Action Comics #590

"Better Dying Through Chemistry"
writer/penciler: John Byrne
inks: Dick Giordano
letters: John Costanza
colors: Tom Ziuko
editors: Michael Carlin & Andrew Helfer
Superman created by: Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

grade: D

Back in the Atom and Silver Ages, superhero comics were chock full of unbridled imagination. Anything a writer or artist could dream up was fair game as long as it was full of action and resulted in a compelling cover. Of course, as comic book readers began to age and mature, comics were expected to do the same. In the Bronze Age, we saw creators move further and further away from these absurd storylines, and, upon reaching the Copper Age, writers were often expected to offer detailed explanations for everything. Oftentimes, I believe this worked in fun ways and made our favorite heroes even more accessible to us, as well as exciting and new again, as a result. But, I think it's fair to say that John Byrne's approach to Superman encapsulates a lot of the worst of this trend -- offering full blown Silver Age imaginative fancy in some of these stories, but attempting to provide excessive Copper Age explanations for this fancy that absolutely makes no sense.

Initially, I planned to detail each and every explanation Byrne created for this story, in which Chemo obtains Superman's powers and uses them to battle Superman and the Metal Men, but it just truly isn't worth it. So little about the explanations Byrne offered for how Chemo got the powers, how the Metal Men used their powers to try to stop him, and what finally defeated him, made any sense whatsoever. Granted, the Metal Men and Chemo are both concepts that probably don't make much sense to begin with (to be fair, I've read precious little of them), but then don't provide such detailed explanations as if they did.

This was a truly stupid story that had a small chance of being fun had Byrne just went with it and not tried so damned hard to make it make sense, but he did, and so it couldn't.

Important Details:

- Another attempt to make Superman's schedule function in real-time. In the previous issue of Adventures, Wolfman framed all of the previous month's stories into days of the week so that we could see that they were all part of the same continuity, even without maintaining any real continuity points amongst them. In this issue, published a week after that issue of Adventures, Superman notes that "it's been more than a week since any would be world-beater or super powered attitude-problem turned up in Metropolis."

- Superman's body efficiently processes one hundred percent of the food he eats, but how? If he isn't using it all for energy, where's the by-product? Does it all turn to muscle, and if so, wouldn't that make Superman absurdly and inefficiently muscular if he ate too much? Besides, how does Superman even develop muscle when his body is near-invulnerable? And isn't this processing-100%-of-what-he-eats thing further complicated by the fact that his cells function as solar batteries? Doesn't that mean he shouldn't need food at all in order to function? And, if he processed one hundred percent of the food he eats, doesn't that mean he never goes to the bathroom? Certainly, that would have been an issue for a young Clark Kent who didn't know he was an alien until he was 18 years old. Of course I'm thinking too much about this, but here's the problem again. Byrne ASKS us to think too much about these things and then offers explanations that make no damned sense.


Minor Details:

- So Lois has a reputation for being absurdly biased and hostile in her interviews, outright ignoring what the interviewee has to say or show? Why in the world did this unnamed chemical company invite her for an interview if, as the interviewee says, "I was warned Miss Lane might be somewhat hostile to our endeavors." Sorry, Byrne, but that's not journalism. I would have expected Lois to remain professional and open-minded and surreptitiously seek evidence to support her hypothesis, all while being open to the idea that she might be wrong.

- And yet neither she nor Clark find anything interesting about the fact that a safety rail on the catwalk over the vat of hazardous chemicals is faulty? Clark falls into the vat and, seeing as how he doesn't die right there and then, they just move on.

- And why would Perry send both of his top reporters for one story that Lois clearly wasn't going to take seriously anyway? Why not just send Clark? It could be rationalized that both were sent since Clark has been missing most of his recent assignments in the pages of Adventures of Superman, but I doubt Byrne was paying much attention to what Wolfman was doing in those pages.

