Superman #70 (August 1992)
Superman #70 (August 1992)
Superman and Robin: Fearless Vampire Killers! As seen last week, Metropolis' most prolific doctor turned out to be a powerful vampire who's been snacking on his patients. One of his victims is Jimmy Olsen's sort-of girlfriend Lucy Lane, so Jimmy has teamed up with Robin (Tim Drake) to stop the vampire. Shockingly, this results in the vampire getting away and Jimmy ending up in the hospital.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bitey has gathered all of his converted victims (including Lucy and also Jimmy's hot friend Babe - awkward!) in the cemetery as preparation for a vampiric invasion of Metropolis. Robin and Jimbo find them there, but the problem is that Jimmy's Superman-calling watch broke last week and it's been established that these two suck at fighting vampires. So, how can they get Superman to come help them? Easy: by taking a page from the Lois Lane handbook and getting suicidal.
RIP Jimmy's piece of shit car (1987-1992). Surely this will be the most notable character death we'll see this year.
The resulting explosion gets Superman's attention, but he isn't terribly useful against a bunch of undead bloodsuckers, since Kryptonians are allergic to magic. At one point, Superman actually finds himself at the mercy of Vampire Lucy – Robin tries to stake her but Jimmy tackles him before he can do that, seemingly dooming Supes to get bitten. All seems lost, but then… DIABOLUS EX MACHINA!
Remember Blaze, the demonic being/former Metropolis club owner? Years ago she swore she'd have Superman's soul (during the "Soul Search" storyline in 1990), and obviously she can't do that if he becomes a soulless vampire. So, she floods the cemetery with a hellish light that somehow turns all the victims back into humans. Dr. Fangface shields himself from the light with his robo-armor and tries to escape, but in the confusion he ends up impaling himself on the bayonet of a WWI soldier's statue. And thus, the day is saved and everyone goes back to normal! Yay for satanic interventions!
But then, on the last page, we find out the vampire didn't die: he managed to move his consciousness to Babe's body at the last second, and no one suspects a thing. TO BE CONTINUED! EVENTUALLY!
Plotline-Watch:
Veeeeery eventually. Babe has been a recurrent character in Man of Steel since its second issue, but she'll drop off the map just as her storyline was getting interesting. It took so long for them to pick this plot up again that I'm surprised they even bothered, but I'm also glad they did. It gives me hope that maybe we'll see Dragon Lady again one day…
Sam Foswell, former Daily Planet editor, isn't taking his unemployment very well: this issue finds him on top of a bridge, ready to commit suicide. Blaze, deciding she needs a new agent in Metropolis, pretends to be an angel to trick Foswell into swearing allegiance to her. Sam is revitalized by the "angelic" encounter and subsequently gets a job at Newstime Magazine after a chance encounter with owner Colin Thornton ("chance encounters with Thornton" are the main way Newstime hires new staff). Everything's coming up Foswell!
Blaze's involvement isn't as random as I probably made it sound: she appears throughout the issue because a fat, bald demon with glasses (I'm assuming it's her accountant) informs her that a bunch of damned souls that should be arriving to her hellish realm have been misplaced. At first we're led to think that this is due to the vampire hijacking people, but in the end we find out that the one moving into Blaze's turf is someone else: her mysterious, unseen brother, Lord Satanus. This leads us directly into the next big storyline, teased in the text above.
Rad-Watch:
Robin's exclamations in this issue include "Yo! Check it out!" "Radical stuff!" and, of course, "Totally rad!" Don Sparrow observes: "While it was probably already dated even in 1992, there isn’t a Robin panel in this comic that wouldn’t be improved with him shouting ‘totally rad!’ as he does when he bails from Jimmy’s car."
"Come to think of it, I kinda want Superman to start saying it, too."
More total radness from Don after the jump!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We open with an excellent cover, which is a pretty good summary of what’s to come in the story ahead. I love the thick lines Brett Breeding uses for the fog in the background, and a vulnerable Superman is definitely cause for Robin’s alarm (is it me, or is Supes looking a bit like the Batman of that year, Michael Keaton on the cover? No? Just me?)
