Superman, The Man of Steel #24 (August 1993)
Superman, The Man of Steel #24 (August 1993)
REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! The Man of Steel vs. the Last Son of Krypton! Again! Last week (well, slightly longer than that if you’re reading this blog) those two got into a fight, stopped after being scolded by Lois Lane, and then resumed fighting after a trademark lawyer served them papers for using the name “Superman.” Steel had to take the Last Son into orbit to calm him down, and we last saw them crashing down into Coast City – you know, the city expertly protected by good ol’ Green Lantern Hal Jordan. In this issue, Steel continues laying down some tough love for his colleague:
The Last Son (who is massively more powerful) is so impressed by Steel’s balls and “humanity” that he just lets the guy beat the crap out him for a while. Yes, Steel literally punched some sense into the most dickish of the Supermen. In fact, the Last Son is so humbled that he tells Steel to go back to Metropolis and serve as its protector as he stays in Coast City and takes care of some emergencies (Green Lantern seems to be on a well-earned vacation). Of course, it’s possible that the Last Son just said that because Steel broke his cool glasses and he doesn’t wanna fly back to Metropolis blind.
(I like how he's like "but I'm still the real Superman btw bye")
Steel is so tired from the fight that he accepts a ride back to Metropolis in a W-LEX news chopper. Of course, there's no such thing as a free helicopter ride – it was all a set up by Lex Luthor Jr. and his new business partner, the White Bunny, to ambush Steel at the airport as he lands. On top of dealing with those pesky Toastmaster™ weapons, Steel has to fight the White Bunny’s chubby little henchman from previous issues, who turns out to be what they call a "grower."
The Blob’s nerdy cousin up there soon gets distracted by some tasty barrels of vegetable oil and starts chugging them down (seriously). This allows Steel to finally get his hands on the White Bunny and convince her to take him to the factory where they make the Toastmasters. Naturally, the factory is ALSO rigged for a trap, but this backfires on the Bunny when the whole place blows up on her face while Steel escapes safely. The issue ends with Lex Jr. lamenting the White Rabbit’s apparent death, but hey, at least he has the design for the Toastmasters™, a whole army of new henchmen, and also, she told him Steel’s secret identity. On the other hand, she was pretty hot, so he’s still a little sad.
Anyway, I’m sure the Last Son will do fine in Coast City! Those people have nothing to fear in the foreseeable future.
Plotline-Watch:
Totally unrelated: that giant spaceship we’ve seen approaching Earth for the past few issues is finally parked right next to our planet.
So how did Lex Jr. convince the White Rabbit to join forces? Why, with his sexy, completely hairless pecs. If only he’d tried that tactic on Brainiac a few years back.
Good on Steel for saving the helicopter pilot this time. There's been enough casual helicopter pilot death in these pages.
Resident Ron Troupe hater Don Sparrow questions "Ron's decision to wear Clark Kent's signature fedora look while sitting in Clark's desk, in Clark's former position at the paper. Man, this guy. At least he had the good sense not to wear that ‘JAM’ outfit from previous issues… oh, wait…"
Since Ron is also sitting completely in the dark, Lois briefly mistakes him for Clark in a heartbreaking moment. The grief pushes her into Jeb Friedman’s opportunistic arms, as she begins to accept that Clark “really is gone.” OK, even I have to admit that was a dick move, Ron.
Incidentally, Ron is working late because he got promoted to columnist after that article he wrote about how the Cyborg Superman is awesome and the one true Superman. Wonder if he’s still so proud of that one…
More commentary, along with some nice Bogdanove Supergirl art I couldn’t fit in here, in Don Sparrow’s after the jump!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We begin with a very well composed cover, spotlighting the Man of Steel Superman, who has made this title his home. The energy glow off the Last Son's hand, as well as the steam rising from John Henry's wrist move the eye around in a pleasing way, though there is a slightly rushed quality to the cape on the Last Son.
Inside we're treated to a pretty great double page splash on pages 3 and 4, of JohnHenry decking the Last Son. I love the detail in the pieces that are flying off of John Henry's shattered armour as he punches the Last Son—gives it a real sense of having been built as we see all the components in detail.
As the Last Son flies away on page 5, the way he holds his eyes really sells the pain he's feeling from the lights of the police sirens.
A little later on page 7 the view of Bunny exhaling cigarette smoke is a good one, and generally her look lends credence to the theory that one of our readers had, that she is in fact a light skinned or albino African American, as her features here definitely look similar to how Bog renders black people.
PANEL OF THE WEEK goes to an extremely cute crosslegged Supergirl on Lex's desk. The pose is both pert and cute, but her youthfulness underscores the imbalance of age and power between them, reminding the reader, yup, this is gross. [Max: Well, his brain may be like 60 years old, but his body is only a year or two… OK, I just made it creepier.]
Bog's drawing of an ashen Lois hollowly congratulating Ron (on his garbage article from the prose issue a while back!) was very well drawn. A mixture of sadness and kindness in one expression.
And then, to complete this perfect storm of my most hated characters, evil supervillain Jeb Friedman swoops in for some rebound cuddles. That's not an assumption I'm reading into the scene, he flat out thinks it.
Lex II meeting the Rabbit is an interesting study in dynamic posing, as Lexbursts in looking like 90s era Siegfried or Roy, then appears to do a weird, threatening lambada while cutting a deal with her. [Max: "Weird, threatening lambada" is going in the Tumblr tags.]
The art gets preeetty loosey goosey from here, with a few highlights. The visored dude that Steel fights at the airfield is like a more corporate version of the Dark Knight Returns' Mutant Leader (or a really ‘roided out late 90s Paul Shaffer). Things hit a pretty low point as Bunny's bodyguard Graham reveals his revolting superpower of becoming incredibly giant and obese out of nowhere. It's tough to say what the worst part of it is, but if I had to choose, I'd say that his rocket burnt pinkbelly beats even him guzzling vats of vegetable oil, but it's close.Finally, the shot of a steaming hot Steel overlooking the wreckage of the plant is a very striking full pager. [Max: And the page before ain't too shabby.]
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
I do love the electric "SHRAKT" sound effect the Last Son's power beams makes!
I wonder if the fluid coming off the Last Son's lips is intended to be blood, and intentionally miscoloured to please the Code.
I know that each book makes the case for their own star to be the "real" Superman, but the Last Son's thought bubble endorsement of John Henry was a bit much in these pages.
Lex could certainly be trying harder to convince the Rabbit that he's actually a good guy when she (out of nowhere) realizes he's bad to the bone. He rebuts it, then immediately offers her the opportunity to kill a superhero. You know, because he's such a swell guy.
Why does Graham's hair grow as he turns into the Blob? Why, this strains credulity!
I appreciated the Jerry Ordway shoutout as they mention that they're fighting at the abandoned "Ordster" plant.
This issue features one of many times where I feel Bogdanove is channeling the Fleischer cartoon episode "The Mechanical Monsters" but also is leaning heavily into John Henry Irons' namesake, the original John Henry of legend. We'll see more of this theme in issues to come.