Review: Superman #156

I continue to navigate the current COVID-19 world of no new comics by dipping into the collection and covering interesting back issues. If they include some sort of infection, it's a bonus.

A couple of weeks ago, I covered Action Comics #366 in which Superman being cured from his infection with Virus X, So I figured why not cover Superman #156, 'The Last Days of Superman', the first appearance of Virus X, as far as I can tell.

It is a classic Silver Age story, deemed on the cover to be 'Not a Hoax' and 'Not a Dream' but real! The cover is certainly a grabber. Superman is in some isolation booth, saying goodbye to Supergirl, Krypto, and the Kandorians. he is dying from Virus X. And he needs his friends to heed his last wishes. His will is unfurled before him. You can see the concern on Kara's face, This is a winner by Curt Swan.

As for Virus X, it is as deadly as it seemed to be in the other story. It cannot be destroyed by heat, cold, the vacuum of space, or time. It is impervious.

One thing that I love about this issue is that Supergirl is really the star here. You will see how she is in charge of enacting Superman's wishes, executing his will, and still working tirelessly to try and cure her cousin. Kudos to writer Edmond Hamilton for giving Kara the space here to shine.

Can you figure out how Superman survives this before the ending?

On to the book.

Back Issue Box: Action Comics #366

The world is in the midst of a pandemic crisis with the COVID19 virus.

I continue to work in a busy emergency department but have been doing my best to socially distance myself as best as I can.

And as always, I try to think of interesting back issues to look at which either reflect current comic trends or even real life trends. With that in mind, I figured I could take a look at Action Comics #366, the end of the multi-part  Virus X storyline, which seemed somehow appropriate for the current times.

As this is a Supergirl site, the last chapter has the most Kara as well as standard bonkers Silver Age charm, so here we are.

To set the stage, Superman has contracted Virus X, a form of Kryptonian leprosy. Luthor got Clark to accidentally self-inoculate himself. It is unclear if the virus can be spread to humans (although we see Superman accidentally give it to a cat). So realizing he needs to get off Earth to save humanity from this plague, he rockets himself away. His plan is to cremate his dying body in the hottest sun in the universe.

This was a five part story by writer Leo Dorfman and artist Ross Andru, something relatively unheard of back in 1968. But Dorfman ramps up the drama during the story, having Superman avoiding loved ones, announcing his illness to the world, refusing to be sent into the Phantom Zone (for fear of infecting the criminals there), and looking back on his life.

Andru's pencils are solid throughout, especially on the 'melting face' afflicted Superman panels. And the whole arc comes with solid Neal Adams covers, including this one with Supergirl front and center.

On to the conclusion!

Back Issue Box: 'Dark Supergirl' In Superman #365

Dark Supergirl has raised her ugly head again in Justice League of America, perhaps readying to trample the heroic Kara under her black boot. The re-introduction of this 'bad girl' has sent ripples through Supergirl's fandom, the concern being that we might lose the hero that Supergirl has become under Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle.

With that concern in mind, I thought I would thumb through the back issue box and look back at some other stories where Supergirl turned away from the light. It is a fairly common theme to explore. At least in these older stories, the darker side of her personality is typically explained by mind-control and magic. It isn't something  bubbling under her surface.

I already have reviewed two of my favorite Silver age examples here with Supergirl as a witch ( http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2009/08/back-issue-box-review-action-324-fire.html ) and here with Supergirl as Satan Girl (
http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2010/11/back-issue-box-adventure-comics-313-and.html ).

Moving into the Bronze Age, I thought I would review Superman #365. It starts off with a nice cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano. In particular the darker palette and shadows in Supergirl's hair add to the effect of a power-mad Kara.

"When Kryptonians Clash!" was written by Cary Bates and drawn by Superman artist extraordinaire Curt Swan. It really did a fine job at looking at the relationship between the cousins as well as how difficult it would be to be Superman.

The opening page sets the stage. A rather weary looking Superman bemoans the fact that his 'vacation' has been anything but. He has been running ragged around the globe, helping with one catastrophe after another. Whether it be flaming skyscrapers, broken dams, or even a single bus slipping off a country road, no disaster is too small for the Man of Steel.

It has been five sleepless days and nights! Can even Superman keep up this nonstop pace?

In what I thought was a nice show of how close the super-family was, Superman does take a few moments off to meet Supergirl for their weekly rendezvous. How great is it that they made it a point to see each other every week just to catch up.

