I have to admit, I made a mistake in my last blog entry. When I said I didn't review any comics last year, I goofed. I reviewed six comics: Captain America #372, the 1983-84 Falcon mini-series (Issues One, Two, Three, and Four) and Justice League #221. Give them a read! I hope you enjoy them!
So, as part of my New Year's resolution, I decided to review a comic that was part of this storyline, and what better to start with was the first issue of the storyline: Action Comics #674!
First of all, I have to say, I do like the cover. It is a bit generic, but it is very well-drawn thanks to Dan Jurgens and Bob McLeod's inks compliment it wonderfully.
You may notice the triangle with the number on it. You see, at the time, there were four books focusing on Superman and his friends and enemies: Action Comics, Superman: The Man of Steel, The Adventures of Superman, and just plain Superman. Yup, there literally was a new Superman comic coming out every week. As a result, the creative teams of the books would collaborate to push the story along (They held regular "Super-Summits" to plot out storylines, which helped maintain cohesiveness). The triangles on the covers of the books basically were a little visual aid to readers to help them figure out in what order to read the books. The triangles made a brief return during the whole New Krypton thing a few years ago.
Anyway, let's take a look at the story itself!
"The Past is Prologue"
Writer: Roger Stern
Penciler: Bob McLeod
Inker: Denis Rodier
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
We come to the planet Kletus-4. This planet looks kind of like something you would find in Bravestarr or Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. One of the patrons is getting a little too touchy with a server. However, another patron does not take kindly to it. Who is this patron?
It's someone doing their best Clint Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy cosplay. It's not bad, but the poncho should not really be that colorful. The Man With No Name would have found that incredibly gaudy.
Mr. Touchy Feely doesn't take too kindly to Clint's objection, and tries to cut his chest. When that fails, a fight breaks out. Clint easily kicks the butts of everyone in the bar, revealing...Superman?!
You may be wondering why Superman seems so...off in these following panels. His costume is gray-and-black. His cape is missing. And he blasts a man out of the bar with his eyes.
Well, minor spoiler alert...that's not Superman. You see, that's Matrix, a shapeshifting lifeform. As for how Matrix took this form, I recommend you check out my review of Action Comics #644. I chose this issue at random. I swear. Anyway, an alien that looks kind of like a blob in a gray spacesuit finds Matrix and drags Matrix away.
Anyway, the fight is revealed to be a story that a patron is telling to Draaga, an alien warrior Superman fought and defeated recently. If you ever saw the episode of the 1990s Justice League cartoon episode "Warworld", you'd get an idea of who Draaga is. Anyway, Draaga is angry because he had challenged Superman to a fight to the death, and Superman beat him. At the time, Superman was under the mental influence of a Kryptonian artifact, and nearly killed him, before Draaga was rescued. Draaga feels his honor has been insulted, and desires to finish what he started with the Man of Steel.
Draaga finds himself encountering Maxima, who offers to help him with his quest.
The scene transitions to Metropolis, in which Jimmy Olsen is helping Bibbo Bibbowski shovel snow out of the front of Bibbo's bar, the Ace o' Clubs. Evidently Jimmy has lost his job, and Bibbo let him work for him, saying he remembers what it's like himself to be out of work. I like Bibbo. He's a really underrated part of Superman's supporting cast, and it's a shame he's been rather forgotten in recent years.
In a bit of a funny moment, Jimmy accidentally hits a mailman with a shovelful of snow. Bibbo has a laugh about it and Jimmy is apologetic.
Bibbo checks through the mail and Jimmy gets his pictures back from the developer. It was the early 90s. Jimmy is overjoyed because his pictures he took turned out very well, as he's hoping they will get him his job back.
The scene then transitions to Superman bursting into a warehouse. The men inside exclaimed that Superman shouldn't have been able to find them because the warehouse was lined with lead. However, Superman explains that since the warehouse was lead-lined, it stuck out like a sore thumb from the other warehouses. Whoops.
Superman then easily defeats them, revealing that the men are leftover members of Intergang, a mafia-style organization that used technology from Apokolips for its operations.In a small awesome moment, Superman grabs an Intergangster's gun and crushes it in his hand, making it explode.
Awesome. The Metropolis PD cleans it up, and Supes is on his way. I'm beginning to think that the creative team of Superman: The Animated Series were big fans of this era of Superman. Dan Turpin, Intergang, Bibbo, all appeared in the series. Anyway, we then get a brief cameo of the Hellgrammite, who is observing this, biding his time so he can assassinate Lex Luthor.
Superman then encounters Jimmy Olsen, who is celebrating how his pictures turn out. We then go to space, where an alien tries to remind Matrix of a previous adventure, thinking the alien is Superman. Matrix tries to explain that her memories are intertwined with Superman's, but the alien is not getting it. Maxima's ship arrives, and Draaga makes planetfall. Draaga calls Matrix out, thinking she's Superman. Matrix tries to clear things up, but Draaga is having none of it.
The alien tries to get Draaga to stop, but the former gladiator is hellbent on fighting the faux Superman to the death. Maxima watches this from her ship.
Clearly, she finds it more entertaining than her Almeracian soaps. I imagine Almeracian soap operas have lots of brawls and swordfights. Draaga continues the beating, and Matrix decides to turn invisible. Draaga is enraged, telling the alien that if Superman doesn't show himself, Draaga will beat the alien to death to avenge his honor, much to the alien's fright. Matrix then uses her invisibility and psychokinetic powers to get one up on the gladiator, confusing Maxima, because she's never seen Superman use those powers in the past. She reports this to an unknown party, who tells her to keep observing.
Draaga is able to get the upper hand and is about to finish Matrix off, when he shapeshifts into his Supergirl form. Draaga is understandably confused by this. And then Warworld appears.
The artificial planet transports the two into the arena, where a figure in a purple robe announces himself.
Supergirl revives, her eyes glowing green. She then beats the tar out of Draaga, mush to the crowd's joy. They're calling for her to kill the alien gladiator. Maxima and the alien appear next to Purple Robe. Maxima looks annoyed by him, but Purple Robe reminds her that her world is his. Basically, Warworld conquered her homeworld of Almerac and wrecked its forces.
Consider what I know about Maxima, I can imagine her trying to find some way to get some payback. I can't imagine a proud feisty warrior queen like her taking Purple Robe's order-giving for very long...
Supergirl stands triumphant over Draaga, Purple Robe reveals that Supergirl's artificial body makes not just her body malleable, but her mind as well. Supergirl announced to Purple Robe that she has defeated Draaga, and Purple Robe tells her to spare him, as he may still be useful. Purple Robe uses his power to make Supergirl think Superman is her enemy, and he reveals who he is...
...Brainiac. Yup, the metallic mental madman has control over Warworld, and seeks the destruction of Superman. And he intends to use Supergirl and Warworld to do it.
This issue was a rather enjoyable one. It had good action, and some great set-up for the storyline to come. I also thought it cleverly used dialogue to transition to a new character and location. That was one of the best parts of the issue to me. It managed to touch on every little storyline without dragging on, and it referenced past issues in a way that I could understand what was going on. I also thought McLeod's artwork was great. The art and colors were wonderful to look at. It's a setup issue, but it does it rather well.
This was a fun issue and it got me excited to read the next part of the story! If you find this issue somewhere cheap, pick this up. Heck, if you find the Panic in the Sky trade, pick it up to read the whole thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment