Adventures of Superman #518 (December 1994)

"Dead Again!," Part 7! Superman's tour of all the people who hate him continues as he goes to Apokolips to check on Darkseid... and, while at it, the Cyborg Superman, who's currently trapped inside a Pokéball there. Using a Boom Tube provided by the nice space gods of New Genesis (see last issue), Superman drops into Apokolips right into the middle of a massive crowd scene. Uh-oh!

(That "uh-oh" was for artist Barry Kitson. I hope he likes drawing mean space gods.)

All Superman wants to do is have a chat with Darkseid, but Granny Goodness' forces are most uncooperative. On top of the 200 shock troopers and parademons trying to kill him, Superman has to deal with the Female Furies and their confounding double entendres. One of them manages to bring Superman down to the edge of the Armagetto, where he's recognized by the resident Hunger Dogs as the guy who almost freed them (and got a bunch of them killed) years ago, during the Legends storyline.

Meanwhile, Darkseid watches this from his palace and instructs his beret-wearing personal assassin, Kanto, to "get to work" on Superman. (Why does a space god who can evaporate people with his eyes need a personal assassin? This is not for mere mortals to know.) Kanto waits until Superman is at the edge of Apokolips' famous fire pits to launch a sonic attack that sends all the Hunger Dogs rushing towards him for help, the idea being that they'll fall into the fire and this will murder Superman... 's soul. Darkseid was probably like, "I really should have been more specific."

Superman prevents the Dogs from getting roasted and heads to Castle Darkseid, where Kanto reveals himself as the mastermind behind that evil plan. Superman, however, is no mood to deal with a guy in a beret right now.

(Kanto will survive. RIP the beret, though.)

Alone with Darkseid at last, Superman accuses him of being the one who put that Superman corpse in his tomb, thus making him responsible for this entire storyline. Darkseid points out it couldn't possibly be him, because he still owes Superman for saving his life (during Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey) and Darkseid is an evil space god of his word. He claims that the Cyborg, who was last seen getting Omega Beam'd by Darkseid (also during Hunter/Prey), ain't the one either, although "his death might not be as final as it seems." What?! Resurrection?? In a superhero comic??? Is that legal?

At this point, Superman is more pissed off than he's ever been, and even breaks one of Darkseid's fancy tables during a tantrum. Darkseid replies with this curious choice of words:

This does nothing to lighten Superman's mood, and he says (yells) that it's "time I shut this godforsaken planet down forever!" Instead, Darkseid shuts him down with the Omega Beams, and Superman finds himself back on Earth. However, Darkseid's cryptic mention of of a "carnival sideshow" has convinced Superman that he finally knows the identity of his tormentor, for real this time. See, carnivals are fun, and who's the funnest Superman villain of all?

Yes, the handsome Mr. Mxyzptlk! TO BE CONTINUED! OR CONCLUDED, POSSIBLY!

Plotline-Watch:

• With the "carnival sideshow" clue above, Darkseid considers his debt with Superman paid, and gives us a little tease of his plans for the Cyborg... but that's a whole other storyline.

• Don Sparrow says: "Nice that the Hunger Dogs that Superman betrayed as 'Savior' back in the day aren't holding a grudge." Yeah, so they remember Superman "almost freeing" them during the Legends storyline, but they don't remember him selling them out to Darkseid while he was under Amazing Grace's control? Then again, I guess all the ones who would remember that are dead.

• It's unclear how much Superman himself remembers; Orion erased his memory of that whole incident at the end of that storyline to spare him the "I accidentally helped commit genocide" trauma, but Superman doesn't seem surprised to hear that the Hunger Dogs remember him as a savior. Maybe he got his memories back at the end of "Day of the Krypton Man," after finally solving his split personality issues (which, in my headcanon, are connected to the suppressed memories)?

• This issue contains no references to the Apokolips-related Guardians of Metropolis miniseries that was coming out at this time (also written by Karl Kesel), but it's interesting to see Female Fury Gilotina get the spotlight for a whole page. She'll end up playing a big role in that mini and it works better if you know her as a Fury (I sure didn't before this issue, even though she goes back to Jack Kirby's original Fourth World comics).

Shout Outs-Watch:

Three posts in a month! (If you count the revamped Action #585 post.) This miracle is brought to you by our SUPporters, Aaron, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Dave Blosser, and Bryan! Join them (and get extra articles) via Patreon or our newsletter's "pay what you want" mode! Both of those also have free tiers, if you just wanna get posts like this one in your inbox. NOTE: If you subscribe, please check your junk mail for the activation email!

