Legacy of Superman #1 (1993)

Story the Second opens with a woman out jogging.  We will soon learn that this woman is Rose Forrest, so I won’t pretend not to know that.  She’s listening to her little AM/FM receiver… and the news is full’a some pretty bad stories.  Ya see, ever since Superman died, it’s been sort of an “open season” on Metropolis… there’ve been robberies, assaults… you name it!  Our lady returns to her home, only to find that it’s currently being robbed!  A Scuzz is in there ransacking the place… and winds up stealing her VCR!  Wow, our man’s aimin’ high, there!  I think even back in ye old 1993, a VCR might run a hundred bucks.  Well, I guess any ol’ port in a storm, right?

We jump ahead… probably an hour or two, and Ms. Forrest is having her locks fixed… and is having security bars placed on her windows.  This is sure a grim new look for Metropolis, innit?  If I’m being honest, it looks kinda like… a lot of parts of South Phoenix!

That night, Rose is in bed watching the news.  She just can’t help herself, it seems.  The news is… still, all bad.  Suddenly, there’s a voice in her head… begging to let it “take over”.  In a trance-like state, Rose gets out of bed, and wanders down to her basement…

… where she changes into the “working clothes” of… The Thorn!

We shift scenes into a dark and seedy alley, where a pair of nogoodniks are bragging about their latest hauls.  One happens to mention that he knows where allllllll the best Fences are, which prompts Thorn to emerge from a storm drain, and pounce!  She demands to know about this great Fence… and the fella has no choice but to comply.

Turns out this Fence is run by a big fella called The Cherokee… who the Thorn is, evidently, familiar with.  The clash outside some building… with the Cherokee looking, I dunno… I don’t think “sense of urgency” quite fits it.  More like, just resigned and annoyed to see Thorn.  It’s as though he’s sighing when he draws his gun.  Thorn beats him up pretty good.

Moments later, the VCR thief just happens to arrive.  He’s overjoyed that he’ll probably be handed a crisp five-dollar bill for his troubles.  Daaaaaaaang, fool… this VCR’s got onscreen programming an erryt’ing!  Ya know, if a VCR was the most valuable thing Rose Forrest had in her house… why did she bother with the fancy new locks and bars?  I mean, right now, those locks and bars are the most valuable things she owns!

Anyhoo, the T’eef is led into the Cherokee’s office… only to find… Thorn!  And hoo-boy, is she ticked!

She proceeds to beat the everlovin’ dog out of the kid… and, pretty much everybody there.  The Police arrive on the scene, in response to an “anonymous tip”, and make all of the necessary arrests.

The following morning, Rose Forrest is awakened by a phone call.  It’s the Police, and they’re happy to report that the thief was caught… and her cherished VCR has been retrieved.  She’s ever-so thankful, but the Police tell her to save her thanks for… the Thorn!  Rose remembers that the mysterious Thorn was responsible for capturing her father’s killer back in the long ago… but, doesn’t know much more about her.  Hmm…

We wrap up with Rose discovering a note on her bedside lampshade.  It’s from, duh, Thorn… and it informs her that the strong will always protect the meek.  The story closes with the 1st Issue Special special… asking fans to write in if they want to see more from the “Woman Who is Really Two”!  I don’t think they received any sort of overwhelming response.

—


While this wasn’t necessarily my “cup of tea”, I feel like it was an important story to be told here, as it depicts just what an impact the loss of Superman has had on the City of Metropolis as a whole.  Part of the “Legacy” piece is having an understanding of just how much was lost with his passing.  Safety and security in the law-abiding citizens… and fear in those who would love nothing more than to do them harm.  It’s pretty powerful in that regard.


Having Ms. Rose Forrest get robbed… and have to decide what kind of security she’s going to require going forward was especially powerful.  I mean, even when Superman was around… he couldn’t stop every burglary from occurring, but the overall feeling in Metropolis (well, much of Metropolis) was that its people were protected.  Without that protection, Rose had to resort to putting bars on her own windows… the symbolism there is pretty striking.  It’s as though she’s become a literal prisoner of her circumstance.


I know I joked about the VCR being taken… but, that’s just me making light of the situation.  At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how valuable or un-valuable something might be… if it’s taken from you… stolen from you… there’s a feeling of violation there, that you really can’t put a price-tag on!  What price do you put on getting a good night’s sleep, ya know?  What price do you put on being unafraid in your own home?  It’s more than a lousy VCR that’s been “taken” here… it’s Rose’s piece of mind.


