Superman #52 (February 1991)
Superman #52 (February 1991)
WARNING: There’s no actual dancing in this issue. It’s just the second round between Superman and Terra-Man, the supervillain who cares about the environment a little too much.
Lois Lane is covering a protest at a LexCorp landfill when Terry (which should be Terra-Man’s real name, instead of Tobias Manning) shows up in a tornado and shoots a giant bazooka into the ground. What kind of earth-lover goes around shooting at his beloved planet for no reason? The kind that has a bazooka that can turn mountains of dirt into clean land. The problem is that some LexCorp employees get sucked into the ground during the cleaning process, and Superman is able to save all but one.
“Especially since you crushed his ribcage by performing CPR for a quarter of an hour.”
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Terra-Man also manages to escape. Later, Lois and Clark use their Journalism Powers to figure out that Terry’s next target must be a ghost town called Lookout Peak, which has been deserted since an environmental disaster caused by Terry himself during his greedy industrialist days (ah, the wild ‘80s). Clark tells Lois she shouldn’t go there by herself because it’s too dangerous, so naturally by the next panel she’s stepping into a hazmat suit to go into Lookout Peak. Also naturally, Superman has to swoop in and save her from some of Terra-Man’s cowboy-sounding robots.
Terra-Man tells Superman he just wants to clean the town and promises he’ll turn himself in as soon as he’s finished. Unfortunately, Superman is a bit hung up on that whole “You killed a dude, dude” thing and wants to arrest Terry right away. To make sure Superman doesn’t mess up his plans, Terra-Man whisks Lois away in one of his Terra-tornados, and then launches a bomb full of a toxin-killing substance into the sky. Superman breaks the bomb before it can blow up over the town, but then he goes “On second thought, I guess fixing the environment is a good thing” and actually helps Terra-Man spread his goop all over the city. Which isn’t as sexy as it sounds.
And then, as promised, Terry turns himself in to the authorities. Lois thinks his trial will help raise awareness of the toxic waste problem, which I’m sure is a great solace to that dead LexCorp guy’s ten orphaned children.
Character-Watch:
This is Terra-Man’s second appearance following his debut in Superman #46, and his last one for several years. What I like about this guy is that he doesn’t bullshit around. There are lots of supervillains who think they serve a good purpose (Luthor is arguably one) (I mean, was), but the difference with Terra-Man is that he actually gets stuff done and keeps his promises. He told Superman he’d surrender, and then did that. Apparently that type of character doesn’t lend himself to a lot of fun-packed superhero stories, though, so he’ll only be back once during this era.
Plotline-Watch:
The stress of lying to Lois is making Superman go crazy… and it only took, what, like six years of doing it on a daily basis? Early on, he nearly tells her, and everyone else at that landfill protest, that he’s Clark Kent because he feels guilty about being dishonest. A few pages later, he’s mad at her for lying to him about not going to the ghost town (though I’d argue that “lying about your whole identity” is a little worse than that). Also, is it me or does Supes sound slightly jealous of Lois’ LexCorp contact, Ray?
Speaking of LexCorp, the landfill protest is another example of how the company is going to the crapper (literally, in this case) after Lex’s sudden death. Who will rise as LexCorp’s new leader and save the company? Is it Ray? I hope it’s Ray.
The Misadventures of Jose Delgado: Jose finds out that some goofball (Bibbo) won $14 million on the lottery using his missing ticket. The best part is that Jose played with his social security number. Actually, no, the best part is that instead of going to Bibbo’s bar and demanding his money, or at the very least free beer for life, Jose’s reaction is being like “aw, heck, what are ya gonna do.” On top that, he also has to babysit lil’ Adam Morgan (Cat Grant’s brat) in this issue. This might be peak Jose Delgado right here, unless there’s another issue I’m forgetting where he becomes crippled for life forever three times in the same fight (and then dumped by Lois twice).
Sam Foswell, the new editor at the Daily Planet since Perry went off on a marriage-saving vacation, is hilariously bad at both bossing and editing. He’s also hilariously bad at journalism, period, since he’s only now noticing that those Lane and Kent kids tend to hang out together all the time.
Speaking of which, the next issue blurb says that Clark will tell Lois something important soon. Holy crap, he’s gonna ask her to marr– Wait, no, he already did that. Eh, then I guess it’s nothing important.
Creator-Watch:
Can I say Kerry Gammill rocks? Kerry Gammill rocks.