Action Comics Annual #1 (1987)

It's October, which means it's the month of Halloween. The time when the demons, ghosts, ghouls and goblins come out to play. Where the barrier between the land of the living and the world of the undead is at its most permeable. The Man of Steel and the Dark Knight live in a world where monsters are real, and not just of the human variety. These monsters can have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and they prey on humans simply because they can. In this little tale I'll talk about for Halloween, the two mighty heroes find themselves crossing paths with such a monster. How do they handle the situation? Let's find out in my review of Action Comics Annual #1!

The cover is a bit basic, but it is well-drawn. It's an Art Adams and Dick Giordano piece. There's not a lot to say about it, really. It's just Superman and Batman posing, with bats behind them. That's literally it. The only thing that hints about what's going on in the cover is the "Cry Vampire!" text. The bats could also be considered a hint (as bats are associated with vampires), but it could also just be Batman being a diva again.

"Skeeter!"
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: Art Adams
Inker: Dick Giordano
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Letterer: Albert DeGuzman
Editor: Mike Carlin
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

The story begins with an angry mob, complete with torches (but strangely no pitchforks) chasing someone through a swamp in the dark of night. They're desperate to catch their quarry. But who are they chasing?

"Ah knew Ah shouldn't have put that whopper cushion on the Mayor's seat!"

I am amazed they got away with blatantly putting Mr. Peanut on her shirt. The young woman (whom the mob have dubbed Skeeter) unintentionally leads the mob towards her home, which scares her. She's already in danger from these men, she doesn't want them to get her family. Skeeter draws the mob away, and jumps in a lake to hide. The men give up the chase, as they'll never be able to get to her before sunrise. The mysterious blonde is able to make it to her home, lamenting that she feels so weak and tired.

Skeeter starts to cry, lamenting she should have never left home. But her parents wanted her to see the big city. Get an education, make something of herself. But she learned all she needed to here, especially thanks to what the mob did to her parents.

Yeah, you can bet something strange is going on here. I mean, Skeeter's parents are clearly Deadites! Three days later, a car pulls up to a diner in a town called Fayerville in South Carolina. The diner is open, so maybe the occupants can get some grub.

"This Bat-Stache not only makes a great disguise, it makes me look extra manly!"

Yeah, it's Bruce Wayne, wearing a fake Magnum P.I. mustache. He remarks the town looks like it got stuck in the 1950s. The other occupant is a woman named Carson. She wants to find a mechanic, as her car broke down. A disguised Bruce was passing by, and was unable to fix her car there. As such, being a nice guy, he drove her to town. With her heading out, Bruce is going to find himself some information.

He heads into the diner, asking for a hotel. He notes that Fayerville is not the friendliest place in the world, almost as if the town is paranoid about something. This gets Wayne's instincts flaring. That night, he changes into his Batman togs and checks out the town. He notices that Fayerville is...sleepier than your average sleepy town. When people are out, they're never alone. Always in groups or pairs. Like they're watching each other's backs. Batman hears a scream from an alley. The Caped Crusader heads towards the noise, and finds Miss Carson dead.

"Aww man, Mr. Carson is going to kill me..."

Her throat's been torn open and she's been completely drained of blood. Batman has seen this before. Back in Gotham. He had been investigating a series of murders with this same exact modus operandi over there. A local mob spots Batman and thinks he's the killer. The Dark Knight isn't into fighting civilians, and he's in no shape to defend himself anyway. The Bat has been going for three days with practically no sleep. He tosses a smoke grenade. The Caped Crusader's got to swallow his pride and get some help for this one. He hacks into a telephone line and calls the Daily Planet.

Clark Kent is on the other end. Batman asks him to contact Superman (he was unaware of Supes's secret identity at this point). To prove he's genuine, he uses the codeword "Magpie". This is a reference to The Man of Steel #3 (November 1986), which depicted the first meeting between Superman and Batman in Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths canon. Magpie was the villain they fought together in that comic. Clark Kent sheds his suit and flies to Fayerville. Batman climbs down from the telephone pole and spots Skeeter coming towards him. She believes that he's here to save her. Her parents have told her he'd come. He wasn't able to save Skeeter's parents, but she'll be safe with him.

That panel is hilarious just because of Batman's face. He looks genuinely confused. Superman arrives in Fayerville. Using his X-ray vision, he notices that even at 4 A.M., people are wide awake...including the children. It's like they're on the lookout for something. The Man of Steel heads for the local sheriff...where he observes a sharpened stake under his desk.

"Oh Rao, I arrived at a Van Helsing family reunion..."

This gets the Man of Steel really confused. Supes asks if Batman's been in touch with the sheriff, but the sheriff isn't even aware the Bat is in town. The deputy is suspicious of Superman, but the sheriff is like, "Shut up, Barney Fife! He's Superman, not a vampire!" Yup, this town's got a vampire problem!

Meanwhile, Skeeter takes Batman to her home. He notices that the places looks like it has been abandoned for years. The blonde shows the Dark Knight her mummified parents. He yelps out "Good Lord!"...and it makes Skeeter freak out. The sheriff takes Superman to the local hospital. He shows Superman a padlocked pair of doors that are also protected by armed guards. It's because there's something he needs to see in that room.

