Action Comics #810 (February, 2004)
"Walking Midnight"
Writer - Joe Kelly
Pencillers - Pascual Ferry, Kano, Duncan Rouleau & Renato Guedes
Inkers - Marlo Alquiza, Keith Champagne, Jorge Correa, Jaime Mendoza & Cam Smith
Colorist - Guy Major
Letterer - Comiccraft
Associate Editor - Tom Palmer, Jr.
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.25
HAPPY NEW YEAR, friends! I hope everyone had a nice, safe, quiet? New Year's Eve... me and mine did for the most part. Hadda handful of neighbors acting like it was the Fourth of July... but nothing I couldn't (mostly) sleep through. Drove the dogs crazy though!
Anyhoo... today we're going to ring in the New Year several times over as we tag along on Superman's yearly ritual of visiting every time zone on the planet as the clock strikes twelve!
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We open with Superman and Lois flying over London, just in time for the "ball to drop". Lois asks why Superman does this every year... and doesn't want to hear any "because I can" sorta stuff. She convinces him to let her tag along for some of the trip... and promises not to turn it into a story. He hands her a stack of letters... which tells me it's going to be one of those Superman stories.
Our next stop is... let's get a running start... Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland... which, I'll be damned, is a real place! The letter is about a pregnant woman with no access to proper medical services. New arrivals are a pretty big deal in the Ittoq... because their population is only 500 (actually, 452 as of 2013). Superman delivers an ambulance full of medical support just in time for her Baby New Year.
Then, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This letter is from a man who is looking to propose to a woman who had one helluva year. She lost her family in a car accident... which tells me, this fella moves pretty quick... probably didn't need Superman for any of this. Anyhoo, Superman swoops the widow off her feet and delivers her to the foot of Christ the Redeemer so this dude can propose.
Next stop, Metropolis. Superman has... nothing planned. This affords he and Lois the opportunity to properly ring in their own New Year.
Then, off to Smallville. Inside, Ma and Lois eat pickled herring on swiss cheese crackers... a New Years tradition from Jonathan's side of the family. Lois deep-sixes her triscuit into a potted plant. Outside, Clark and Pa watch the snow fall while sipping a warm beverage out of their Totoro mugs.
Off to Sydney, Australia... where Superman answers the letter of a man who appears to be preparing to commit suicide by leaping off the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Superman swoops in and carries him off to watch the fireworks... and I suppose we can assume that he's no longer wanting to kill himself?
In Marioka, Japan... Superman ignites some trademarkable fireworks for a group of children.
In Hong Kong, an Aryan terrorist triggers some explosives. Why he'd write a letter to Superman telling him this really defies logic. Maybe he wanted to get caught? Maybe he's just an idiot. Either way, Superman arrives... and we can assume everything goes hunky dory after that.
Since this is a Joe Kelly story from the early 2000's, we're going to need to get his thoughts on the Iraq War... so here we go. A Marine stationed in the Middle East writes to Superman expressing that the fighting forces have been forgotten. It isn't hard to discern which side of the aisle our writer sits... from this, and a lot of his writing at the time. Thankfully this is a bit more subtle than usual. Superman arrives to assure the Marines that they haven't been forgotten.
Toriano, Italy... a ninety-nine year old man refuses to die until he sees Superman with his own two eyes. He's very sick, and has been on death's door for a long time at this point. His doctors are baffled as to how he's made it this long. Superman flies up... and brings him peace.
We wrap up back in Metropolis... where Doctor Spectro has just finished building a "heavy photon distillation unit" with which he hopes to take over Metropolis. Superman dashes those dreams with the quickness... but doesn't take the baddie in. Guess he's still got a bit of the "holiday spirit" in 'im. We close with Spectro asking how it feels to be able to do "everything", to which our man says it's "the greatest".
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This was okay... but kinda fell short for me.
It's like, you know that this is trying to be a heartwarming issue... and, I dunno... sometimes you just can't set out to do that. There's very little in the way of subtlety... it's just page after page of "Awww".
