Adventures of Superman #443 (1988)

Adventures of Superman #443 (August, 1988)

"Prisoner of Conscience"

Writer - Jerry Ordway

Penciller - John Statema

Inker - Doug Hazlewood

Letterer - Albert De Guzman

Colorist - Julianna Ferriter

Assistant Editor - Renee Witterstaetter

Editor - Michael Carlin

Cover Prices: $1.00/$0.75

Catching up on a bit of my comic book "homework"... this week I'm gettin' learnt up on Superman's adventures with... sand.

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Clark and Jimmy are bunking together at a middle-eastern Holloway Inn, having been sent on assignment to trail a missing/captive journalist named Henry Kanfeld.  Jimmy's kinda marking out for the situation, while Clark tries to temper his expectations... after all, this story will very likely have an unhappy ending.

Clark and Jimmy gather their duplicate passports and head down to the lobby to meet with Jawad Al Gurdan.  Jawad is a friend of Clark's who will guide them into the occupied territory across the Jordanian border.  We also meet Jawad's associate and driver, Hassam, who makes no secret his disdain and impatience with Americans.

The foursome crosses the border, and Jimmy questions why they need duplicate passports.  It is explained that they'll need an unstamped one to pass back though from Israel... otherwise it would be invalidated.

Once across the border, they... and this is nuts... walk up and knock on a terrorist group's front door!  This goes about as well as you might expect... they are dragged in at gunpoint, and Hassam is shot in the gut!  Clark tells Jimmy and Jawad to hoof it and allows himself to be taken hostage.

Jim and Jaw run down the street, with Jimmy activating his Superman signal watch.  They don't make it all that far before Jimmy sees something shiny down an alley... a girl, called Tehra.  She seemingly puts a trance on young Olsen, and he follows her out into the desert.

Back at casa terrorist, Clark has made short work of the baddies and ties them up in the front room.  He heads to the back and meets a pair of captives (Bob and Bill) being held, and asks if they know anything about Kanfeld.  They claim to have known him... but he'd left, and their captors took credit for his execution.

By now, Clark hears Jimmy's signal watch.  He tells Bob and Bill to sit tight (yeah, where are they goin'?) and he heads off to check in with his Pal.  He arrives just in time to pull Jim and Jaw out of a vortex that Tehra is whipping up.

She doesn't take this intrusion kindly... and manifests a giant sand monster to fight Superman off.  The creature manages to keep Supes occupied long enough for Tehra to pull Jimmy into the vortex.  Superman is just barely able to follow down the hole before it closes up.  Poor Jawad is left by his lonesome in the middle of the desert... presumably left to die.

R.I.P. in pieces, Jawad...

On the other side of the vortex (and where the story really loses my interest)... Superman emerges in an odd futuristic dimension... which is ruled by a Serpentor knock-off and a pair of Krangs.

We learn that Jimmy was abducted for his... red hair.  These extradimensional exiles "interlace" with humans.  Jim's body is sent away, and the Serpentor-like Emperor orders his charges to fight Superman.  All's going well until Superman is tossed onto a platform that forms an impenetrable dome over him.

We join Jimmy and learn that these exiles use human bodies when they... er, become incorporeal (?) by entering "the void".  Tehra has been petitioning for Jimmy's body to be used as the host for her brother, Husque... however, the Emperor has different plans.  He's going to use the body for his son Ahkry.  The Emperor's host-body is also that of a Westerner, and he'd like for his son to "match".

That's all Tehra needs to hear... she runs straight to Superman and cries "betrayal!".  Odd, she's got no problem body-snatching, so long as the body is of use to her!  We get a lengthy history lesson for the exiles... and Superman is informed of the Emperor's designs for Jimmy.  We also learn that Superman himself is being kept on ice to serve as the Emperor's next host body!

Superman is freed, and again begins fighting off the exiles.  Ultimately using one to fire a blast directly at the Emperor... destroying his Professor X-esque hover chair.

We rejoin Tehra who has run off to tell a man called Zander to stop the "matrixing process" for Ahkry.  Apparently, all past host bodies were already dead... it's against the exile code to kill a living person to use their body.  Ahkry, obviously, ain't too happy to hear he's not getting his freckly new bod... and he begins to protest.  So, Tehra breaks a bottle over his head.  Okay...

Jimmy's body is offloaded, and suddenly the matrix chamber fuses into the form of a giant metal beast... whose cries are identical to the sand monster Superman fought earlier.  This is Tehra's brother, Husque.

Husque takes out the Emperor and returns to the void and Jimmy begins to recover.  Superman walks over to the fallen (and now maskless) Emperor, and yup... it's the journalist he was looking for, Henry Kanfeld.

