DC Retroactive: Superman - The '90s (October 2011)
DC Retroactive: Superman - The ‘90s (October 2011)
Wait, why are we talking about a comic from 2011 if the blog is still in 1994?! Because this was part of DC’s "Retroactive" event, where they brought back iconic creators from various eras to do new issues retroactively set in the middle of their old series. This one happens to be (roughly) set in the time period we’re covering in the blog, so we couldn't let it pass.
More specifically, this story takes place during the time when Lex Luthor Jr. is losing his hair (and also his mind) due to the “clone plague” hitting Metropolis. Literally, a deadly plague that only affects clones. And since “Lex Jr.” is actually Lex Sr. in an enhanced clone body, he’s getting it pretty bad.
Lex is jealous of Superman’s media attention and impressive hair (we’re smack dab in the middle of the Mullet Era, after all), so he pulls out an ace he’s been keeping under his sleeve for quite some time: a new and improved version of “Cruiser,” the gigantic tapeworm that attacked Metropolis back in 1992’s Man of Steel #12. (Yes, this comic picks up on a 19-year-old plotline.) This new Cruiser was created by genetically modifying an egg left by the original one, which begs the question: do Cruisers reproduce asexually, or are there a whole bunch of giant worms getting it on deep under Metropolis? Maybe we’ll get an answer in another follow-up issue in 2030.
Anyway, Superman spends most of the issue dealing with some strange earthquakes around Metropolis, which turn out to be caused by Lex maniacally remote-controlling Cruiser 2 as it burrows under the city. Superman is able to prevent the monster from destroying the orphanage where his unlucky little pal Keith lives, but just being in contact with the toxic slime secreted by the bug for 20 seconds leaves him in pretty bad shape… and bald, to Lex’s delight.
But Lex’s victory doesn’t last too long, because he ends up losing control of Cruiser 2 as it heads towards LexCorp. Superman manages to stop the monster right before it hits Lex's building, but he realizes he can’t throw this Cruiser into space like he did with the original one because the toxic slime would drip down and probably kill some people (or at the very least make them bald… wait, was that Lex’s plan all along?). So, he does the opposite: pushing it through the Earth’s crust into the magma below, which is a reminder that Superman is actually okay with killing if you’re ugly and destructive enough. See: Doomsday.
Speaking of which, Lex is pretty sure Superman died since he’s taking so long to come back from the center of the Earth, but once again he’s celebrating too early.
The issue ends with Lois Lane telling Superman that she did some digging and figured out that Lex Jr. was behind Cruiser 2 because it targeted buildings LexCorp had been trying to buy via dummy corporations to build luxury high rises. And if there’s one thing Lex Luthor loves, that’s a real estate scam.
Character-Watch:
This issue is pretty special to me since I believe I might be responsible for one of its many cameos! When this was first announced in 2011, I told Jon Bogdanove on Twitter “Hope we see the return of Dragon Lady and/or Mildred Krantz.” At the time, Mildred (the middle-aged waitress who gained Professor Hamilton’s heart) hadn’t appeared in a comic in almost 20 years… I think. I’m actually not sure how long it had been since she last showed up, because this blog seems to be the only website tracking all of her appearances and we’re not done yet. And hey, who is that fine lady with the funky glasses visiting the Daily Planet offices?
Bog enthusiastically confirmed to me on Twitter that that’s indeed Mildred. You’re welcome, Krantz-fans! It's worth noting that two other characters in the panel up there (and in a subsequent staff meeting) also hadn't appeared since the ‘90s: Daily Planet publisher Franklin Stern and reporter Fran Johnson (EDIT: thanks to our patron Bheki Latha for informing me that Fran does have a last name!). Ron Troupe is also there but he's lucky because he was designated as the Planet's token black guy at one point, so he has continued appearing over the years.
And, yes, of course Bibbo shows up elsewhere in the issue – it wouldn't be a ‘90s Superman comic without him. He's seen feeding some people who had to be evacuated from the subway via a mobile version of his Ace O' Clubs bar (I hope that's not a mug of hot beer he's handing Lois there).