There are bodies in that room. Lots of bodies. Skeeter realizes Batman is not who she thinks he is. The Caped Crusader notices his head is feeling fuzzy...and it's not from his lack of any real rest over the last three days. His body feels heavy. Skeeter is doing something to him. He's gotta get out. He smashes his way through the wall of the house and seemingly drowns in quicksand. Skeeter believes maybe no one is coming to help her. That she's going to have to go it alone.

Superman and the sheriff hear a noise. The Metropolis Marvel notices that the bars on the window are broken. Superman goes to contain the problem while the sheriff gets the National Guard. Skeeter is calling her children...and she wants them to wreck stuff.

Superman believes the people in the ward have not become vampires yet, so there's still a chance to save them. Their wrecking the town helps Superman with a way to stop them. Step One: He gathers all the sleepwalkers in one place, and uses his superspeed to set up a wall of hard air around them. Step Two: He gathers up the bricks from the buildings they damaged and constructs a physical wall around them. Step Three: Profit.

The Man of Tomorrow had noticed there was a bit of a chill in the air lately. And that chill has intensified.

"SSSSUPERMAAAAN...LET ME HUG YOUUUUU..."

She introduces herself as Elly Mae Skaggs, but folks around here call her "Skeeter". It's then when it all comes together. You see, "skeeter" is a colloquial term for the mosquito. And what do female mosquitoes feed on? Blood. Skeeter is a vampire. I've read this story before, but it was only recently that the "Skeeter" connection occurred to me. And since she's a supernatural being, she can harm the Metropolis Marvel, which she shows when she's able to slash his chest.

Her strength and speed is a match for the Man of Steel's. She also can mess with his head like she did with Batman's. She tries to go for his neck. She's close. Very close. But someone stakes her right in the heart from behind.

When Skeeter wanted steak, this was NOT what she had in mind...

A dying Skeeter is shocked. Didn't the Bat drown? Well, not exactly. Batman claims he survived because if you stay calm, you can swim in quicksand. I think that's sort of accurate. I looked it up, and here's what I got. Humans are less dense than quicksand, so it's impossible for a human to sink completely in if they stay calm. Thrashing will make a person sink further. The way to escape is to move the legs slowly, and get your body in the supine position (floating horizontally with the face and torso facing upwards). Also, you ever see quicksand suck people into it in movies? That doesn't happen in real life. Real life quicksand does not work that way. The more you know.

Superman thanks Batman for saving his life, and Batman's like "Yeah, a Kryptonian vampire's no good for anybody". Also, Supes should get those chest scratches cleaned. Preferably with holy water. That shouldn't be a problem. It's a South Carolina town. There's likely more churches there than people.

In Gotham City, we got a grave-digging party going on! Well, not exactly. They're digging up the previous victims of Skeeter. Commissioner Gordon is shocked that someone who looked as young as Skeeter could do this. Batman states that she was no young girl. Before he left Fayerville, he did some checking around, and he found the birth certificate for Elly Mae Skaggs.

Elly Mae Skaggs was born on April 16, 1865. Two days after Abraham Lincoln was shot. She and parents became vampires over a century ago. Gordon is grateful it's all over, but Batman still has one loose end to tie up, hence the graves of Skeeter's victims being dug up. They can become the undead as well. And well, Batman has had his fill of vampires.

"Next time I have to deal with this vampire garbage, I'm calling Blade."

The Bat has some nice stakes for them, and I'm not talking about the food.

This annual was awesome. It's a great story for Halloween. It's really cool seeing the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight joining forces to battle a monsterous vampire. It's a great challenge for Superman as he's just as vulnerable to supernatural forces as any human being is. It's also is a nice change-up for Batman. After all, Batman is mostly known to be fighting regular human criminals (or the occasional psycho supervillain/metacriminal).

Skeeter can be seen as a dark mirror to Superman in a way. Both of them are non-human beings who resemble humans. But whereas Superman dedicates himself to protecting humanity and genuinely cares for the people of Earth, Skeeter just sees humanity as literally food. She is a vampire, after all.

Skeeter is also an opposite of Batman in a way. With his garb and tendency to prowl around the shadows of the night, I can imagine some criminals believing he's a vampire. After all, Alexander Knox in the 1989 Batman movie once said that there were rumors that "he can't be killed. They say he drinks blood". I love that movie. Despite that, Batman...is a man. With human limitations. But also a great empathy for his fellow man...when written well at least. Skeeter at first glance is a cute little Southern girl who seeming wouldn't hurt a fly. But under her cute façade is a ruthless monster.

Art Adams brings some great art to the table for this. One detail I really loved as the way he drew Skeeter's face. At first, she looks very cute and disarming, you wonder why the people of Fayerville are chasing her. As her true nature becomes more apparent, she grows more and more monsterous in appearance. It's a little detail I really liked. Also, I can't believe they blatantly got away with having what clearly is Mr. Peanut on Skeeter's shirt. How did they avoid getting sued?

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend hunting down the 2013 trade paperback Superman: A Dark Knight Over Metropolis. It collects this story as well as a mystery tale featuring the two heroes. I highly recommend it. "Skeeter" is a great Halloween tale, and I highly recommend it if you want to get in the mood for the holiday.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! I hope you all have a happy, fun, and safe Halloween! Next time, I think we'll hang out with the Gotham Guardian a little longer, as he continues his psychological battle against the mad Hugo Strange...