- Do the Metal Men usually combine into a giant robot, or is this just another example of how it feels like Byrne has been watching a lot of Voltron lately (see the previous issue of Action Comics for another example)?

- Superman's solution at the end is to disperse the chemicals that were Chemo out into orbit. I seriously thought he'd learned in the previous issue of Action Comics that constantly throwing the remnants of his enemies out into space has potential consequences, but no, without even raising the question of whether something like chemo could survive out in space, he flings him there, says "That takes care of Chemo," and just forgets about it.

- The build-up in this issue for the Superman vs. Superboy battle building in a four part crossover with the Legion looks darn enticing, especially since Superboy's being removed from continuity was a major issue for fans of both Superman and the Legion in the Post-Crisis. Still, I've no intention of buying the Legion issues in order to follow this cross-over. I'll only be reviewing the chapters occurring in Superman #8 and Action #591 unless those stories clearly contain major gaps that would require me to obtain the other issues.



plot synopsis in one stupid sentence:

Clark falls in a vat of chemicals during an interview at a chemical plant, the chemicals contain Chemo from a parallel Earth prior to the Crisis (it's stupid; don't ask), this causes Chemo to obtain Superman's powers (it's stupid; don't ask), Chemo immediately appears at the HQ of the Metal Men for no apparent reason, Superman just happens to be flying by at the time, a lot of stupid explanations involving stupid abilities takes place as the stupid battle wages on, they find an entirely illogical way to shut down the powers that Chemo obtained in a completely illogical fashion (it's stupid; don't ask), Superman launches the chemical portion of Chemo out into space, and the Metal Men are left wondering why Doc Magnus is so grumpy, even unwilling to repair Tin, and what he's hiding on Sub-level 7 (it's probably stupid; I won't ask), though Byrne and Carlin/Helfer are unclear as to where we're supposed to go to find a continuation of this storyline, only stating that we should "Keep your eyes peeled for future! Metal Men announcements!" (yes, the mid sentence exclamation point was really there in the comic; I'm quoting accurately).

Stupid stupid stupid.

Adventures of Superman #431

"They Call Him Doctor Stratos"
writer: Marv Wolfman
pencils: Erik Larson
inks: (various)
letters: Albert De Guzman
colors: Anthony Tollin
editors: Mike Carlin & Andy Helfer

grade: C-

There's a lot that's odd about this issue. Beyond the fact that, for whatever reason, this issue was clearly rushed, with a practically unheard of at the time Erik Larson assuming penciling duties and inking responsibilities being passed around to no less than nine artists at the DC Offices, I'm utterly bewildered by the introduction of Dr. Constantine Stratos in this issue. He was clearly set up to be a recurring villain, amassing super powers at the end of the issue and pledging:

"...and Stratos will return for his due. Not tomorrow or the next day, but it is inevitable!"

...well why not tomorrow or the next day? The dude is superhumanly tall and amped up with demonic powers. What the heck else is he going to do between now and whenever he can find time in his calendar to do bad guy stuff again? From what I can tell, this character never came back though. So why spend an entire issue establishing the character, evolving the character, and promising the character will return? Was this a Larson concept??

There's also the guy's name, which is utterly confusing. DC already has a Constantine, and (through the licensed Masters of the Universe properties) already has a Stratos. Plus, shouldn't a guy living in Greece trying to pass himself off as a god, fall under Wonder Woman territory?

So I find this concept confusing on so many levels.


On the plus side, I like seeing Wolfman give Superman more of a sense of humor in this issue, playfully bantering with his criminal prey. While the humor is unmistakably Wolfman's, I wonder if the idea to do this (and, perhaps, the concept for the entire issue) came from Larson. If anything, Wolfman's been working hard to make Superman darker and more troubled as of late, but I see none of that in this issue beyond a brief (and, perhaps, forced) reflection on his ideology late in the issue.