I mean, the scenes were decent... but didn't have the heart of previous Metropolis Mailbag type of stories. It just felt like it was trying too hard... which, I dunno... is something I also associate with Joe Kelly's writing. I get the feeling he believes he's far more profound than he actually is. Don't know the fella... and for the most part, really enjoy his stuff... but there's that air about his writing.
The issue is gimmicky, but it really is the perfect way for a Superman New Year's story to go. The "people in need" all requesting Superman's presence exactly at midnight is a bit "eh", but I like the idea of our man visiting every time zone... even if it is simply "because he can".
The Iraq War commentary... I could've done without. I'm guessing that bit was chock full of projection... which, ya know... is fine, I guess. It gets his point across... and, I'll hand it to Mr. Kelly... this was far more subtle than that hamfisted JLA story he cranked out on the subject. I'm very rarely happy to see real-world stuff in my comics... especially when it's the first war of the "Internet era". I mean, it was wall-to-wall Iraq War from 2003-2005.
You couldn't escape it! We had dozens of 24-hour news channels... every website giving their two cents. The last thing I wanted to see was comics giving a (highly politicized) view on the subject. Plus, there's that whole "Why wouldn't Superman get involved?" thing that we try to ignore. I'll tell ya what, it's far easier to ignore if we quit mentioning the War in comics.
The ending didn't quite work for me. More on my perception of Kelly's profundity... it's as though he knew the final line of the book (and, as it happens his run on Action Comics), and worked backwards. Leaving Doctor Spectro to stew on the roof feels completely wrong. Seconds earlier he built a doomsday device to take over the city... and now he's just free to go? Not buyin' it.
Overall... I don't know that this is an issue you need to rush out and grab... but if you come across it in the wild, I suppose you could do worse. It's really pretty to look at!
Before we go... I want to raise my rapidly-cooling cuppa coffee and wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2018!
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Superman: The Man of Steel #109 (February, 2001)
"World Without Superman"
Writer - Mark Schultz
Penciller - Duncan Rouleau
Inkers - Jamie Mendoza & Marlo Alquiza
Colors & Separations - WildStormFX
Letterer - Ken Lopez
Assistant Editor - Tom Palmer, Jr.
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.25
Well, we never seem to be able to go very long without tripping over our old friend Superman, eh?
Today we're going to discuss an issue early in my "return" to reading Superman... actually my first time collecting the series's's's without a large event going on in the background, like say... a death.
Let's check out a story in which every time a bell rings, a meta-human gets a cape.
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We open in John Henry Irons' SteelWorks lab, where Superman is stress-testing Emil Hamilton's new cybernetic arm. Ya see, in the wake of the Y2K-B13 thang, the Prof was taken to an underground world below Metropolis... into the Virus itself. While there, he saw some strange things... including a strange Phantom Zone entity... more on that in a bit. Upon return he had himself one whopper of a cybernetic mitt.
After the test, Superman takes his leave. He is still feeling the effects of Lex Luthor's ascension into the White House. Steel offers Emil the SteelWorks as a workspace while the Prof's lab is rebuilt. He also gives him the "nickel tour", and shows him a strange meteor that had been delivered to him by Superman for study.
We rejoin Clark Kent as he lounges on his couch. He's flipping stations on the TV between classic Christmas movies, and the 24-Hour news cycle which, at this point is "All Luthor, All the time".
He finally dozes off... however, is awakened by Liri Lee of the Linear Men! Now, the Linear Men have always bored me to tears... but let's keep an open mind, perhaps she's here for something that will wind up being entertaining. Well, if the cover blurb didn't give it away, she's here to take him on a tour of a future without Superman... kinda like "It's a Wonderful Life"... or, uh... "It Will Be a Wonderful Life", I guess... because future.
And so, we hop fifteen years into the future. Superman's gone, and Lois, Perry, Jimmy, and Natasha Irons (now going by Iron Maiden) are part of the resistance against Lex Luthor (who must've passed an amendment on term limits). For the past six years, however, they have posed as part of the President-for-Life's Public Relations detail.
