Superman #77 (March 1993)
Superman #77 (March 1993)
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, FINALE! Lex Luthor Jr. murders a lady just because he can (Superman is too dead to do anything about it), and meanwhile, Pa Kent slowly slips away after his heart attack. Yep, this is a cheerful one.
The issue opens with poor Lex Jr. feeling like life has no meaning anymore without an archenemy to torment. What's he supposed to do all day now? Work? He's so distracted thinking about Superman, in fact, that his trainer kicks his ass. Or face, to be more precise.
Just as Luthor is about get all… Luthor-like, Lois Lane shows up. As seen last week, Lois has evidence that Project Cadmus stole Superman's corpse for genetic experimentation. Lex, upstanding citizen that he is, says this will not stand and sends his girlfriend/bodyguard Supergirl to Cadmus to retrieve the body. Lois comes along too, but then she gets distracted daydreaming about Superman (what is she, in love with the guy?) and Supergirl actually ditches her in the woods so that she doesn't hinder the rescue mission. Turns out hanging out with Luthor too much makes you kind of a jerk.
Luckily for Lois, she hitches a ride with the genetically-modified supersmart hippie bikers who live in these woods, the Hairies. Lois and her new gang arrive just as Supergirl has finished beating up Cadmus' security and found Superman.
(I agree with Lois, this is a pretty weird storyline.)
Supergirl, Lois and Lex return Superman's body to its tomb, where Lex asks for a few minutes of privacy, "to pray". Once he's alone with the body, though, Luthor says"Gotcha!" and starts gloating about the fact that he murdered his trainer with his bare hands just to prove that A) he's the most powerful man in Metropolis again, and B) no one puts their foot on his face. That's just gross.
While all of this happens, doctors in Smallville are trying to resuscitate the fallen Pa Kent, but he's got no fight left in him. The issue ends with Pa flatlining in a hospital bed, grabbing Clark's hand on the other side, and…
THE END.
Character-Watch:
First appearance of Sasha Green, Lex's trainer, who will reappear in other comics despite having been murdered in this one. Come on, you didn't seriously expect a comic book death to stick, did you?
Plotline-Watch:
So, here it is, the last issue of the Superman series forever, since he's dead and never coming back and all. Besides the big "The End" on the last page (and the fact that there seriously were no comics on the following month), another thing that gives this issue a sense of finality is the fact that it's full of little flashbacks of past issues, which I'll now recount with the help of the great Don Sparrow:
While Luthor reminisces about his rivalry with Superman, we see moments from John Byrne's Superman #2 (when Luthor got his kryptonite ring) and then Action #600 (when he lost his hand because of said kryptonite ring). Don says: "I always like famous panels reinterpreted by later artists, and Jurgens and Breeding do a great job of recalling Byrne's work, while still keeping their signature style and polish."
Later, there's a scene where Jimmy Olsen is helping Newstime Magazine editor Colin Thornton pick a photo of Superman for a special memorial issue (which was actually published by DC, so we'll have to cover it soon). As Don explains, most of the photos are from past issues: "Superman lying dead is a re-draw of Tom Grummett's stunning cover from a few issues back. Superman standing on the roof of the Daily Planet is from his triumphant return from space, covered in Action #643 (though it's a bit of a cheat, since Jimmy wasn't actually there for that particular moment, only getting a photo of him once he turned his back), the all-important photo of Superman and a bathrobed Clark (photographic proof for all-time that they're separate people) is from when Supergirl/Matrix was pretending to be him, way back in Superman #34, drawn by Kerry Gammill (another cheat – the actual photo featured Superman with his arm around Clark). And of course Doomsday and Superman falling was shown in the death issue, where we actually saw Jimmy take the picture."
Next, Lois' daydream about Superman is a recreation of another classic Tom Grummett moment: Superman coming back from his time-traveling adventure in Action #665 and going straight to smooching with her. Don: "Lois' steamy daydream has a real tinge of sadness to it, and I'm amused by the ‘not this a-hole again’ expression on Elroy the cat'sface."
Don: "Jonathan Kent flatlining gives us more great flashbacks – when Superman rescued the Kents and Lana from a rampagingMatrix in Action #644, as well as one of the times he performed CPR." (Correction: Matrix was always kind of a jerk.)
And finally, when Lois and the others put Superman's body back in its tomb, she flashes back to the moment Clark asked her to marry him in Superman #50 (originally drawn by Jerry Ordway). It's an incredibly touching moment. Then she gets kicked out of there by Lex.
