Super-Titles Round-Up (January 1994)
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Super-Titles Round-Up (January 1994)
1994 was the point when there were officially as many if not more Superman spin-offs, specials, and miniseries out every month than actual Superman titles, so here's a new section to (briefly) talk about each of them! January was a pretty light month compared to what's ahead (Superboy, Steel, and the Supergirl mini all started in February) so I'll be padding out this post with some late ‘93 Superman appearances we hadn't talked about before. Here we go:
S.T.A.R. Corps #1 (November 1993)
S.T.A.R. Corps was a pretty bizarre miniseries that mostly exists to make you wonder how the hell S.T.A.R. Labs hasn't been shut down by the government and/or bankrupted by all the lawsuits resulting from the freak accidents that happen there every week. This issue starts with Clark Kent and Lois Lane attending the inauguration of S.T.A.R.'s fancy new Metropolis facility, since the old one imploded during Armageddon 2001. Of course, it takes less than one page for this building to start coming apart too, courtesy of a soldier who was accidentally fused with an experimental armor and lost control of his weapons.
Clark is buried in the rubble, and then Superman swoops by to punch the poor soldier, whose only crime was volunteering for a S.T.A.R. project. He should have known better, though.
And that's the extent of Superman's contribution to this series. The soldier eventually forms a sort of super-group with other people mutated by S.T.A.R. accidents (including Kitty "Rampage" Faulkner), but I believe they never showed up again after the end of the miniseries, hopefully because they won a class action lawsuit against the lab and they're all retired now.
Valor #14 (December 1993)
Valor, the character who's basically Superman but with a deadly allergy to lead, is dying from... a deadly allergy to lead. Valor asks Superman what's it like to come back from the dead, and I guess at this point Supes was tired of saying "actually, I only went into a deep stasis and..." so he goes along with it.
The part about them being brothers is a reference to Valor's Silver Age version, Superboy's fake big bro "Mon-El," because this issue was written by Mark Waid and he just can't help himself.
Bloodbath #1-2 (December 1993)
These unfortunately oversized issues finish up the terrible "Bloodlines" crossover that ran through most of DC's 1993 annuals, including the four Superman ones. I read this atrocity mostly to check out the scenes featuring Sasha Green, the personal trainer murdered by Lex Luthor Jr. in Superman #77 and then brought back to life as a superpowered being by the Xenomorph wannabes who are trying to invade Earth in this crossover. Turns out Sasha only shows up for three pages in the second issue, where she briefly teams up with Garth Ennis' Hitman (the only noteworthy character to come out of this crapfest). They're both carrying giant guns when they bump into each other because, again, 1993.
The two blow up a giant monster, and then Hitman realizes he can't read her mind because she's a zombie or something and they part ways. According to the DC wiki this was Sasha's last non-flashback appearance, but the story of her murder will play a big role in the Superman titles in the coming months.To my surprise, someone who DOES show up for more than three pages is the all-new Eradicator, who helps Lex Jr. and some S.T.A.R. geeks analyze one of the captured aliens. Later, the other aliens come break out their buddy and the Eradicator tries to take on all of them alone, but it... doesn't go well for him.
That's the last time we see him in this series. I can't imagine any ‘90s kid reading that and going "Man, I hope I could read about this badass every month!" And yet, the very next month...
Outsiders #3 (January 1994)
As mentioned during the new Eradicator's introductory issue in Action #693, the Outsiders, Batman's old B-team, have been framed for the murder of an entire village in Europe. The Eradicator for some reason decides it's his job to avenge those people so he tracks down the Outsiders and starts fighting them. It... doesn't go well for the Outsiders.
Before he can rip out any other appendages, however, the Eradicator finds out that the evil-looking vampire king who sent him after the Outsiders is actually the one who murdered that village, so he's like "Whoops, my bad! Let's team up."
The Eradicator would stay with the team for the rest of this series, so this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.NEXT TIME: Superboy! Supergirl! Steel!