backgrounds. Then on the credits page, we notice a special thanks for Mark Heike--who google reveals to me is a comic artist in his own right. Maybe he pitched in with some semi-credited inks? Smokey clouds aside, it's another nice splash, with the returned Superman leading the charge.
A common critique of Tom Grummett's Superman is that the way his face is drawn can look a little Conan-like, and the new long hair doesn't help that, though in these early pages Superman is looking very on-model and handsome.
The fight (and flight) choreography as the Superman trio enters Engine City airspace is well done, and while it couldn't be more 90s if it tried, the image of Superman double-fisting blasters and ammo belts is pretty awesome, I must say. Plus, Superboy's assessment that it's "slammin'" might replace Robin's "totally rad!" as a new catch-phrase in these reviews.
The reveal of the giant rocket has a great sense of scale (and is another example of pencil-like lines still popping up on finished art). Great sound effect there, too.
As Superboy heroically climbs up the rocket, Tom and co give a great sense of the speed, and g-forces the kid is experiencing. And there is such a great sense of drama in these last pages, as the celebrations for the missile having missed Metropolis quickly turn to grief, as Superboy is for sure, definitely dead. [Max: Forever.]
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Interesting to hear Steel use the phrase "a bursting shell" in relation to piercing Superman's skin, a callback to Action #1's description of Superman's invulnerability, which apparently was known in-universe as well.
I love how unequivocally "Superman" they write the Man in Black in these pages. On his first day back to civilization, he's already saying he'd gladly die again in order to stop Warworld from taking over Earth. Goosebumps, man!
Does Kesel have dogs on the brain? First Henshaw calls Mongul a dog (ouch) and then just one panel later, Superboy makes his Dalmatian joke. (Note: Dalmatian is actually misspelled in the comic!) [Max: "Dalmation" does sound like some sort of Jack Kirby thing. Maybe it's something the Kid saw at Cadmus?]
Superboy is pretty much a non-stop joke machine in these pages, as just about every panel he's in, he's cracking wise, so it's hard to highlight all of them. Some are better than others--I get that hearing the phrase "full frontal" puts Michelle Pfeiffer into his head, but "full frontal assault" just isn't sexy. [Max: You know, 26 years later, I JUST got that one.]
GODWATCH: Steel invokes "God" when he thinks Superboy might have been burnt up in the rocket launch, and then a page later, Superman does the same when he sees the charred corpses of Henshaw's minions. [Max: Also, I don't think I caught the significance of John Henry's "I know" as a kid.]
I love Superboy's self-talk as he climbs the missile, particularly the Caddyshack-like "crowd goes wild". This is exactly how a kid his age would act in that crazy moment.
Lois and Clark was airing in this period, so Perry White is legally required to use Lane Smith's "Great Shades of Elvis" catchphrase. [Max: Unfortunately they don't have the rights anymore, so they had to change it for the collected edition…]