Inside, the great art continues, with a very cool splash of a hovering Superman, and a swinging Robin, trying to convince Superman that vampires are real, and that you have to use wooden stakes to kill them (Superman apparently having forgotten all of this from that time he fought vampires with Batman).
The art throughout this issue is amazing, as Jurgens and Breeding are well into their stride on these characters. The art team manages to pull off something apparently very difficult for artists of the period: making Robin look like a teenaged boy, rather than a 75% facsimile of an adult. That last panel on page 4 is a great example (see the first row of panels in this post).
I’ve long been a fan of Jurgen’s long tall panel layouts, and they’re in great effect on the creepy page 5, where the unorthodox layout helps the abrupt jump to the pits of hell (that “Little Burp” has worms for eyes is a little too scary for me to really focus on, so I’ll just move away) and lasts for the whole interlude with Blaze and Foswell.
I’m a bit unclear if the souls destined for Blaze are being waylaid by Blaze’s brother, or by Ruthven. This whole scene is our issue’s biggest GODWATCH (though most of the issue qualifies, really, especially with the countless crosses in the graveyard scenes) and I find the theology behind some of the events in this issue fascinating. Chiefly, that Blaze, herself some sort of lieutenant demon in hell (unless she’s supposed to be DC’s version of the devil outright? Are we clear on this?) [Max: I think, officially, there are many ‘aspects’ of Hell and she rules over one.] acknowledges the because Sam Foswell is “a believer” (proven a moment later as he prays while falling to what he assumes is his own doom) he is therefore beyond her reach–unless she interferes. Pretending to be an angel is a pretty dirty trick, but an agent of hell can hardly be counted on to play fair. It’s an extra sneaky detail that besides her angelic appearance, she really does nothing to indicate she’s anything but Blaze. When Foswell asks if she’s an angel, she outright ignores him, and since when do angels demand that one of their charges “pledge themself” to her, or guarantee Earthly rewards? Even dangling in mid-air, Foswell should have known something was up.
PANEL OF THE WEEK: There are so many contenders this week! I love the simple shot of Superman taking off after rescuing Foswell in the last panel of page 9, of his cool (and rarely seen, since Byrne left) flying upside-down on page 8. But the panel of the week goes to the top of page 15, where Superman rescues the World’s Finest Teens, moving so quickly he even breaks out of the panel. Awesome.
The fight scenes that follow are well choreographed, and the mysterious light (which Ruthven accurately describes as both ‘damnable’ and 'infernal’, even without knowing its origins. Lastly, Superman should know it’s a WOODEN stake that kills vampires, not metal statues. Metal statues just kill Skyhooks. Come on, Superman! [Max: Hey, that's right. What's with villains impaling themselves on statues whenever Blaze is involved?]
All in all, though, a very satisfying team-up with Robin. Jimmy Olsen manages to contribute in a meaningful way, and excellent art throughout.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
How adorable are Robin and Superman on page 3? I’ve always liked seeing the dynamic with various Robins, and how they react to Superman. For once, Superman gets to be the cool uncle, rather than Batman. It’s great seeing how pally and encouraging Superman is with Robin and his deftness on batropes, and Robin’s aw-shucks reaction is great.
Whups, colouring boo-boo on page 4, as Superman has blue boots all of a sudden.
I love the tease they give us, of the danger presented if a vampire were to bite Superman’s skin, as threatened on page 18. We’d have to wait a full ten years before we found out just what would happen when Dracula finally does bite Superman (I won’t give anything away here, but it’s awesome). And if that’s not reason enough to buy that issue, my first fan letter in the pages of Superman (having had one already published in Action Comics) also endears that issue to me, even if it’s during the unforgivably lame Russian Zod storyline.
Babe Tanaka’s features look a lot less Asian in these pages than in Man of Steel. Does the Ruthven story ever come up again? I’m having trouble remembering. [Max: Yep. A hint: Appropriately, Batmans guest star on the issue where the storyline starts up again…]
She may be evil incarnate, but that Blaze lady sure smiles a lot. [Max: Well, her mouth completely disappears when she isn't smiling, so she sorta HAS to.]