Superman hopes to keep the visit short so he can finally grab a nap but that isn't going to happen. Superman stumbles upon an ill Supergirl. With the telltale green splotchy rash on her face and hands, Superman diagnoses her with an infection of Virus X. He surmises that she must have been exposed at some point in space.

His nap will have to wait.

Virus X was seen in Action Comics #362-366 (a rare 4 parter for that time period) where Superman nearly died before discovering that exposure to White Kryptonite would purge the infection from his system.

Now how White Kryptonite, deadly to plant life, can act as an anti-viral is beyond me. Regardless, Superman takes Supergirl to the Fortress of Solitude where he sets up a healing machine with White K and begins to bathe Kara in its rays.

With a moment's respite, Superman slumps in a chair, asking his super-computer to analyze him for signs of fatigue. Unable to keep his eyes open, he falls asleep ... but only for 60 seconds. His world-wide crisis monitor wakes him with an alarm. A volcano is about to erupt in Chile. He is off again!

While he is gone, Supergirl awakens, refreshed and ready. With the healing machine above her still warm, she guesses what has happened.

As she strolls around the Fortress, she sees the computer screen that had analyzed Superman's recent actions. He is mentally fatigued, operating at 99.91% efficiency. While Superman may be acting nearly perfect, any small mistake with his powers would be disastrous. Supergirl decides that she needs to help her cousin just as he has helped her.

Again, it was great to see the cousins acting so close during the early part of this issue.

So while Superman is helping out with an oil spill, Supergirl helps save a bus from being crushed by an avalanche.

In what is the strangest and weakest part of the story, Supergirl decides that she will silently tail Superman, helping him out like a super guardian angel. Wouldn't it be better to simply go up to Superman, explain what she saw, and tell him that she'll step in for him for the next couple of hours so he can rest?

It does give Bates and Swan the opportunity to quickly revisit Supergirl's origins including her initial 'emergency secret weapon' role and her eventual introduction to the public.

But no matter what, Superman seems to be doing okay on his own. Even here, where Supergirl thinks he has thrown a rocket full of nuclear waste into an oncoming comet, she is proven wrong. Superman thought ahead to have advanced guidance in the missile.

Maybe 99.91% is good enough?

Unfortunately, the string of natural disasters keeps Superman extremely busy. The next emergency is a forest fire that will keep him away from a ceremony in Metropolis in his honor. Supergirl decides that she'll fill in for him. (Again, maybe she should have stepped in at the forest fire so he could enjoy his moment).

And what a ceremony as the Chamber of Commerce unveils a glass S-shield which will grace the Superman Museum.

At first, Supergirl gives a gracious speech, extolling her cousin's virtues.

But that changes quickly as she then turns things around calling Superman 'egotistical, self-centered, and heartless'! Supergirl sounds almost jealous as she says that she should be number one in the minds of the human race.

And to hammer home the point, she smashes the glass shield ... much to the glee of a cloaked alien watching the whole thing. Could he be behind this?

She then brings the fight to Superman. After briefly skirmishing in the nighttime sky, Supergirl streaks to the Fortress with Superman following close behind.

Before running into Supergirl, Superman sees that he is 0.09% less super than usual. Maybe he has made a mistake! Maybe his initial diagnosis of Virus X was wrong? Or maybe the Virus X infection was a smokescreen for something more sinister? He never did do a thorough medical evaluation on Kara, jumping to the obvious conclusion. That is never good for a physician to do.

But he doesn't have time to ponder it at length. Supergirl shoots him with Brainiac's shrinking ray ... and the safety is off. She hopes to shrink him down to nothingness. And then she'll be Earth's champion.

Thinking quickly, Superman lures Supergirl into the interplanetary zoo. He then startles the Tridyst beast of planet Epsolon. The animal unleashes its biologic defenses, slamming Supergirl with paralysis rays which stun her.

With Supergirl down., Superman is able to reverse the gun and enlarge himself again.

After a more thorough medical evaluation, Superman discovers what happened. The Virus X infection was a diversion, masking an energy-draining radiation in her system. The radiation made each minute that pass seem like a sleepless hour. And while Kryptonians don't necessarily need sleep, they do need to dream. This dream-deprivation made Supergirl move quickly from irrational to insane, making her the perfect weapon to attack Superman.

So she wasn't really dark.

Luckily, that radiation was also able to be expunged from Supergirl's body.