All appears to be well in the world of the exiles... now free of the tyranny of the Emperor... until, whoops... Tehra's buddy Zander dons the mask.  Aw, c'mon Zee... Meet the new boss... same as the old boss.

We (finally) close out with Superman and Jimmy back in the real world... heading back to the Holloway Inn (where Clark Kent should be waiting).  In our final panels, we see the Exiles are still stomping the desert.

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From much of my research, I found that this issue was originally supposed to be a 1988 Annual for one of the Superman titles... which due to it's increased page count and lack of ads (not counting those on the inside covers) I can certainly see that.  I've seen a few reports as to the "why", and most are in agreement that this story had to be repurposed into a regular monthly issue due to John Byrne getting ready to leave the Superman books around this time.  Can't really speak with any authority to that end... but, figure I'd include it.

Was this originally supposed to be an annual?  Well... it kinda feels like a story that would be in an annual.  Can't say it's a bad issue... but, I was kinda bored by it.  There's a sort of timelessness to this story... like, where it could be dropped in at any point during this era, and not seem out of place.  That's cool, however with that said, there's really nowhere that this story would look like it really "fit" either.  Again... this is not a bad story...

... just a long one.  I honestly struggled to get through this one.  To be fair, it started off really strong.  I enjoyed Clark and Jimmy heading into hostile territory.  I always dig their dynamic, and this was no different.  Once we met our underground (?) dimension... it kinda lost me.  It was confusing and boring.  The ending was fairly strong I guess, leaving things wide open for the exiles to be revisited... but still, ehhhh.

You may have noticed up top I listed two cover prices for this one.  It's strange, apparently this issue had exclusive "Mall" variants.  The cover is exactly the same, however, rather than the UPC code (of the Direct Market Superman shield) in the lower-left corner, there is instead the logo of a Mall.  Those with the mall logos were marked at $0.75, while the others listed at a buck.  My copy bears the logo of the Fiesta Mall, which is located in sorta-kinda nearby Mesa, Arizona.  Might have to keep my eyes peeled for more of these in the cheap-o's.

The non-mall $1.00 version

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Letters Page:

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Superman (vol.2) #123 (1997)

Superman (vol.2) #123 (May, 1997)
"Superman... Reborn!"
Story - Dan Jurgens
Penciller - Ron Frenz
Inker - Joe Rubenstein
Letterer - John Costanza
Colorist - Glenn Whitmore
Separations - Digital Chameleon
Associate Editor - Mike McAvennie
Editor - Joey Cavalieri
Cover Price: $1.95

Still feeling in a glow-in-the-dark kinda mood after discussing the conclusion of Emerald Twilight... and this was the first book that came to mind (not that there are all that many with a beautiful radioactive paint-job).  I'm actually quite excited to talk about this one, as it comes from a Superman (DC altogether, really) blind-spot for me.

Looking back, I wish I had been a Superman reader during this time, as it just seems like a damn interesting time.  Alas, instead of discussing when Superman would be ditchin' his electric blues... I was across the way wondering when Wolverine would get his adamantium back!

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We open with Lois Lane fighting traffic on her way to meet with Emil Hamilton and Kitty Faulkner at S.T.A.R. Labs.  Her new husband, Superman's powers have gone all outta whack.  He's becoming incorporeal, fading in and out of physical form.  Making matters worse, he's in the middle of a fight with a blue brute called Scorn.

Superman is struggling big time with this battle... his power is surging and his vision is a psychedelic mess.  Jimmy Olsen and Bibbo are among the spectators, and Superman is doing what he can to keep them safe.  He finally manages to bring things into focus just in time for Scorn to sock him into next week... or an electrified Soder Cola billboard...

... which he appears to absorb the electricity from... 

With Superman outta the picture, Scorn turns his attention toward young Olsen and begins his approach.  Luckily (your mileage may vary) Superman is able to pull himself together long enough to fly headlong into Scorn, and sends him into the bay.

We shift scenes to Lex Luthor's bad-ass multimedia room.  He's watching dozens of Jimmy Olsens reporting on the latest Superman-flavored proceedings.  Lex's new wife, the Contessa enters and the two discuss whether or not LexCorp should step in to help the alien.  Lex rattles off an awesome line here, where he asks if he gains more from Superman's suffering... or his salvation.

Rush hour must be over, because Lois has finally arrived at S.T.A.R.  It doesn't take long for a power surge to hit... Superman is in the building!  Hamilton guides him to a containment chamber to try and keep him in one piece... time is most definitely of the essence.

The Docs and Lois try to figure out the best way to approach this.  Hamilton insists they require some Kryptonian technology, to which the handy li'l robot Kelex offers himself as sacrifice.  Moments later, the Contessa enters holding a roll of blue "advanced polymer fabric" courtesy of LexCorp.  They have been monitoring the Super-sitch, and advise the crew that they may just be their only hope.  She places the fabric on the table and leaves.

