The Man of Steel #2 (October 1986)
The Man of Steel #2 (October 1986)
This is the issue where Lois Lane drives her car into the bottom of a river to get her first interview with Superman (jumping out the window was considered dreadfully old hat in the '80s). The whole thing is completely derivative of the first Superman movie, but it works. In fact, it's impossible to read the dialogue in this issue without hearing the voices of Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve in your head. Or maybe that's just me. Sometimes, Margot's voice tells me to take off my clothes and go to the farmer's market.
Anyway, by the time Lois has typed up her interview with the Crimson-Underpanted Crusader, some dickhead called Clark Kent has beat her to the exclusive. And that's how Clark got hired at the Daily Planet: through dickery and deception. It probably helped that during the interview Superman kept going on and on about the fantastic journalistic integrity of this glasses-wearing reporter dude who totally isn't him.
Character-Watch:
Lex Luthor first appears in this issue, but only as a pair of eyes inside a shadowy limo, so it probably doesn't count.
We are also introduced to the Daily Planet's Perry White and Jimmy Olsen, who is seriously like 8 years old in this issue. Just another 8 year old with a bowtie hanging out at the offices of a newspaper. By the time this miniseries is over, he will have magically grown to legal age.
WTF-Watch:
After rescuing Lois from the river, Superman takes her directly to her apartment. Lois asks "You know where I live?" and Superman says "I know where everyone lives." I can't decide what's creepier: if he's telling the truth or if he's not.
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):
I should say up front, it's hard to be objective about this series, because it was such a huge part of my childhood, and my introduction to Superman. But at the same time, it's fun to get the opportunity to revisit this old favourite series, and at least attempt to see it with fresh eyes.
We open with the cover, again the split screen concept, introducing a decidedly 80s fashionable Lois Lane. While the outfits now appear dated to us, it was a fairly radical change to represent current clothing trends, rather than the eternal skirt suit we'd seen Lois in since the 40s serials. But, it's a double-edged sword--the same modern updates that might make a reader in 1986 sit up and take notice that this comic is really representing our world as it is may also turn off a reader in 2020 who wants to know why Lois wears so many sweaters. Sartorial splendour aside, it's a great cover, with an unmistakably Margot-Kidder-like Lois Lane standing confidently, giving us a hint at her personality just through the gesture of her stance.
Inside the book we're greeted with another stellar image, a splash page with about a dozen great things happening.
Byrne was fairly open about his love of the first Superman film, so much of the presentation of these characters is in line with the feel of the Donner movie (as Max pointed out, it's near impossible not to hear the actor's voices speaking these lines, no matter how much bulkier and well muscled Byrne's Superman is than the lithe and nimble Christopher Reeve). We get another nod to these films in that Lois appears to be eating a loaded hamburger, just like she requested of Clark in Superman II. The joyful Superman floating past the window, with Lois' puzzled expression, PLUS Perry's spilling coffee--this is just a great image. Then you can even drill down deeper and see a Calvin Klein ad, firmly placing this Superman in a modern world. As mentioned in the last review, my TPB has recoloured Lois' hair (though oddly not on the front cover image!) from blue black to brown, and I preferred the original black hair, but who cares?
As the story progresses, we get a hint of kingpin-style Lex Luthor, seen only in shadow, but already a distinctly different Lex than we've ever seen, either in film, or in the comics. This Lex isn't in an underground lair, but instead a stretch limousine, which was a huge change to the continuity.
Next we get a super-feat, as an apparent British street urchin robs Cyndi Lauper of her purse. This sequence is a lot of fun, and gives us a glimpse into Superman's personality in a cute way (an odd detail--the would-be purse-snatcher oddly wears one glove, Michael Jackson style, and it's never explained). Again, I love how much Byrne's Superman smiles, even when being stern with criminals. There's a great moment when Superman turns down the post-punk-girl's radio, and he does it with just his pinky--it's a great showing of how delicate Superman can be, in spite of all his power.
The next super-feat, the liquor store robbery is a real fave of mine as well. "I don't want to risk [the SWAT team] getting hit by stray bullets" is a line so cool, I keep hoping it'll appear in a film someday. Superman's placid smile as he walks up to the (appropriately 80s) uzi machine gun is just so cool. Then when Superman uses his heat vision to disarm the robbers, it establishes another Byrne change to the continuity--his heat vision isn't necessarily a visible laser beam emanating from his eyes, it just focuses mostly invisible heat. Even so, a metal gun getting hot enough to change colour is just insanely hot, and their hands--even gloved--would probably never recover, so that's a bit of overkill there.
