Superman #65 (March 1992)
Superman #65 (March 1992)
PANIC IN THE SKY, Part 2 – Superman rounds up a bunch of pals to go beat up Brainiac in space! It's a "League of American Justice-doers," if you will, including Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Captain Marvel, Flash and Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke, a.k.a. Terminator (OK, so mostly justice-doers and one murderer). Brainiac, as seen on Part 1, has acquired a planet-sized spaceship called Warworld and is ravaging all the planets in his path. The New Gods of New Genesis are like, "Don't worry, you pathetic mortals, we'll handle Brainiac"… and then immediately get their asses kicked by Brainiac's lackeys, Maxima and the mind-controlled Supergirl.
That's how serious the situation is: Brainiac just effortlessly defeated a bunch of superpowered space gods. This convinces Superman he has to gather up a squad of superheroes and pre-emptively attack Warworld before it can get to Earth. Since an entire space expedition is a little bit more than Professor Hamilton can whip up in five minutes, Superman reluctantly asks Lex Luthor II to bankroll the project, to which he replies "Sure thing, mate! G'day! I'm not evil btw."
After recruiting all the superheroes mentioned above and more, Superman meets with them at LexCorp tower to discuss strategy. It takes several minutes before someone notices Aquaman didn't arrive at the meeting – because, while swimming to Metropolis, he was captured by Brainiac's skullship, which Superman tossed in the bay back in Part 1 and then forgot about. The ship then interrupts the superhero get-together at LexCorp, looking for a fight.
NEXT ISSUE: They fight!
Character-Watch:
You may be wondering why Superman picked that guy for his squad. The answer is that Aquaman is a really nice person and the others feel bad for him. But also, what's Deathstroke doing on the team? I'll let Don Sparrow sum up what's weird about that decision: "It speaks volumes about the popularity of the character at the time (and DC’s efforts to turn him from anti-hero to straight up good guy) that the same mercenary who beat the tar out of Batman, the guy who would go on to impale the Flash AND Phantom Lady would be the number one draft choice of the Man of Steel to lead a peace mission into space. Seriously. This guy. But it’s not as though we know for SURE that he had an affair with an underage girl. I’m sure if asked directly, he’d deny it,right?"
"Oh. I see."
Like Don said, Deathstroke was pretty popular at the time, to the point where he had his own ongoing series in addition to showing up all the time on New Titans (as an ally). On the Superman: Panic in the Sky! collection, Dan Jurgens mentions he wasn't sure how to fit Deathstroke into this story, which confirms that this was a decision that came from above. Still, I think Jurgens came up with a pretty good in-story explanation: Superman knew Deathstroke was a military type and he needed one of those that to help organize the troops on the Warworld attack, which makes sense. If he put Aquaman in charge of that, they'd [insert another lazy Aquaman joke here]. Superman presumably heard Deathstroke had been hanging out with the Titans and figured that meant he was a good guy, without knowing much else about the guy.
As for why Deathstroke would willingly sign up to go to space with a bunch of boy scouts: he was avoiding his ex (after being forced to kill their possessed son, Jericho, in recent issues of New Titans). That's good enough for me.
Oh, and we'll also get a follow-up issue later on where Superman finds out he teamed up with a mass killer (though he never found out about the whole "sixteen year olds, dude" situation). All things considered, I think Jurgens and company handled the story beat they were handed as well as they possibly could have.
Plotline-Watch:
The New Gods get involved in this mess because one of their own, Metron (the one with the flying green chair), wanted to warn other planets about Warworld's coming and got kidnapped by Brainiac in the process. Metron managed to send his Mobius Chair to Superman as a warning, and Superman's pal Dubbilex reads its mind and finds out what happened. Yes, the chair has a mind. And likes being sat on, apparently.
Besides the ones mentioned above, the other DC heroes in Superman's group include: the Metal Men, the Forever People, Starman, Valor, and basically every member of the (at this point, recently disbanded) Justice League International. Speaking of the non-League, Don points out: "I love the foreshadowing of Ice’s student/teacher-style crush on Superman, as she whispers to her bestie Fire that Superman’s the most handsome man she’s ever seen. (I’d also like to point out the Elongated Man’s reminder to us that Martian Manhunter is most definitely off-planet, and therefore unable to aid in any Justice League business. Ahem.)" Bless you, Don.
Also present are Metropolis' lesser heroes: Guardian, Gangbuster, Thorn and Agent Liberty. Gangbuster suggests they stay behind and set up a defense on Earth in case Warworld gets here, which is wise: there are less chances he'll get buried in rubble again if he doesn't go into the huge spaceship full of angry alien warriors.
Don has more to say and more kick-ass art from this issue to spotlight below the cut!
Art-Watch (by donsparrow):
It’s weeks like this when writing the blog is really, really fun, as this is an absolutely stellar issue in every sense. We begin, as always with the cover, and it’s truly an all-time great, up there with Superman #59, Superman #53, Adventures of Superman #424 or my personal favourite, Adventures of Superman #440 for the best cover of this (or any) era. I still can’t believe this image was never made into a poster or anything (to my knowledge) as it’s just fantastic,featuring our beloved Metropolis heroes with some of the most recognizable DC heroes of the era, and Superman leading them into battle like Patton. I love the lack of background, mainly for its rarity–while the early 90s had a lot of artists who eschewed detailed backgrounds, that’s nothing you could typically say of the Superman artists of this time, so the stark white really jumps off the shelf.
The issue opens with a slow boil as we pan out from a sun, to Metron surveying a planet so devastated that he concludes that the “…Universe as I know it is doomed.”
