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.

SUPERMAN #9 (BACKUP STORY)

It was brought to my attention by reader David P. in the comments to this past Monday's look at SUPERMAN #9 that I had not covered the issue's backup story, "Metropolis 900 Mi". I admitted that the Joker story felt a bit short to me when I read it, but I didn't actually go back to count pages and verify. Well, it turns out that this popular tale was inexplicably omitted from the MAN OF STEEL vol. 6 collection reprinting the issue! Not cool, DC. Not cool at all.

Anyway, I managed to find scans of all seven pages online, so here in a special Wednesday bonus post is the missing material from Monday's review:

“METROPOLIS 900 MI”
Story & Pencils: John Byrne | Inks: Karl Kesel
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Tom Ziuko | Editors: Michael Carlin & Andrew Helfer

The Plot: At a small diner called Ralli's, nine hundred miles outside Metropolis, Lex Luthor presents a waitress named Jenny with an offer to move to the city with him for a month in exchange for one million dollars. Jenny chews Luthor out, but he tells her he'll be waiting in his car outside for ten minutes. The other waitresses discuss the offer with Jenny and, in their own ways, suggest she take it. Jenny makes a phone call to her husband, but hangs up before telling him anything -- then she's told by another waitress that Luthor has left before the ten minute deadline expired.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Luthor brags that he owns "ninety percent of the state" as he hits on Jenny. He also says that he's had eight wives -- something mentioned previously by Lois in THE MAN OF STEEL, but which I think I forgot to note here at the time.

At the story's conclusion, Luthor orders his driver, Cynthia, to return him to Metropolis and "Project Overload", which we'll learn more about when we get to SUPERMAN #10 in a couple weeks.

SUPERMAN #9 & ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #432

“TO LAUGH AND DIE IN METROPOLIS”
Story & Pencils: John Byrne | Inks: Karl Kesel
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Tom Ziuko | Editors: Michael Carlin & Andrew Helfer

The Plot: A fake Superman robs the Metropolis Diamond Exchange. When Superman responds to the robbery, the imposter reveals itself as a robot with a nuclear bomb in its chest. Superman flies the robot into space, where it explodes, then returns to Metropolis to find that the Joker was behind the robbery. Joker calls on Superman with Jimmy Olsen’s signal watch, revealing that he’s captured, Jimmy, Perry White, and Lois Lane, and is holding them hostage in lead-lined coffins around the city. But Superman easily determines the coffins are empty, then tracks down the Joker, saves his friends, and brings the Clown Prince of Crime to jail.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Clark receives a package in the mail at the Daily Planet, containing his mother’s scrapbook which was stolen by agents of Lex Luthor in issue 2. Soon after, in Smallville, Lana Lang is approached by a strange probe which knocks her out.

Upon returning to Earth after disposing of the bomb, Superman attempts to fly and falls flat on his face, furthering the sub-plot about his powers periodically acting up.

Maggie Sawyer puts in an appearance, allowing Superman to explain to her that he and Batman are not friends. Moments later, Superman notes that Jimmy created his signal watch himself, and muses that the young man is destined for great things.

WONDER WOMAN #8

“TIME PASSAGES”
Plotter/Penciler: George Pérez | Scripters: George Pérez & Len Wein
Inker: Bruce Patterson | Letterers: John Costanza & L.S. MacIntosh
Colorist: Tatjana Wood | Editor: Karen Barger

The Plot: Princess Diana’s recent activities are recapped by Julia Kapatelis, Etta Candy, Vanessa Kapatelis, and Myndi Mayer via a journal entry, letter to Steve Trevor, diary entry, and letter to Julia, respectively.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: As recapped in the various letters and journals: Following the Ares Affair, Diana spoke at the United Nations, then retired to Julia’s summer home to mull over her recent actions in man’s world, but eventually went back into action against G. Gordon Godfrey. Afterward, she allowed the U.S. military to test her power levels, then went on a publicity tour arranged by Mindi, which included speaking at Vanessa’s school, meeting the president, and going on The Tonight Show.

I don’t recall it was made explicitly clear last issue (though it’s possible I’m remembering since I set Wonder Woman aside to read a dozen or so Superman issues), but we’re told here that Hippolyte has given Diana a limited amount of time in man’s world before she must return to Themyscira.