As the cousins discuss what happened, the alien from Metropolis teleports into the Fortress. He asks for sanctuary. He was behind what happened to Supergirl and he knows that since he 'failed' in destroying Superman that his superiors will destroy him. He is right ... he is vaporized.

Who was he?

The following issues actually tell a very clever story. Superman discovers this plot with his cousin was the work of the Superman Revenge Squad. In a strategy to finally end their villainy, Superman has his body genetically altered into a lizard-man like creature and temporarily mind-wipes himself so he can infiltrate the gang with worrying a telepath will sniff him out. He does too good a job and eventually suffers a split personality where he wants to destroy himself.

This was a pretty good issue for its time. Curt Swan draws such a wonderful Supergirl. While she is the 'villain' of the book, she is actually treated pretty well here. And, outside of her insane moments, the cousins act like loving family members.

This book is definitely $1 box material at most cons. It isn't of any major importance for a Supergirl collection although any Swan is worth it. There is even a panel recreation of the iconic Action Comics #285 cover within the story.

More 'Dark Supergirl' stories coming soon.

Overall grade: B/B+

Back Issue Box: Superman Adventures #52

What do you do when you run a Supergirl comic blog and Supergirl isn't on the stands? You head to the back issue box!

I decided to review Superman Adventures #52 even though Supergirl, Kara In-Ze from Argo, is a sort of plot device, not a major player. Mark Millar is on writing duties here. Always hard to believe that he started on the all ages books given where he has ended up. And he has been in the news recently for his thoughts on the comic market.

But there are some other pieces of this 'done in one' issue that resonate with an old soul like me and made me think it would be fun to review. The main plot deals with Supergirl dying from an ancient and alien infection. It sort of feels and looks like the old Virus X stories from the seventies. There is a plot point in this which remind me greatly of the Superman III movie. There is a scene that reminds me of a Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen cover from the Silver Age.  Lex teams up with Superman (sort of) which lines up with the current Superman title.  And it ends with a sort of homage to a famous Superman: The Animated Series moment. That's a lot of hooks!

Aluir Amancio provides the art which mirrors the look of S:TAS completely. This could easily have been an episode. And the absolute legend Terry Austin is on inks.

On to the book!

Review: Action Comics #21

Action Comics #21 came out this week and ended the brief Andy Diggle (1 issue) and Tony Daniel era (?) on the book. Andy Diggle, who walked off the book after his first issue continues to get credit as a co-plotter but I have to wonder just how much this story resembles what he had in mind. Daniel does the co-plotting, scripting, and art on the book. I have to say that I can only wonder just how great this book would have been if both of these creators stayed on board and had their vision of the book allowed to blossom.

I say that because there are a lot of very good moments in this book. In particular, there are some great panel progressions that really tell a story in a way that is unique to comics. And Superman sounds like Superman here. And Lois feels like Lois, which is a refreshing change from recent days. But, I also feel like this story was wrapped up quickly and tweaked to explain some things a bit too easily to make me feel that this is the exact finale that Diggle had in mind.

This isn't a perfect book. As I said, the ending is a little too easy and a somewhat off screen. This book takes place only a year ago but Jimmy seems a bit too young and naive to have become the Jimmy we saw shacking up in Clark's apartment just 12 months later.

But it is a very good Superman book, satisfying and entertaining. And that makes this somewhat a bittersweet review. Because I will again have to ponder 'what might have been'?

Last issue, Superman was battling a giant monster created by Hybrid-virus mutated humans. And in an odd sort of riff on Syndrome from The Incredibles, Luthor (who created the Hybrid virus) dons a super-suit to destroy the thing and be recognized as Earth's hero.

Now how a nanobot virus designed to re-write Superman's DNA could infect humans and make them monstrous and able to merge, I have no idea. So I wonder if this was what Diggle initially wanted. As I sometimes need to do, I will roll with it.

One thing I like is Lois' intrepid and investigative nature surging to the front. While emergency services are clearing the block while wearing their hazmat suits, Lois is walking through the rubble to get her story. Wonderful stuff.

Superman uses the little knowledge he has of the mutated creature need for oxygen to make it disassemble into its component humans. As he plans his next steps, he sees a mutated Lois crying out for help. Of course, it is explained away as a hallucination (like the Jimmy one from the first chapter).

That revelation was almost too quick for my taste. We had just seen Lois leap into the hot zone with little concern for her own well-being. For a second I thought the mirage might be real. Unfortunately, we get the reality of the situation the next panel.

