ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #434 & 435

“SHAMBLES”
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artist: Jerry Ordway | Inker: José F. Marzan
Letterer: Albert de Guzman | Colorist: Anthony Tollin | Editor: Mike Carlin

The Plot: Superman intervenes in a mugging, but fails to stop a LexCorp security guard’s keys and ID card being stolen. Later, a mysterious individual receives the stolen goods and prepares a costume for himself. Meanwhile, Perry and Alice White pick up their son, Jerry, from jail on bail. At LexCorp, Luthor discovers his Project Synapse lab was trashed, and has the guard whose keys were stolen beaten for his incompetence.

Later, Metropolis’ new vigilante, Gangbuster, accosts some criminals in their hideout and learns that Max Carter, second-in-command to mobster Jay Falk, has been arming the city’s youth. Superman, having somehow deduced that Jose Delgado broke into LexCorp, visits his apartment but finds him gone. He follows clues to a warehouse where the latest group of the city’s troubled teens are being armed, to find Gangbuster already there fighting the punks. Superman joins the fray, as does Jerry White, and the angry youths are routed.

The next day, Jay Falk is arrested for his role in the gang war, and Superman sends Luthor an instant message informing him that he knows the corrupt billionaire was pulling Falk’s strings.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Perry and Jerry appear to bury their hatchet here, or at least begin to do so. Perry even takes some leave from the Daily Planet to spend time with his family, but not before assigning Lois and Clark to continue probing for whoever is behind recent gang activity in the city.

Clark and Cat Grant seem to be an official item at this point. As Cat informs Clark she plans to move to New York to be closer to her son for the custody hearings, the two moon about how much they’ll miss each other.

As noted above, Gangbuster makes his debut this issue, and while the story is oddly coy about not showing the face of the man beneath the mask for some reason, it’s clearly Jose Delgado, to the point that Jerry and Superman both refer to the character as being Delgado in dialogue. Of course, Marv Wolfman will be off this series when Gangbuster’s true identity is ultimately revealed, which leaves me wondering if the intention was for Jose to be a red herring and for someone else to actually be Gangbuster…?

“THE CIRCLE TURNS”
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artist: Jerry Ordway | John Beatty
Letterer: Albert de Guzman | Colorist: Anthony Tollin | Editor: Mike Carlin

The Plot: While driving a Formula One racecar for a story, Clark briefly blacks out and crashes, thanks to the Circle. Soon, Charger of the Fearsome Five breaks Concussion out of prison. The members of the Circle decide they were hasty with their decision to kill Superman and opt instead to seek his help in leaving Earth. The Circle draws Superman to their headquarters and subjects him to a series of illusions before finally asking for his help. To be rid of them, the Man of Steel agrees. He joins hands with Zahara, and the Circle members are instantly teleported off Earth.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Cat is with Clark and Jimmy at the racetrack to start the issue, saying that her custody hearing is the next day and she’ll be leaving Metropolis on a redeye that night.

Superman is said to have provided the authorities at Stryker's Island prison with a special device to keep Concussion's powers under control, though I don't think this version of Superman is supposed to have the super-intellect of his Pre-CRISIS incarnation, so I'm not sure where the thing actually came from.

As suspected, Charger and Deuce, the most recent members of the Fearsome Five, are revealed to be Circle agents here.

As the Circle messes with Superman’s mind, they appear to him in the forms of several of the Man of Steel’s friends in Superman costumes, as well as the currently nonexistent “Super-family” members Supergirl, Krypto, Streaky, and Comet — plus Jack Kirby's beloved (?) "Newsboy Legion" characters from his run on SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN.

The Circle resides in the Jurgens Building in Metropolis — obviously a tribute by Marv Wolfman to Dan Jurgens, one of the definitive Superman writer/artists of the past thirty years. Though how Wolfman knew to do this is a mystery, since this issue was published a few years prior to Jurgens’ first work as a regular ongoing Superman creator.

My Thoughts: That’s it for Marv Wolfman. Eleven issues into the Superman reboot, and he’s out the door. I’m sure it’s out there someplace, but I’ve never really bothered to look into why Wolfman left. I’ve always just assumed John Byrne didn’t like the directions he was taking some of his stories, and since Byrne was the “alpha” writer on the franchise, he had enough pull with editorial to get Wolfman booted. Certainly I know that the two have never really gotten along since this period; in fact there are actual, honest-to-goodness court transcripts to that effect!

Regardless of the circumstances, though, it's nice that Wolfman gets to finish his major storylines before departing. And on one hand, I appreciate that Wolfman’s year on this title features an overarching plot in the form of the Circle, which is something Byrne hasn't done at all, sticking instead to done-in-one adventures and short 2 to 3-part story arcs — but on the other hand, the Circle is incredibly boring and they don’t seem a good fit for Superman in general.

Besides the Circle, the other major plot in these eleven issues involves rebellious Jerry White, another idea which really doesn’t do anything for me. I’ve stated before that I appreciate Superman busting up organized crime now and then as an homage to the black-and-white George Reeves TV series, and the first couple times Wolfman went that route here, it was pretty fun — but it got old fast.

Weirdly, Wolfman’s very first issue featured a sub-plot about Lex Luthor duping Lois by keeping her mother alive with a special serum; this was never touched on again. I can’t help wondering if Byrne “claimed” Lois as his, and Wolfman lost the ability to continue that storyline… though if that’s the case, Byrne has barely done anything with Lois either at this point, so it’s kind of a shame.

We got Cat Grant from Wolfman, though, so that’s something — but as I noted last week, I actually think I prefer Byrne’s take on the character over Wolfman’s!

Anyway, so long, Marv Wolfman. I wish I could say I liked your issues more, but I honestly found them little more than lackluster filler in between the Byrne stories. Sorry!

Next Week: A trio of 1987 Superman annuals featuring work from John Byrne, Art Adams, Ron Frenz, Jim Starlin, and the afore-mentioned Dan Jurgens!