Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I hope you have had a wonderful day. And to anyone who reads this, you are not alone out there in this world. You do matter. And I hope you have a wonderful day, too.

Uncanny X-Men #241 (February 1989)

The Christmas season may be here, and with it comes chills. I'm talking about cold weather, snow, ice, and winds that make it feel even colder than it actually is.

In 1989, the heroes of the Marvel Universe, mainly the X-Men and their related teams, didn't have to worry about the cold. Instead, they had to beat the heat. A heat unlike one they've never undergone before. I'm talking the heat...of the Inferno. 

Inferno was a crossover that encompassed many of the company's superhero titles at the time. The main story was of an invasion of New York City by demons, which many superheroes had to deal with. We've seen Spider-Man and his supporting cast deal with the Inferno before. One of the events of the story was X-Men ally's Madelyne Pryor being corrupted into the Goblin Queen, which we're going to look at some of here. This is Uncanny X-Men #241!

The cover is a Marc Silvestri and Dan Green piece. It's pretty cool. It depicts the Goblin Queen front and center holding out her arms and cape with a pair of demons flanking her. In front is her cohort N'astirh holding her son Christopher. This cover really shows that this is going to be the Goblin Queen's coming out party. 

"Inferno, Part the Second: Fan the Flames!"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editors: Bob Harras, Mark Gruenwald
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with Madelyne Pryor confronting a certain superpowered genetics-obsessed mad scientist under an orphanage in Nebraska.

"Where's my money, Sinister?!"

Sinister claims that he was the man who gave the redheaded firebrand life. Maddy thinks that's garbage, as she knows he's the man who sent the Marauders to kill her. She sends her demon guard dogs to tear Sinister a new one...quite literally.

However, Sinister easily bats them away, and locks Maddie in some chains.

"It's a Claremont comic, so I figured I'd be in chains at some point..."

Maddy calls for her demonic companion N'astirh to help her, but he's decided to make like King Arthur facing the Rabbit of Caerbannog.

So, yeah. The Goblin Queen is seemingly screwed. Wait, this book is called "The Uncanny X-Men", right? I mean, it's not called "The Wacky Misadventures of the Goblyn Queen". Although that would make a hilarious mini-series. So, what're the titular Merry Mutants up to? Well, brawling with the Marauders in the streets of New York City. 

This all started with an argument over which pinball table was better.

At the same time, thanks to a demonic invasion of the city, it's becoming more twisted and monsterous, with objects coming to life and attacking people. 

"Man, the Postal Service has really gotten hardcore."

The battle is interrupted by some cops. who've taken on a new look.

"Call us pigs again! We dare ya!"

A Malice-possessed Polaris destroys their demon cars and rains shrapnel down on the X-Men. Vertigo adds to the assault with her powers. However, a lucky throw from X-Men member Longshot is able to take down Vertigo. Rogue takes down Scalphunter with a car. Psylocke tries to use her psychic powers to take down the rest of the Marauders, but her powers are overwhelmed by the panicked thoughts of NYC's citizenry. The fight continues on.

Back in Nebraska, A shackled Maddy insists that she is a regular person, but Sinister tells her she has no past, because she never existed before. Maddy tells him about when she witnessed the death of her friend Annie Richardson after being hit by a car. Her powers manifested, allowing her to hear her friend's final thoughts. Sinister points out that that memory is not hers, but one of Jean Grey's memories. It as how Jean's powers manifested, not Maddy's. Sinister finds it fascinating how she was able to inherit that. N'astirh watches this, thinking that the time is right at last to make his own move. He just needs to do one thing...

Back in NYC, Wolverine tries to rescue a man from being eaten by a living mailbox, but the man now has a new job as a postage stamp.

"Man, that song was not meant to be literal!"

Havok angrily blasts the mailbox, which makes some nearby people cheer.

Colossus notes that it's like madness has reigned, with the returned Marauders, and all this demonic stuff. Storm just simply tells him that this is life in New York City. Heh.

Back to Nebraska! Sinister reveals the actual origin of miss Madelyne Pryor. She's basically a clone of Jean Grey, created by Sinister himself so he could have a "Jean Grey" of his own. She never manifested any powers of her own, until one day...

