ACW #603 – Superman

Action Comics Weekly #603 (Superman)
“More Powerful than a Locomotive!”
Writer – Roger Stern
Pencils – Curt Swan
Inks – John Beatty
Letters – Bill Oakley
Colors – Petra Scotese
Editor – Mike Carlin

Hey, is it really my “day off” already?  Another Super-shortie… this shouldn’t take long… unless of course, Superman does something incredibly stupid!


—

We pick up right where we left off last week… that one dude got thrown from the hood of the getaway car onto the train tracks, where he done messed up his ankle… and wouldn’tcha know it, on this day, the trains were running on time in Metropolis!


Superman swoops in for the save, but… get this, rather than scooping the poor goofball off the tracks, he totally smashes into the train itself!  Whaaaa?  I mean, there had to be an easier way, no?


Meanwhile, in the getaway car, the passenger begins to get cold feet.  He didn’t sign up for a potential tango with Superman.  Din’cha hea’, he’s from a whole nudda planet aw somet’in.  The driver of the getaway car is more than happy to oblige, and gives the passenger an “out”… in the form of a bullet to the heart.


The driver then dumps the body out of the moving vehicle, and we wrap up with Superman finding it… and wondering just what this poor fella was shot with.  We didn’t get a good look at the pistol, but it made a BTOOM sound, if that’s any help.


—

Well…


Okay, so Superman has a split-second to make a decision.  He can either a) pick a guy up off the train tracks, or b) slam, back-first into the train, tearing up the tracks in the process in order to stop it from hitting the fella.  I mean, the guy on the tracks wasn’t like literally stuck there… as far as we know, he just twisted his ankle!  He says “Leg… all busted up”, not “leg… stuck between the rails”.


Just so dumb… and irresponsible.  Superman just mangled a train and the tracks.  Did he even give a thought to the passengers on the train that might’ve been thrown about via the sudden stop?!  I mean, he saved the criminal, sure… but what about the several dozen concussed commuters on board the train?!


Hell, even those passengers who weren’t injured… how are they going to get to work tomorrow with the tracks all destroyed?  Just so bad.


The getaway driver seems a rather heartless sort, don’t he?  Leaving two of his partners behind, shooting the third in the chest and leaving him for dead.  Worth noting, Superman did seem a bit concerned about what sort of firearm the baddie was using.  Not sure if that’ll come back around, I hardly remember a single beat from this story.


Overall… I feel like, at this point, I’ve spent more time writing about it than Roger Stern spent writing it.  Kind of a mess… and poor form for Superman.


Tomorrow: Wild Doggin’ it!