Plotline-Watch:
Placing this issue in the continuity is tricky: it obviously takes place after the fight with Lobo in Man of Steel #30 (since we see newspaper stories about it), and therefore also after Superman came back to Earth from his mini space adventure with Lobo, which happened in Man of Steel #31. HOWEVER, Lois Lane’s hobo friend Charlie dies in MOS #31, yet he’s very much alive in this issue. That could mean this story takes place between the pages of #31, but Lex Luthor’s hair contradicts that: on the last page of that issue we learn that he’s just starting to go bald, and at the start of this one he already looks like a monk. The only logical explanation is that Lex started wearing a wig after this story, or maybe got some hair plugs that fell off within a few weeks.
Lex’s characterization itself is also somewhat inconsistent: in this story he’s a raging maniac who doesn’t give a crap about destroying Metropolis, but in upcoming issues we’ll find out that his love for the city is actually his one redeeming quality. Let’s chalk this up to the clone plague causing temporary mood swings. This would also explain why Clawster, the evil Underworld mutant who keeps trying to overthrow the surface world, acts a lot more reasonable than usual in this issue. I mean, he still wants to murder people, but at least now he’s nice enough to warn them about it.
You might think that Superman’s hair is also a continuity error, since he’s bald by the end of this issue yet has gone back to the glorious “mullet” look in the stories directly after this one, but no: we learned during “Reign of the Supermen” that Kryptonians are able to grow their hair extra-fast in certain circumstances (like if they're traveling from Antarctica to Metropolis in a giant battle armor). And, since recent issues have established that Superman’s powers are going out of control (he keeps punching things too hard, using his heat vision by accident, etc.), it stands to reason that his hair should grow faster than usual too. In fact, I'm assuming that Superman is constantly having to cut his hair off-panel during these issues, or he'd look like Alan Moore.
I like the mention of Clark Kent’s novels going into best-seller lists after his miraculous reappearance after being presumed dead (which happened to coincide with Superman’s resurrection). One of those novels was actually the basis for a one-shot special that came out right when this issue is set, so we’ll look at it soon.
Clark gets a phone call from a certain “Bruce” who tells him about some weird earthquakes that were just detected under LexCorp. That couldn’t possibly be Bruce Wayne, who was too busy traveling the world looking for a cure to his Bane-related paralysis when this story takes place, so I’m gonna assume it was Mighty Bruce from the Injustice League.
It’s briefly mentioned that Superboy, being a clone, “has been ill for several days.” That kinda lines up with him showing his first symptoms of the clone plague in Superboy #2, which we’re about to cover. We also see that the Newsboy Legion kids are sick (as mentioned in MOS #31) yet still allowed to wander around Project Cadmus in their pajamas. That is not how you contain a plague, guys.
Don Sparrow points out: “We see the Ed Sullivan Theate-esque marquee for the DCU's David Letterman analogue 'Whitty Banter’ in the background of Superman's soaring from the Daily Planet, located on the cross-streets of (Wayne) Boring and (Otto) Binder avenues.” Chronologically, that would make this issue the first appearance of the Whitty Banter Show, which I think didn’t appear in the comics until 1995, though it had been an in-joke among the creative team since 1993 (“Whitty” is actually long-running colorist Glenn Whitmore).
Lois has a framed poster of Jon Bogdanove’s pin-up from Action #600, his first official Superman artwork, in her apartment. What a nerd! She also has the cover for Man of Steel #66, which came out in 1997, but that isn’t necessarily an anachronism (who knows, maybe the Planet has published more than one newspaper with nothing but the S-shield logo on the front page over the years).
Patreon-Watch:
This post is getting way too long, so quick shout out to Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Hank Curry, and Bol! You can join the exclusive shout out club at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99
And now, more from Don Sparrow and even more sweet Bog art from this issue!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We open with the cover, and right away, it's a good example of what went wrong with the experiment of the "Retroactive" books--they got period artists, but still used modern colouring and paper stock, which kind of defeated the purpose of matching the style and feel of the old comics they were trying to recapture with these one-shots. It's less glaring on this issue than some others (the Superman 70s and 80s issues come to mind) because 90s colouring was closer to the style of 2011, but it's still a bit jarring to see the glowing effects and other colouring tricks of the modern era on this retro looking era. That said--it's a classic Bogdanove cover, with his long-limbed, hyper muscled and lantern-jawed Superman striding out toward the viewer.