Sure, the “action” bits here were what they were… but, really, they were (to me) just “scenery”.  This isn’t really a story about beating up bad guys… it’s about the tremendous hole left in Metropolis due to Superman’s passing… and in that regard, I’d call it a success!


Rose & Thorn… ehhh, I could take ’em or leave ’em, to be honest… but, she/they were as good a fit here as anyone!  I appreciate the whole gimmick of her not knowing she’s really both characters… though, I don’t feel like that has all that long a “shelf life” in an ongoing series, ya know what I mean?  Eventually, she’s going to have to find out… there’s only so many ways you can creatively sidestep the obvious.


I definitely recommend checking this story out… if only to get a new perspective on Metropolis.

Our middle story opens in Suicide Slum, where Gangbuster is… well, busting a gang.  This is a pretty disorganized group of geeks, who have just imported… or at least somehow procured… mass quantities of guns.  Jose spends, what feels like a half-dozen pages (though, it’s really only two or three), beating the hell out of them.  Their supplier is a mobster in a pinstriped suit… this gang is a pretty sorry sight and, worth noting, includes a very skinny, weaselly sort of dude.

While the brouhaha brouha’s, one of the baddies grabs a shotgun… and shoots Gangbuster right in the chest!  Poor Jose can just never catch a break, can he?  Well, lucky for him his armored logo managed to save his life today.

Delgado then kips-up and resumes his baddie-beat-down.  After kayoing the underlings, he sets his sights on ol’ pinstripe.  The bad-guy-boss immediately surrenders… and begs Gangbuster to call the police.  Jose knows that this is a no-go, as ol’ pinstripe is “connected” enough to be back on the streets within minutes.

After pummeling the Pinstripe, Jose grabs the leader of the gang.  A rather low-rent looking goofball with slicked-back hair.  He ties him up with a rope, and after securing the other end to the leg of an easy-chair… deposits him out a window!

The easy chair skids toward the window, threatening to drop the leader all the way to the ground below.  In order to counter-balance the weight, Gangbuster tosses that skinny, weaselly dude into the chair.  The boss cries out for the geek to stay put in the chair.

After Jose leaves (with the supplier slung over his shoulder), the Boss begs Skinny Pete to pull him back in the window.  Unfortunately, the “Dim-Bulb” just isn’t strong enough to accomplish the task.  At that very moment, down at the station, Inspector Henderson gets a call from Gangbuster.

Henderson resigns to the fact that he’s going to have to deal with Gangbuster… he knows Delgado means well… and he also understands how the rules might seem a bit different in Suicide Slum.  But, he also knows that, ever since Superman died, Gangbuster has been ruthless as all get out… just beating the ever-lovin’ dog out of criminals left and right!

He is able to track Jose down to the Superman Memorial in Centennial Park.  He’s tying the kayoed gun-running mobster down, with a sign that reads “I sell guns to children” around his neck.  Gangbuster assumes Henderson is there to bust him, and warns him to stay back.  Henderson assures him this is a “friendly visit”.

In fact, he comes bearing gifts… well, a gift, in the form of a one-way bus ticket outta town.  Ya see, Gangbuster has broken a lot of rules of late… and he isn’t exactly “winning over” those in law-enforcement.  Henderson suggests Jose get as far away from Metropolis as possible… and warns that, if he doesn’t, so help him… Henderson himself will lead the charge against him.

—


Another solid look at the World Without Superman… this time, focusing on that part of Metropolis many would like to forget exists at all… Suicide Slum!  Many of the normal “rules” don’t apply here… which, is where Gangbuster comes in.


I appreciate how brutal he has become since Superman’s passing… as, without that fear of a caped-god flying overhead in the minds of criminals… they’re more inspired than ever to get a foothold.  If the name isn’t a dead giveaway, “Suicide Slum” was never the best place in the city… but, it was still a place under Superman’s watchful eye.


Without him, Suicide Slum is more vulnerable than it’s been in a long while… which ups the ante (and brutality) in Gangbuster’s purpose and methodology.  He needs to be rougher… he needs to be scarier… he needs to make an impact wherein his reputation as a force of justice proceeds him.


Unfortunately, that doesn’t exactly jive with the law-enforcement establishment.  Enter: Inspector Henderson.  Now, this little scene at the end is probably my main takeaway from this piece.  Henderson attempts to reason with Jose… and even shares stories of his working in Suicide Slum as a rookie.  He, Henderson that is, assures Delgado that the rules aren’t any different there.


