ACTION COMICS #600

“DIFFERENT WORLDS”
Story & Breakdowns: John Byrne | Finishes: George Pérez
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Tom Ziuko
Assistant Editor: Renee Witterstaetter | Editor: Mike Carlin

The Plot: Superman apologizes to Wonder Woman for kissing her without warning, then the two begin to chat. But their conversation is interrupted when Hermes appears and summons Diana to Olympus. Superman follows, but is separated from Wonder Woman upon arrival.

Hermes reveals to Wonder Woman that a group of New Gods invaded Olympus. Meanwhile, Darkseid and Desaad, observing the two heroes from a control room, send a fake Wonder Woman (actually Amazing Grace in disguise) to seduce Superman and a fake Superman (Kalibak in disguise) to clobber Wonder Woman. The heroes fight their enemies, who perform a switch to lure them into fighting one another, instead.

But Superman and Wonder Woman quickly discern the truth and find their way to Darkseid’s hideout. Confronted by the fact that he failed to kill them, Darkseid departs with Desaad, triggering explosives set around Olympus before leaving. But Olympus will only fall when the gods will it, and is unharmed by Darkseid’s treachery.

Superman and Wonder Woman return to Earth, where they decide that a romantic relationship is not meant to be, but they will be friends.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #439 & ACTION COMICS #599

“TIN SOLDIERS”
Writer/Co-Plotters/Penciler: John Byrne & Jerry Ordway | Inker: John Beatty
Letterer: Albert de Guzman | Colorist: Tony Tollin | Editor: Mike Carlin

The Plot: Jimmy’s car breaks down as he is driving Cat and her son, Adam, to New York. They see something which prompts Jimmy to use his signal watch. Later, Superman falls from the sky and lands underground. Perry White receives a call and heads to the hospital, where he meets Inspector Henderson and Lois. The trio meets with Superman, who reveals that he’s been turned into a robot.

Meanwhile, Clark arrives at the Daily Planet and learns “Superman” is at the hospital. He heads over there as well, and soon departs with Lois and the Man of Steel to find Jimmy and the others. The group reaches a paramilitary complex, where their friends are being interrogated by the head of a private militia. “Superman” is destroyed as he fights against the troops, who ultimately surrender when their commander is killed in an explosion.

Later, Superman reveals to Lois and the local sheriff that the robot was his, created to respond to Jimmy’s signal whenever he might be out of range. But thanks to its malfunction, the Man of Steel realizes that there can be only one of him.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Jimmy is driving Cat and Adam to New York while Cat’s car is in the shop.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #438 & ACTION COMICS #598

“…THE AMAZING BRAINIAC”
Writer: John Byrne | Penciller: Jerry Ordway | Inker: John Beatty
Letterer: Albert T. de Guzman | Colorist: Anthony Tollin | Editor: Michael Carlin

The Plot: While at the circus with Cat, her son Adam, and Jimmy, Clark Kent changes to Superman to stop a rampaging elephant. Soon after, the circus psychic, Brainiac, manifests telekinetic powers and an alternate personality, and begins to wreak havoc. Superman stops him, and he is placed into medical care.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Adam is frightened of Superman when they cross paths, believing the Man of Steel injured his father during the fight with Concussion a few issues back, but Cat assures the boy that Superman is a friend.

Though his doctors don’t believe him, Brainiac (a.k.a. Milton Fine) says he was possessed by an alien named Vril Dox during his rampage. Earlier in the issue, he explains Vril Dox’s backstory to Cat and Jimmy.

Lois meets with the parents of Combattor, revealed to be named Lawrence Chin, at their son’s funeral and attempts to convince them that Lex Luthor was behind the young man’s death—but while the Chins refuse to believe it, Lawrence’s younger brother agrees with Lois and passes her a note.

ACTION COMICS #597 & SUPERMAN #15

“VISITOR”
Writer/Penciler: John Byrne | Inkers: Leonard Starr & Keith Williams
Colorist: Tom Ziuko | Letterer: John Costanza | Editor: Michael Carlin

The Plot: Following the Manhunters’ attack on Earth, Lois Lane travels to Smallville to investigate Lana Lang. She discovers the crashed Manhunter ship on Lana’s property and finds Lana and Superman chatting behind the house. The trio goes inside, where Lois asks Superman point blank if he is Clark Kent. Clark’s parents arrive just then and spin a tale about discovering Kal-El’s rocket and raising the child in secret alongside their son, Clark. Furious, Lois leaves.