It's also worth noting that Lois' characterization in this issue is starting to feel a lot like what we saw in Mindy Newell's Lois Lane mini-series, with Lois building up walls against others and Cat Grant generally seeming to assume the role of the Pre-Crisis Lana Lang in terms of her relationship with Lois (trying to be a friend and not understanding that Lois resents her because she appears to be with Clark). Hmmmm. Is it possible this was a late pre-Crisis file story that was pulled out at the last moment, with Lana's name changed to Cat? I could see this as having been a story conceived of and penciled by Larson that was pulled out at the last minute for Wolfman to write dialogue for.

Overall, an entirely forgettable and oddly done issue. Not to say it was terrible; just unnecessary and puzzling.


Important Details:

-1st appearance of "Gopher," an archivist at the Daily Planet. Does this guy come back?

-1st appearance and mutation of Dr. Constantine Stratos, but he does not appear to ever come back.

-Superman's telescopic vision can see into orbit. This may also be the first mention of Superman's telescopic vision, though it seems like it's been used before. My notes are probably just lacking, here.


Minor Details:

- The portrayal of President Reagan here is ridiculously unflattering, playing up the age and the senility quite a bit. It seems that it was general practice in the Post-Crisis DCU to use fictitious presidents and world leaders (Batman's 10 Nights of the Beast and NKVDemon sequel being clear examples of this), and yet we've got Reagan and Gorbachev both featured for no apparent reason in this issue. They really don't add anything to the story other than providing a laugh at and criticism of Reagan as being inept and needing Superman to save the day.

- Did Superman destroy the Tower of London on page 13 in order to build a storm wall around the English parliament??

- Superman figures Constantine's satellite "must have some form of cloaking device to have avoided being detected this long," and yet the laboratory he placed in orbit in Superman #1, containing every useful bit of info about Superman's powers, weaknesses, and identity, is also in orbit, doesn't appear much larger, and has no such device. So, once again, I ask why no one has noticed this thing and why Superman isn't concerned about it?

- Superman even decides to take the time to dismantle Stratos' satellite at the end of this issue, but he's perfectly happy leaving the other one, containing all his secrets, floating out there for anyone to find.

- "AIEEEEE! I--I've been hit -- I'm DYING!!" Seriously, we're still writing dialogue like this in 1987?


plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence:

Dr. Constantine Stratos, a man who believes he's a Greek God because he was found as a baby at the base of Mount Olympus, has passed himself off as such, has a band of unwilling followers, and is using his powers to create devastating freak weather patterns, Lois is growing cold to Clark and Cat Grant, Dr. Stratos makes demands of the president, causing the president to call Superman in, Gopher is digging up evidence for Cat Grant to use in her custody battle, we discover that Dr. Stratos has no actual powers and is using a secret laboratory and satellite to warp weather patterns, he throws intense weather at Superman, Superman perseveres, a bolt of lightening intended for Superman hits Dr. Stratos, and Stratos reappears days later, now as a mutated giant with his own super powers (which are implied to have come from Hell).

Superman #9

"To Laugh and DIE in Metropolis"
writer and pencils: John Byrne
inks: Karl Kesel
letters: John Costanza
colors: Tom Ziuko
editors: Michael Carlin & Andrew Helfer

grade: F-

If John Byrne had been standing next to me while I read this issue, I would have punched him. I've seen the ego before, and I've seen the laziness, but this one just took the cake for oh so many reasons.


1. You conceited little sh*t:

So the basic premise is that the Joker, Batman's most dangerous and popular villain, comes to Metropolis to test out Superman's skills, only to discover Superman can stop him faster and more efficiently than Batman. So the entire point was to borrow Batman's best villain in order to make Superman look like a better hero than Batman in comparison???


2. The tyrant is a hypocrite:

Okay, so once again, Byrne has completely revamped the Superman franchise and removed long-time fans' favorite aspects of the series in order to make Superman more realistic, and yet we've got Joker building robotic doubles of Superman complete with thermonuclear centers on the fly as a means of seeking a nemesis that he believes will be less challenging than Batman. You've got to be kidding me.