Yeah, the dialogue implies that her powers manifested when the Phoenix first showed up. Back to NYC! The X-Men and Marauders get attacked by what look like armored men in jetpacks. The X-Men captures one and Colossus interrogates him. The Russian powerhouse recognized those men. They're actually demons from Limbo...that his little sister Illyana rules. The demon tells him that she's not the boss anymore. Another demon named S'ym rules Limbo now, with the help of N'astirh. Their big plan is to make a spell that will turn Earth into a second Limbo. Think like Walt Disney World to Disneyland. Only the magic isn't meant to be happy.

They plan to deploy the spell at the Empire State Building. Colossus destroys the demon, which gets him cheered by Storm. Colossus notes the X-Men are seemingly getting more bloodthirsty, presumably due to the effects of the Inferno. He decides to head out alone to help his sister. 

In Sinister's lab, he reveals why he created Madelyne. Basically, he created her for one specific purpose: to be a broodmare. He theorized their child would help create the ultimate mutant. After all, he believed if Jean could resonate with the Phoenix Force, so could Maddy, being her "twin" and all. But then Jean ended up coming back, and that threatened to throw a heck of a monkey wrench in Sinister's plans. That's why he sent the Marauders to take her out. She taunts him that his Marauders obviously botched the job. Whoops. 

In NYC, Longshot is attacked by demons. Back on the ground, the X-Men cheer the death of the Marauders.

"Man, this is more fun than that cocaine bender we went on!"

Sinister is hoping to take Madelyne apart to see how she's changed. After all, since she was created, she's had some adventures with the X-Men, seemingly "died", and is now consorting with demons. Madelyne frees herself as she has her demons ambush Sinister. N'astirh gives Maddie her little son Christopher. The story ends with her vowing to make the world into ashes in an Inferno that will consume everyone...

I personally enjoyed this comic. I do feel that the X-Men did fall to the corruption a bit quickly, though. However, there was a nice balance of exposition and action. I did like that Claremont managed to fit some moments of dark humor with the man and the mailbox. And there was also a fire hydrant beating up a dog. The 80s were a time when the X-Men's mythos were beginning to get more convoluted, and Inferno was definitely one of the signs of it, with the revelation of Maddy Pryor's origins. And it would only get more crazy over the years.

Marc Silvestri's art in this comic is interesting to look at. It's very...angular, with lots of sharp lines and few curves. But in a way, I think it fits the story. We're seeing a city that his literally looking more hellish, and his art shows that. One detail I liked that as the X-Men grew more bloodthirsty and corrupted by the demonic influence in the city, their costumes changed. Psylocke's face was more shadowed, the hair of Rogue and Storm grew wilder and the costumes looked more frayed. Wolverine's fangs became more prominent. Not to mention he draws a great evil smile on Maddie.

If you want to read this for yourself, I do recommend tracking down the 2016 trade paperback X-Men: Inferno Vol. 2. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time and have a very Happy Holidays!

Atari50: The Anniversary Celebration Trailer, My Thoughts

In 1972, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney established a little company in Sunnyvale, California. That company would be called Atari. The name came from a term used in the Chinese game Go. The term meant "to hit a target" in Japanese, and it's meant to allude to good luck. Atari would be a pioneering company when it came to video games, and in the late 70s and early 80s, was the premier video game company in America thanks to arcade games like Pong and its home console: the Atari 2600. 

The company's holdings would pass on to various owners over the years, but the name Atari and its games are still fondly remembered and beloved by fans. Its games have also appeared on various other consoles over the years, mainly in compilation collections. 2022 would see Atari celebrating its 50th anniversary. To celebrate, Atari has released a new compilation collection with some new bells and whistles. Let's look at the trailer!

Considering that the games in this collection are rather...simple, I can imagine they put these interview snippets in to spice this up.

I do like the idea of "enhanced" versions of these old games. A great way to get new young players into these games, while old players can regain the feeling of discovering these games for the first time.

I do like the interviews. I do admit, I got a bit of a thing for behind-the-scenes stuff for games, so hearing what went into making them is really cool.

