Superman #55 (May 1991)
Superman #55 (May 1991)
“Time and Time Again!” Phase Six – Superman turns into a magic knight and fights demons! Also, THE Demon! Superman’s latest explosion-triggered time jump has sent him to the first issue of Jack Kirby’s The Demon, showing the origin of that character. It’s the last days of Camelot, and since all the Knights of the Round Table are dead or indisposed, the wizard Merlin is forced to summon his very own rhyming demon/half-brother Etrigan (yes, Merlin’s mom got freaky with a hellspawn) to defend the kingdom. Under Merlin’s control, Etrigan fights Morgaine le Fay’s undead forces and a mysterious Black Knight. Where’s Superman in all of this? Oh, right: he’s the Black Knight.
Le Fay captured Superman right after he arrived in this time period (between this issue and last) and turned him into a slave with her wicked magic. Merlin breaks the spell, only to instantly put another hex on Superman to turn him into a White Knight. Superman fights bravely, but ultimately the whole freaking castle crumbles right on top of him in a big mystical explosion, leading Supes to leap in time once again. Will his next leap… be the leap home? (Yes.)
Bonus Story!
Part two of the Newsboy Legion vs. the Giant, Green Jimmy Olsen! Part one left the savage, superpowered Olsen clone covering himself in flames and heading for Project Cadmus’ nuclear reactor, presumably to blow up the whole place. The Guardian tries to stop him, but gets his ass kicked by the Jimmy clone. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough for the Guardian, he’s then saved by the Newsboys themselves, who simply shoot a fire hose at the clone and turn him to charred bones.
Mea culpa: I said last time that Cadmus created the clone to fight Superman if he ever goes mad, which sounded feasible. Well, that was just speculation from the Newsboys: he was actually made by Dabney Donovan, the disgraced Cadmus scientist living in the sewers under the Project, who just likes fucking with his former bosses (and being batshit crazy).
Character-Watch:
Like I said, the first half of the story is pretty much a retelling of the Demon’s origin, with some “Superman fighting in an armor” scenes thrown in between. Right before Camelot goes down, Merlin merges Etrigan with a random monk called Jason Blood, because someone has to keep his demon bro in check.
Blood, rendered an immortal due to Merlin’s magic, went on to meet Superman in Action #587 – coincidentally, another story where Superman travels back in time to the Middle Ages and teams up with Etrigan against Morgaine le Fay. That issue ended with Superman having no memory of what happened, but I bet he was still like “Whoa, deja vu” in this one.
Plotline-Watch:
There’s a big clue for an upcoming storyline in those Dabney Donovan panels I posted: yes, the wolverine thing. We’ll see what came of that in 1994’s Guardians of Metropolis miniseries.
The Newsboys make fun of one of their members, Gab, for claiming he’s friends with a big, purple, furniture-eating monster called Angry Charlie. He really is (Secret Origins #49) and in fact Charlie helps in the fight against the Jimmy clone without being seen.
It’s mentioned that one of the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Justin, can’t defend Camelot because he’s too busy flying on a winged horse in the 1940’s as a superhero called Shining Knight (of the Seven Soldiers of Victory). Too bad Superman didn’t run into that guy while he was there, he sounds awesome.
This has been another episode of “Superman Sucks at Magic” (not the card game). The writers don’t often bring up Superman’s natural weakness to everything magic-related, but when they do, you know he’s gonna have to suffer some indignity. Moving on, here are some quick Metropolis updates:
Lois Lane: still sad.
LexCorp Lawyers: still stressed.
Jimmy Olsen: still embarrassed by his mom (and likely a virgin).
Bibbo Bibbowski: still crackin’.
Bibbo, you’re a millionaire. What do you want with a quarter? (Honestly, the other plots are getting kinda repetitive, but it’s all worth it to me for the Bibbo stuff.)