I still wonder if the 'hallucination' was part of the first plot by Diggle or a simple solution to explain away the Jimmy 'death' before.

Dr. Veritas does show up as a hologram to provide a possible cure. The virus was weakened by red sun rays (I still don't know if I understand that either) in her lab so she teleports in a Red Sun light cannon. She isn't sure if the light will kill those infected or just eliminate the virus but it is an answer.

As I said above, it is a bit too easy of a solution, literally appearing on the stage.

One thing I did like was that despite knowing he will be severely weakened by the red sun rays (and already hobbled by the virus his body is fighting), Superman says he will stay until the job is done. That is what Superman would do.

Lex arrives. I love the this sort of old-school feel of Lex in a power suit. And he actually gets to kick Superman around a bit. Between the red sun and the virus, Superman isn't at top form. And this sounds like Lex. He talks about himself as a force of nature protecting the world from the alien threat of Superman. I love scenes like this where Lex talks about saving the planet while surrounded by the death and carnage he has wrought.

Amazingly, the red sunlight seems to cure the infected as they de-evolve back to their human form and are shuttled to safety by Lois who has finally arrived at the scene.

Now one thing I didn't realize about this story is that this is Luthor's coming out party as a super-villain. I thought that Lex would have been established as a villain more than a year ago. But it is here, in this battle, that Superman realizes just who his arch-enemy is.

This is one of those panel progressions that I love. The gleeful Luthor revealed by x-ray vision, the battered Superman whispering his name, and the shocked face of Lois realizing who is responsible for this horror show.

Fortunately, Lois has her phone ready and has recorded it all. Unfortunately, in all the craziness, she drops it into the Metropolis river.

This was another nice moment.

I love Lex's cavalier attitude about the sanctity of human life. Despite the victims being apparently cured, Lex implies he is going to kill them to control the spread of infection. He blames Superman for letting them go free and spread the Hybrid threat to the world. Ummm ... that's the virus you created Lex! It shows just how deluded Lex is.

And there is something classic about the glowing red eyes in the solid black panel to convey how angry Superman is.

If the 'red sun' cure seemed easy for the infected humans, Superman's cure seems just as easy. How many times have we seen the mega-dose of yellow sun rays expunge any difficult plot point that faces Superman?

I will say it is a very powerful image by Daniel here.

Rejuvenated and virus-free, Superman flies down and knocks Lex unconscious.

Again, nice panel progression here, even if it furthers the notion that a portion of humanity fears Superman. At least here, it seems plausible. Superman is floating over the defeated Lex, anger in his eyes. The bystanders know who Lex is and don't understand why Superman would clock him. 

This three panel sequence showing an angry Superman who then is ashamed of hearing people sounding afraid of him and then looking up and being more heroic, knowing that is the person he needs to be. This was just fantastic, showing a younger Superman.

While Lois and Jimmy (who she calls her assistant!) tell the police all they overheard, implicating Luthor in the disaster, it simply doesn't have the power as the recorded confession she had on her phone.

Well, when things settle down and while having lunch, Clark says he did some searching and found Lois' phone. He couldn't let her have all the fun. Plus, of course, it is important to he.

For those out there who feel that Lois and Clark should be together, panels like that second one are wonderful. We saw some flirting in the first issue of this arc. Here we see Lois still has feelings for Clark, even if Jon walks into the restaurant on the next panel. Even Clark admits he and Lois are just friends ... even when it is clear he wishes there was more.

So overall a story that had a lot of excellent elements and big art when it needed it. We have a perfect Lois. We have the 'origin' of Luthor as a criminal. There was an overall feeling that this was the right sort of Superman. And that was enough to let me overlook some of the odd quirks and holes in the plot. If this was a primer on what Andy Diggle was planning for the book then I fear we really lost out.

If only ...

Overall grade: B+

November 2023 DC Comics Solicits

The November DC solicits came out last week. Here is a link to check them out:
https://aiptcomics.com/2023/08/18/november-2023-dc-comics-solicitations/

DC continues to churn through events hoping one will catch fire. From Dark Crisis to Lazarus Planet to Knight Terrors to now ... Beast World? I have become a bit more choosy with which things I buy when it comes these things nowadays. Knight Terrors I only picked up a couple of the minis. This one I think I won't be getting anything outside of the Metropolis special seen below. 