We briefly shift to Scorn climbing outta the drink onto a small fishing boat.  His very appearance causes the fisherman on board to suffer a heart attack.  Here we get a bit of an internal monologue from Scorn... he may not be as bad a fella as we thought.

Back at S.T.A.R., it is decided that they will use the LexCorp fabric to create a containment suit for Superman.  They finish up the project, and not a moment too soon... at this point there's very little left of the Man of Steel.

Superman is summoned to try on his new duds, and wouldn'tcha know it, they're a perfect fit!  The suit allows him to keep his new powers when he's "in phase", however, he becomes completely human when he's not.  That's an interesting wrinkle that was lost on me during my first read.

Superman zips through Metropolis, and we see Lex and Bride of Lex watching... they're both quite pleased.

Finally, Superman flies home to Smallville to check in on Ma and Pa... and to show off his new clothes.  They take this drastic change in appearance... perhaps a bit too well.  However, after all they'd been through raising the boy who would become Superman, I'd have to assume it's a bit difficult to really shake them.

The issue wraps up with Scorn carrying the fallen fisherman into the Emergency Room.  As he leaves, he finds a scrap of newspaper with a photo of Clark Kent on it... he rubs his chin, Zack Morris style, indicating he just might be making some connections.

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I'd only read this one once before, and purely for the novelty of the thing... not in any way with an analytic eye.  I remember finding the entire thing kind of "out there", and pretty much wrote the whole thing off.  I'm really glad I gave it the "second chance".

This era seems to get a great deal of flack, and while I'm ultimately ignorant to much of it... if this issue is anything to go by, I'd disagree.  This wasn't a bad issue at all... quite fun, in fact.  Though, I guess I should say I can see why people may not like it.  It is a pretty big departure... and let's face it, the 90's were a very tumultuous time for the Man of Steel.  This may feel like the cherry on a stunt-sundae that was started in 1992.

I'm not really sure of the behind-the-scenes story (if there was one, anyway) for the new-look Supes... but, as a temporary (we had to know it was temporary... right?) thing, I don't have any problem with it.  We just went through a year of the New-52 Superman fighting crime in jeans and a t-shirt, with his secret identity known to the world... this electric blue dealie is hardly that big a deal in retrospect.

I notice that the Scorn character gets a lot of face-time during this era (including a cover featuring only his face, if I'm not mistaken).  I have absolutely no knowledge of the fella, but I'm looking forward to doing some "homework" to fill in my blanks.

I enjoyed how Lois had to actually work at keeping herself in check.  It would only be too easy for her to show her hand... divulge that she's Mrs. Superman, and Superman is Mr. Kent.  I really like that Jurgens had her actually think about how she was conducting herself around the Docs.  It's a little thing, but means so much.

I've got no complaints about the writing or the art... which shouldn't really come as any surprise.  I'm a big fan of Dan Jurgens, and Ron Frenz always delivers.  I do, however, have a problem with the coloring... but I suspect that's more an indictment on the technology of the era.  So many late-90's books had that odd "muddy" look when it came to the colors (though I did appreciate the psychedelic effects early on).  This issue isn't nearly as bad in that respect as other books I've seen, however, still not all that pretty.

Much to my surprise, this has been collected!  As of this writing, I cannot speak to the quality of the overall package.  I can say, however, that I enjoyed this opening chapter.

I mentioned the glow in the dark cover above... well, hold on to your hats:

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Letters Page:

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Green Lantern (vol.3) #50 (1994)

Green Lantern (vol.3) #50 (March, 1994)

"Emerald Twilight, Part Three: The Future"

Writer - Ron Marz

Pencils - Darryl Banks

Inks - Romeo Tanghal

Colors - Steve Mattsson

Letters - Albert De Guzman

Assistant Editor - Eddie Berganza

Editor - Kevin Dooley

Cover Price: $2.95

On this past week's Cosmic Treadmill segment for the Weird Science DC Comics Podcast, Reggie and I spent the better part of 45 minutes discussing Emerald Twilight... with a special emphasis on this, the senses-shattering conclusion.  

We went page by page, and even discussed some of the "what might have beens" had previous Lantern writer Gerard Jones have been kept on.  From there we talk about some of the fallout including the turning up of the H.E.A.T. on DC editorial/creative.  It was a good time, as always... so if you're interested give'r a listen!

Of course, you can check out my coverage of GL #48 and GL #49 here if you need/want to be caught up.

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Hot off the heels of issue #49, Hal stands before his arch-rival Sinestro.  The two exchange pleasantries and emerald blasts, before Sinestro trash-talks Jordan into dumping all his appropriated lantern rings (save his own)... making it a fair fight.

