Adventures of Superman #445
writer/penciler: Jerry Ordway
inks: Dennis Janke
letters: Albert DeGuzman
colors: Petra Scotese
assitant editor: Renee Witterstaetter
editor: Mike Carlin

grade: A


I kept my expectations realistic. I assumed that, upon Byrne's departure, things weren't going to be dramatically better at first. It would take some time for the franchise to find new ground. Maybe that will still be the case, but seriously, this very first issue without ANY interference from Byrne, was fantastic! DENSE continuity and parallel plot progression, deep characterization, and a conflict that felt earned/carefully developed over a long period of time -- not randomly imposed upon the reader at the writer's whim. Truly, this had all the character of other dense-continuity epics like Wolfman/Perez's New Teen Titans and Claremont's (technically "and Byrne's," I know) X-Men.

I think my absolute favorite aspect of the issue, even beyond the deep self-questioning Clark endures in the wake of Superman #22 (I really didn't expect this to be given much further attention), is what Ordway does with Cat Grant. I was never happy about how Byrne completely transformed her into the office bimbo upon Wolfman's departure, but damn if Ordway doesn't take Byrne's direction to its logical conclusion -- a self-destructive woman who has lost all sense of self-respect crying her eyes out in a dismal bar because even Jimmy Olsen has seemingly run out of patience with her. Ordway's art only enhances this to the extreme. Some of the best tears I've ever seen a penciler capture.

Of course, the big conflict in this issue is the return of Brainiac, which is done reasonably well, and I appreciate how much time Ordway is taking in allowing Brainiac to evolve into his better known incarnation. He's still slowly inching towards that point. But there are also a number of B and C plots taking shape in the wings:

1. Cat Grant's self destruction
2. Jimmy's pursuit of a big-time story
3. Our first hint that Bill Henderson and Maggie Sawyers do not get along
4. Jose DelGado's being enticed by Lex Luthor's researchers to allow them to cure him,
5. Clark's internal struggles after Superman #22 (It's been a long time since I read it, but were Brainiac's references to the dark side of Superman's brain foreshadowing the Krypton Man?) Compartmentalized personalities appeared to be a recurring theme in this issue.
6. Jimmy Olsen's mother's search for his missing father
7. Morgan Edge continuing to malign Superman

LOTS going on, and it was all highly entertaining this time around.


Important Details:
- Return of the post-Crisis Brainiac, still not fully transformed into his final incarnation
- Death of Jimmy's homeless friend, Pete Shoemaker
- Clear hinting that Clark has a dark side to his personality that was buried deep and is now beginning to surface

Brainiac is now telepathic (thanks to Milton Fine's largely suppressed ability)
Brainiac knows the frequency that can cause Superman great discomfort via his super hearing


Minor Details:

- The A plot for this story is almost a direct rip-off of Batman #307 ("Dark Messenger of Mercy," by Len Wein) in which a wealthy madman is murdering innocent bums that have befriended the main character with the delusion that, in murdering them, he is somehow helping them. Of course, in this case, that wealthy madman proves to be Brainiac.

- This is not the first time that Ordway has begun a story one way that abruptly took a change of direction half-way through. I wonder if it was Byrne's abrupt departure that led him to tackle Brainiac and Clark's psychological health in the wake of Superman #22.

- In the Batman thread, I've been trying to pinpoint the moment at which Arkham Asylum became the default destination for deranged villains in Gotham. This issue (admittedly outside of the Bat Office) places The Joker in Stryker's Island. This means that Grant Morrison's non-continuity graphic novel, "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" was likely the early inspiration for this, even though the asylum had been mentioned prior to that point.

- Between the Joker's whereabouts and the reference to a presidential candidate, Ordway is taking some bold liberties in fleshing out inter-title continuity in the DCU here.

- "Stryker's Island" and Metropolis now being called "The Big Apricot" are just two more pieces of fun Ordway appears to be having with showing how closely Metropolis resembles New York City. I believe it was Byrne who first indicated that the river running along Metropolis was "The West River." Nice.

- On page 16, Superman flies by a plaque reading "Forrest for President." I don't recall if we've met/heard of this character before, and I can only assume this was foreshadowing of a story yet to come. Interesting to introduce a fictitious presidential candidate at a point in which DC was attempting to maintain some level of inter-title continuity. Will Forrester play a role Cosmic Odyssey, the next big company crossover about which I know absolutely nothing and care even less?

