Adventures of Superman #507 (December 1993)
Adventures of Superman #507 (December 1993)
Spilled Blood, Part 1! Or “First Cut” as the cover puts it, which sounds way edgier than "Part 1" – and that’s appropriate, because the running theme in this storyline is “stuff too dark for a Superman comic happening in a Superman comic.” Right off the bat, we start with the new Bloodsport (briefly introduced last issue) murdering some guys who were about to assault a woman in an alley, and then killing the woman herself, because she was black. The only time he seems conflicted about it is when he’s killing the one mugger who happened to be white. In case you didn’t get it already: dude’s racist.He even drops some 4chan buzzwords to make that extra obvious:
Later, Bloodsport goes on a shooting rampage in the poor part of Metropolis, and by the time Superman gets there, he’s already killed a whole bunch of minorities. Superman catches up to Bloodsport on the roof of an apartment building and breaks his gun (and also hand) but, like the first Bloodsport, this guy can just teleport more weapons – in this case, a big-ass flamethrower he uses to set fire to the roof.
While Superman’s helping get people out of the roof, Bloodsport jumps into an apartment that happens to be inhabited by a mixed race couple. Seeing that the costumed man who just crashed through their window is hurt, the couple offer to help Bloodsport, and he’s so moved by their kindness that he decides to change his ways and… just kidding, he murders them both.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Olsen and Ron Troupe are in the vicinity of the massacre, taking photos and talking to witnesses. Just as Superman’s finally about to catch Bloodsport, he shoots two remote-controlled missiles – one headed for Jimmy and one for Ron, just to put Superman in the awkward position of having to decide if he wants to save his white friend or his black friend (personally, I’d catch Ron’s missile and throw it at Jimmy). TO BE CONTINUED!
Plotline-Watch:
Maybe Bloodsport decided to save that woman in the alley because she was white in the first page, but then changed his mind when she suddenly became black? (We might need a new Colorist Goofs-Watch section.)
Superman spends some time looking for whoever killed Cat Grant's son Adam in Superman #84, but no dice. It’s weird that Adam’s death is right at home with this storyline but isn’t actually part of it. Maybe both plots would have been stronger if they HAD been connected – say, Bloodthirst gives Toyman some high tech equipment, or maybe even messes with his head and makes him go psycho (instead of it happening just because). This would have also signaled that the dark stuff would be contained to these issues and that this jarring tone shift wouldn’t be permanent.
Jimmy mentions that the cops talked to him about Adam. Yeah, he’d be suspect #1 for me too… especially after that creepy grin he’s got while talking about a kid’s death.
Some pretty sad scenes with Cat being reminded of Adam when she sees a Turtle Boy action figure, and then staring at the neon sign of a bar across the street (Cat has been sober since around the time she hit rock bottom and hit on Jimmy in Superman #20). Later, Lois goes to check on her and finds a closed bottle of vodka and a gun at her place. So, yeah, Cat’s in a dark place right now… and we’ll see a lot more of that gun in Superman #85.
More powers-related weirdness: when Clark steps into the Daily Planet, he sees freaky heat trails behind everyone. At least it was only his infrared vision that went off on its own this time and not one of his other vision powers, or everyone at the Planet would be burning alive or, worse yet, looking naked at work (I’m guessing this last one didn’t happen because that scene was already done by, of course, John Byrne). Also, I wonder if Superman really broke Bloodsport's hand because he really "doesn't know his own strength" anymore or because, you know, dude's racist.
There's a scene where Clark starts working at "his" desk, forgetting that it was assigned to Ron Troupe while he was dead. To make matters more awkward, Ron has a Batman mug. Our resident Ron hater, Don Sparrow, says: "My dislike of Ron Troupe is well-documented,but having a Batman mug in Metropolis just seems like he's trying to be contrarian." I usually defend Ron to the death, but I have to agree here. Fire him.
Don again: "I always hate it when comic characters forget stuff they already knew. When Superman faced the originalBloodsport, he neutralized his ability to teleport by ionizing the air around Bloodsport with his heat vision (John Byrne loved having Superman ionize things, using the same trick in The Earth Stealers and for any new readers, yes, they thought that was a good title). And yet, in these pages, Superman doesn't even try it, having conveniently forgotten about it. Well, us obsessive types didn't forget, so it's baffling that Superman did. They give some mention of his teleporter being inside his body, but that shouldn't affect the ionization trick, not that I know what that even means." Neither do I, and I'm not sure Byrne does either, but good points, Don!
Patreon-Watch:
Special thanks to our patrons Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month's "exclusive" article was, to be completely accurate, only half exclusive since it was an expanded version of my recap for Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy, the baffling Elseworlds miniseries I also covered in my recent Cracked article about regrettable Superman stories (part of Cracked's Superman Week). So if you want to read about the time Superman was turned into an evil centaur and an elderly Lois Lane kissed a goddess and became Wonder Woman, check out the Cracked link back there or join us at http://patreon.com/superman86to99!