The sequence of Lois getting to the scene of a super-feat a few minutes too late is a cute one, and a nice showcase of Byrne's various 80s outfits. We hit peak Margot Kidder at the bottom of page 15, as Lois gets a naughty idea (this page also marks the debut of Jimmy Olsen, which doesn't really get much notice from Byrne), and it's another cute drawing. (I also appreciate the callback, as Superman mirrors her "hmmmm" when he dives to rescue her. [Max: Gotta love that Jimmy looks like 8 years old here and 18 by Adventures #424.]
Once Superman rescues her, we get a look at Lois' palatial apartment, and it's the first appearance of that weird tapestry on the wall. What is that thing? Is it Native American? Is it an antique? Is it fabric, or stone? WHAT IS THAT THING? [Max: It looks like a dirty poncho to me. Maybe she's got it there to dry?]
Max, and several commenters (particularly the great Neil) have pointed out the weirdness of this scene, particularly Lois slinking around in a bathrobe and heels. I know he has x-ray eyes to begin with so no outfit would be safe if Superman's goal was to ogle, but it's perhaps a bit out of character for cynical, jaded journalist Lois Lane to be so forward (there are other hints she's treating this as a date, like the wine and brie, etc) with someone she's only just met. I would think she would be hard hitting in her questions, as a tenet of journalism is to question power, and Superman is definitely powerful.
BYRNE NOTICE (the odd things that Byrne does that make you scratch your head on a second reading)
I think I've made mention in the past about these comics substituting swear words, and Byrne is the absolute worst for it. Maybe it's because of his British origins, but instead of saying "damn", Byrne thinks it's perfectly acceptable for Lois to curse "Blast, blast, blast, blast, BLAST!" even though no American would ever say this. To me, the only way it works is if we mentally realize this is a substitution. Down the line, Byrne also does this with "witch" and "spit", which I'll let you figure out. Don't get me wrong, I actually prefer there being no swear words in mainstream comics, but "blast" just strikes me as clunky.
Superman is weirdly judgmental about the post-punk girl, assuming she's a poor target for robbery since "she doesn't look as if she has much more money to spare than you." Huh? Maybe we could assume he x-rayed the purse, but a class judgment based on attire is a weird look. The low-level lecture on the volume of her boom box, I could almost see, but the comment about her earning power is a bit weird.
I liked the "I'd never hit a lady" exchange, right up until Superman actually hits her. Even with his rationalization that she's no lady, since he's "never met a lady who carries dynamite under her coat" it's still unpleasant seeing Superman hit a woman, even just with the tip of his finger.
Super-commenter Neil already pointed it out when Max's initial review was published, and I have to agree-- there's just no way that Clark knowingly scooping Lois on an interview with himself isn't a lousy move. Toward the end of Byrne's run, this deception gets exposed by Lois, made especially worse by Pa Kent's lie that Superman and Clark were raised as brothers (one of the true doozy bad ideas of Byrne's run) and Lois is rightfully furious. I get that Superman didn't want to reward Lois for endangering herself unduly, but I thought the parting comment about the aqualung was enough. [Max: Fun fact, the Death novel reveals that she's still mad about it by the time Doomsday comes around. More soon...]
It's also been pointed out that it's deeply weird that Superman claimed to know where everyone lived. Is this maybe a joke? Or is he clumsily trying to cover up that he was doing some super-creeping on Lois, Superman Returns-style? Clark doesn't work with Lois yet, so there's no good reason he actually would know where she lives at this point.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
I guess most of these went into the Byrne section, but I still have a few. I like that Superman doesn't drink. I'm sure his super-metabolism wouldn't allow him to get drunk anyway (more or less confirmed in a later issue) but there are certain things I think Superman should be square about, and booze is one of them.
Is this the first appearance of Elroy the cat? I think so! [Max: Gotta be! And it looks like he's had enough of Clark already...]
See comments on Tumblr: https://superman86to99.tumblr.com/post/56716565176/the-man-of-steel-2-october-1986-this-is-the#disqus_thread
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