Superman #7 (July 1987)
Superman #7 (July 1987)
Lois Lane is visiting a laboratory where scientists are working on a new source of energy, and of course the whole place explodes. Seriously, I don’t know why they still invite Lois Lane to places. Superman flies down to the place of the explosion and from the rubble emerges a giant mutated lady – for a while Superman thinks Lois turned into a monster in the accident, but it turns out to be one of the scientists, Kitty Faulkner. Which is great news, because now Superman can punch her without feeling bad.
Meanwhile, Metropolis Special Crimes Unit boss-lady Maggie Sawyer is chilling in her desk when someone comes in and says “Superman is fighting a half-naked amazon!” and Maggie is like “I’m so there.” Superman fights the crazed woman (dubbed “Rampage”) with help from the MSCU, until he figures out he can absorb the energy that mutated her the same way he absorbs the rays of the sun. With that, Rampage reverts back to Kitty Faulkner and Superman flies off to dump all that energy elsewhere. Let’s say a dance marathon.
Character-Watch:
Kitty Faulkner looks cured by the end of the issue but obviously she’ll turn into Rampage again. Eventually she’ll learn to control her outbursts and turn into an occasional superheroine, a “Hulk-She” if you will. Dr. Thomas Moyers, Kitty’s asshole colleague who beats the equipment to prove that this source of energy is unreliable (and thus causes the explosion) will also show up again, having learned exactly nothing.
This is also the first (post-reboot) appearance of Detective Dan “Terrible” Turpin, noted cigar enthusiast and Maggie Sawyer’s second in command at the MSCU. He’s just a grumpy dude from Brooklyn with a bowler hat, but he’s gone up against Darkseid and both his sons (yes, the entire Seid clan) all by himself.
Plotline-Watch:
Superman Hates Batman: We see that the mysterious unmarked package that arrived in Superman #5 is still in Clark Kent’s desk, buried under a pile of files Alice the intern drops on it. It’s gonna be a while before Clark opens the package and calls Batman about it.
Superman Loves Wonder Woman: Clearly still thinking about that wet dream he had about Wonder Woman (also in Superman #5), Clark tries to call a friend of hers to set up an interview but she blows him off. We see the other end of the conversation in an issue of Wonder Woman that came out the same month. Or you did, if you have that issue.
WTF-Watch:
At the end of the issue, Superman goes missing for three days (he was in the next issue, fighting the Legion of Superheroes). Lois notes that both Superman and Clark are gone at the same time and then Clark refuses to say where he was. None of this makes Lois suspect that Clark = Superman. Yep, that lady is a moron.
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