- Several hints in this issue that Ordway really doesn't like psychologists/psychiatrists, first with Sawyers chalking up the psychologist's explanation of Brainiac being a repressed portion of his host's personality as more unbelievable than the explanation that it's alien possession, and later with Superman's comment that "I doubt many psychiatrists would say that it's theraputic to sit in a room and stare into space all day..but somehow it's made it a little easier for me to deal with my actions in that alternate world."

So, therapists are, at best, totally wrong about what people really need in dealing with their serious problems and, at best, complete crackpots.

- I noted once before how odd it was to see Byrne and Carlin teasing Andy Helfer in the letters column after he's clearly left the Superman office over differences of opinion. Now, we learn in this issue's letter column that they were teasing him again in the last Mr. Myxlplyx story.


plot synopsis in one sentence:

A mysterious and well dressed assailant is murdering bums and claiming its being done to help them, Jimmy is investigating, Cat Grant is taking further advantage of Jimmy than usual (even having him pay her cab fair because she doesn't want to break a fifty), Perry White reams her out for her behavior and her excessive alcoholism, Jimmy begins to piece together that Milton Fine (the current host of Brainiac) may be responsible, we learn that he's right and Brainiac has now taken over Fine's body but is having trouble maintaining that hold and has tried stealing spinal fluid from bums in order to fix the problem, this has not worked and so now he is seeking brains, Jose DelGado gets an offer from Luthor's people (without him knowing it's Luthor's people) to fix his body, Clark is sitting in his room in Smallville, attempting to move on after executing the rogue Kryptonians in Superman #22, Cat drowns her sorrows at a seedy bar and is after abducted by Brainiac, Jimmy sees this, tries to stop Brainiac, and is similarly apprehended, Superman arrives on the scene and begins to go into a rage after being teased by Brainiac, he nearly kills Brainiac, and an emergency response person on the scene remarks that Superman should have just killed him since he'll recover and just get back out on the streets again anyway.

World of Metropolis #4

"Friends in Need"
writer: John Byrne
pencils: Win Mortimer
inks: Dick Giordano & Sal Trapani
letters: Albert De Guzman
colors: Tom Ziuko
asst. editor: Renee Witterstaetter
editor: Mike Carlin
featuring characters created by: Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

grade: B-


The FINAL Byrne story (though presumably Superman #22 was the final one he wrote).

Whereas the initial focus of World of Metropolis appeared to be telling the stories of The Daily Planet's cast of characters prior to Superman's arrival, this one goes more short term, flashing back to only four years ago (a year after Superman made his first appearance and Clark joined the Daily Planet staff) to focus on Jimmy's creation of the signal watch.

Did we really need a whole story for this? no. Could the scope have been broadened -- to show Jimmy's first days at the Planet, or even his first befriending Clark or Superman? yes. Still, it was an okay story, if a little unnecessary.


Important Details:

- Continuity check: This story was published towards the end of 1988 (November issue, though on sale in July). According to the Man of Steel timeline, Superman made his first appearance and Clark joined the Daily Planet in 1984. Jimmy's story flashes back to "about four years ago" (roughly 1984/1985) at which point Clark had been working at the Planet for a full year. It's not a perfect alignment with the continuity we already had, but there's been evidence in these reviews that Byrne wrote these "World of" limited series well ahead of schedule. He may have anticipated a slightly later on sale date or assumed the November 1988 publication date was the on sale date.

- Byrne seems to purposefully avoid giving Jimmy a specific age. However, considering his close friend is ultimately taken by the state and placed in a foster home, we can at least be relatively sure he was less than 18 years old four years prior to the current day, and is therefore no older than 21 now.

- Byrne returns to the notion he put forth in Superman #2 that Superman vibrates his head at super speeds whenever photographed so that no one gets a good look at his face. It was a dumb idea then and a dumb idea now. How can he ALWAYS know when he's being photographed or recorded? What about security cameras and spy satellites? When people talk to him, they're not like, "Dude, why is your head vibrating super fast?" and if the human eye can't detect his moving, why would a camera? Besides, if Superman's powers in the Post Crisis are supposed to mostly be human abilities amplified to a super-human level (as was stated numerous times in the letter cols and interviews), shaking my head back and forth a whole lot on a regular basis would have some significant impact on my health. Superman isn't impervious to his own super strength. He'd kill the muscles in his neck and possibly mess up his inner ears!