90 GAMES?! 

(jawdrop)

Huh, they have some Jaguar stuff on here. I first learned of the Jaguar thanks to the Angry Video Game Nerd. I do admit, I'd love to play Tempest 2000...

Hey, six new games inspired by classic games! Now that is cool!

I admit, the Golden Age of Atari is a bit before my time. I was born just before the Nintendo Entertainment System conquered the USA, and I came of age as a gamer in the 16-bit Console Wars between the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. But still, as someone who likes history and old games, I do feel that these games should be played if only to appreciate their place in history. This looks like a fun addition to any gaming library. I will be picking this up.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish readers!

In honor of such, I recommend you read my old review of All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14 (February 2012)! It's a wonderful little one-shot Hanukkah tale that gives focus to a lesser-known DC character!

Justice #12 (August 2007)

Well, this is it. Over the last year, we looked at a maxi-series that chronicled the Justice League of America's greatest battle against the Legion of Doom. Over the last year, we saw their identities get exposed to the world, and seemingly outdone by the Legion of Doom, driven by a dream of nuclear destruction. But as time went on, we discovered that dream had a dark twist to it, and only the Justice League could end the true madness behind it all...with some help from their friends, of course. So, how does it all end? Do the Justice League truly end up saving the day? Let's find out in Justice #12!

The cover is, naturally, an Alex Ross piece. It depicts a bunch of heroes flying into action, most notably Zatanna and Red Tornado in the center. It is a bit of a basic cover, I admit, but I do think that Ross gives it a grandeur and power that makes it still an eye-catcher.

"Chapter Twelve"
Writer: Jim Krueger
Pencillers: Alex Ross, Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Stephanie Buscema, Joey Cavalieri
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio

The story begins with Superman making his way through Toyman's toy-themed forces with ease. As he does so, he thinks about being bulletproof. Thing is, bullets have long been shown to bounce off him as easily as a rubber ball bounces off a tile floor. But as Superman points out, the bullets that bounce off him still will go somewhere, and possibly hit someone else. It's something he has to live with every day. But it doesn't stop him. He's Superman. And he has a responsibility to save the day. 

Toyman taunts him, saying the Man of Steel will die. The dream (from the first issue) showed that. But that doesn't deter the Metropolis Marvel, either. He can hear him. He can see him. And that allows Superman to find the Toyman. And he finds Winslow Schott in...a state.

"Hey, Superman. You got my Funyuns?"

Superman compares Brainiac's plan to Winslow's state. Schott has hooked himself to a machine. In a way, similar to what Brainiac plans to do: make people into machines.

Toyman asks Superman where he'll take the children. The cities are their only haven now, as Brainiac has control of all the world's nuclear missiles. But Superman's going to stop Brainiac. The League will save the world, and the children will still be safe.

Elsewhere, Luthor tries to justify his actions to Batman. He claims he was trying to save humanity by putting people he considered "undesirables" in the cities, leaving Earth only with the people he considered disciplined and strong. yeah, that's totally not tyrannical.

Batman taunts Luthor's justifications by pointing out he trusted an alien robot who ultimately planned to nuke the Earth and kill every living person on it. Batman orders Atom to give Grodd the yellow power ring. The ring's charge is gone, but Luthor has the battery. Brainiac shrunk it down and gave it to the bald madman as a failsafe. Luthor is still free from Brainiac's nanites. He still can make his own decisions. And as such, he can choose to save humanity. This is Batman choosing to play on Luthor's ego and his delusions that he is humanity's savior. 

Back in the Scarecrow's city, the League and their allies are trying to stop the crowd from tearing each other apart in fear. Superman bursts in, and the heroes deal with the fear gas. Zatanna gets the Marvel Family to help rescue the children from Toyman's city. The Man of Steel asks Brainiac how they can stop him, but he moved his program to another body.

Superman asks if Scarecrow used the teleporters to escape, but Zatanna informs him that only Black Manta did. Yeah, Manta has Arthur, Jr. Superman orders everyone to get the people off the cities. The Scarecrow makes his escape, but encounters the Joker, who wants to show off his Dracula cosplay.