3. Pay attention to your own damn rules:

We've been told, over and over, that this Superman is depowered, and we've seen him nearly get killed from super-powered punches, electrical shocks, and giant tanks, yet he's still standing after being at ground zero of a thermonuclear detonation???


And then there are the minor little annoyances, like:

- There's absolutely no lead in any buildings in Metropolis, allowing Superman to easily spot the three lead coffins in contrast? How about even a little lead based paint???

- Why in the world would the Joker know that Perry White and Jimmy Olsen are important to Superman?

- Love the little overt falling action with Superman conveniently explaining everything for an inquisitive Perry White. I know 7th graders who write with more subtlety.


So, if you couldn't tell by my uncharacteristically aggressive tone, this issue truly pissed me off. Byrne needs a good smacking, but it's Wolfman who will be leaving in only a few more months, while we're stuck with Byrne for another frickin' year or so.


Important details:

- Captain Sawyers' Special Crimes Unit is devoted specifically to super villains

- Toby Raynes, a rival reporter from the Metropolis Star (nice reference to early Pre-Crisis continuity) makes her first appearance here. Will she or the Star be mentioned ever again?

- Lex Luthor is back in the picture and working on something called Project Overload. Presumably, the robot drone that abducted Lana Lang, and Ma Kent's scrapbook being sent to Clark Kent at the Daily Planet are both parts of this plan.


I suppose I should also discuss Lex Luthor's "Indecent Proposal" subplot in this issue, in which he toys with a small town waitress's mind by offering her a million dollars to be his whore for a month and then drives off, content that she'll torment herself over which decision she would have made for the rest of her life.

Yeah, I should mention it, but it was dumb. Byrne has always been too over-the-top with Luthor, and depicting him as deriving joy from tormenting innocent people is just too much for me. No villain is THAT evil, and no villain portrayed as being THAT evil is even remotely interesting to me because he's too simple. The greatest villains are the ones we have complex feelings about: Galactus, Doctor Doom, Magneto, even the Joker -- they compel us because they aren't variations on the scoundrel with the black mustache. But, sure enough, after ruining everything else in this issue as well, Byrne just had to piss all over Wolfman's Lex Luther concept at the end of this issue.


Plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence:

The Joker creates a robot double of Superman to steal jewelry, kidnaps Lois, Perry, and Jimmy and assumes Superman will be too stupid to see through his ploy, explains that his motivation is to take a vacation by taking on a nemesis who is easier to defeat than Batman, gets schooled by Superman, Lana Lang gets abducted by a robotic drone, and Lex Luther messes with the feelings of a small town waitress as a means of getting his kicks.

Yeah, every copy of this issue needs to be tracked down and burnt to a crisp.

Adventures of Superman #433

"Gangwar, Part Two"
writer: Marv Wolfman
pencils: Jerry Ordway
inks: Bob Smith (come back, P. Craig Russell!)
letters: Albert DeGuzman
colors: Anthony Tollin
editor: Mike Carlin (Helfer appears to be gone, after all)

grade: B+

Much like part one of this storyline, this issue is crafted with strong writing, deep moral idealism while also offering ethical questions, and also rests heavily upon Jerry White, who, fortunately, isn't annoying me quite as much as usual, though I certainly don't have any love for the character at this point.

It's odd, though, that Wolfman begins this issue by promising "a tragedy in five acts," and yet having the issue (divided into five acts) end with no tragedy of any kind. In the fourth act, I was ready to expect DelGado would die, especially after seeming to take a bullet to the back that later proves to be lodged in a shoulder instead (to be clear, a panel on page 17 right after the shot shows absolutely no injury to the shoulder in question). Seems as though he's destined to become "Gangbuster" next issue instead (as that new hero's first appearance next issue is solicited in this one). Perhaps Wolfman changed his mind partway through?

Can't say this issue was particularly memorable, but the quality remains consistently high, and I can't get enough of Wolfman writing Luthor.