Inside the issue, we're placed right where we left off last week, with Lex in the barber's chair. Apparently he has a whole team of stylists, as this guy doesn't look a thing like Meschach Taylor, unlike the other fella. Yes, I'm quibbling about a continuity error in stories 17 years apart! [Max: But he fired the other fella, Don! And then this one too. He probably went through 20 hairstylists off-panel.]
There's another unique 2010s touch, as the LexNews logo on the screen is decidedly Fox News-esque (as is Clark's later dismissal of doing an interview on the channel). Bogdanove (inking his own pencils here, which might explain some of the uncharacteristically thick and un-rendered lines) always had a good handle on the grotesque, and it's used to good effect seeing the illness-ravaged Lex Jr. rage at his hair stylist. For the most part, Bogdanove hasn't lost too much of a step in the intervening years--there's some cartoony moments, which we'll discuss, but that stylization was always a hallmark of his unique style. One issue that persist throughout begins here, which is a pretty sizable gap between the eyes of the characters.
We get a pretty Kirby-esque LexCorp lab as we see Cruiser 2 being worked on by AIM looking scientists.
As we see the interiors of the Daily Planet, it's clearly like riding a bike, as ponytail Clark and the rest of the Planet crew look exactly as they did in the mid-90s, right down to the outfits. Bogdanove always drew a fetching Lois Lane, and there are a couple adoring shots of her in these pages.
They give Superman a dynamic double page spread as he leaps into action (once again, I always love it when it's snowing in Metropolis, so bonus points for showing the seasons). The sequence of Superman rescuing the citizens of Metropolis' Chinatown is well done, especially the joy on his face as he flies the group to safety. We've talked a lot on this blog about how the Simonson/Bogdanove team seemed to showcase the most ethnically diverse side of Metropolis, so it's nice to see that continue in these pages
We get pretty cartoony as Lois meets up with Professor Hamilton and Charlie--though it does put the lie to my assertion last week at how much Ham and Charlie resemble each other--while also buttressing Max's point that Charlie looks like George Carlin.
As Jimmy and Clark wok their leads, we return to eyes-far-apart land, followed closely by another great image of Superman flying.
The actual battle scenes against the landwhale are well done, but perhaps excessively similar to Superman battling the first version (which we see at the back of the book).
Lois' slippers falling off as she smooches Superman is a nice touch, and it's interesting to see Superman with such short hair, even if it gives be a shudder thinking of the immediately retconned Greg Pak era to come, with brush cut, street fighting Superman.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
There are a few Easter eggs hidden throughout the issue, particularly in the Daily Planet scenes. There seems to be a shout-out to Walt Simonson (husband of writer Louise, and a comic art legend in his own right) on the construction outside the Daily Planet. Inside, I'd bet that's a caricature of 90s group editor Mike Carlin hunched over a page layout in the corner.
In two different places, we see grabs from the famed vinyl cling issue of Superman fighting Lobo, which puts this issue right around our current coverage.
At first I thought perhaps the Chinese toddler's broken English as she cries for her beloved stuffy toy was borderline insensitive, but then I remembered her age, and that pretty much any kid has broken/limited English at that age!
There's another Walt reference on the Subway, where it's referred to as a radio station, with KROQ sounding hosts "Something and the Bean".
I'm guessing a few of these extras on the Subway are cameos of people Bogdanove knows? They seem a little too prominent (and in the case of the heavy-set bearded guy, repeat too often) to be just background filler. [Max: He looks disturbingly like Ron Jeremy to me, so I hope that's not someone Bog knows personally…]
Another insider reference as the Children's Aid Society subname is a wink at Phyllis Coates, the Lois Lane of the 1950s. [Max: Note that Steel had just stopped using the S-shield at this point, so unfortunately that snowman can't be him either.]