This prolific pace is also spurred by Don Sparrow, who's perpetually ahead of me on these write ups. Here's the latest one:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

Pretty good cover on this one as the angular, minimalist blocks on Superman look electric and painful.  It’s also the first time I can remember the connection between Darkseid and the dark side of the force (as a Star Wars reference) being made.  It’s also a fairly accurate cover for the story, as the scene and all the characters on the cover more or less appear as depicted. [Max: I don't see Desaad in the issue, though. Is there only room for one lackey in Darkseid's office?]

Inside, we’re greeted with a pretty nice splash page of Superman arriving via Boom Tube.

Kitson does a good job of showing the ghetto aspects of Armagetto, particularly how teeming and crowded it is, and how it just seems like dirty energetic chaos.

Kitson and Kesel draw a much thinner, more humanoid Darkseid than the wide and monstrous versions we’re used to from John Byrne and Dan Jurgens, but it works more than it doesn’t.  The image of Superman lifting the dandy Kanto by his collar is a good one.  I also never tire of Darkseid doing casual things, so holding a goblet of chilled water is a great image. [Max: Darkseid just loves chilling.]

Page 18’s yelling Superman is like a clinic in 90s hatching technique, and the falloff of light from Darkseid’s omega beams on the following page looks very Keith Giffen to me. Finally, those eye-beams in use is probably the best image in the comic.

SPEEDING BULLETS:

• I can hardly think of an issue in recent memory where less actually happened, plot-wise, but that’s been a feature of the "Dead Again!" storyline.  On its face, you could summarize this plot as: Superman arrives on Apokolips to accuse Darkseid.  He’s briefly delayed and then does so. Zero B-storyline.

• There’s a few unfamiliar faces in this issue for me, but they’re interesting characters to call back—the pale woman in red (with the logo that comes dangerously close to that of Vampirella) is Bloody Mary, an Apokoliptan vampire created by none other than the writer artist team of this issue, Karl Kesel and Barry Kitson in Hawk and Dove #35.  Gilotina (the conventionally pretty woman in pink) is a Jack Kirby original, but fellow Kesel and Kitson creation Speed Queen (with teal hair miscoloured as brown) also appears in that first group of Furies.  Another character I didn’t remember was archer Artemis (sometimes called Artemiz), and then a little research showed she first popped up in Suicide Squad #35 in 1989, an issue whose cover was inked by—you guessed it—Karl Kesel.  So it was neat of the super-team to bring back some of these lesser known Furies.  We also get a blink and you’ll miss it cameo from a character called Buna, who Dan Jurgens will have a fuller story around in about 9 months’ time. But this issue is considered her first appearance. [Max: She's the green one!]

  

• I gotta say, I’m a little confused by them writing Virman Vundabar as having an actual German accent.  His military garb is certainly Prussian in appearance, and any connection to German armies is a visual cue for evil, but I guess I think it’s weird an alien from Apokolips would have an earth-territory based accent. [Max: Does Virman Vundabar speak with a German accent, or do German people speak with a Virman Vundabar accent?]

• I apologize for letting modern politics into my writing here, but Darkseid sitting back while his minions riot at his behest, against a force they can’t possibly defeat really put me in the mind of January 6th.  Just me? [Max: Darkseid is shown to have some semblance of honor and commitment to the truth in this issue, so I'm not sure the comparison works...]

• We all know I love a good Donner Superman reference, and Superman tossing Gilotina into the throng of Furies recalls Margot Kidder’s similar “pain in the neck” bon mot.

• I kinda love how everything on Apokolips has an eeeee-vil name.  Fahren-Knife? Love it.

• I don’t know if there was an edict on the Smallville TV show that Clark wasn’t allowed to throw a punch, but it sure seemed to me like his main move was just to throw people.  We get a lot of that in this issue as he tosses Lashina (who I guess could survive it?) and then later Kanto (who should NOT be able to survive the blistering furnace, despite Darkseid assuring the reader he will). 

• GODWATCH: Interesting version of divine mentions here, as Superman ragingly describes Apokolips as “Godforsaken” and Darkseid self-referentially corrects Superman, saying that Apokolips is God-fearing.  A point that would have held more currency if Superman hadn’t put a Mother Box on Darkseid’s owies like a band-aid last time they met.

• Very weird of Darkseid to hint to Superman that the Cyborg Superman still lives, but I suppose that’s more of a catch up for the readers. 

• At least they give a reason for Darkseid’s clue to Superman (owing him for saving his life in Darkseid’s disastrous fight with Doomsday), one which Superman actually picks up on.  Yes, Superman absolutely, 100% accurately took Darkseid’s hint that the maniac behind the brain problems Superman is having was caused by that character first introduced to post-Crisis readers in a carnival sideshow, known for his theatrical appearance—Mr. Mxyzptlk.  Yup, it’s definitely for sure for sure Mxy. [Max: Yep. Some Fine deduction by Superman.]

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