Clark shows up at the Smallville Hotel to speak with Lois, but she’s just as angry with him as with Superman. The next morning, Lana approaches Lois and takes her out to lunch to plead Clark’s case. Later, back in Metropolis, Lois visits Jose Delgado in the hospital, and Superman shows up as well. Lois departs, giving the Man of Steel the cold shoulder.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Lois travels to Smallville for the first time in this issue and meets Lana and Jonathan and Martha while there. Superman and Lana explain the MILLENNIUM storyline to Lois, and she agrees to sit on the story.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #436 & ACTION COMICS #596

“JUNK”
Penciller: Jerry Ordway | Inker: John Beatty
Letterer: Albert T. De Guzman | Colorist: Tony Tollin | Editor: Michael Carlin
And Welcome Aboard to Scriper: John Byrne | Plotters: Byrne/Ordway

The Plot: Superman arrives in Smallville and changes to Clark Kent, but the townspeople know who he truly is and capture him. Superman is taken to a Manhunter hideout, where Smallville’s Doctor Whitney explains that he’s been a Manhunter agent for decades and that every child born in the city since he arrived was a sleeper. Superman soon manages to escape his bonds and Whitney blows himself up to avoid capture, revealing he was actually a robot.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Clark bumps into Pete Ross in Smallville, making this the post-CRISIS debut for that character (at least in the main SUPERMAN titles; I suppose it’s possible he showed up someplace else that I’m unaware of). Pete is Smallville County’s Notary Public.

Doctor Whitney explains that the Manhunters had an agent on Krypton, who learned of Jor-El’s plan to send baby Kal-El to Earth. The Manhunters attempted to intercept Kal-El, but were delayed by the Green Lantern Corps. Whitney was placed in Smallville to prepare the town to one day capture its Kryptonian son.

My Thoughts: Y’know, for someone who grouses about writers doing “Everything you thought you knew was wrong” stories and who has often complained that certain writers can’t let any supporting characters just be normal…

In this tale we learn that Smallville has been the home to dozens of alien sleeper agents for thirty years, including among them Lana and Pete.

I’m just saying, John Byrne really shouldn’t be casting any stones here.

SUPERMAN #12 & ACTION COMICS #595

“LOST LOVE”
Writer/Penciler: John Byrne | Inker: Karl Kesel
Colorist: Tom Ziuko | Letterer: John Costanza | Editor: Michael Carlin

The Plot: Superman responds to a telepathic summons from a merman named Ronal and arrives at the coast near Metropolis. Ronal asks Superman to tell him about his past with Lori Lemaris, and Superman obliges, explaining how, as Clark Kent, he met Lori, a wheelchair-bound student, while he was in college, and soon fell in love with her. But Lori turned out to be a mermaid and eventually returned to the sea in search of her lost home, Atlantis.

Years later, after meeting Aquaman, Clark learned the location of Atlantis and sought Lori out. But as they embraced, Lori was knifed in the back by a mad fisherman, and Superman raced her to the undersea city. She recovered, but fell in love with her doctor, Ronal, during her convalescence. Some time later, Superman learned that Lori had died defending Atlantis.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: The story is mostly one long flashback, aside from the framing sequence with Ronal. I know Lori Lemaris was a recurring character in the pre-CRISIS Superman comics, but I have no idea how much of this version of her story is newly devised by Byrne.

As noted above, it’s said that Lori perished in defense of Atlantis, but there is no footnote or other explanation detailing where or how this happened.

ACTION COMICS #594 & BOOSTER GOLD #23

“ALL THAT GLISTERS”
Story & Pencils: John Byrne | Inks: John Byrne & Keith Williams
Coloring: Tom Ziuko | Lettering: John Costanza | Editing: Michael Carlin

“BLIND OBSESSION”
Story & Pencils: Dan Jurgens | Inks: Roy Richardson
Letters: Steve Haynie | Colors: Gene D’Angelo | Editor: Barbara Randall

The Plot: (ACTION 594) On “Superman Day” in Metropolis, local hero Booster Gold goes on an anti-Superman crusade, demolishing a statue in the Man of Steel’s honor, speaking out against him at a press conference, and even kidnapping the mayor’s daughter to draw Superman out. When Superman finds Booster, they have a brief skirmish which sees the latter triumph over an unusually weak Superman. Then a second Booster Gold arrives, declaring the first to be an imposter.

