ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #433 & SUPERMAN #11

“GANGWAR PART TWO: A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS”
Dramatized and Choreographed by: Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway
Inked by: Bob Smith | Lettered by: Albert de Guzman | Colored by: Anthony Tollin
Edited by: Mike Carlin

The Plot: A series of vignettes follows Jimmy Olson, Lois Lane, Perry White, Jose Delgado, and Lex Luthor though their interactions with Jerry White. First, Jimmy is inside a convenience store when it’s robbed by a gang including Jerry. Superman catches most of the group, but Jerry gets away. Later, Lois visits Jose to find him arguing with Jerry. Jerry leaves to go warn “the boss”, a portly older man, that Lois was spying, but Superman interrupts their meeting before the boss can have Jerry beaten.

Later still, Lois presents a story to Perry White which includes reference to Jerry as a member of the gangs that have recently plagued Metropolis. Perry goes to visit his son in prison, but Jerry gives him the could shoulder. After being escorted to a darkened room, Jerry is harassed by a gang of inmates, but Superman appears and saves him—however, at some point after the Man of Steel departs, Jerry is beaten anyway.

As Lex Luthor receives a humanitarian award, Jose Delgado accosts him. Luthor’s private security catches up with Jose and prepares to kill him, but Superman intervenes. Later, Luthor meets with one of his scientists about Project Synapse, a plan to create a “super soldier” to challenge Superman, but declares the project a failure when only one of the test subjects survives.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Lois is at dinner with her parents and sister when she leaves to go speak with Jose. Clark is in attendance as well, and Lois wonders why her mother asked her to bring him. Lois’s father seems to want Clark to remain behind for some reason, but he leaves as well to follow Lois.

Jose demonstrates some accomplished martial arts moves against Luthor’s men. Also, last issue showed him leaping into a burning building to rescue some kids. I believe all of this is foreshadowing of his adopting a costumed identity in the near future.

It’s revealed that Luthor’s entire reason for turning the city’s youths into gang members and arming them was to find test subjects for Project Synapse.

My Thoughts: I think I've bashed Marv Wolfman enough recently, and there'll be time for a bit more in a few weeks as he wraps up his ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN run, so let's take this opportunity to not discuss the substance of this lackluster story, and instead to pick on intrepid editor Mike Carlin: at the beginning of this issue, during the convenience store robbery, Jimmy wishes that Superman was around to help, but fights the crooks alone since the Man of Steel isn't there. Two pages later, as he chases the robbers out into the streets of Metropolis, Jimmy activates his signal watch and Superman shows up nearly instantaneously. Now, this is a problem I’ve noted in Marv Wolfman's writing from time to time: he seems to suffer lapses in logic while scripting, like he writes these things a page at a time over several days (which I suppose is possible if he was receiving the artwork from Ordway piecemeal).

Two pages/nine panels/literally like five minutes later...

But! This is absolutely, totally, one hundred and ten percent something any competent editor should easily catch. Maybe not immediately if the story was, indeed, being written slowly over time, but certainly while giving it a final pass-through. It sticks out like a sore, sloppily written thumb, and anybody reading the story all in one sitting would spot it immediately, as I did. I’ve called out the editors more than once in recent weeks, so here’s one more for the record: get it together, Carlin. You’re embarrassing yourself.

“THE NAME GAME”
Story & Pencils: John Byrne | Inks: Karl Kesel
Coloring: Tom Ziuko | Lettering: John Costanza | Editing: Michael Carlin

The Plot: A dashing mystery man shows up at the Daily Planet, massages Lois Lane’s feet, and asks her out on a date. As if under a spell, Lois follows the man, Ben DeRoy, out of the building. As they wander Metropolis, a series of bizarre incidents transpire. Eventually DeRoy tires of Lois, turning her into a store mannequin and animating an actual mannequin to become his new date.

Superman catches up with DeRoy, who reveals himself as an imp from the Fifth Dimension called Mister Mxyzptlk. Mxyzptlk tells Superman he will return to the Fifth Dimension if the Man of Steel can trick him into saying, spelling, or otherwise producing his name backwards. As Mxyzptlk proceeds with further mischief, Superman rewires the gigantic typewriter he had originally used to reveal his name, and tricks the imp into typing his name backwards, banishing him back to the Fifth Dimension.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Early in the story, Cat Grant invites herself over to Clark’s apartment to cook him her famous lasagna. In an epilogue scene, Lois has decided she might be interested in Clark after all these years and heads over to fix him dinner, only to find Cat already there. Cat gives Lois the boot while Clark is in the shower.

Back in the eighties, Metropolis was known as the Tube Top Capital of the World.

My Thoughts: It’s no masterpiece, but coming on the heels of an issue of ADVENTURES, it doesn’t take much to impress me. This one is about par for the course as one of Byrne’s typical Superman stories: nothing world-shattering or momentous, but a solid little one-off adventure. Plus, I think I like Byrne’s version of Cat Grant better than that of her own creators: Wolfman and Ordway are doing their best to make her a real, three-dimensional character, which is great, but at this point I think she works better as the third point in a love triangle with Clark and Lois.

As for Mxyzptlk, I’ve never loved the character — even as a child, he was one of my less favorite villains on SUPER FRIENDS — but he is a classic member of Superman’s rogues’ gallery, so it’s nice to see him reinvented here even if only for that reason.

(By the way, has anyone ever explained why he was consistently called “Mixelplik” on SUPER FRIENDS? That’s what I called him for years and years, until SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES told me the correct pronunciation!)

Next Week: Marv Wolfman's tenure comes to an end in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #434 and 425, introducing Gangbuster!