Important Details:

- Elinore Lane (Lois' mother) is out of the hospital, though we were recently reminded she is still seriously ill. Perhaps it happens in bouts?

- Sam Lane (Lois' father) appears to like Clark, asking him to stay and continue their discussion when Lois runs off.

- Mayor Walters appears visually to be the same mayor we saw in Man of Steel #4 (two years ago in Superman's time) whose only given name in that issue was "Frank." At that time, he was the one who ordered Superman to arrest Luthor, but now he is clearly and willingly in Luthor's palm. I assume it was a conscious decision to make this the same mayor rather than a new one who had come in by this point. Luthor has made some headway since that time, apparently.

- Luthor does not appear to have any particular interest in, nor familiarity with, Jerry White beyond his situation within the context of this storyline. This will be important to note once we get to the World of Metropolis mini series, if I know what I'm talking about.

- Jerry White is 18 years old (thus born in 1969)


Minor Details:

- Jimmy Olsen, unsure of what to do, takes on a band of armed muggers by himself and then, only after facing a moral dilemma in regard to whether he should turn in Jerry White, finally uses his SIGNAL WATCH to summon Superman, even though, when Superman arrives, he doesn't even tell him about Jerry. Is Wolfman trying to show how confused Jimmy is here, or is Wolfman the one who is confused?

- I like how Luthor asks to be reminded which project they're discussing (even though it's the very project Wolfman had him immersed in last issue) because he has so many he's been keeping track of. It's a loving nod to our own struggle as readers to keep up with the fact that he and Byrne are using Luthor for two entirely different purposes in their comics right now.


plot synopsis in one sentence:

Jimmy Olsen stops a hold-up and discovers that one of the gunmen is Jerry White, he debates about whether to turn Jerry in but tells Lucy Lane, who tells Lois, who decides to print the info and get Jerry arrested, an organized attempt is made on Jerry's life in prison out of fear that he will talk about Luthor's recruiting of teens, Superman attempts to protect Jerry but doesn't always succeed in preventing the beatings and threats, Jerry finally decides he will talk, DelGado attempts to expose Luthor at a publicity event, Luthor's thugs try to kill him, Superman intervenes and captures the thugs, believing they will talk, and Luthor reviews the results of his secret experiment, which we learn was attempting to give the teens he was recruiting the powers of Superman, though it killed most of the trial participants and only affected Jerry White's antisocial behavior, and Luthor decides not implement it on a full scale unless/until it has a higher success rate.

With the experimentation aspect of the storyline now ended, I assume the rest of the storyline will focus on Jerry attempting to testify against Luthor. Intriguing...

Action Comics #594

"All That Glisters"
writer/pencils: John Byrne
inks: John Byrne & Keith Williams
colors: Tom Ziuko
letters: John Costanza
editor: Michael Carlin

grade: B-


In one sense, this is a return to the model in which each issue of Action is a throw-away first part to a story that really isn't about Superman and gets continued somewhere else. In this case, there are two Booster Golds, and one wants to take down Superman. This really isn't a story about Superman in any significant way, and the story is left in such a state that we can be relatively sure Supes will be weak and helpless throughout much of the second part of the story, leaving it to the real Booster Gold to determine what's happening and save the day.

In another sense, though, this issue is fascinating from a continuity perspective. There's a whole lot going on, here.

Perhaps the most significant contribution to continuity comes in Superman's acknowledgement that he last fought Booster Gold in BG #7. Problem is, that was the Pre-Crisis Superman fighting Booster back in August, 1986. Once again, we have that uncertainty as to where the Pre-Crisis Superman ends and the Post-Crisis one begins.