I'd love to hear if this grabs anyone. On to the books.

TITANS: BEAST WORLD TOUR: METROPOLIS #1
Written by NICOLE MAINES, JOSHUA WILLIAMSON, ZIPPORAH SMITH, and DAN JURGENS
Art by MAX RAYNOR, ANTHONY MARQUES, and EDWIN GALMON
Cover by MIKEL JANIN
Variant covers by CLAYTON HENRY and CULLY HAMNER

As the ramifications of the Titans’ battle with Starro reverberate across the globe, Metropolis is hit with an unexpected surge of electricity from…is that—? No. It can’t be. Livewire? BUT SHE’S A—A—okay you’re going to have to read this one to believe it. Meanwhile, Supergirl and Dreamer take on the terror of the Flamebird, Power Girl is no longer, and amid the chaos a threat continues to grow on the horizon. All signs point to a major new shift in the world of Superman in Beast World Tour: Metropolis!

This is the month after the Supergirl Special so I am hoping her being here for this means she doesn't decide to go off-world again. 

Poor Power Girl. She has a big spotlight on her these days but is still transmogrified into a phoenix!

Every month we seem to hear that there is a major shift in the Superman world. Given Jon's appearance on the cover and the complete lack of mention in the solicit, I wonder if something is going to happen to him.

Review: Final Crisis 3

Major spoilers ahead, so be warned. Also, this is a long post because the issue was so dense, so be warned about that too!

Well, the much anticipated Final Crisis 3 came out yesterday and it did not disappoint. Okay … it disappointed a little. I think most of us thought that this issue would have the Mary Marvel/Kara battle that we have heard about. It did not.

But what it did have was a massive amount of information to digest as this story moves forward. Remember that this is the issue where evil wins, so this is a relentless downward spiral with a few bright points. Here are the highlights, with some special attention to the Kara pieces.

The opening pages show The Question and Frankenstein’s Monster with SHADE agents investigating Club Dark Side. The bald man acting as Darkseid in issue 1 is shown dead and mummified, a way to show that the humans housing the spirits of the New Gods burn out quickly. We also see a new version of the Source Wall, the burning hand replaced by a pixilated appearing computer icon. The hand writes ‘Know Evil’ … the significance of the version of the hand comes into play later.

Suddenly outside the club, a being falls form the sky. It is Uberfraulein, the Nazi Supergirl from Earth 10 (the Earth X equivalent in the new multiverse).

She says ‘der himmel blutungen’ which is ‘the sky is bleeding’ in German. It is unclear is she dies or is merely severely wounded.

Obviously the Source Walls between the multiverses are breaking down and cross-overs are happening. The universe is falling apart.

We have seen this version of Supergirl before … in the sketch pad of the banished Monitor on Earth. Here is that sketch from Final Crisis 1.


This Monitor seems to understand instinctively that something threatening the universe is happening but he can’t quite put his finger on it. We see him watching news where the drawing Metron gave Anthro in issue 1 as a way to defeat evil is now appearing in discovered cave paintings as well as crop circles. My guess is he plays a huge role by the end of Final Crisis.

We cut to a very nice scene of Jay Garrick talking to Iris West about how he ran with Barry Allen trying to stop the bullet that killed Orion. He assures her it was *THE* Barry, not a clone, time traveler, or version from a parallel Earth. Jay explains how he could not keep up with Barry or Wally and that they continued to speed through the time stream. More on that later …

Then we have 2 very quick scenes. First, The Human Flame is exposed to the Anti-Life Equation becoming a mindless warrior for Libra. Libra offers Luthor the choice: become an anti-life automaton himself or ‘renounce science’ and become a servant of Darkseid. Knowing Luthor my guess is he swears allegiance and will eventually try to turn the tables on his ‘masters’. Then, we see Superman as Clark sitting vigil at Lois’ hospital bed where he agrees to travel off Earth with a mysterious person (maybe a Monitor?) to try to save Lois. Strange to think Superman would leave Earth in such a dire state to save only Lois, but there it is.

Hal Jordan is then hauled off to Oa by the Alpha Lanterns (including the possessed one) to be tried for the attacks against Orion and John Stewart. He goes willingly. Suddenly the world’s heroes are without Superman, Batman, Hal, and J’onn. Fearing something big is happening, Alan Scott initiates Article X, the super-hero draft last used in WWII. He realizes that an army needs to be formed to fight whatever threat is out there. We see a number of heroes get served including Kara.

