Superman #36 (October 1989)
Superman #36 (October 1989)
I don’t even need to do a recap for this one because it’s all right there in the cover (but I’ll do it anyway): The Prankster tries to kill Morgan Edge with a chainsaw, but Superman comes in and stops it. In the actual scene Superman bursts through the wall rather than flying in through the window, though. Also, the Prankster is wearing a hockey mask and Edge a piggy one. Seriously.
Edge, the owner of the GBS TV station and former leader of Intergang, has been in the hospital since last issue, when he had a near-death experience that took him to another planet. Poor Morgan seems to be doing better, but then he gets a little visit from an old friend: The Prankster, the practical joke-based supervillain who was a regular children’s TV host until Edge fired him (in Superman #16). The Prankster tortures his old boss by messing with his bed, trying to feed him soda through an IV, and finally taking out the chainsaw and almost cutting his face in half. Superman comes in to save Edge and the Prankster tries to escape, but he slips on his own banana peel and ends up back in jail… for now.
Character-Watch:
Actually, I think this is the last appearance of The Prankster until the late ‘90s. I guess he just didn’t feel like breaking himself out of prison for another ten years this time.
Oh, and during a scene at the Daily Planet, we get the first cameos of Alice the Intern and Whit the possible serial killer in a while! I missed those guys.
Plotline-Watch:
This is the Jerry Ordwaiest of all Jerry Ordway comics, I think, because look at all these wonderful plotlines:
Superman is cleaning up the debris in front of Mayor Berkowitz’ office (from the fight with Maxima in Action #645), when he runs into The Guardian. Superman apologizes to The Guardian for trying to kill him the last time they met (Adventures #450), back when Superman thought he was Gangbuster due to his mental problems. The two then take a trip to Project Cadmus, where the resident telepath, Dubbilex, examines Superman’s mind to unlock all the repressed memories of his time as Gangbuster. The interesting thing is that Dubbilex isn’t completely convinced that Superman is cured of his split personality problems… which is actually some foreshadowing for the upcoming Day of the Krypton Man saga.
Before The Prankster shows up, Edge gets another hostile visitor: Joe Morgan, the ex husband of Cat Grant, who is a super shady guy himself and makes it clear that Edge should stay the hell away from Cat if he knows what’s good for him. Joe doesn’t actually give much of a crap about Cat, but he does about their son Adam. Meanwhile, all little Adam cares about is whether he gets to keep the toys Edge gave him.
Speaking of Cat Grant, Edge figures that if he can’t kill her, he might as well fire her form her TV job, and does just that. Cat doesn’t take the news well and heads straight for Dooley’s Bar – a concerned Clark Kent follows her, worried she might turn to booze again, and has a talk with her. I love the combination of utterly ridiculous plot points and real world issues in these panels, by the way:
Perry White and his wife finally meet their son Jerry’s new girlfriend, Tammy: at first Perry seems a little surprised that Tammy is black, but he gets over it quickly (we know Perry isn’t racist, after all, because he’ll eventually adopt a black kid). Things do turn a little awkward when Tammy mentions she’d like to work for LexCorp, which of course is the company of Jerry’s biological father/bald supervillain. The evening goes surprisingly well considering all that, but then Tammy gets angry with Jerry for actually being disappointed that his parents weren’t terrible towards her.
And finally, Tammy is gonna take a cab to the White residence, but Jerry says “It’s not worth paying six-fifty to go a few blocks.” Yes, the walls of reality are coming down as the characters become self-aware of the six-fifty trope.
WTF-Watch:
Hey, wait a minute. We found out last issue that Tammy’s last name is Brown. Jerry’s last name is White. Brown. White. Wow. I just got that.
Also, here’s something that has bugged me since I was a kid: this issue includes MORGAN Edge, Joe MORGAN, little Adam MORGAN and two mentions of a place called St. GlennMORGAN Square. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
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