(BOOSTER 23) Booster fights the imposter, eventually realizing it’s an android, and destroys it to find a small chunk of Kryptonite inside. Superman realizes Lex Luthor must be behind the charade, and a moment later Luthor dispatches an operative called Attack Dog One against Superman and Booster. Attack Dog One retrieves the Kryptonite with a small flying pod which leaves the scene of the fight. But with the Kryptonite gone, Superman finds himself back to full power. He easily defeats Attack Dog One and makes uneasy peace with Booster.

ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #1, SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1, & ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1

“SKEETER!”
Written by: John Byrne | Penciled by: Art Adams | Inked by: Dick Giordano
Lettered by: Albert de Guzman | Colored by: Petra Scotese
Edited by: Michael Carlin

The Plot: Batman arrives in the small town of Fayerville, Louisiana, following the trail of a serial killer from Gotham City. But he quickly finds himself in over his head as he realizes he’s up against a vampire. The Caped Crusader calls the Daily Planet and asks Clark Kent to summon Superman for him. Soon after, the Man of Steel arrives in Fayerville and begins investigating the vampire as well, while Batman deduces the creature’s true identity as that of an apparently teenaged girl named Skeeter. When Skeeter attacks and nearly kills Superman, Batman finishes her off with a stake through the heart.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Batman uses the codeword “Magpie”, a reference to his and Superman’s first encounter in THE MAN OF STEEL, to authenticate himself to Clark.

When he fights Skeeter, Superman realizes her powers are magical in nature and therefore she is able to harm him. (He also mentions his “electro-chemical aura” not protecting his costume when she scratches his chest, reminding readers that Byrne is still one hundred percent behind that idea.)

ACTION COMICS #592 & #593

“…A WALK ON THE DARKSIDE!” | “THE SUICIDE SNARE”
Story, Pencils, & Figure Inks: John Byrne | Background Inks: Keith Williams
Lettering: John Costanza | Coloring: Tom Ziuko | Editing: Michael Carlin & Andrew Helfer

The Plot: (issue 592) Big Barda, former agent of Darkseid now living on Earth, is captured by a creature from Apokolips called Sleez, who uses her purloined mega-rod and his own power of suggestion to take mental control of her.

Meanwhile, Clark Kent visits a hospital in Suicide Slum, where he learns that a number of patients have lived well past the average life expectancy. Noticing unusual radiation on the patients with his super-vision, Clark changes to Superman and heads out to investigate. The radiation leads the Man of Steel to Sleez’s sewer lair, but a misunderstanding leads to a brief skirmish between Barda and Superman, allowing Sleez to drop them both down a trap door.

(issue 593) Mister Miracle and his assistant, Oberon, return to their home to find Miracle’s wife, Barda, missing, and Darkseid lounging in the living room. Darkseid shows Miracle a salacious videotape starring Barda, and explains that it was purchased in Suicide Slum. Meanwhile, Sleez visits a pornographer named Grossman, selling him on the idea of a sex video starring Superman and Big Barda.

Mister Miracle evades Sleez’s gang of street thugs and arrives at Grossman’s office just as shooting begins on the super-porno. He breaks in, disrupting Sleez’s control over Barda and Superman. While Barda rescues Miracle from an Apokoliptic creature called an Ash-Crawler, Superman chases Sleez back into the sewers. But the villain chooses apparent death over capture, striking a match and causing a massive natural gas explosion.

Later, Clark visits the hospital once more, having deduced that Sleez “fed on human misery… but somehow… gave off the excess energy as pure life force,” which is what had kept the elderly patients alive. Expecting them to all be dead now that Sleez is gone, Clark is surprised and troubled to find that the radiation still exists in their bodies, and that Sleez must therefore remain alive and at large.

ACTION COMICS #591 & ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #431

“PAST IMPERFECT”
Story, Pencils, & Figure Inks: John Byrne | Background Inks: Keith Williams
Lettering: John Costanza | Coloring: Tom Ziuko | Editing: Michael Carlin & Andrew Helfer

The Plot: Superboy freezes Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes with his stasis ray, then takes the Legion members to deliver them a mysterious master elsewhere in the timestream. Superman breaks free of the ray’s effect and pursues, but is thrown off and lands in Superboy’s Smallville. Pete Ross find him and brings him to the Kents’ home, but Superboy soon returns and a fight ensues.