"It was a pain finding a costume shop here."

He then bites the Scarecrow with some gag fangs. The heroes go to the cities. Supergirl leads a strike team to Poison Ivy's city. Aquaman heads to Black Manta's city to evacuate the people...and to get his son. Wonder Woman leads a team to Cheetah's city...while touching upon her dying from the centaur's poison. I don't think that plotline's been spotlighted in a while. She senses that she's being hunted, so she has a plan.

She'll draw out the Cheetah, allowing the others to get the evacuation done. The Cheetah tries to ambush the Amazing Amazon, but despite her condition, she gives a good fight, and manages to take down her former friend.

Zatanna takes the Red Tornado and Superman to the Brainiac factory that Hawkman and Hawkwoman destroyed. Brainiac possesses the destroyed bodies that littered the ground. 

"Against the Justice League? Regular zombies would not be enough."

That panel brings the creepy zombie vibe. The three heroes wreck the robot bodies. Despite that, Brainiac escapes again. In Poison Ivy's city, she managed to get her vines on Green Arrow, Black Canary, Supergirl, and Metamorpho. Arrow feels his will to fight slipping away. Metamorpho points out that there's an imbalance in the air caused by her plants...and it's basically getting him high. Wheee...

Supergirl and Metamorpho easily deal with Ivy using a mix of his elemental-changing powers and her heat vision to make an explosion that knocks the crazed botanist silly.

Meanwhile, the Martian Manhunter uses his telepathic powers to link Luthor and Grodd's minds. This will allow the Martian to use Luthor's knowledge of weapon systems and command the yellow ring (Grodd can mentally control the ring). This will hopefully shut down the nukes. Atom warns that the city's still sinking.

Meanwhile, Aquaman is in hot pursuit of Black Manta.

This reboot of "Taken" is weird...

The King of Atlantis gets besieged by the Manta's men, all acting more robotic than human. The Manta has Arthur Jr. and threatens to kill him if Aquaman surrenders. If Aquaman does so, the Manta will return him to Mera unharmed. Aquaman drops his trident, and Manta's men swarm the Sea King. As his men tear away his armor, Manta asks Aquaman how many of his people were beaten in front of their children? How many times his people suffered because of the will of others? 

This requires a bit of context. Remember, this miniseries is paying tribute to the Silver/Bronze Ages of DC Comics. In the pages of Adventure Comics #452 (), it was first revealed that Black Manta was an African-American man who wanted to dominate the ocean for black people, but became consumed with his own lust for power. Yeah.

Arthur points out that Manta being a hypocrite. He's acting no different from those who tortured and enslaved his own people in the past, using his suit to make his men follow orders. An infuriated Manta beats up Arthur and orders his men to kill the baby. However, he gets a surprise reaction.

Manta pauses for a moment hearing this, but then whips out a blaster at tries to shoot Arthur Sr. It goes as well as you'd expect.

Superman, Zatanna, and Red Tornado are still tracking Brainiac. Over with Batman, Atom, J'onn, Luthor, and Grodd, they have managed to use the yellow ring to change the course of the nukes. But it's now up to Hal to do his part. Luthor teleports away. He went over to Brainiac's ship. Brainiac finds himself back in his original body. But that was part of Luthor's own plan. He knew the Coluan criminal would betray him, so he reprogrammed one of Brainiac's bodies to bring him back to his ship. He just wanted to brag about how he saved humanity from another alien menace. 

He tries to leave as Superman, Zatanna, and Red Tornado arrive, but he's stopped by Zatanna's magic. It's revealed that the yellow ring's charge had run out after it diverted the missiles...and erased the Legion of Doom's knowledge of the Justice League's secret identities. Brainiac tries to flee, but is stopped by Superman. And the Green Lantern Corps arrive to grab the nukes. Superman gets Zatanna back to Earth, as she can't breathe in space. 