I'm going to go for broke, here, and argue that this ambiguity began at exactly the same time that Andrew Helfer left the series, just as the throwback to the Pre-Crisis characters, concepts, and styles began to invade the formerly relatively grounded series. When Helfer was on-board, this franchise had a clear starting point and back story, as well as a clear mission to make Superman less ridiculous. But, with the Legion crossover in Superman #8/Action #591, Helfer left the Superman office unexpectedly, and we suddenly started seeing the sillier characters return to the fold (Superboy, Krypto, Titano, Mxyzptlk), were given some confusion as to whether or not Superman could actually remember the Crisis and what came before it (Action #591), and now we have a clear acknowledgement of an event that transpired for the Pre-Crisis Superman before the Crisis. Add to this someone referring to Lois as "Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane," in this issue (even though I believe Superman has only publicly appeared with her/saved her three times, thus far -- MOS #1, #3, and #5), and it seems clear that there had been a conflict of vision between Helfer and Byrne, as well as which side each one fell out on.


Another important contribution to continuity in this issue is the needless cameo by Batman and Robin. I'd initially suspected that Byrne's motivation for bringing in Batman twice before (both times feeling unnecessary) was to boost sales and put his own signature on DC's hottest property at the moment. However, there's no mention of Batman on the cover to this issue, and he isn't an important nor memorable aspect of this issue, yet Byrne goes for it, just the same. I guess he he really likes writing/drawing the character, and maybe there's some unresolved feelings here about being booted off the Untold Legends of The Batman mini way back in the day.

Either way, Byrne chooses a very interesting moment in which to write the Post-Crisis Batman, as Max Allen Collins had been booted off the Batman title just one month earlier, presumably because fan reaction to his post-Crisis portrayal of Batman and Robin was enthusiastically negative. Jim Starlin would not be starting his run, which significantly alters the Post-Crisis depiction of Batman and Robin into something more closely resembling what they ultimately become, until next month, leaving Byrne with the Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis Detective Comics run as his only template. While I positively adore that depiction of the dynamic duo, it never fully jibed with what Max Allen Collins was writing and got completely thrown out once Starlin took over on Batman. So the young, eager, wide-eyed Jason Todd, beside a calmer, more content Batman, may seem out of place to readers of today, but it made sense for approximately one month back in 1987. Both visually and in terms of characterization, Byrne actually did a nice job here.

There's also the notion, first put forth in this issue, that Booster Gold is a well-known fixture in Metropolis, even though he'd never been mentioned in any Superman title since the time of the Crisis. Apparently, he's a major economic force in the city. I'd imagine that would have put him on Luthor's radar by this point.



Important details:

- We all already knew it from the Pre-Crisis, but this may be the first time we're told Smallville is in Kansas.

- Confirmed that this is the same mayor from Man of Steel #3, and that his full name is Frank Berkowitz, as well as the fact that he is Jewish (therefore making the discussion about the importance of money over doing what's right in his administration all the more distasteful. This is the second Jew Byrne has depicted -- the sleezy video producer from the Big Barda/Sleeze storyline being the first -- and neither have been favorable).

- First full appearance of Julianna Berkowitz, the mayor's daughter. The mayor indicates that she was on the yacht in Man of Steel #3, and, looking back, she really did appear in several panels next to the Mayor, though she looked like she was supposed to be an older character (perhaps his wife) in that issue.

- Lois Lane began working at the Daily Planet at the age of sixteen. Assuming that she is approximately same age as Clark (28 years old), that would have her beginning at the Planet in the mid 1970s, while Lex Luthor was first coming to prominence and Clark was still in Smallville, unaware of his origin and abilities.


Minor details:

- Superman explains to Batman that he is not knowledgeable enough to identify finger prints, yet he did exactly that in Superman #1.

- How helpful can Batman be in investigating the Scrapbook sent to Clark Kent if Superman hasn't told him what mystery he needs him to solve? In fact, should we presume that Superman doesn't know Ma Kent was keeping this scrapbook and therefore doesn't know who made it? Isn't it likely Batman will discover Superman's identity by investigating this, and wouldn't Superman realize that since the scrapbook is following his career back from his first days of anonymously averting disasters?

