Superman #76 (February 1993)
Superman #76 (February 1993)
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, Part 4! Also, METROPOLIS MAILBAG, Part 2! This is a sequel to the very special Holiday story from last year, which revealed that Superman spends every Christmas eve reading all the letters people from around the world send him. This year, Superman is too busy being dead (and never, ever, ever coming back) to maintain the tradition, so the Metropolis Post Office has to settle for, oh, every other DC superhero ever.
Yes, all thirteen of them. (Captain Marvel, Robin, Nightwing, Maxima and Dr. Light II are standing off-camera.)
Anyway, as with last year, the requests Superman gets range from heartbreaking stuff, like a terminal lady looking for her son, to frivolous proposals, like some people who want to go into business with him (and probably "get down to business" too, I guess). Wonder Woman reads a letter from a woman thanking Superman for saving her family – even though she lost her house in the process. Yes, it's the single mother whose house was blown up by Doomsday in Superman #74. And despite being homeless in a half-destroyed city, she apparently sent the letter that same day, before Superman died. That's the resilience of the human spirit for you.
Meanwhile, that woman's son, Mitch, has traveled to Metropolis hoping to talk to someone who was close to Superman – he wants to apologize for calling Supes a lame-o on that issue where we met him. Mitch wanders aimlessly but does end up meeting Superman's best friend: Bibbo, of course. (Jimmy Olsen tags along.)
As Mitch visits Superman's grave and promises he'll try to be a better person, we see that the other superheroes not only rebuilt his mom's house, but reunited her with Mitch's deadbeat dad (who suddenly feels a deep love for his family, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the dozen muscular superpeople standing nearby). It's a [whatever the Kryptonian equivalent of Christmas was] miracle!
Plotline-Watch:
Mitch did become a better person (he got a haircut and stopped wearing backwards caps, for starters), but it'll be a while before we see that. Especially with our current update schedule.
The first person Mitch tried talking to was Superman's widow: Luane Larkin! Or whatever this random lady pretending she was married to Superman is called. Lois Lane ain't buying it, for some reason. Don Sparrow says: "I like the star shaped sticker? tattoo? as visual clue that ‘Mrs. Superman'is a phoney and a flake."
Regarding the last panel above, Don also says: "Apparently Daddy Warbucks was pretty interested in hearing from Superman’s widow." Wait, I think… I think that's actually the ghost of Lex Luthor Sr!!!
After that, the distraught Lois goes to Clark Kent's heartbreakingly empty apartment… which is not so empty anymore, since Ma and Pa Kent arrive moments later and hug her. It's a very touching moment. Then Lana Lang shows up out of nowhere and sorta ruins it. Nice going, Lana.
The Kents and the LLs then talk about whether they should tell the world Clark was Superman. They end up deciding against it since, you know, they'd probably get murdered by supervillains like two seconds later.
Rebuilding Mitch's family wasn't all the not-Superman squad did: Guy Gardner helped the terminal lady find her son, Maxima brought bananas to a homeless shelter, and Nightwing gave a microwave to some kids.
The issue ends with Mitch and Jimmy leaving Superman's tomb just as Ma, Pa, Lois and Lana arrive… and none of them notices that, right below them, someone is literally snatching Superman's coffin. That someone turns out to be freaking Paul Westfield, director of Project Cadmus and major jerk. So that's a big "TO BE CONTINUED!" right there.
But before that, Don Sparrow has more to say about this issue…
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We open with a doozy of a cover, with a who’s who of the DC Universe on the familiar Daily Planet building, with Batman 'scattering the ashes’, by tossing Superman’s cape to the wind. Kudos toJurgens and Breeding for their near perfect consistency on a tough angle of perspective, and for showing the different levels of sadness on each of the heroes’ faces. Lastly, a nice detail that Wonder Woman’s hair is tousled by the wind, which it would beat that height. Awesome.
The opening splash page is a really good one, too, not least because it’s a great–and unstereotypically serious–look at Captain Marvel.
Again, very good body gestures here, as the downpour matches the saddened mood of the assembled heroes. One weird thing–the flashback as Batman talks about death is a bit jarring, as it’s presented with the same style and colour as the rest of the page, making it seem, at first glance, as though Joker’s on that roof, and a couple are being gunned down behind him.
