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.

The story ends with Ma and Pa Kent looking for Lana at her home. There, they’re surprised by someone they recognize as a friend, who guns them both down.

My Thoughts: Okay… I wrote this entire review once already and Microsoft Word ate it (and, dummy that I am, I hadn’t yet saved the thing). So if the preceding and following seem a bit rushed, that’s why.

Anyway — I imagine the flashback portion of this story is akin to what John Byrne had initially expected he’d be doing when he took the assignment to reboot Superman. Byrne’s said that he wanted to tell the adventures of a freshly-minted Man of Steel in real time from the beginning — but DC wanted Superman fully formed for the reboot. THE MAN OF STEEL was the compromise, but it’s not to imagine Byrne had originally planned for stuff like this to fill his ongoing series.

And if that’s the case, I’m in agreement with Byrne. I’ve noted in previous posts that DC’s “have their cake and eat it too” approach to the post-CRISIS universe was a poor choice creatively (though I understand financially why they didn’t necessarily want to cancel and/or fully reboot certain titles). I really would’ve liked to have seen Superman evolve from the beginning in the regular ongoing stuff. It’s too bad Byrne didn’t get his chance to it that way.

“THE GHOST OF SUPERMAN”
Story by: John Byrne | Art by: John Byrne & Keith Williams
Coloring: Tom Ziuko | Lettering: John Costanza | Edited by: Michael Carlin

The Plot: A woman named Silver Banshee wanders Metropolis, murdering people and ransacking bookstores. When Superman arrives to help the Special Crimes Unit deal with her, she kills him. A funeral is held, during which Superman’s ghost emerges from his body and seeks out Silver Banshee. Silver Banshee tries to kill the Man of Steel again, but overtaxes herself and explodes. The ghost reveals itself to be J’onn J’onzz in disguise as the real Superman arrives as well, having only been in a coma. Later, Superman, J’onn, and the Daily Planet staff speculate about the origins of Silver Banshee.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Byrne continues, at long last, to thread sub-plots between series. This time, Maggie Sawyer continues to search for her daughter, who went missing in SUPERMAN #10. We’re told that happened five days ago, which means for those keeping track, that ADVENTURES 433 - 435, SUPERMAN 11 and 12, three annuals, ACTION 594 and BOOSTER GOLD 23 all happened in that timeframe.

Further, Byrne covers by Clark’s absence at the funeral by noting the racecar wreck he was involved in during ADVENTURES 435 as the reason — but Clark has appeared in other stories since that happened!

That all said, I will hopefully not earn the further ire of John Byrne when I say that there’s no problems with any of these stories continuity-wise. If the puzzle is assembled correctly, it should all work. I don’t think there’s much in any of the issues of the separate titles which say they must take place after issues of the other series. The problem simply lies with DC’s reprint department not paying very close attention as they put together a story order for their reprint series. A little more care on that front, and this could all add up with minimal difficulty.

My Thoughts: I think the very first time I ever saw Silver Banshee was on a trading card or something. I thought she looked pretty cool, though I knew nothing about her. This is, to date, the only comic I’ve ever read featuring the character, and while it’s a decent story with a fun twist at the end, I still know next to nothing about Silver Banshee, other than that she kills with her voice and she’s searching for some old Irish book. But that would seem to be intentional on Byrne’s part, as this story simply sets up the mystery of the character to be solved another day.

Byrne gets some nice mileage out of Superman’s supposed death, showing us reactions from Lois, a few members of the Justice League, and Lex Luthor. Luthor’s scene is probably the best moment in the issue, as we get a new insight into him: We already know that he takes what he wants from whomever he desires and that he doesn’t take “no” for an answer, but here we learn that he will fly into a petulant, childish rage if he doesn’t get his way. Luthor whining that it’s “not fair” he didn’t get to kill Superman is a standout moment from the reboot thus far, in my opinion.

However, much as like a lot of this issue, I will pick a few nits with its internal timing. Silver Banshee is just strolling around Metropolis, killing people and browsing bookshops everywhere she goes. The SCU responds to her first killing, Superman is murdered, and then — a funeral. Is this something impromptu, thrown together the same day for some reason? Is it a day later? A week? Because at the funeral, Lois says Silver Banshee is still just wandering around the city doing her thing! Jimmy even catches up to her at a bookstore and goes inside after her. If she’s a known killer traipsing around in broad daylight, why isn’t SCU following at a distance and keeping people like Jimmy away?? None of it makes any sense.

But other than that, I like this one.

Next Week: Superman meets the Toyman in SUPERMAN #13.