Clearly (to me), Henderson might be a little too far removed from his time as a Suicide Slum flat-foot.  It’s plainly obvious (again, to me) that “penthouse” Metropolis and Suicide Slum operate under different “rules”.  Sure, the laws are the same… laws are the same everywhere… but the way in which enforcement is performed is where everything differs.


I can think back to a time where I worked overnights, managing a call-center… and if you pardon the very weak analogy… the policies between the three-shifts were identical… and the “establishment” (ie. daytime management) would swear up and down that there were no differences between the shifts.  However, things are in-fact, very different in the middle of the night.  Approaches are different, availability is different, priorities are different.  Things are just… different.


I remember requesting help in certain areas and situations, that… the powers-that-be... assured me were unnecessary… even going as far as claiming that I was imagining were needed.  No such situation existed… because, in their eyes… everything was identical across the board.  That’s what Henderson reminded me of here… and perhaps why, I leave this story pulling for Gangbuster to prove him wrong.


Very solid story… and, another where the “action” serves as more of a back-drop to establishing the tone and tenor of this new-look Metropolis.

Our fourth story opens at LexCorp, where Lex, Jr. is arriving for the day.  He’s greeted by his bank of receptionists, secretaries, employees, and assistants… which includes a certain sister-of-Sinbad.  She thinks to herself how lucky she is to be working for the “nice” younger Luthor.  We follow Lex-da-Second into his office, where he dictates some notation into a very of-its-time tape recorder.  Ya see, he knows that this certain secretary is, in fact, Soraya Nassur… the sister of Davood Nassur, who is… ya know, Sinbad.  He laments the fact that, without Superman, there’s been something of a “power vacuum” in Metropolis… and there are a group of bad guys calling themselves the “TerrorMasters” trying to establish themselves as that power.

Soraya leaves for lunch, where she is literally “picked up” by her brother.  Here’s the thing… the people of Metropolis have been led to believe that Davood has been depowered, and has retired the Sinbad alter-ego.  We see here that, that’s not entirely the case.

Davood and Soraya have themselves a picnic in the sky… which, I dunno, is that a little “on the nose”?  Ehh, nevermind.  The Nassurs chat about Davood’s Sinbad powers… and it would appear that they’re back, and better than ever.  While they dine, Davood offers Soraya some Tahini… like, an entire bowl of it.  Hmm.  Okay then.  Anyhoo, they talk about how nobody should know that the Sinbad powers are back.  Davood is confident that the secret is safe, however, since Luthor is involved… it should come as no surprise that that’s not the way this story is going to go.

Soraya returns to the office, just as a bunch of packages have been delivered.  Her friend, Clarice is attending to the boxes, and is preparing to open ’em up.  Just then, a group of old dorks burst in… and hold the office up!  These must be… those dang TerrorMasters!  These goofballs are wearing these tiny domino-masks… I mean, that’s their entire disguise.  What’s more, one of them, the guy with the Cincinnati Reds cap, loses his mask during the robbery!  Anyhoo, they shoot Clarice thrice, and steal the packages.

Soraya wonders what was so important about these packages… and we learn that this Lex was continuing his father’s weapons research… and those boxes contained what he refers to as “the most terrible weapon ever developed”.  Welp… you’d almost assume someone would have to sign to have such a thing delivered, no?  Oh well, Lex laments the fact that this research has cost a human life… but, it’s worth noting that he’s smiling broadly when he says this.  Weird.  As this is going on, our man Davood is being fitted for an all-new super-hero costume, complete with a domino mask and cape!

That night, we join Sinbad and Soraya to a rather dumpy area of Metropolis where those “TerrorMasters” usually meet up.  I mean, TerrorMasters?  For real?  Okay.  Anyhoo, as they look on, that one dude whose mask fell off during the robbery saunters in… and they realize they’re in the right place.  Inside, the baddies are assembling “the most terrible weapon ever developed” on a pool table.  Cincinnati Cap takes a look through the scope, and reveals (via thought balloon) that he’s actually working for Lex Luthor.  Hmm…

Reds-Cap fires the blaster… resulting in blowing holes in several walls… kind of like you might see in a cartoon.  Then, just as they bad guys are celebrating the fact that nobody can stop them… Sinbad shows up!  And boy, does he look like a nerd or what?