- For only the second time, Byrne actually references an event from Wolfman's Adventure Comics run (from #427), actually allowing it to play a significant part in the story.

- I hate when characters misuse the word "literally," especially when they're supposed to be highly literate journalists.

- 1st appearance of "Gus," a photographer from the Planet that Lois uses when Jimmy is not around.



Overall, though not a great issue, it did a lot to build Superman's supporting cast and universe, the art and writing were passable, and the action was constant and engaging while intermixed well with plot advancement.



plot synopsis in one long sentence:

Superman calls in Batman in order to learn more about the scrapbook that was anonymously sent to him in Superman #9 (presumably the scrapbook Ma Kent was making in MoS #1), Booster Gold leads an attempt to discredit Superman on Mayor Birkowitz's "Superday" event, Booster attempts to draw Superman out by kidnapping and torturing Julianna Birkowitz, he proves unexpectedly strong against Superman and defeats him soundly, and the "real" Booster Gold shows up to stop what appears to be an imposter.

Adventures of Superman #437

"Point of View" (Millennium Week 7)
writer/co-plotter: John Byrne
pencils/co-plotter: Jerry Ordway
inks: John Beatty
colors: Anthony Tollins
letters: Albert DeGuzman
editor: Michael Carlin

grade: B

It's good to see Byrne, upon taking over this third and final Superman title, sharing control with Ordway and building the first issue around Gangbuster, a character developed by Wolfman just before he left. It's refreshing to see this level of respect for the previous creative team when I expected Byrne to do whatever Byrne wanted to do. Though I'm still not clear on the specifics of both Helfer and Wolfman leaving the Superman office, it seems clear to me that this was at least partially due to a conflict of vision with Byrne. Byrne has made that very clear by taking a very Silver Age approach to Superman at exactly the same time that Helfer walked off (who had promoted the series as being more realistic and divorced from both pre-Crisis characterization and continuity). Meanwhile, Wolfman and Byrne stopped collaborating pretty early on, their works occurring in parallel but rarely showing any level of mutual acknowledgement beyond brief references to past battles and villains. So it's nice to see Byrne being respectful of Wolfman and Ordway's work here. Though Wolfman might not have been too happy with what Byrne did to Gangbuster at the end of this issue (paralyzing him from the waste down after a fight with a low level super villain), it felt like a natural conclusion to his story. I still feel like he was originally supposed to die in the "Gang War" storyline a few issues back. The idealistic, self-sacrificing man trying to solve society's problems by himself was pretty much doomed to become a martyr.

Of course, I'm relatively sure Gangbuster comes back again after this. Perhaps Luthor's cryptic decision to "...know more. Much, much more" about the character and his fate suggest that Luthor will repair the hero and try to use him for his own ends, especially after Lois Lane created such positive press for the character.

As for the story, itself, this is an odd one, perhaps due to an uneasy balance between the visions of Ordway and Byrne. The idea of running the same story from two different perspectives, one on the top half of the page and one on the bottom, throughout the issue, is a fun one, and it helps to build up the power of what Gangbuster is doing, attempting to be every bit the hero that Superman is with only guts and nobility for super powers. Unfortunately, the purpose for the two perspectives fails to make much sense by the end. Luthor's final point is shoddy and seems hardly worthy of the amount of energy he's put into taking Celia to dinner and taking the time to concoct this story for her. All he ends with is:

"Humankind is weak, my dear. Exploitable. There is no hidden nobility in the species. That is why they flock to charlatans like Superman and all the other 'superheroes'. And that, my dear, is what I want you to think about. To think very hard about."

It's hardly a persuasive argument for someone who's been indoctrinated by the Guardians for months now (Celia is one of the new guardians being trained/prepared in the main Millennium story line), and the story he told to get to that point didn't match the message very well at all. It was clearly provided just for the fun of contrasting two points of view, and then everything Byrne attempted to attribute to it at the end collapsed badly.

And, for what it's worth, I feel like I've seen this kind of parallel storytelling in comics before, but I couldn't tell you where.