And for even more good points by Don Sparrow (and his thoughtful take on the unsavory aspects of this issue), check out his section after the jump:
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We introduce new Super-teamsters Barry Kitson and Ray McCarthy during a weird time. As mentioned in the last issue's review, the super-books are going through a weird blip of uncharacteristic ultra-violence (though quite characteristic of late 1993, which is when this issue hit newsstands). Barry Kitson is generally a favourite of mine, though I'm not nuts about how his pencils look under Ray McCarthy's inks—lots of Jim Lee-style straight line hatching which tends to flatten the art out. (Kitson would knock it out of the park in the 12 part JLA: Year One, inked by Michael Bair). Even so, this is a great, extremely 90s cover, with a large elaborate gun being held by the newest incarnation of Bloodsport. The bullet riddled Superman uniform is an interesting frame, but I can't help but think the smoking barrel should maybe be pointing all the way through, instead of being hidden behind the drapery of cloth.
Inside we get off to an extremely jarring start, visually and tonally. We see the head of a would-be mugger (I hope his intent was only mugging) get blown clean off, but not before our iron cross wearing villain lets slip a few racist slurs. Bloodsport's costume is also a master class in 90s design, all pouches and shoulder pads, and cutouts that make me believe the rest of his costume is held in place with adhesives.
A few pages later we get our first look at Kitson's Superman, and it's pretty good. There are shades of Dean Cain in his rounded features, and the hair looks a bit shorter in length than some of the other super teamsters draw it.
Some of the shadow gets a little out of control on our first look at Perry White, though the quiet scene of Cat Grant at a toy store (with bar neon lights reflected in her pupils) is pretty effective.
There's a great two panel sequence on page 10 where Superman hears a trigger being squeezed and soars to save a thankful child (though in the second panel, she doesn't look very childlike). The horror of Superman being confronted with his failure to protect innocents also hits home, in a disturbing fashion.
Kitson does well showing dynamic action, and is also adept at staging quiet and tender moments, like when Lois checks in on the bereaved Cat Grant (there are also clever glimpses at a pistol, which foreshadows issues to come).
Maggie Sawyer's look seems to change issue-to-issue, with even the same artists making her look pretty fetching (if no-nonsense) or severe. In this issue Kitson definitely leans toward severe, as Maggie looks a little beakier than we're used to seeing her.
Seeing Superman crush Bloodsport's gun (and injure Bloodsport's hand in the process) gives a thrill, as Superman is just as disgusted with Bloodsport's racism as any good person should be (more on that in a minute). The panel of Bloodsport jumping through a window is excellently detailed as well.
Altogether, a pretty great first outing, in terms of quality, for Kitson and McCarthy. The problem with this issue is certainly not in the art, but in the writing. Bloodsport kills no less than ten people in this issue, and we're either shown it happening, or the result, in gory detail. Besides being a real jolt into relatively mature readers material, allowing this much carnage really makes Superman look ineffective. Throughout the issue he's playing catch-up, or assuming the wrong thing, leading to more preventable deaths. And then, there's the racism. There can be no doubt that Bloodsport, from the jump, is a bad guy, so it isn't as if the book is actually espousing his hateful rhetoric. But, so many of his disrespectful slurs ("boy", etc), or statements about people of colour go unrebutted by the people around him (often because they are immediately murdered). Again, by no means do I think that this comic is endorsing the hate-filled and inaccurate statements by a psychotic murderer, as he's clearly the villain. Plus, Superman makes at least some effort at the end, making the point that everyone is different, so if you hate people only for their difference from you, you'll end up hating everyone. But reading Bloodsport's opinions (about welfare, addicts, quotas, ‘knowing their place') at all is uncomfortable and disturbing for me, at least in a comics code book. So it's a tough line to walk\xe2\x80\x94depicting racism enough to acknowledge the problem it is requires demonstrating racist ideas and beliefs, which for me were hard to tolerate, even coming from a villain.
[Max: Maybe this stuff seems more jarring now because, ironically, we're MORE vulnerable to malicious disinformation these days. Bloodsport was very clearly an insane villain in 1993, but today, a couple of clicks on YouTube can take you to some channel with millions of subscribers making the same points coated with the plausible deniability of "it's just a prank, bro" and defended by armies of useful idiots insisting that we have to hear out "his side". Yes, I'm saying Bloodsport would be a successful Vtuber today.]
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
On page 1, we see a torn poster for a musical act called "Livid Squid" which is apparently a real song, by a guy called Jeffrey Don Miller, who died a year before this issue came out.
Jimmy's wearing what appears to be an "OZRC" shirt, and I couldn't find anything on that being a real band. Was it an Ozzy Osbourne shirt that they altered last minute?
Since when does tear gas affect Superman? It doesn't! He has inhaled entire rooms full of poison gas, so why would tear gas bother him?
Godwatch: Superman invokes the divine in horror twice in this issue, whispering "oh my God" when he sees the room full of corpses on page 12, and again when he realizes Bloodsport's teleporter is inside his body.
I wonder if they brought Bloodsport back simply to retain copyright on the name. There were so many Blood-prefixed characters in this Image-comics-rich days, they might have had to use it or lose it. [Max: I've always suspected they brought him back because Karl Kesel inked his first appearance in 1987, so he was probably like "Remember that guy?"]