Look at this nice shot of Kara’s apartment. Makes me think that Jones was going for 'innocent' with the cover. A sewing machine? A guitar? Some love for streaky! I love it!! But look closely at this shot. I am convinced nothing is in these panels without significant forethought. Looks like Kara is re-designing her costume. The prominently shown sketch actually looks intriguing … sort of a short sleeve version of the Matrix costume (my favorite): full short-sleeve shirt with gold trim, pointed belt, and red skirt.


Even though this is a tiny pic, I think this is an upgrade from the current belly shirt uniform. I hope that this is what we see Igle drawing in the Supergirl title.



And here is the Article X army.


There is Kara in the upper right. Nice to know Alan Scott respects here enough to put her on his world-saving team. But check out this roster ... sort of a strange army. There are a lot of ‘no power’ or ‘low power’ heroes here. This would not be the wet-works super-strong phalanx I would have formed to fight some universal threat. That said, Morrison once had the Atom kill Darkseid in JLA, so maybe these guys are just who we need.

Next we are taken to Japan where Mister Miracle and Sonny Sumo are under attack by some Anti-life thugs and are rescued by the Super Young Team, a team I think is being set up as the new Forever People.

This segues to Bludhaven where Wonder Woman (probably the last big gun for the heroes) is attacked by the now Darkseid-upgraded Mary Marvel. She looks like a mix of Female Fury, a Xenobite from Hellraiser, and Cyndi Lauper. But she does have power.




And while it looks like Wonder Woman may be able to defeat her physically, Mary performs the true purpose of the confrontation … inoculating Diana with an Anti-life virus to use her as a disease carrier to the world. Then we see the Anti-life equation being transmitted to every email address in the world and opening itself up. Funny how this is the carrier wave for Darkseid … the internet. Maybe that is why the source wall hand looked like a cursor hand. With anti-life opened up world wide, evil wins (albeit off-screen).

The last scene we see is Barry and Wally slipping out of the time stream several weeks past the Anti-life release. The world is now in Darkseid's grasp. Barry asks the question I have been asking. Why did he have to come back to this world?



And what a world it is! Evil has won! The last panel is of a mutated Wonder Woman leading a pack of new Female Furies (looks like Mad Harriet, Catwoman, and Giganta).

Whew!! That is a lot of story for one issue. A lot of story!

Okay, so what about Final Crisis? I had been underwhelmed before this issue with the title so far. I did not like Infinite Crisis at all. I liked Crisis on Infinite Earths for all it did (outside of killing off Kara) to streamline the DC universe. But Final Crisis so far seemed to be spinning its wheels a bit before issue 3.

But I also am a huge huge fan of Grant Morrison. I know that sometimes his stories start off inscrutable and come together in a fantastic way. Still, in some ways I like my major cross-over event mini-series to be like summertime ‘popcorn’ movies. Sometimes I want to watch 'Robocop' and not 'The City of Lost Children'. This series has not been linear story-telling in a standard 3 act format. What we have is a slow build-up with hinted at plot lines and subtly revealed story. But in Grant I trust. The first 2 issues showed us all the players, all the machinations, building up to this issue when we finally start to see all the dominos fall. This is Morrison at his best. We saw the threads early on; now we are seeing the tapestry. Sure everything isn’t laid out easily but so what … this is great stuff. And this issue makes me appreciate the earlier issues much more as I see know small things coming to fruition.

My guess is that the Article X army was somewhere safe from the Anti-Life release and now will fight to bring down Darkseid. It looks like Kara will have a decent role in this Crisis. This also means that the Kara/Mary Marvel fight will happen somewhere in the next issues.

Overall grade: A

Review: Superman:Doomed #2

Superman:Doomed #2 came out this week and I am going to be honest and say that I am thrilled that this arc is over.

It isn't as if there weren't fine moments in this somewhat drawn out mega-crossover. There were. In fact, there were plenty of fine moments in this issue, many of which I will share. But finding those moments felt at times like panning for gold. You need to work your way through a lot of silt to find the treasure.

For every great character moment, for every nuance, for every bit of heroes acknowledging what an inspiration Superman there were many more empty cliffhangers, dropped subplots, and character gaffes.