I think this issue would have worked a lot better if we'd understood its timing from the start. I began with the impression that Luthor and Lois were retelling their accounts of the same story at the same time, but in fact Lois' recollection is of an event still playing out while Luthor is still sitting at dinner, imagining how it might play out at the same time. Wow. I think I just managed to confuse myself. Yeah, the timing for this issue is a flipping mess. With a clearer, more stream-lined approach, it would have been far more effective storytelling approach.

So a clever narrative vehicle, a touching climax for Gangbuster, and a muddled sense of timing and shoddy wrap-up.


Important details:

- Gangbuster is paralyzed from the waste down while fighting Combattor, a minor super villain created by Luthor

- I'm relatively sure Lois' article outed Gangbuster's secret identity. Even if she didn't mention his name, she discussed his ethnicity, accent, and the fact that she went on a date in public with him (a very memorable date since the Combattor attacked there, so the police must inevitably have taken down a list of everyone who had been there). In short, if Gangbuster does come back, it would be absurdly easy for someone to know who he really is. Somehow, I doubt this will be acknowledged in later issues though.


Minor details:

- I don't know if Celia's accent is as pronounced in the main Millennium series, but it feels a bit...offensive here. Not the fact that she has an accent, per se, but how thoroughly Byrne plays it up, even using it in her thought bubbles. Maybe it's just me.

- Byrne's characterization of Lois bothers me here. It's the same "empowered insecure feminist with her guard up" thing that Mindy Newell was doing, and it just makes me dislike Lois too much. In this issue, this was the passage that bugged me, depicting her date with the charming and endlessly considerate Jose DelGado:

"I had a feeling he almost used my first name, instead of his eternally polite 'Miss Lane.' I very nearly told him to, just then. But instead I said 'Don't get too excited, J***. I'm not all that easy to pin down."

Wow. Issues much? And, btw, what the heck could "J***" stand for? "Jerk?" Would they really need to blot that out?

- And wait...why is Lois including these details in her article? Who wants to spend half the article reading about how Lois handled herself on her date with DelGado?

- It's implied that Combattor was the lone successful participant from Luthor's experimental super-soldier-like experiment that was being implemented during Wolfman's "Gang War" storyline (#. Jerry White was also a participant, but it only exacerbated his moodiness.

- Ordway's visual of Lois kneeling by a broken Combattor reminded me a lot of his later depiction of Lois kneeling beside a dead Superman in Superman #75.

- Carlin pretty much answers the question of why we NEVER see criticism of Byrne in the letters pages, even in response to the Barda/Sleeze storyline, when he writes:

"Many letter columns are accused every now and then of only running favorable mail -- unfortunately most of the intelligent mail runs on the pro side rather than the con. We will not run rambling, venomous, spleen-venting diatribes (yes, we know who you are!) -- nor will any editor we know. We will run well spoken, thoughtful, constructive criticism - there just hasn't been very much in our mailbags that fits that description."

Of course, who is the judge of whether a letter is "intelligent," "well spoken," or "thoughtful"? How easy it must be to dismiss the letter of a fan furious about what's been done to his/her favorite characters for the sake of cheap spectacle as any and all of these. Methinks Carlin doth protest too much.


plot synopsis:

Lex Luthor persuaded Celia, one of the intended new guardians for the Millennium project, to go to dinner with him, at which point he retells one version of a story in which Superman fights a villain named Combattor while, at the same time, Combattor does show up but, unable to find Superman, he takes Lois Lane hostage to draw out Superman but is opposed by Gangbuster (Jose DelGado, Lois' date for the evening) instead, Gangbuster shows great bravery and perseverance but is ultimately crippled before helping Combattor's own body to burn itself out, Lois' narration for the issue turns out to be a headline article for the Daily Planet, Superman confronts Luthor for being responsible for Combattor (and subsequently what happened to Gangbuster), and Luthor vows to himself to look into the matter more closely.