Adventures of Superman #517 (November 1994)

"DEAD AGAIN!," Part 3! Superman fights a villain called Deathtrap (or "Death-Trap," according to the title page) and, oh yeah, finds out he himself is dead. Quite a morbid issue, really.

Last week in Superman #94, Professor Hamilton finished analyzing the corpse that was found in Superman's supposedly empty tomb and determined that it is, in fact, the real Superman. So who's the other guy? You know, the one who's alive and also uses more shampoo than Superman used to? The living "Superman" (if that's even his real name) agrees to be examined by Hamilton too, but he has to put that off when an emergency comes up: an old lady had her purse snatched!!! Right in front of some cops, too.

"Damn, now I'll never be able to afford the rest of the hair plugs..."

The old lady is thankful, but both she and the cops have their doubts about this so-called Man of Steel (she actually asks him if he's "not like that... that killer cyborg person," as if he'd just say "oh yeah, I'm totally like that, super evil"). Even he admits that he only bailed from Hamilton's lab at S.T.A.R. Labs because he's worried about those tests proving he's not the real Superman. He could always adopt a new identity, like "The Scarlet Strongman" or something.

Back at S.T.A.R., the scientists not currently occupied analyzing super-buff corpses have called a specialist called Carl Draper to build a new cell for the villain Conduit (who has appeared in seven issues in a row as of this one, so they should really start giving him co-star billing). As a reminder, they need a new cell because Conduit broke out of the last one when someone pissed him off during lunchtime.

Draper overhears Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen talking about how Superman might not be Superman, which, combined with his teenage daughter telling him he couldn't build a prison to hold an authentic Kryptonian, gives him an idea for a little side project: he's gonna find out if this is the Real Steel Deal by making a trap only Superman could escape from. Naturally, this involves creating a supervillain persona for himself, the aforementioned Deathtrap.

Deathtrap uses that little gizmo up there to trap the supposed Superman in an airtight force-field that will suffocate him pretty soon, even with super lungs. Superman tries frying the gizmo with his heat vision, but its "learning computer" has calculated his reaction times and knows how to avoid him (freaking AIs, man). He tries flying out of the atmosphere, but the little thing is speed-proof, space-proof, and even reentering-the-atmosphere-proof.

Next, Superman tries crashing into one of Metropolis' many condemned buildings (demolition companies HATE this man), but nope, the gizmo's still there. He tries shocking it with electricity, but all that does is recharge its batteries. With his oxygen running out, Superman tries one last thing: flying into a steel foundry's blast furnace. That finally does the trick and, more importantly, gains Superman some believers among the foundry's workers. Not everyone's totally convinced, though...

Superman snaps (very un-Supermanly) at that worker who dared question the logic of his current hairdo, telling him that the corpse is "just part of some scheme -- and I'll find whoever's behind it."

NEXT: Superman tries finding whoever's behind it!

Character-Watch:

First appearance of Carl Draper, who in the old continuity went by "Master Jailer," but I guess that name wasn't '90s enough so they changed it to "Deathtrap." Curiously, the original Draper was an old classmate of Clark Kent (nicknamed "Moosie"!) who hated his guts, so it's probably not a coincidence that he debuted on a comic that also includes Conduit, this continuity's foremost Clark Kent hater.

This issue also introduces his daughter Carla, who overhears her dad monologuing about ways to trap Superman at the end of the issue. She will eventually go into the family business and pester Superboy.

At some point in the '00s, Carl would revert back to "Master Jailer," because "Deathtrap" was too '90s.

Plotline-Watch:

• That foundry worker who says Superman's hair grew too fast is absolutely correct. As we've pointed out before, Superman had short hair when he went into the Awesome Kryptonian Battle Robot in Action #689 and long hair when he stepped out in Man of Steel #25. I'm gonna assume Karl Kesel added that line as a reference to the 300 letters they got on the subject.

• Before being derailed by Deathtrap, Superman recaps the events of his resurrection: first he died (a common prerequisite for being resurrected), then his corpse was placed in a cozy tomb, and then the Eradicator took it from that tomb and brought it to the Fortress of Solitude (as told in Action #690). However, Superman only has the Eradicator's word that this is what happened, and that guy hasn't always been the most trustworthy. This is a teaser for a crossover happening in the next issue of Action.

• Speaking of "only having one person's word," this entire storyline relies on Professor Hamilton being truthful, since he's the only one analyzing the Super-corpse (and even if he wasn't, he was perfectly positioned to fudge with the results). I'm not a fan of Hambone reverting to his criminal ways, but if one storyline had to have him as the surprise villain, it should have been this one. The twist could have been that he'd had his mind hijacked by some villain, maybe even one with somewhat similar facial hair...