Perhaps most annoying was the concept of the 'infected Superman' which changed issue to issue ... page to page. Was it an infection out of control? Could he will himself back to normal? Was he cured by 'good feelings' at one point? Was he dying? Without clearly understanding the threat of this Doomsday virus, I didn't feel invested. In one issue Superman is so out of control he exiles himself into space. In the next, Baka's warm feelings completely cures him. Huh??

And then there is the 'real villain' of the piece Brainiac. His plot is also something of a jumbled mess. He is draining the minds of humans starting in Smallville and Metropolis. He sends down drones that are a feint. He has the Cyborg Superman as a sort of misdirection. And he has a ship that in some issues is 4x the size of Earth but in others is like the JLA satellite. At least in Doomed #2 we find out his plan.

As if adding to the disjointed feeling of the overall arc, this issue has 9 credited artists. Each page is beautiful. But you can't go from Lashley to Churchill to Herbert without feeling a little dizzy from the stylistic changes.

Now listen ... I am about to show you the high points. And they are good high points. But as a whole Doomed was like a runny omelet. Some bites were delicious. But mostly it was a mess.

Last issue ended with Brainiac's ship arriving and Superman deciding the only way to break into the Collector ship and stop him is to go full-Doomsday mode. He sheds his humanity and lets the Doomsday in him surge. See ... maybe I am trying to think about this a bit too medically. How does this even happen? From human to Doomsday because he willed the infection to go out of control??

There are only a few free minds on the planet and Lana and Lois are among them. I like that first panel with the two most important women in Clark's life looking up, confident he will save everyone. It is nice that they have faith in him.

And I also liked the next panel explaining the coloring snafu of a couple of issues back when Lois was her normal skin tone. She turns green when she uses her psionic powers. Nice recovery.

 Superdoom basically begins tearing through the ship, hoping to get to the core and disable/dismantle the Brainiac tech.

While Lana and Lois were on the same page just before, here we see how they differ. And it might be the first time I haven't liked Lana in the Pak era.

Lois tells Clark to not lose himself to the monster, to not do something he might regret. But Lana ... she outright tells him to kill Brainiac. It makes me think that maybe Lana doesn't understand Clark quite as well as I thought she did.

 Like much of this arc, a lot of time takes place on the mental plane. Brainiac might be safe in his control room and Superdoom might be running through walls but the real confrontation is taking place in the mind as Brainiac tells Clark his plot.

It turns out that Brainiac is gathering all the sentient mind energy he can. He knows that observation can change reality. He hopes to have enough 'observer power' to recreate the universe.

It is a riff on the old 'light will behave like a wave or a particle depending on the belief of the observer' experiment. But it is a bit much to swallow.

But let's say that I decide to swallow it. Let's say that Brainiac needs lots of minds to do this (indeed he says he has already drained billions). The last place you would ever go is Earth!! Why go to the place with the guy who has trounced you over and over? Drain every other planet you find. Why poke the beehive?

 Back on Earth, Brainiac discovers that the resistance is hiding in the Fortress. So he sends his troops in hoping to distract them. One of his army is the Cyborg Superman.

Now after being sullied and mistreated in the prior big Superman crossovers, Greg Pak and Charles Soule treat her very well in her few moments in the book.

First off, the Cyborg tells her of Brainiac's plans, saying that Brainiac could give them back Krypton. He asks her who would even care about Earth when that could happen. It is basically the same hook that H'El tried to get Kara to help him The same.

And yet it is clear Kara has grown a bit. She isn't lured by that anymore. She cares about Earth and wallops him with a nice left jab.

 Again, conversing in their minds, Brainiac warns Superman what is going to happen if the fight on Earth continues, if Superman doesn't allow Brainiac to rewrite history.

Supergirl will kill her father the Cyborg. Then she will be forced to kill Superman who will be out of control as Doomsday. Then she will become infected by the spores and become Doomsday herself.

I had to include this page. There is something very meta about this page with an enraged Kara, having killed her father, splitting Superman in two and becoming a monster. It is drawn by Ian Churchill who drew the Jeph Loeb and early Joe Kelly Supergirl issues, the one where she is a monster who gunned down her classmates and was trying to kill Superman.

That has to be why he was chosen to draw these pages right? It would have fit right into the last Supergirl series, somewhere around issue #10 I would say.

That said, Churchill does draw the bottom of the costume differently. Look at the second panel. The red area is broader and it looks more like gym shorts than a bathing suit. I like that way more than the usual interpretation.

This is a very good page by Pak with a very good moment for Supergirl.

