Superman #78 (June 1993)
Superman #78 (June 1993)
REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! The grand debut of the Cyborg Superman, the one that looks like Superman's mom was having an affair with Kelex! Is that too obscure? That's probably too obscure. Let's go with "a toaster", then, though I'm not sure if they had something like that on Krypton. Are there any Superman stories depicting his ancestors eating any type of bread? Backstage photos of Marlon Brando in a Jor-El costume eating a footlong don't count.
Moving on, the issue opens with Lois Lane interviewing a nuclear plant worker who says a somehow non-dead Superman prevented a disaster there. Lois is skeptical (she did, after all, just meet two other guys claiming to be the late Man of Steel), until she sees a photo of the incident:
Meanwhile, this mysterious Superman (who's apparently kind of emo, since he loves leaving half his body under shadows) has shown up at S.T.A.R. Labs demanding they give him Doomsday's corpse. Unfortunately, the body has been repossessed by Project Cadmus, because "stealing dead aliens" is apparently a big part of their business model. The new Superman flies into Cadmus, and after shrugging off all their defenses, we finally see his face: it's… the same robot face you already saw on the cover! And at the end of Adventures #500! HOLY CRAP!
Cyborg Superman is able to use the robotic parts of his body to interface with Cadmus' computers and gain access to the ultra-secret section where they're keeping Doomsday's bod – and he didn't even buy the computers dinner first. Saying that Doomsday is too dangerous to be kept in a government cloning facility (a fair point), the Cyborg grabs the body and flies off into space. He then ties Doomsday to an asteroid, attaches a device to it (supposedly to alert him if anyone messes with the body), and throws the whole package into an orbit where no one will ever run into it. Wait, solving problems by just throwing them into space? Holy crap, this IS Superman!
Anyway, when Cyborg Superman returns to earth, Lois is waiting for him there (she figured out he was at Cadmus because… she's Lois Lane). Cyborg says he doesn't remember much of his life, or even who put him back together with robot parts, but one thing he knows for sure is that he's definitely Superman.
The Cyborg remembers enough (the name "Kent", something about a farm in Kansas) to intrigue Lois. She takes him to Professor Hamilton, who has done his fair share of poking at Superman's things in the past. Ham confirms that the Cyborg's robot parts are Kryptonian technology, and that his fleshy bits match Superman's DNA. The Professor has no doubt that this is the real deal right here. HE'S BACK, BABY!
IMPORTANT! Plug-Watch:
As I mentioned the other day, Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett have a Kickstarter to publish/continue their Section Zero series! I've been waiting to read this story literally this entire century, so please help them make this happen! The campaign is on its last 24 hours, so hurry up. Here's the link once again:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1227066666/section-zeroAnd even if you've never read a comic by Kesel and Grummett, trust me, you’ll want to kick yourself for not backing this project once this blog goes over the next issues of Adventures. (Yeah, I'm pretty mad at myself for slowing down and not getting to those earlier.)
Plotline-Watch:
Oh, yeah, I guess this part is important: as a bit of a post-credits teaser, the issue ends with Doomsday's tied up body floating in space… at which point he opens his eyes, looks at us, and starts laughing. (This moment always creeped me the hell out, but reading it in 2017, it just looks like a selfie.)
The nuclear worker who says he knows Superman wasn't lying: he's the exact same worker Superman met while preventing a meltdown way back in Superman #51, two years ago! Yessssss. I live for this stuff.
On that note (continuity details only I care about), Professor Hamilton studies Cyborg Superman by putting him inside the same "isolation chamber" where he examined Jimmy Olsen when he came down with an alien virus that turned him elastic. I figured Ham threw that thing out after all the inter-dimensional trouble it caused.
When Supeman smashes into Cadmus, Director "Asswipe" Westfield wonders if it's "the kid" coming back. It may have been the Spanish translation, but when I read this as a kid myself, I figured he was talking about his son. As we'll see next week, he… uh, kind of was (Geoff Johns retcons be damned).
I like this S.T.A.R. Labs worker who's like "Holy shit, the MOST FAMOUS PERSON ON EARTH rose from the grave and is standing in front of me right now! Anyway, nope, you can't see my boss."
Given future revelations, a lot of people wonder if the Cyborg's inner narration in this issue is inconsistent with the character. Don Sparrow says: "The captions as Superman steals Doomsday's body are interesting, especially as we read this in hindsight. My guess is, he's purposely thinking these thoughts since Dubbilex might be nearby. It seems telling to me that he mentions J'onn by name, and not Hal Jordan, or John Stewart." (He says about Doomsday's corpse: "Green Lantern could have atomized you with his ring. J'onn could have shattered your bones.") I like that a lot, but there's another possible explanation people never consider: this dude, bear with me here, might be a little nuts.
Speaking of psychopaths, there's a Whit cameo in this issue, but that's enough panels from now. More commentary from the great Don Sparrow after the jump!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
As I was observing in the latter part of the Doomsday storyline, this is pretty much peak Jurgens and Breeding, as the art on these issues is just gorgeous, page after page. The opening page splash is a great one, with a beautiful, wearied Lois, still prominently wearing the engagement ring from a dead man, who appears in the rain-streaked windshield.
This issue has the most suspense of the four introductions to the Superman, and I love how long it takes us to actually see him, instead showing us his insane power array through characters reacting to him. It's great storytelling, and more than that, gives this character an ominous, threatening feel, which is reinforced when even a known good guy, Jim Harper, is horrified by The Man of Tomorrow's appearance.
Speaking of horror, the expression on The Man of Tomorrow's face as he sees Doomsday is very affecting, especially in contrast with his unmoving, non-reacting cybernetic eye.
There's a sense of satisfaction as The Man of Tomorrow disposes of Doomsday's body. Again, it's a great showcase for the new powers this Superman has, but if only for the moment, seeing a living Superman, and a dead Doomsday feels good.
What doesn't feel good is the emotional ringer Lois is put through as The Man of Tomorrow makes his case to her. Somehow he's even more difficult to look at with his hair flattened by the rain. We're in deep RoboCop territory when he describes snippets of his past life, hitting on one or two key phrases to make the reader believe this is really Clark.
And again, as Professor Hamilton seems to triumphantly declare this character's legitimacy, there's such a sense of horror to it, in such contrast from The Man of Tomorrow's all-American pose.
Lastly, that last page reveal is so haunting, so scary, and so cool, I love that it's punctuated by a thank you to departing super-teamster (and my all-time favourite comics professional) Jerry Ordway, an enormous architect of this wonderful era of comics. [Max: I can't believe they took out that little shout out to Ordway in some versions of the tradepaperback, so I was very glad to see it's included in the big-ass omnibus I'm reading now.] The drawing of that insane eye peering through Doomsday's ocular cage is just so, so freaky. I love it.
This week's mini-poster is another good one, again showing the unique nature of this new Superman's powers. The post is all Superman, but there's just something off about it.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
Godwatch: Not so much this week. Just a shocked "Lord" from Lois as she sees the surveillance photo of the Man of Tomorrow.
I like the callback of the very David Ben-Gurion looking scientist from Superman #51, if only because he'd be familiar with the original Superman.
I know the point of the exchange at the vault was to establish this mechanical Superman's tech powers, but I find it hard to believe there's ANY vault the original Superman couldn't get into. [Max: Which supports my theory that this guy just likes "interfacing" with machines a little too much.]