• There's a scene where Lois is trying to have a romantic dinner with Clark to make him feel better about himself, but Lucy Lane invites herself in with one of the Riot Grrrls and they completely ruin the vibe. I think Lucy just wanted to show off that she's got friends other than Jimmy Olsen now. Can't say I blame her.

Shout Outs-Watch:

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You might be thinking "Two posts in two weeks?! What is this, 2016?!" That's all thanks to the great Don Sparrow, who wrote up his side of this one so fast that he spurred me to get off my butt and do the same thing for once. So read on for Don's section!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover and it’s a good one, incorporating the text of the story title as an element that is crushing Superman with pressure from all sides, which is an apt symbol of this story, but figuratively and literally.

Inside the book we get a fussy Professor Hamilton, who Barry Kitson always draws as a little more manicured than the scruffier version we see from other super teamsters.  I’m always amused that even at this late date, street punks are still uniformly depicted as having partially shaved heads, pierced ears, sleeveless shirts and the like.  Not that the little old lady is any less stereotypically handled.  Though the punk running directly into Superman’s pectorals is a pretty satisfying turn.

A few pages later we see what Conduit is up to, and get more about this Draper character mentioned in the last issue.  Apart from maybe Meat Loaf himself, it’s hard to imagine a non-vampire pulling off the frilly cravat look, but it does signal immediately how pretentious Draper is, if his self-aggrandizing dialogue wasn’t hint enough.

The scene introducing Draper’s daughter is confusing, in part because she doesn’t look particularly youthful in a couple panels, but also because it seems odd to me for a child to call a parent by their last name.

A little bit of inker excess on the loving shot of Lois Lane’s miniskirted behind on page 8, but the fisheye Clark Kent is a good one. The image of the flying eye exploding once grabbed is a good panel on page 12, but the whole thing is awfully reminiscent of Superman #2 from all those years ago.  If we remember a flying eye that detonated the instant it was grabbed, surely Superman might remember that, particularly since that one, like this one, had enough explosive to level a block.

[Max: I was gonna say this is another classic case of Kesel referencing ideas from old issues he inked, but then I looked it up and that one was actually inked by Terry Austin. Still, Kesel presumably got a complimentary copy too...]

As we’re introduced to the holographic Deathtrap character, it’s a mostly good design (though not really a major improvement over the original Carl Draper Master Jailer design), but his colours make it seem like he’s an NHL expansion team. [Max: I don't know what that means, but it feels true and accurate.]

Superman’s gamely attempt to shake off the force field has some good moments, but the best image of the bunch is when Superman emerges from the blast furnace unharmed like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 

SPEEDING BULLETS:

• Think you got enough pens, professor? [Max: Maybe he keeps accidentally breaking them with his new robot hand? Okay, I meant that as a joke but it sounds like a real explanation...]

• Professor Hamilton doesn’t give much of an answer to Lois Lane’s point that examining an invulnerable Kryptonian body isn’t straightforward, not really getting into his methods, aside from assuring her they were verified and re-verified.

• I actually think Hamilton is a little too restrained in this issue.  If he has scientifically proven that Superman never returned from the dead—and he believes he has—then his casualness is pretty out of place, as it means that the man standing in front of him is an imposter, and likely a dangerous one. 

• I wasn’t quite old enough to drive by 1995, but was locking radios a thing?  I remember yutzes removing it altogether and carrying the radio like a boombox, but I can’t recall locking radios. 

• What the heck is on Clark’s sweatshirt?  It appears to say NZ at first (New Zealand maybe?) but by the next page it seems to say N5?  That level of visual drift is usually reserved for AI imagery. [Max: Must be N5... because he's the FIFTH Superman impostor!!]

• There’s something so strange about Superman’s anxiety about whether he’s the real deal.  It reminds me of when Andy needed Michael to confirm whether or not he himself was gay on The Office.  Wouldn’t you be the one who knows?

• I’m glad they added the suffocating force field angle, because otherwise it would be dumb for Superman to play along with Deathtrap’s game. 

• I do tire of all the buildings scheduled for convenient demolition in Metropolis, but I guess that’s better than the willy nilly occupied building destruction we see in modern superhero movies. Also, demolished buildings aren’t just reduced to powder, a lot of stuff gets extracted and equipment used, etc.

• I was expecting Superman to try to trace the broadcast of the hologram, which would have to be projected remotely, but I guess when you’re running out of air, you want to deal with that first.

• Draper isn’t just frilly white turtleneck with a Nehru jacket corny, he’s sunglasses indoors corny.

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