SUPERMAN #10

“THE SUPER MENACE OF METROPOLIS”
Story & Pencils: John Byrne | Inks: Karl Kesel
Coloring: Tom Ziuko | Lettering: John Costanza | Editing: Michael Carlin

The Plot: At the Daily Planet, Clark Kent’s X-Ray vision acts up, followed by his heat vision. He hurries out of the building and into the sky, where he’s attacked by a being calling itself Klaash. Superman battles Klaash, but his malfunctioning powers lay waste to Metropolis in the process.

Finally, when he realizes that Klaash isn’t visible to anyone other than him, Superman deduces that Lex Luthor has been using a satellite to make his powers act up. He disables the satellite and returns to Luthor, than brings Luthor to Maggie Sawyer for questioning—but when Luthor’s attorney reveals that the satellite and Klaash project were manufactured legally as part of a government contract, and when Luthor accepts partial responsibility for the incident and promises to repair all damages, Maggie has no choice but to let him go.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Clark recalls that his battle with Rampage was ten days ago, and wonders if all the excess energy he absorbed from her is the cause of his power fluctuations.

For those keeping track of time passage, recall that three days passed at the end of the Rampage issue, during which the “Pocket Universe Saga” took place. Which means that in the past seven days, Superman has (at least according to the story order presented in the MAN OF STEEL trade paperbacks) fought the Fearsome Five, teamed up with the Metal Men, battled Doctor Stratos, fought the Joker, been involved with Luthor's plot to turn troubled teens into a criminal army, and been captured by Sleez. But of course, a week passed during the Fearsome Five story, which presumably means all this other stuff took place in between the cracks of that story, even though none of it was mentioned (since it hadn't happened yet).

(Yes, as John Byrne noted with his glowing review of my blog a few weeks ago, not all stories take place in the order they were published. But unless something explicitly can't take place that way due to continuity issues, it's generally safe to assume that publication order does equal story order -- otherwise unbridled chronological chaos would rule the day!)

Byrne acknowledges Marv Wolfman’s sub-plots by having Cat drop by with her son, Adam — though since the custody battle was just beginning a couple issues back in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, I’m not sure she should legally be able to do that yet.

Also, Clark totally sees most of the Planet staff nekkid when his X-Ray vision malfunctions.

At one point, when Superman’s super-hearing goes out of control, he picks up “every sound on Earth”—and, according to a story I read some time ago on Comic Book Legends Revealed, John Byrne actually had random word balloons from a bunch of that month’s other DC comics pasted into the panel, which strikes me as a really creative idea.

We learn that Maggie Sawyer has an ex-husband named Jim and a nine year-old daughter named Jamie. Later, Maggie threatens Lex Luthor, leading Luthor to declare that he will “crush her.”

My Thoughts: So the plot about Superman’s powers acting up first appeared in issue 8 — just two issues back! But since reading that one, we’ve looked at three issues of ACTION COMICS, two issues of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, and one issue of WONDER WOMAN, not to mention SUPERMAN #9. And I obviously brought this partially on myself due to the way I’m reading these things, but nonetheless — with seven issues between the sub-plot’s debut and its resolution, it feels like it’s been going on forever!

And because of all that artificially manufactured build-up, the resolution is a bit of a let-down. It’s Luthor again! And he’s using a satellite that beams solar radiation all over the Earth and allows him to toggle Superman’s powers, whichever ones he chooses, on and off at will. This feels like something that should work on, like, Cyborg or Red Tornado or some other partially/fully mechanical being — but not a full-blooded Kryptonian like Superman.

However, this issue also brings with it what feels like the most advancement of sub-plots and such that we’ve seen in a very long time. We have development for Maggie Sawyer, both in her personal life and in her professional as she becomes the new target of Luthor’s vindictiveness, plus we get an admittedly not-quite-right check-in with Marv Wolfman’s Cat Grant storyline from ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN — and, as usual (though I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it lately or even at all), SUPERMAN sets the standard for artwork across the line, with the work of Byrne and Kesel looking as polished and exciting as can be.

Next Week: Wonder Woman battles the Cheetah in WONDER WOMAN #9.