Their plan is to record a dicey interaction between Luthor and a representative from Pokolistan... which I can only hope has a capital called Palookaville... to which, you can only ever buy a "one way ticket". They will install a retinal camera to record the discussion... then broadcast it to the world to show everyone just how bad'a dude Luthor really is. Sounds like they didn't put nearly as much thought into this as they should... I wonder how it's going to turn out.
Anyhoo... Liri takes Superman on a quick tour of this new world. Funny, if this were "real time", the Earth he'd be looking at would be that of The New-52! There's a reason to panic, right? Where were the Linear Men to warn us when all that was going down?! Okay, okay... she informs him that many of his fellow heroes have either perished, retired, or joined up with Luthor. Also, that LexCorp's B13 tech has pretty much taken over the entire planet.
Speaking of Lex... our next stop is in a Savannah, where he is planning to meet with the Palooka from Pokolistan. He is flanked by his Press Gang and security detail, featuring Plastic Man, Booster Gold, and Huntress. The landscape looks really cool... as the trees have a bit of the B13 virus in them. Really dig this.
Finally the Pokolistan Colonel arrives, and to celebrate they each kill a tiger. Well, when in Rome...
They start talking details of their nefarious plan... but Luthor stops before getting into the "juicy" stuff. He turns and instructs his security team to detail the press gang. Because, ya know... a video camera contact lens is a really dumb idea, and Lex knew about it all along. Probably because his company invented and manufactured the damn things.
Lex and company kill Lois, Perry, and Jimmy... all the while Superman is powerless to stop him. Liri then pulls him away to show him this Pokolistan. He says he's never heard of it... to which, she says "you will." Pokolistan is destined to be the hub of the B13 Virus... and they will eventually take over the world. Not even President Lex will be powerful enough to stop them. From there, the Earth will fall before the Pokolistan Dynasty... and never recover.
Liri returns Clark back to the "present", asks that he not abandon his adopted home planet... and wishes him a Merry Christmas. Oh yeah! This is a Christmas issue... almost forgot about that!
We wrap up back at the SteelWorks, where Emil and John Henry are checking into that Phantom Zone presence. Listening close they can hear someone speaking... in Kryptonese! Without a translation... grr... okay. They're saying, "I will surrly". Ahh, that clears it all up! Glad I took the time to do that. Anyhoo, from this... they deduce that their might just be a Krypton in the Phantom Zone. We know where this is headed.
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Not a bad issue. Not nearly as fun as the previous two Christmas romps we'd just read... but, for the time, a really good "imaginary story".
I'm not sure how "on board" I am with the idea that Superman would abandon the Earth following Luthor's Presidential victory. I mean, we hear people all the time (on both sides) saying they'll leave the United States if such-and-such candidate they don't like wins... and 99.9% of them never follow though. I can't see Superman actually leaving the Earth as a whole simply because he didn't like the result of an election.
There are many ways we can take that conversation, but in the interest of... well, not doing any of that... we'll just let it lay. I think what bugs me most is that not only did Superman leave... he left Lois behind as well! I just can't see that happening. I mean, check in on New Krypton for a little while, sure... walk across the freaking country... dumb, but okay... leave the Earth forever? Just don't see it.
I don't remember off the top of my head if the Pokolistan threat ever became a "thing". Maybe they had something to do with Imperiex and Our Worlds At War... but it's been a lifetime since I sat down with that.
The art here... well, I'm of two minds. I like it, and feel like it fits in with a lot of "turn of the century" art... while at the same time, I can't help but to be distracted that Rouleau draws everyone to kinda look like Antonio Inoki.
Overall, a fine issue... which lays the groundwork for some fairly monumental stories to follow. It might not have been as "Christmassy" as I'd have liked, but I'm glad I revisited it nonetheless. Worth checking out!
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On the Third Day of Christmas on Infinite Earths, I give to you Superman: The Man of Steel #109, Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special, and a Red Hood and the Outsiders Annual #2 Review.
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