Over in Paradise Island, Hippolyta prays to Aphrodite to heal and restore the dying Wonder Woman. it works, and Wondy is good as new. Back in the Batcave, Batman ruminates on these events. The Green Lantern Corps tossed the nukes into the sun, Brainiac is incarcerated in his ship which has been put in the Bottle City of Kandor, and the other villains are heading back to Arkham. Batman points out that more nukes will be built...but maybe in some way, this will inspire humanity to progress further and move forward from this near-tragedy. That humanity can truly be better. He sees that in his friends, the Justice League.

This was a great ending. It was very action-packed, tied everything up, and ended with a note of optimism and hope. One thing I did like about the ending is Batman's monologue at the end. It's nice seeing the Dark Knight occasionally show some moments of optimism. I think that's why he's better when he has his Bat-Family and the Justice League. They remind him that he's not alone in the world, that he's not the only one that is fighting to make a better world in their own way. The cameo of the Legion of Super-Heroes symbolized that Batman's hopes are not misplaced, which I thought was nice. 

I do wish the series did focus a little more on Wonder Woman's dying from the centaur's blood. It wasn't focused on much but considering the epic scope of the story and the large cast, sometimes stuff will end up falling by the wayside, unfortunately. It just seemed like a bigger deal in the earlier issues. I also was a bit mixed on the Joker's appearance. I did feel it was a bit unnecessary, but at the same time, it kind of fit him. Joker is an egocentric agent of chaos, and I don't think it would be completely out of character for him to just show up and cause chaos because he wasn't invited to join the Legion of Doom. 

When it does come to the art, Ross and Braithewaite turn in A+ work. As I said before, they manage to do a fantastic job making the colorful characters of the DCU look like they stepped right out of the real world while also still making them jump out of the pages of the comics.

All in all, I have to say, Justice is a great maxi-series. I highly recommend it. If you want to read it for yourself, track down the 2011 trade paperback Justice. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 Trailer, My Thoughts

The Mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe marches on! After the events of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, the Galaxy's Mightiest Heroes embark on a new adventure! However, this new adventure threatens to spell the end for the team. Filmed in November 2021-May 2022, this film marks the capstone to James Gunn's trilogy focusing on the Avengers of the Cosmos. This film is scheduled to be released in May 2023, and it will be the 32nd film in the MCU. Let's look at the trailer!

Yeah, we had our silly fun with the Holiday Special, so let's get our hearts ripped out now.

Hey, cool new suits! Straight out of the comics!

I love the bait-and-switch. It seemed like they were going back to Earth, but they really are on an alien world. Wait, why does it look an Earth village?

Hey, a bat girl in a move that will get released!

Dang it, Drax...

...is that a baby Rocket?

Ah, I see the Guardians got their spacesuits from the Super Sentai Fashion House. 

I imagine that Peter and Gamors trying to rebuild...restart? things will be one of the sub-plots of this movie.

Yeah, Rocket's going to be the center of this film.

And there's Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary. You know, tying him to Halfworld and Rocket's creation is...actually pretty brilliant. Think about it. The man's whole gimmick is that he's basically Marvel's answer to Dr. Moreau. In the comics, he's most known for creating a group of animal-human hybrids known as the New Men. In the comics, some of these New Men became known as the Knights of Wundagore, whose purpose is to make sure the demon Chthon remained trapped within Wundagore Mountain. So, yeah. It's pretty clever the MCU makes a connection like this.  

Seeing Nebula be happy makes me smile.

Hey, it's Lady Lylla! Yeah, Lylla first appeared in Incredible Hulk #217 (February 1982) and then go on to be a main character of the 1980s Rocket Raccoon miniseries. She was an otter woman...and was Rocket's main squeeze.

Hey, Adam Warlock! How ya doin', buddy?! Yeah, it looks like we're going to see that plot thread from Vol.2 followed up on...

Yeah, Peter's right, Drax. That is kind of sad. And hilarious.

I loved this trailer. I get the impression from it that we'll be exploring Rocket's origins. It also has a feeling of finality to it, as if we're going to see the Last Days of the Guardians of the Galaxy. If Gunn's track record is anything to go by, we'll be getting plenty of laughs...and also a lot of tears will be shed. Can't wait for this one! 

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Action Comics #653 (May 1990)

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!