Krypto joins the fight and heads for Superboy’s lab to grab some gold Kryptonite, but the rock robs him of his powers before he can use it. Pa Kent gets an idea from Krypto’s sacrifice and confronts Superman with all the forms of Kryptonite, but none work on him. However this pause in the action allows Superman and Superboy to make peace.

Superboy and the Legion depart for the future to battle Superboy’s master, the Time-Trapper, but they insist Superman return to his own time rather than risk his life by coming with them. Superman reluctantly agrees and is returned to modern-day Metropolis.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Superman notes multiple times that Superboy is more powerful than he is, but the Man of Steel’s experience allows him to go toe-to-toe with the Boy of Steel.

The Time-Trapper explains how it is that Superboy and his version of Smallville exist in the post-CRISIS universe:

ACTION COMICS #588 & #589

“ALL WARS MUST END” | “GREEN ON GREEN”
Words & Pictures: John Byrne | Embellisher: Dick Giordano
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Michele Wolfman (issue 588) & Tom Ziuko (issue 589)
Editors: Andrew Helfer & Michael Carlin

The Plot: (Issue 588): Superman responds to a summons from Midway City, where he meets up with Hawkman and Hawkwoman, then accompanies them into space to help stop an invasion fleet from the couple’s home planet of Thanagar. Eventually Hawkman and Hawkwoman trigger an override which forces the fleet into hyperspace in random directions, dispersing it across millions of light years — but Superman is sucked into hyperspace as well.

(Issue 589): Arisia of the Green Lantern Corps finds Superman adrift in space and brings him back to the Lanterns’ citadel in space. Superman assists the Lanterns in investigating a large spaceborne creature which turns out to be the remnant of the graveyard the Man of Steel flew out of Earth’s atmosphere weeks earlier. Working together, Superman and the Green Lanterns defeat the malevolent force.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: We first encounter Hawkman and Hawkwoman, in the bloody aftermath of some great battle in Midway City, and they have two beings — a Thanagarian named Ved and a shapeshifter named Byth — in custody. Clearly all of this, plus the arrival of the Thanagarian fleet, is continued from some other comic, but there are no footnotes indicating where the prior stories took place.

Hawkwoman notes that it was pursuit of Byth which brought Hawkman and her to Earth some time back, and that Byth impersonated Superman during that encounter. Again, no footnotes, so I’m not sure if this was a pre- or post-CRISIS tale. Though I do know that, at least when he guest-starred in NEW TEEN TITANS, pre-CRISIS Hawkman was a human named Carter Hall, rather than an alien named Katar Hol.

ACTION COMICS #587 & ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #429

“CITYSCAPE!”
Written & Penciled by: John Byrne | Embellished by: Dick Giordano
Colored by: Tom Ziuko | Lettered by: John Costanza
Edited by: Andrew Helfer & Michael Carlin

The Plot: In Gotham City, renowned occult expert Jason Blood and his entourage visit a curio shop. Jason’s friend Glenda opens a miniature glass city, and it immediately begins transforming everyone in the vicinity, and soon everyone in Gotham, into glass buildings. Blood changes into his alter ego, the demon Etrigan, and avoids the effect. Superman, passing by, has a brief scuffle with Etrigan before the demon explains the situation, then sends the Man of Steel back in time to stop the effect before it can start. Superman teams up with the Jason Blood of the Dark Ages, and together they stop the sorceress Morgaine Le Fay from enchanting the mini city in the first place. Superman returns to the present day to find that all is well.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Superman is familiar with Etrigan from past encounters, though he learns here for the first time that the demon is actually Jason Blood.

My Thoughts: Following from its installment of the LEGENDS/Darkseid storyline, ACTION COMICS returns to its established format as a throw-away team-up vehicle. Now, that doesn’t mean the story is bad; Superman’s team-up with Etrigan is fun, and Byrne’s fondness for time travel gets a quick demonstration here, but ultimately this is an entirely skippable affair.

We’ll note again that Byrne’s recent penchant for the gratuitous slaughter of bystanders is in full force, as Superman himself kills, or at least grievously injures, a few innocents when he smashes Etrigan against the crystal towers in Gotham. One of them even starts bleeding! Of course it’s all corrected via time travel, but even so, it’s a little much to see Superman himself causing such carnage — even if indirectly.