Sinbad informs the bad guys that they’re “all under arrest”, which is just adorable.  He nails one of the baddies with an energy blast, however, forgets to protect-his-neck… and suffers a shot from “the most terrible weapon ever developed”, which sends him flying out of the building!

Just then, like a Genie (Shazaam!), Lex Luthor’s visage emerges from the barrel of “the most terrible weapon ever developed”.  He informs the goofballs that they’ve now fired off two shots… which is all he accounted for them needing to take care of “whoever he gulled into attacking them”… and so, they’ve now outlived their usefulness.  Three-seconds later, dey go boom.

We wrap up with Sinbad, all safe and sound… having been knocked clear of the explosion.  He and Soraya leave the scene… however, Davood isn’t entirely pleased with how everything went down.  While he doesn’t seem especially bothered by the result, he’s certain that Superman would have handled it far differently… and without casualty.  Fair enough!

—


Not bad!


I certainly wasn’t expecting much from this one… but, found myself quite enjoying it!  Ya know, I think I gave this entire Legacy of Superman Special a pretty bad rap in dismissing it all these years.  So far, it’s been really very good!  Really digging this new perspective on Metropolis as a city without Superman.


Let’s look at Lex.  Dude seems… kinda bored without Superman around.  He still has to be the sort of puppet-master of the city, but since he’s the “good” Luthor, can’t be quite as overt about it.  I appreciate the lengths he goes to here in order to “wield power from the shadows”.  While, it requires quite a few “happy accidents” to go as planned, it was still pretty satisfying that it did.


He had to “take care of” the, ahem, TerrorMasters… and spun a pretty good web to trap ’em in.  He knows their game… and their designs, and used them to his advantage.  Lex also doesn’t mind young Davood winding up in the crossfire… the kid don’t mean anything to him.  Just another casualty… in the wrong place, at the wrong time.


The “TerrorMasters”.  Yeesh.  These old goofs look like they’d be more likely to be regaling people about that one time, back in high school, that they scored four touchdowns in a single game!  They don’t exactly look up to the task of taking over the Metropolis underworld, do they?  I mean, they probably need to stop for multiple TUMS breaks during a given firefight.


Sinbad… not exactly the most stylish superhero, right?  Very dorky “costume”… if we can even call it that.  This would actually wind up being his fourth… and final appearance, ever!  That wasn’t supposed to be the case, however… he was originally slated to make an appearance during the dirt-worst Superman story of all-time… Superman: Grounded!

Davood was supposed to make an appearance in Superman #712 (2011), during Chris Roberson’s attempt at salvaging the Straczynski garbage-fire.  Davood was going to be all grown up and take the name “Sharif”, which is a name with many meanings… I’m no expert, but from my research, those meanings include “honorable” and “noble”, so a pretty great name for a superhero!


According to Roberson, this story had been turned in and approved by DC Comics.  The story, would have to do with Superman (still on his ridiculous walk across America) in Los Angeles, meeting with Sharif, who finds himself with quite the quandary.  He’s a hero, who the public aren’t completely keen to accept due to the fact that he is a Muslim.  Yeah, it’s kind of “torn from the headlines”, which I’m not always a fan of… but, this could make for an interesting chapter.  Certainly would have been more interesting than the Krypto story DC jammed into the schedule in its place!


DC got themselves some cold feet, and decided to pull the story… even though they’d already approved it!  What’s more, according to the creative team, DC Editorial kind of dragged their feet about informing them all of the change!  Who’dathunkit?  DC Editorial not being forthcoming with information?  Perish the thought!  Though, in fairness… they (Editorial) probably didn’t even have the foggiest idea that the Grounded storyline was still going on.  Clearly, they hadn’t actually read an issue of Superman since JMS took over.  If they had, and still allowed Superman #701 to happen… they all deserve to be fired and black-balled from the industry.


Wait, where were we?  Oh yeah, Sinbad!  Even after DC decided to pull the story… they didn’t even bother to change the solicit (barring the new Krypto cover).  Even more evidence of the right hand not knowing what the left hand’s doing?  Here, take a look:

And, the letters page from Superman #711… the issue right before Sharif was set to show up!

Oh well, what could’a been.  Figure, for completion’s sake, we’ll wrap this up with Davood’s Who’s Who entry… 

Overall, a good story… and a real shame that Davood/Sinbad/Sharif never showed up again.