- Byrne's having Jimmy and Lois speculate about Superman's alter ego is quite clever. He's careful to adhere to the idea that no one had yet considered the possibility that Superman was an alien and, therefore, conclude that he must have been a normal person before arriving on the scene as Superman. The only flaw in their logic is the assumption that he is Superman full-time in the present. How hard would it be for a top respected reporter for a top newspaper in the country to coordinate with other news agencies and government sources to plot Superman sightings and tie them to specific times/days? You'd quickly realize he's usually in Metropolis and usually seen only at certain times (because Clark is clearly at the Planet during working hours on most days). They may not conclude from this that he has an alter ego, but they would at least realize he goes SOMEWHERE when off-duty and might try to determine where that somewhere is. The top reporter at a top paper in the country is sitting on one of the biggest stories in the history of Western Civilization and is being downright careless and laid back about it. Go out there and get the damn Superman story!

- No mention of Byrne's departure was ever made in ANY of the titles up to this point. Maybe Superman #23, or the letter column addressing Superman #22 will say something. Then again, all evidence suggests Byrne left on bad terms. DC might not want to draw any attention to his departure at all.



Minor Details:

- Fat Eddie is the cocaine kingpin of Metropolis, though Superman salvages evidence that may convict him at the end of the story.

- I'm sorry. Inventing a new method of possibly attracting Superman's attention (if Jimmy has correctly theorized that Superman would be sensitive to certain high range sound frequencies, if the frequency is right, if he isn't too busy to take note of it, if it annoys him enough to go check it out, and if he's within a one mile range so that he can actually hear it) is faster/more efficient than getting the dying girl into Jimmy's mom's car and driving her a mile and a half to the nearest hospital (as his mom initially proposes they do)?

- I'm assuming Chrissie is truly only supposed to be a friend, though the date at the end (occurring in the present day) is a bit ambiguous about this. After all, isn't Jimmy dating Lucy Lane?

- An ad for Suicide Squad #21 and #22 in this issue shows a storyline entitled "Campaign 88" and the picture of a presidential candidate at a podium. Again, I'm assuming this and the presidential candidate ad shown in Adventures of Superman #445 are all tying into the new DC event.



plot synopsis:

Jimmy is rescued by Superman when his undercover reporting on the Metropolis cocaine ring goes awry, he reflects back to how/why he invented his signal watch four years earlier, we see his mom wanting him to stop working for the paper and learn that his friend Chrissie is very depressed, she attempts to kill herself, Jimmy invents an early version of the signal watch in order to get her help when 911 puts him on hold, and Chrissie lives and appears to be close to Jimmy in the present day.

Action Comics Weekly #613

A few new features begin this week, but there's still nothing particularly amazing happening in these pages.

Green Lantern wraps up an uninteresting story arc in a mostly uninteresting way, but I'm impressed that Peter David actually reminded us that Arisa is a little girl deep down inside and that Hal knows and is conflicted about this.

Nightwing gets a solo feature written by Marv Wolfman. GREAT idea, but while Wolfman infuses Dick with fantastic characterization (as usual), he's at a total loss for a compelling plot. I could care less about Roy Harper and Chimera, and Marv isn't doing anything to change my mind.

Similarly, Paul Kupperberg's Phantom has some nice characterization going on, and Tom Grindberg and Dennis Janke turn in some sharp looking art, but (again) the conflict isn't interesting.

Mindy Newell's Catwoman feature is as lackluster as ever until she randomly KILLS OFF HOLLY. Really. How in the world did she get the green light to do this only a year after the release of Batman: Year One? I believe everything Newell did here with Holly (including her death) gets undone with Zero hour though.

Finally, I get what Sharon Wright is trying to do with Black Canary -- to expose the hardships endured by illegal immigrants and the corruption to which they fall victim, but she does this at the total expense of plot and characterization. This story has less than nothing going for it beyond the issue being raised.


And then there's Superman...

