Superheroes meeting each other is not exactly a new thing in comics. More often than not, when a group of heroes are established as being set in the same universe, it makes sense there would be events where these heroes would be required to join forces. But sometimes, what makes two heroes join up is not some massive event with the world's continued existence at stake. Sometimes, what makes two heroes join forces is something much more mundane. In this case, a murder mystery.
Before the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superman and Batman were known to team up quite a bit. In fact, the two even shared a title together: World's Finest Comics, lasting 323 issues from 1941 to 1986. With the advent of Crisis, however, Superman's history was rebooted. His first meeting with Batman in the then-new post-Crisis timeline was in Man of Steel #3 (November 1986), which showed the two having a much icier relationship than they did pre-Crisis. However, that story did end with Batman having respect for Superman's good nature.
The cover is a Kerry Gammill and Brett Breeding piece. It depicts an unconscious Superman lying in a cemetery being poisoned by Luthor's kryptonite ring. It's a real attention-grabber, it shows that Superman is potentially in grave danger.
"Love and Death"
Writer: Roger Stern
Penciler: Bob McLeod
Inker: Brett Breeding
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editors: Mike Carlin, Jonathan Peterson
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano
The story begins with a Mr. Clark Kent being a romantic.
Lois Lane is impressed with her main man's poetry skills. But he can't take the credit for this one. He was quoting a poem from English poet and politician Edmund Waller. The other staffers at the Planet have a little fun with that they witnessed. They get a brief visit from Cat Grant, alongside Jose Delgado, aka Gangbuster. He's been hired by Cat's ex-husband to help protect Cat as she's evidently a key witness in the ongoing trail of Morgan Edge.
Clark delivers an article he was working on to the feature editor and decides to take the rest of the day off. Day off, baby!
So, how does Clark plan to spend his day off? Hang out at the park? Hit the bar? Go work on a novel? Nah, he's gonna go be Superman. After all, it's a beautiful day. Why not spend some of it just flying around? He spots a little girl struggling with getting his kite out of the tree. Clark helps the girl get her kite down, then gives the kite a flying start. Because he's Superman.
Superman then hears the sounds of a robbery and takes care of that.
Superman takes the robber back to the store and makes him give the money back. The shop owners want to repay him, but Superman is perfectly happy to just do his job. He does accept some complimentary baklava. Hey, a Kryptonian's gotta eat.
As Superman flies away, he laments that the robber had a history of drug-related arrests. He likely held up that store to get money for a fix. Superman wishes he could do more. Maybe writing a column could inspire people to action. But those thoughts are tabled for a moment as the Man of Steel notices a tropical storm coming.
He goes to check it out. A man on the dock watches Superman fly in and makes a call to a man named Gillespie. He reports Superman's activity to Gillespie. Gillespie thanks the dock man, Skag, for the report. He'll get a bonus for this.
Gillespie then reports this to his boss.
Meet Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim. I don't think anyone uses that nickname to his face. Mannheim is happy to hear this, as he can now call in a war council without Superman bothering him. The war council debates what to do about the Morgan Edge trial. You see, Edge was the head of Intergang before Mannheim got the job. Edge was also the head of Galaxy Communications. He used his legit job to launder Intergang money and get Intergang into legitimate businesses to further increase their profits. But since he got busted for racketeering, it could expose all of Intergang.
Several ideas are brought up. Sending in a unit to bust up the trial is nixed, as it would get too much attention. Quietly eliminating Edge himself is also nixed, as Edge may still be useful...although if he does sell them out, they'll play that card. They then decide to go after the three reporters that exposed Edge: Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Cat Grant. Lane and Kent's testimony can be discredited, but it was Grant that got the goods. Mannheim wants her taken alive, unlike that one botched job that seemingly killed Kent, but was actually a private investigator that resembled him.
It's here that the scene switches to a woman named Amanda McCoy. She was once a computer technician that worked for Lexcorp. Luthor himself noticed her work and back in Superman #2 (February 1987), the mogul put her on a project: Find out who Superman is. Using her computer skills, she discovered that Clark Kent was Superman.
However, Luthor refused to believe it. After all, why would a being as powerful as Superman pretend to be a regular person? It's a bit of a nice subtle showing of Luthor's character, showing he sees everything through the lens of his own ego. He flaunts his power and influence, so it makes sense to him that Superman would do the same. Enraged by what he considered her failure, Luthor fired McCoy, and made sure she was blacklisted from the computer industry.
Desperate to prove that her findings were accurate, she hired a PI named Matt Stockton to help her out. In Superman #28 (February 1989), he ended up getting killed by Intergang because of his resemblance to Clark Kent. Yeah, that was some egg on the gangsters' face.
McCoy has finally found a way to prove Clark Kent is Superman once and for all, and he's determined to make sure Stockton's death was not in vain. Meanwhile, said hero is helping a ship out of the storm.
After that is taken care of, our hero heads home and checks his messages on the answering machine. One of them is an anonymous call for help, asking Superman to meet them at the McAuley family plot in the North Bakerline Cemetery. The Man of Steel arrives as Clark Kent, where he meets up with Amanda McCoy. And she has something to show him.
McCoy tears open Clark's shirt, revealing his Superman costume underneath. She demands that the weakened Kryptonian admit that the reporter is the Man of Tomorrow. He does so, asking where Luthor is. Amanda angrily tells him that this isn't one of Luthor's schemes. In fact, she's doing this to stick it to him, to show she was right about Superman's secret identity. Clark begs her to let him help her, as she could put him behind bars. He falls unconscious from the ring's radiation.
McCoy is horrified, as she thinks she accidentally killed Superman. As such, she makes a break for it.
The Metropolis Marvel wakes up some time later, realizing that McCoy is still out there, and she knows his identity. As for McCoy herself, she's wandering around town, freaking out about what she had just done. After all, she never intended to harm Superman, just prove who he is. She is then accosted by a pair of men who have...bad intentions for her.
I liked this issue, but then again, as I've said in the past, I'm very fond of this era of Superman in the comic books. It has almost a bit of a soap opera feel to it. I admit, the first time I read this story, I didn't really feel lost. It told me everything I needed to know about what was going on at the time. There are quite a few intriguing plotlines going on. There's also some nice flashes of character. Cat Grant's being showy despite her situation, Superman helping a little girl with her kite. The creative team really get Superman, in my opinion. And they make his supporting cast fantastic to follow in their own right.
A good story is even better when backed by great art. McLeod and Breeding do provide on that. Their work is expressive and very detailed.
If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2013 trade paperback Superman: Dark Knight of Metropolis. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!
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