Superman tell Brainiac is that he doesn't understand the cousins. Kara might have been a little out of control at one point but she won't kill the Cyborg.

And she doesn't. Instead she just pounds him and is victorious.

After seeing him utterly defeat her and kill her in her own book a couple of times over, it is great to see Kara finally win here.

But this is Superman and Brainiac's battle on the psychic plane.

Brainiac enters the marauding Superdoom's mind and shows Clark possible futures ... if only Superman will let the Coluan recreate the universe. In one of them, Steel and Lana marry and become the heroes of Metropolis allowing Superman to retire.

In another, drawn by Dave Bullock, Superman's very presence has an effect on humanity. The world becomes a better place, inspired by Superman. Crime and evil fades away. And Batman gets to retire!

But these glimpses into a possible peaceful future doesn't change the fact that the universe would be rewritten by a tyrant. Superman is able  to shrug these off as folly.

Bullock's style is pleasingly like Darwyn Cooke's. It works for this sequence.

Oh yeah ... remember that subplot where Wonder Woman went into the Phantom Zone to convince Mongul to use Warworld to attack Brainiac? Remember?

Well, we get reminded of it for 2 pages. Diana fires Warworld from within the Zone, blasting Brainiac's ship, weakening Brainiac's defenses and resolve.

Can you fire a weapon from within the Zone, through a portal, and out into the universe??

And I think of the time spent in the Phantom Zone over the issues - hunting Dr. Xa-Du, fighting Mongul, etc. It all seems like a waste of time as none of it seemed to impact the story greatly.

With Brainiac weakened by Superdoom beating him up, the mental plane becomes something of an even playing field. In fact Lois is able to join Superman there to try to battle Brainiac.

In this state, Brainiac's true intentions are finally revealed. His origin includes him losing his wife and child. He is anguished by this. He wants a universe where they are still in his life. And that touches Superman. When Lois is about to psionically kill Brainiac, Superman talks her down.

They should want peace, not punishment.

It is a nice moment showing the core of Superman's beliefs.

That said, I am a bit tired of the 'sympathetic back story for a villain'.

This stay of execution is something of a pause. Brainiac ends up continuing his assault on Earth, is killing the population by draining them, and still wants to recreate the universe. There is no easy way to stop this plot now that it has gone this far.

The only solution is for Lois to drain Brainiac of all his power and then shove it into Superman.

Again, I have some problems with this. Brainiac is the most powerful psionic in this universe (personally I just miss him being super-intelligent). So how can Lois, a neophyte given powers by Brainiac be capable enough to drain him.

And then giving them to Superman?

Look at this panel. Is this what we want Superman to be? This monstrous amalgam. Can't we just have Superman? You know what it reminds me of ...

That's right. Morrison looked into the future.

And then a whole bunch of things happen that I don't know if I quite follow.

Superman, energized by his powers, Doomsday strength, and billions of sentients mental energy, grabs Brainiac and flies him to a black hole. Or maybe he creates the black hole with his 'observation powers'.  Somehow all of this strips Lois of her Brainiac power and rids Superman of all the Doomsday virus particles.

It may be that both Brainiac and Superman head through the black hole ... it's hard to tell. At the very least Superman shoves Brainiac through it.


So is it the black hole or the observation powers that does all this. I guess I have to roll with it.


But once again, the whole 'Doomsday infection' is so convoluted that it is hard to wrap my head around. Gravity cured him? Good feelings? And as this infection was the crux of this whole arc, I am both irked and underwhelmed.

But within the black hole, Brainiac seems to have been placed in a Hypertime like area of alternate realities.

There is a lot to digest here. That's a pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths JSA (based on Huntress costume). That's Plastic Man and Uncle Sam on Earth X, also pre-COIE. There's Lord Volt and Lady Quark, peri-COIE. But also a red trunked Superman, the Flashpoint world, the vampire Batman from the Red Rain Elseworlds. And a classic Harley Quinn!

This really had nothing to do with Doomed and might be the best page, with great art by Aaron Kuder.

So, mercifully, Doomed ends.

For this issue, we have Lois having faith in Superman, that great moment of compassion by Superman, the future sequence with a retired Batman, and all the Supergirl stuff as high points. But I have to weigh that against all the low points here ... the concept of rewriting the universe, the Lois power levels, the cure at the end. And against the big issues I have had with the Doomed arc itself, the feints, missteps, and inconsistencies.

Overall grade: C