Super Titles Round-Up (February 1994)
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Super Titles Round-Up (February 1994)
This month: the Superman family nearly doubles! Plus, some pointless tie-ins.
Superboy #1 (February 1994)
Superboy (it's all right to call him that now) gets his own series! The first issue is about the No-Longer-Metropolis Kid going to Hawaii as part as a promotional tour with his sleazy manager Rex Leech, Rex's daughter Roxy, and his psychic DNAlien chaperone, Dubbilex. Superboy and Roxy are faking a rescue stunt to get the attention of the locals and sell some t-shirts when they run into Sidearm, a small-time villain with robot arms Superboy had previously tussled with in Metropolis (which confused me as a kid, because we haven't seen that fight yet: it'll happen in Superboy #0). Below: Superboy being a gentleman.
Superboy defeats Sidearm and the issue ends with teases for future issues: something escaping from a secret lab under Pearl Harbor, a super-strong stripper (a real knockout, you might say) seeing Superboy on TV and looking intrigued, something about a gang called the Silicon Dragons, and the cliffhanger: Superboy telling some reporters he's only planning to stay in Hawaii for three hours, when he sees that one of those reporters is his friend Tana Moon (AKA the reason why "three hours" turned into "50 issues").
Supergirl #1 (February 1994)
Supergirl gets a series too, but only a limited one (and for 4/5s of the salary, probably). Most of the first issue is about Supergirl having her powers tested in various ways by her beloved Lex Luthor Jr., who would never do her wrong and surely has her best interests in mind. At one point she stops by Smallville to visit Ma and Pa Kent, but then Pa ruins a perfectly nice evening by daring to doubt the purity of Lex's intentions. Supergirl gets uncomfortable and leaves to continue the tests... and then, of course, we find out the real reason Lex is so interested in her powers: he's trying to clone her, and in fact he already has a room full of nude Supergirls sleeping in pods.
Incidentally, my favorite part of the issue is when Dr. Kelley, Lex's physician/former lover/fake mother (long story), covers a hidden camera to prevent Lex from snooping on Supergirl's physical test. I'm taking this as confirmation that Lex DOES know about that camera in the ladies locker room at LexCorp and possibly installed it himself, the old horndog. You know, on second thought, the idea of Superboy being Lex's clone doesn't seem that far-fetched...
Steel #1 (February 1994)
Steel gets his own series too! And I'm not feeling it (yet). In this issue, John Henry Irons goes back home to Washington DC to track down whoever is selling the "Toastmaster" guns he designed when he worked for a weapons manufacturer, and visit his family while at it. I like that his entire family immediately knew he was Steel when they saw him on the news — no secret identity crap. Among others, we meet John's bright young niece Natasha and her troublemaking brother Jemahl, whose juvenile delinquent friends use some sort of drug that turns them into Hulk knockoffs.
Highlight of the issue: John taking down a whole squad of armored goons from the company he used to work for with nothing but a frying pan his grandma threw at him. Later, John uses what's left of their armors to build himself a new Steel suit, meaning that his dramatic decision to quit superheroing lasted about two months (or like two days in comic book time).
Outsiders #4 (February 1994)
The Eradicator is, at least at first, getting along surprisingly well with the Outsiders considering he ripped a team member's arm off last issue (the guy already got himself a new one, though). Together they storm the castle occupied by the vampire who framed the Outsiders for murder and manipulated the Eradicator into fighting them. After causing the vampire to escape the castle like a coward, the Eradicator is like "eh, good enough" and quits the team, making it clear that he doesn't give a crap about helping the Outsiders clear their name. He'll be back in a few issues anyway.
L.E.G.I.O.N. ‘94 #63 (February 1994)
A (completely unnecessary) tie-in to Superman's mini-space saga: Lobo tracks down Superman again just to take him to a space bar and prove to the regulars there that the two are totally buddies now. However, their friendship ends when Superman saves Lobo from being thrown into the nearest sun and then mentions the rescue in front of the alien drunkards, against Lobo's express wishes. It's a funny ending, but I'm pretty sure Superman just caused everyone in that bar to get murdered by Lobo twenty seconds after he left.
New Titans #104 (February 1994)
Lex Jr. appears in this issue for two pages when Roy Harper/Arsenal comes to ask him for help in manufacturing some weapons, and Supergirl appears for one when she tells Lex she has to speak with him and he brushes her off. I guess this will tie in to the issues where Supergirl joins the team? I'll be reading those when the time comes but I'm not looking forward to it, because this whole era of the New Non-Teen Titans is extremely boring to me (the Tom Grummett-drawn issues that came right before were pretty cool, though).