"Wicked Business"
writer: Roger Stern
pencils: Curt Swan
inks: Murphy Anderson
letters: Bill Oakley
colors: Petra Scotese
editor: Mike Carlin

grade: C

I really struggle with how to keep writing reviews for this feature when so very little happens in each chapter. I've totally lost interest in this story beyond checking out Curt Swan's retro art, but even that fails to impress in this chapter, at least partly because of Petra Scotese's thoroughly blah coloring. What happened to Tom Ziuko???

Plot synopsis:

The consortium looking to eliminate the Superman-worshipping Fellowship explains how the agent Superman captured was retrieved via teleportation and that he must now be eliminated for knowing too much, Clark stashes Bob safely in his apartment, becomes Superman, and decides to question the teleported agent (now recovering in a hospital) just as the consortium's hitmen are arriving to kill him.

Adventures of Superman #446

"First Steps"
writer/pencils: Jerry Ordway
inks: Dennis Janke
colors: Petra Scotese
letters: Albert DeGuzman
assistant editor: Renee Witterstaetter
editor: Mike Carlin

grade: A-


There's no doubt in my mind that Ordway has hit his prime. Free of Byrne's directives, Ordway has a crystal clear grasp on where the comic has been, where it needs to go, and the countless subplots happening in the current moment that need to connect them together. It's frankly thrilling to watch, from Superman developing strong self-doubt, to Jimmy becoming overwhelmed in trying to please the authority figures in his life, to Jose DelGado's quest to get his life back (and the puzzling return of Gangbuster), to Cat Grant being invited to work for Morgan Edge, to the hinting of some voodoo villain clearly slated to turn up in a later story, to the return of formerly minor character Heddison Maxwell Carter, to finally getting some characterization and hints at motives for Morgan Edge (who has barely had any screen time prior to this issue). Ordway even drops in a subtle reminder about Lois' ailing mother (who hasn't been mentioned for nearly a year now) and charms us by revealing Pre-Crisis Luthor's battle armor as Post-Crisis Luthor's old discarded junk. It's nice to see him making gestures to connect aspects of this new continuity to the old (and not just resurrecting old tripe from the Atom Age in order to do so ala Byrne).

Essentially, this is a massive soap opera, with Superman and the Daily Planet as its focii, and it's being orchestrated incredibly well.

Really, the only part I'm not loving is the whole subplot about Morgan Edge trying to turn Metropolis against Superman. It's just been done SO many times in superhero comics (most recently in Legends, only a year ago!). The conversation among the crowd about whether to blame or champion Superman in the midst of that rock slide was truly the only part of the issue where Ordway's dialogue felt stilted and unreal. Byrne started this conflict, so Ordway has to finish it, but I truly do not care about it at all.

Interesting to develop Morgan Edge as a second devious corporate man of influence. What will distinguish him from Luthor?


Minor Details:

- Petra Scotese is generally a highly underwhelming colorist in my opinion, but she does a VERY strong job on this issue. Perhaps that's more credit owed to Ordway, working closely with her or having a strong sense of colors and noting them on his pages? He's balancing writing, plotting, and penciling incredibly well and seems to have a vision for the overall finished product. Or am I just tooting Ordway's horn so much because he's not Byrne and I'm relieved to have him in control of the book?

- The traffic copter in this issue is reporting for Z100, a real radio station in New York that was at its height around 1988. Odd choice since this is Metropolis.



plot synopsis:

Superman is haunted by his killing the renegade Kryptonians (Superman #22), Jose DelGado is getting an experimental treatment to restore his walking and doesn't realize it's being done by Lexcorp, Morgan Edge is utilizing Heddison Maxwell Carter to loot old Lexcorp technology, and Gangbuster mysteriously returns to track down a mole in Luthor's company that is selling knowledge of how/when to obtain that old Lexcorp technology while it is being disposed of.

...And we're all caught up. 58 pages of old thread condensed into 41.


I'll be adding new reviews soon, and, of course, I've got some other threads to start restoring.

If you're interested in restoring your own archived threads in a similar fashion, you can learn how I did it here.



And the first person to complain about the appearance of the archived posts gets smacked. You have no idea how much time and energy I have spent on this.

Looks fine to me.

Glad you guys like it!

!Pharozonk!, you presented an interesting problem when moving these posts over -- I tried to capture a different slide in your avatar each time, but it didn't always work