And I'm out of here too, but there's more from Don after the jump!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We open with a stunner of a cover, a bit jarring because it returns our hero to his cover, and we haven't seen him on a cover for some time.Great, great colour work here.
Inside the first few pages are an excellent recap of Superman's rivalry with Lex (now pretending to be Lex Luthor II) which again will help bring all the new readers from the death storyline up to speed. The action scenes in the foreground of the flashback are also great, and disturbing--what kind of a man gets his exercise brutalizing women (aside from Jian Ghomeshi--hey there Canadian readers!)? The fact that the women appear to be nude under their gis adds a sexual dimension to the violence that is also troubling--the fact that he only fights women is later brought up by Sasha herself.
The panel of Supergirl and Lois interrupting Lex's sparring is a great visual--the sarcasm on Lois' face juxtaposed against the fear of displeasing Lex on Supergirl's. Plus, I dig the necktie look on Lois.
There are lots of great, small moments here, like Lex boiling because not putting Sasha on ice depresses "Lex Jr"--it's not as much fun being the good guy--to say nothing of Lois' dig at Lex Sr's weight. Also, Lois' steely resolve to get Superman's body back from Cadmus labs--even at the expense of a headline grabbing story. [Max: It's a little weird that last issue clearly implied Lois was exposing Cadmus, and now it turns out she left their involvement out of her article. What was the article about then? "Someone has Superman and I've seen his body, but don't worry, I don't know who you are!"]
The action at the hospital back in Kansas is well paced, and I continue to love these sad and sweet memories of the child the Kents lost when Clark died. The half-page panel of Jonathan seeing a vision of Clark is arresting, as well.
Page 8 has a little detail that made me love being a longtime fan of these books--I can literally remember when just about all of these photos in Jimmy's portfolio were taken. The only image I can't place is the bottom right image (it looks a little like Superman from the cover of my much beloved Superman #59, but of course Jimmy wasn't there, so I suspect it's just a generic, heroic shot). Unless someone else can place it!
Jurgens and Breeding excel at modern versions of Kirby-esque tech, so seeing the Hairies' motorbikes is a treat.
Unlike a previous issue, Jurgens wisely keeps Superman's face obscured by his cape, somehow making him seem more "dead" than we saw him on the gurney at Cadmus, and the image has real power.
The CPR flashback looks similar to a scene in Superman #52, but the dialogue is different, and Jonathan wasn't there. The movement of his hand resembles when Superman resuscitated Professor Hamilton in Action #667 (an issue we'll be referring to again soon, spoiler alert) but the victim depicted here doesn't have a beard, so I'm stumped. Seems familiar though. [Max: Yeah, it kinda looks like Jurgens channeling Curt Swan to me, but I can't place the issue either. I checked Action #600 and that's not it.]
There are only a few issues in comics history that have made me cry, and this was one of them. The scene of Supergirl gently laying Superman back into his coffin, as Lois hears--and even whispers–the vows she would have said in her marriage to Clark is one of those scenes. So heartbreaking and sweet.
[Max: Hmmm, do you think the dialogue corresponds to what Father Siegel will say at their actual wedding? That would be a cool detail. We'll find out in three years!]
Then to go from that moment to Lex showing his purely evil side was pretty jarring, and so upsetting, particularly when everything in the rest of the issue is so bleak. Lexis right--without Superman, he is indeed back on top, and free in Myriad ways, including killing Sasha and pinning it on the janitor (see what I did there?). Lastly, we have the devastating scene of Jonathan flatlining, and seeing Clark on the other side. It's made all the more ominous by the "The End" title card on the last page, and the disturbingly vague next issue boxes, which really leave a reader feeling this is the end of the Superman storyline (particularly when you're 12 years old and reading this, as I was). It's such a powerful move to end on such a bummer, because you can't shake the feeling that this just isn't right, but there's nothing to be done about it.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
GODWATCH: Page 4, Lois thanks God that the Kents didn't see the story about Clark's body being stolen (though they have problems of their own). [Max: I think they did, as seen last week, just not the part about Cadmus having him.] When Lois sees Superman's body again, she whispers "Oh Lord" in shock and dismay.
What happens to Wanda? She seems to be in mid-conversation with Sasha, then she disappears, right as Lex emerges in the women's locker room. Wouldn't she have seen him?
Pretty cold, Supergirl! Maybe Lex's jerkiness is rubbing off on her. [Max: Great minds, Don.] Also, her fiancé didn't "pass away"—he was beaten to death and died in her arms. A bit different.
Interesting detail that they mention that Jonathan is actually in great health, and that he just doesn't seem to be fighting it—makes the issues to come a little more believable.