As the story moves on we catch up with piece of human garbage recovering piece of human garbage Mitch Anderson feeling pretty lousy about saying all that rotten stuff about his mom and Superman, since Superman died defending them (and the world from Doomsday).
Jurgens’ trademark tall thin panels are used well on page 7, as Lois begins the long, anxious elevator ride up to Clark’s empty apartment. The page that follows, with her would-bein-laws comforting her is quietly powerful as well.
As we get to the main plot–the heroes of the DC universe doing Superman’s annual mail call–it’s a real showcase of how well Jurgens and Breeding handle pretty much any character. They each have their distinguishing characteristics (Guy has a beaky nose, etc). Wonder Woman is a standout throughout, and makes me wish this team got to draw more of her. The panel of Elongated Man reading over her shoulder is particularly great (and actually weirdly, subtly dovetails with Justice League Europe at the time, where Ralph was accused of being excessively touchy/grabby with his female teammates (of course I can’t find the issue!)) as is the next panel over.
The montage of superfeats is pretty entertaining–there’s something I love about Maxima telepathically carrying turkeys, bananas,canned goods, and jugs of what I choose to assume is Sunny D.
Lastly, that splash image of Superman’s memorial, complete with eternal flame is truly great.
In terms of story this is a good one, and the Funeral storyline dips pretty hard after this, getting into the ghoulish they-stole-Superman’s-body plotline. Of course I adored Superman’s loved ones coming together to find peace with each other in the midst of their pain, but there are some odd things about the story. One, it’s weird that Mitch doesn’t even see what the JLA has done for his family, which seems like a missed opportunity. Two,I’m not convinced that Mr. Anderson coming home to his family is all that great. Mitch is kinda right–his Dad abandoned them right when they needed him most–I’m kinda surprised the story had Mrs. Anderson jumping in to take him back with both feet, almost instantly. Also, I know divorce is never simple, but what the hell–the guy came out and said he didn’t love them anymore? Sure some couples stop loving their spouse, but this guy has two children, and he specifically said he didn’t love them anymore? Yikes.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Because the Batman films were so big at the time, the rights to make Batman trading cards was owned exclusively by Topps, which meant that when the Death of Superman series of cards came out from Skybox, Batman was off-limits. Because of this, several now-iconic images had to be re-drawn to phase Batman out, including the card featuring this issue’s cover image. In the new version, Captain Marvel gets the honours of tossing Superman’s cape to the wind, and Robin is replaced by the similarly sized Beast Boy–of all people–and Captain Marvel is replaced by Supergirl (which begs the question of how she wasn’t on the cover in the first place, but I guess she’s not in the issue, so there’s that). But Crimson Fox has it worst of all–though she was originally obscured by Batman’s long cape, now that Captain Marvel’s shorter cape no longer covers her, she’s been removed completely! Interestingly, Nightwing is not part of the Topps deal, so he remains on the card image.
Don’t beat yourself up for past mistakes, Robin.
Uh, nobody’s gonna clean up that spilled
CokeSoder Cola? [Max: Jimmy and Bibbo were too disturbed by Mitch suddenly turning 40.]
It was interesting that Lana alone wanted to go public about Superman’s identity, and thankfully, the Kents and Lois disagreed. One of the main reasons Clark didn’t want his identity public was because of the danger it would present to his loved ones, and now he’s not even around to protect them. But it was another one of those insights that hinted at the reasons Lana and Clark aren’t as right for each other as Lois and Clark, I think.
Things must be pretty grim if Mitch isn’t cheered up by every youth’s favourite band, GUNS. [Max: I'd figured Mitch more for a JAM fan.]
More evidence Roger Anderson is garbage–I simply don’t believe him when he says to Wonder Woman that he didn’t know what had happened to his family. Surely Doomsday’s attack would be national news, and everyone would be aware of his path of destruction. All the more so if his devastation was in the particular area where Anderson once lived with his family. Like we all do in a storm or other severe event, we think about how it affects places we know. Also, Jimmy recognizes Mitch right away as being the kid whose face (and likely his story) was plastered all over the press. And the elder Anderson still didn’t get wind of what his family went through? This guy is garbage.
I think that priest really hated Superman.
Let’s face it–Flash built the darn house. Green Lantern clearly has NO idea what he’s doing. [Max: Are we seeing another hint of Hal's eventual mental breakdown?]