SUPERMAN #3, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #426, & ACTION COMICS #586

“LEGENDS FROM THE DARKSIDE”
Writer/Penciler: John Byrne | Inker: Terry Austin
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Tom Ziuko | Editor: Andrew Helfer

The Plot: While Lois Lane interviews G. Gordon Godfrey at the Metropolis Grande Hotel, Clark Kent is chased around the city by twin energy beams. The beams eventually catch up with him as he attempts to elude them in the sewer, and transport him to Apokolips. There, Darkseid is confused by the beams’ grabbing a mortal instead of Superman, and he tosses his guest out a window. Clark lands in Apokolips’s slums, where he loses his civilian clothes, grabs rags to hide his costume, and explores. Soon he is attacked by a Pacifier, which grabs him and pulls them both into one of the planet’s fire pits.

“FROM THE DREGS…”
Writer : Marv Wolfman | Artist/Co-Plotter: Jerry Ordway | Co-Plotter: John Byrne
Letterer: Albert de Guzman | Colorist: Tom Ziuko | Editor: Andrew Helfer

The Plot: An addled Superman is fished out of the fire pit by a “hunger dog” named Graggin. Word spreads quickly, and the hero soon comes to the attention of a woman named Amazing Grace, who convinces the hunger dogs that Superman is the savior of the people of Apokolips. When the Man of Steel fights off a troop of Parademons sent to rout the hunger dogs, they begin to believe the hype. Soon Superman, his memories fragmented and powers reduced thanks to the fire pit, leads the hunger dogs against Darkseid’s forces, and though their battle is incredibly costly, the day is won. But as the gathered rebels celebrate, Amazing Grace and Superman reveal their true nature, allowing an even larger force of Parademons to swoop in and slaughter the hunger dogs.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #424 – 425 & ACTION COMICS #585

“MAN O’ WAR!” | “GOING THE GAUNTLET”
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artist: Jerry Ordway | Inker: Mike Machlan (#424)
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Tom Ziuko | Editor: Andy Helfer

The Plot: (Issue 424) A terrorist group called the Freedom League attacks a building in Metropolis. At the Daily Planet, Clark Kent meets new hire Cat Grant, a gossip columnist. Cat tags along when Clark receives a call from someone looking for Superman. The reporters meet with Professor Emil Hamilton, who reveals a defense system he’s created, but Clark ducks out when City Hall comes under assault by the Freedom League, changes to Superman, and fights back.

(Issue 425) Professor Hamilton describes to an unseen party how Lex Luthor told him his device was LexCorp property since he partially developed it on company time with company computers. Luthor’s men stole the plans and Hamilton was unable to get the police to help. Soon after, he was approached by a company called Complicon, who financed further development of the device. Henderson perfected it, but unseen sabotage caused it to kill a man during his demonstration.

Hamilton then caught up with Superman during his fight with the Freedom League and used the device to shield Metropolis from harm, but no one noticed his contribution to the battle. Next, Hamilton called out Superman, threatening to murder a hooker unless the Man of Steel faced his “gauntlet” within the confines of his device’s force field. Superman beat the gauntlet, saved the girl, and Hamilton went to prison, where we learn he’s been telling his story to an inattentive guard.

ACTION COMICS #584 & SUPERMAN #2

“SQUATTER!”
Storyteller: John Byrne | Embellisher: Dick Giordano
Colorist: Tom Ziuko | Letterer: John Costanza | Editor: Andrew Helfer

The Plot: Superman goes on a rampage, drawing the attention of Cyborg from the Teen Titans. Superman defeats Cyborg easily, but Wonder Girl and Changeling soon arrive to back him up, followed shortly thereafter by Jericho. Jericho seizes control of Superman’s mind as a man with crutches arrives to reveal that he is the real Superman.

Superman explains that he was tricked by a man named David Gundersen, who switched their bodies with a machine he had built. The same machine swaps them back to normal, and Superman lectures Gundersen on his behavior.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: The story takes place in a location referred to in dialogue as “…the largest city in the nation,” “renowned in song and fable,” etc., etc. The city is never referred to by name. Knowing the Titans reside in New York makes me assume this is it, though I’m unsure why Byrne is playing coy.

Cyborg notes that he’s met Superman a couple of times, supporting SUPERMAN #1’s idea that the Man of Steel has had run-ins with heroes other than Batman since his debut.

Wonder Girl somehow exists. (I’ll have more to say about this when we cover LEGENDS in a couple weeks.)

Lex Luthor wonders how Clark Kent seems to get all the exclusive Superman stories, and decides there must be a connection between the two.