Normally I’d enjoy seeing the douchey and aloof Metron getting smacked around by Brainiac (his “‘tis I, sir” panel is some pretty serious evil coolness) but since it’s his warning that really gets Superman into action, I can’t knock the guy too much. Jurgens seems to share, at least in part, my dislike of the arrogance of the New Gods characters, as they get pretty snippy for a couple of guys that Superman could mop the floor with. For one thing, for guys with an interdimensional portal at their fingertips, they sure wreck a lot of property blasting their way in as they do! Even the usually chipper Lightray has some pretty sleepy eyelids as he dismisses Superman out of hand. [Max: Jurgens draws some of the coolest-looking New Gods ever, though.]
Lois, as usual in Jurgens’ and Breeding’s hands, looks pretty fetching researching Warworld on page 9 (a colouring error shows some leg, as though she’s wearing a sweater dress–which would actually look great–but she’s got slacks on a few panels later). I also love their interplay here, as it again shows the ways that Clark and Lois make each other better. Superman was willing (if not quite content)to let Orion and Lightray take the fight to Brainiac, and get to planning a home stand against the Warworlders. But Lois’ belief in him reminds him of his abilities and his unique qualifications given his recent adventures off-world.
Orion and Lightray’s insolence turns to comeuppance almost immediately as they get their heads handed to them in short order by Maxima and Supergirl. One has to wonder if the caveman-like Orion isn’t doubly defeated as not only was he knocked cold pretty quickly, but he was taken out by a woman, which can’t sit well with him. In the art department, both Maxima and Supergirl’s combined strength is beautiful and intimidating–and I’ll admit to studying that last panel on page 11 for longer than the story required when reading this as a 12 year old. [Max: I did as well: that's an impressive mustache on Brainiac on the back. So inspiring.]
Once Superman learns of the New Gods’ failure through Brainiac’s taunting (can he just contact Superman’s mind from anywhere, at any time he wants? Which I guess is different from reading Superman’s mind, since that would kill the element of surprise that Superman is going for, right?) Superman speeds off to get ready to head to space. And after a quick meeting with Hamilton and Luthor, he’s off to get his number one pick to accompany him on his heroic space mission–super terrible bad guy Deathstroke the Terminator. The pages of the team assembling are all exciting, and Jurgens draws Wonder Woman floating on air currents very daintily and believably. Jurgens also draws Wonder Woman with tons and tons of hair, echoing the look Brian Bolland’s covers gave her in this era, and it’s an appealing choice. Aquaman also looks cool skiing on two sharks (or possibly dolphins).
PANEL OF THE WEEK: While the double page spread of Superman addressing all the heroes on pages 18 and 19 is pretty spectacular, I have to give the panel of the week to Captain Marvel on the bottom of page 17. I love that Jurgens used the same design Ordway would later use on his stunningly gorgeous Power of Shazam! original graphic novel, with the shoulder-pads, loose sleeves, and button up jacket style costume. I also love the boyish squint. The one thing I still can’t find an answer for is what the reference is, when Billy talks to the camera (!) saying “When Danger Calls–well, you know the rest.” But I don’t! I looked up all the old Shazam/Captain Marvel TV theme songs that I could find, and none of them have that particular turn of phrase. Can anyone help explain the reference? [Max: "When danger calls… does whatever a spider can"?]
As mentioned, the spread of all the heroes meeting in LexCorp tower is pretty great, and must have been fun, to pick all the different heroes and have them interacting.
Finally, Brainiac makes his move,and takes down the tardy Aquaman. (As I was writing this entry, I shuddered at this, knowing my non-Aquaman-loving wife would giggle that of course Aquaman was the first hero to fall to Brainiac. I mentioned it to her,and she charitably posited, “well, it wasn’t a fair fight, I’m sure he would have done better if he was under the sea when it happened” almost as if she knew somehow, even without reading, that Aquaman got taken out completely in his own element, underwater.) All in all, a huge issue, where not only does a lot happen, all of it drawn well, but it also sets up a huge cliffhanger, as the battle has started before Superman is even able to form his army.
STRAYOBSERVATIONS:
Jurgens draws a mean Mobius chair! And Lightray is right, on page 7, about what a big deal it is for Metron to be separated from his chair–up to this point, I wondered if Metron may be disabled, as I’d never seen him without it.
Orion and Lightray are kind of hilarious. I love Orion shouting threats to Warworld, a zillion planets away. [Max: After shoving Superman aside for no reason, the big space bully.]
GODWATCH: Superman invokes the almighty in horror, when he sees the pasting Orion got.
It might not have been the best strategy on Brainiac’s part, to reveal Maxima so early (page 12) because all it does is alarm Superman into gathering more strength to his side.
I know colouring in this era was more limited, but sometimes the results can be odd-looking. I realize Superman isn’t shut down very often, but I doubt Hamilton’s rebuke about trusting Luthor would make Superman’s face turn bright pink.
“Hmmm, maybe this fellow [Luthor] is on the level after all!” Emil Hamilton, flattery does not become you!
“Joe… my son–dead!” I feel really bad for Deathstroke. I wonder who killed this poor man’s son. [Max: Probably the same guy who also got his oldest son killed earlier on…]
Jurgens’ flying poses always seem so elegant,but I like the panel on page 16, where it seems like Superman is trying to get out of Wonder Woman’s way.
Even among all these brightly coloured heroes, Serifan (the Forever People's resident cowboy) stands out.
Ralph Dibney kinda looks like Tate Donovan.
Unfortunate timing for Gangbuster to say he doesn’t want to go out to space,immediately after Cap utters the word “coward”.
It’s not too late to change your mind about Deathstroke, Superman.
