Superman: The Man of Steel #30 (February 1994)
Superman: The Man of Steel #30 (February 1994)
LOBO IS HERE! Again! This time for multiple pages! Last issue ended with Lobo flying his bike through a whole planet while on his way to Earth to settle some sort of beef with Superman. Now we find out what that beef is: he's mad that Supes died and came back to life, because that's HIS schtick, so he wants to kill him again to prove who's "Resurrection King" (guess Lobo's never heard of Jean Grey or, well, Jesus).
Lobo lands in Metropolis and starts breaking stuff to get Superman's attention. Superman tries to calm him down and let him state his issue, because he's Superman, but Lobo just kicks him in the face, because he's Lobo.
As they're fighting, Lobo and Superman are monitored by some sinister-looking aliens who owned that planet Lobo casually destroyed. The aliens try to kill Lobo with a giant laser beam (think Independence Day), but all they accomplish is pissing him off by wrecking his bike. Trying to stop these jackholes from destroying Metropolis, Superman punches Lobo all the way up into space and through the aliens' spaceship, which he can do because his powers have inexplicably been increasing over the past months (he's gonna end up at Silver Age Superman levels soon if this keeps up).
On the spaceship, the aliens somehow deploy a whole army of Lobo's old enemies, all of whom are supposed to be dead. This lack of respect for the sanctity of death only infuriates Lobo more, so he starts re-killing them all. Meanwhile, Superman (who is so powerful now that he doesn't need to breathe in space anymore) throws the giant spaceship as far away from Earth as possible and then joins Lobo in slaughtering his old enemies.
Lobo is impressed that Superman suddenly doesn't seem to mind punching people's heads off and stuff... until he realizes that his enemies aren't really alive, they're just zombie robots. So that's what those aliens were doing in that planet: stacking corpses left by Lobo and turning them into zombots, for some reason. Still, Lobo is grateful to Superman for helping him bust the zombot operation and doesn't want to murder him anymore. For now.
Lobo and Superman part ways like the best of buds... until they meet again the next month in L.E.G.I.O.N. ‘94 #63, but that's another, less awesomely drawn story.
Plotline-Watch:
We'll cover that L.E.G.I.O.N. issue in the Super-Titles Round-Up for February 1994, but you wouldn't even notice if we skipped it. In fact, the Spanish reprints I read as a kid deleted the plug for that issue at the end of this one and I never realized I was technically missing part of the story.
Lex Luthor Jr. is losing his hair, which is extremely distressing for him since he went through the trouble of killing his old body and moving his brain to a new one just to get his luscious locks back (getting rid of the cancer was a secondary consideration, I believe). "I'm Lex Luthor — I can't be going bald." Uh, sorry to break this to you Lex, but going bald is what you're mainly known for.
At the end of this issue, Superman says he's flying back to Earth, but that won't be as easy as he thinks. This kicks off the "lost in space" mini-saga that will run through next month's titles (don't worry, he'll be our there for less than five months this time).
It's interesting to note that Superman and Lobo still haven't fought under normal circumstances. The first time they met, Lobo was drunk from partying with Bibbo and Superman was under the influence of the Eradicator. Later, they fought again while Superman was possessed by Eclipso, and this time, Superman is in his Post-Reign overpowered mode. I guess the closest they came is when they tussled during the L.E.G.I.O.N. crossover in 1990, but Lobo had all of that group by his side, including Lar Gand/Valor, so that was hardly fair.
There's a brief scene with Franklin Stern, the Daily Planet's publisher, congratulating Ron Troupe on his article about the Bloodsport II mess, and he starts telling a story about Perry White and him in Alabama. A year and a half later, we'll actually see a flashback story featuring young Perry and Stern fighting racists in the South, including Bloodsport II's dad. Foreshadowing! (Or coincidence.)
As if last week's foil embossed cover wasn't enough of a reminder that we're right in the middle of the Dork Age, this one has a variant edition featuring a sheet of "vinyl clings" (stickers?) that you can use to create your own Lobo vs. Superman fights. Or, better yet, you can make it so Lobo and Superman are teaming up to kill Jimmy while Lois cheers on them, since they have stickers too.
Damn, now I wanna buy this edition just to do that and post the results...
Patreon-Watch:
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Keep reading for the wise Don Sparrow's section!
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
We start with the cover, and it's definitely a memorable one. I remember when this issue hit stores, and it was quite an event. It came polybagged, with all manner of vinyl clings of Superman and Lobo within. Some came without arms, so that separate clings of the arms could be attached, and there was no shortage of sound effects, either--many of which were over-the-top, continuing the tongue-in-cheek nature of the issue. Though it may have been hyped on the level of a Doomsday storyline, very little of this issue feels serious, or overly important--it's just dumb fun.
We open with an almost full page splash, of the planet Thanotopia's destroyed remains, along with a pretty well designed spaceship. These non-descript looking aliens will serve as our tour guide, observing Lobo's arrival on Earth.
The grittiness of Bogdanove and Janke's artwork lends a realism to the way-out design of Lobo's space bike, as well as the rest of the cartoonish violence that follows.
Page 5 has a great, dynamic image of Superman flying toward the camera to meet Lobo, an image destined to be used on a subscription ad in the future. Page 7's chiaroscuro Lex Jr is a great image, as we get a little nugget of an ongoing storyline to come.
A very Shuster-y Superman (aside from the Fabio hair) offers Lobo a hand of friendship on page 8 (apparently that tooth Lobo spits out in an earlier panel was his front tooth!). The art team seems to recognize the Bugs Bunny-type reality this story falls into, so they're not afraid to get cartoony when they need to, like when Lobo reacts in surprise to his bike being destroyed by a space cannon beam on page, his dreadlock-ish hair stands on end for effect. Superman's reaction to the lack of knuckle pain is a great piece of expression. Later on, seeing Superman fight a laser beam is tailor made for Bogdanove, who's interpretation of Superman has always leaned into the Fleischer cartoon era. [Max: I'd never noticed the Fleischer influence, but that's spot on. More Bog comics about Superman punching lasers please, DC.]
The sequence of Superman playing "hide the cabbage" while aiding Lobo in destroying the space robots is unpleasantly reminiscent of a particularly disturbing R. Crumb story involving Mr. Natural and Devil Girl [Max: OK, my 11-year-old self DEFINITELY missed that reference], and the design on these would-be assassins seems like a riff on the look seen in most Image comics being published at the same time.
The moody shot of Superman and Lobo atop the wreckage of the robots is a cool image, and there's more great facial expression workfrom Superman avoiding Lobo's gaze when he realizes that Superman didn't kill anyone. Lastly, it's a great, if hulking image of Superman flying away on the last page.
The popularity of Lobo, particularly at the time was an interesting phenomenon. He seemed to be rocket fuel for sales when he would guest star, but whenever they'd give him his own title, it never seemed to do well, commercially, or in terms of critical review. His comedically murderous nature reduced him to one-dimensionality, so, like Bugs Bunny, or perhaps Deadpool (his closest analogue at Marvel) he's best suited to be placed in opposition to a more staunch and serious character like Superman more than he lends himself to sustained storytelling--in my opinion anyway. Even though this is a largely "for-fun" throwaway issue, we still get a couple ongoing plotlines advanced, like the aforementioned Luthor deterioration. Superman observes that he is indeed growing more powerful, to the point that he no longer needs to breathe. That one in particular was confusing, because it appears to be such an untested theory--how long could this Superman go without breathing, really? It is amusing to me that Lobo thinks it's Superman's long hair that is behind his newfound abilities. Overall, pretty much what you'd expect, and want out of a Lobo crossover issue.