The pair continues to fight... trading barbs both verbal and physical.  Hal cannot, for the life of him, figure out what the Guardians were thinking when they summoned the rogue Lantern, Sinestro.  Sinestro, being a complete (awesome) jerk smirks and offers that they may have seen him as a "lesser or two evils."

Sinestro continues twisting the knife... he tells Hal that the Guardians once begged him to take Jordan under his wing... begged him to even make him even half the Lantern he is... just being a total slimeball here, and it's amazing!

The battle goes from willpower based to a down and dirty fistfight.  These two just absolutely beat the hell out of one another.  It's an amazing fight, that ends with Hal getting the upper hand.  He grabs Sinestro in a headlock, and... snaps his neck.  Not before Sinestro lets out one of the sweetest "last words" I've read in a comic.  He agrees that Hal should've snapped his neck a long time ago!

With Sinestro out of the picture, Hal continues toward the power battery.  Before he can steal the power he feels a giant paw on his shoulder... Kilowog is back in the game... and he ain't happy.

Before he knows it, Hal is dragged into his second fistfight in as many minutes.  Kilowog tries to talk reason to Hal... even going as far as comparing what happened to his home planet, Bolovax Vik to what happened to Coast City.  Kilowog's home was destroyed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths... and considering that was an entire planet... not just a city, there really isn't much of a comparison.

He tells Hal it's not too late to turn back.  It's not too late to stop all of this... and then, it happens.  Hal barbecues Kilowog.

Hal slumps to the ground next to the smoldering skeleton of one of his closer friends... and mentors.  He sits there, realizes the gravity of the situation... perhaps for the first time... he sits there, and weeps.  He removes his ring and tosses it to the ground, knowing he no longer deserves the right to wear it.

Hal again approaches the power battery.  The Guardians make one last effort to stop him.  It goes about as well as it could be expected.  Hal, still weeping, grabs a Guardian by the collar and tells them it's too late.  And so, he enters the battery.

While Hal is "in dispose", the Guardians decide to impart all of their power into the youngest among them... Ganthet.  They stand in a circle, and focus all of their emerald energy into the one who would become the "final" Guardian of the Universe.

The power battery explodes, and Hal reappears... in some new duds.  He walks through the smoldering corpses of the Guardians and stomps on his former ring for good measure before taking off.

Ganthet emerges from the pile of bodies and repairs Hal's ring... he knows what he must do.

Ganthet heads to Earth, and finds himself behind some dumpy nightclub.  There's a young man out back "getting air".  You remember that stargazing fella a couple of issues back?  Toldja he wasn't gonna be important... he's just some artist and Nine Inch Nails fan named Kyle Rayner.  Oh yeah, and he's now the one and only Green Lantern.  So there's that...

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Well, how 'bout that?  I was pretty shocked the first time I'd read this all those years ago... and I still get kinda cringy upon rereading.  This really felt as though it would be Hal's Rubicon... there really ain't any going back after all this.  I've mentioned before... it would have been easier to kill him, and bring him back down the line... with the massacre, however... yeesh.

Regardless of whether or not the Parallax was a giant yellow space bug who was causing Hal to act this way... it's still kinda tough to separate the "man" from the behavior.  I was happy upon Hal's redemption, that Batman still kinda questioned if the League should be so trusting of the man.

Some great writing here.  Really dug the trash-talk between Hal and Sinestro.  Sin agreeing with Hal that he should've killed him long ago was pretty awesome.  Of course, he couldn't because of the Zamoran yellow-impurity-in-the-battery dealie was lingering about... but still, cool.

Hal barbecuing poor Kilowog was pretty heart-breaking.  I think that's when most readers realized that DC creative and editorial wasn't screwing around here.  It was also the moment where the stark realization of the events kinda caught up with Hal in-story.  The man sits next to his old friend's smoldering skeleton... and openly weeps.  Up until that point, I feel it would have been pretty easy to sweep things under the rug... this one action really was Hal's bridge-too-far.

This issue, at least to my knowledge didn't have a "first" solicitation like the other two parts of Emerald Twilight.  There is, however, a Gerard Jones proposed plot summary available online.  Wildly interesting reading!

If you don't feel like clickin'... here's the quick 'n dirty:  New Guardians arrive on Oa and claim the "originals" to be fraudulent imposters.  They take over the Corps, remove the yellow impurity and 24-hour time limits from the rings.  Hal and the Justice League have to fight the Sinestro-led Corps.  Hal discovers that the original Guardians were behind the death of Hal's father... in order to give Hal sufficient "trauma" to become a hero.  Turns out the "new" Guardians are the fakes... and all goes back to normal.  We can't forget, however... the Guardians had Hal's dad "offed".  Hal leaves the Corps, and renames himself the Protector.  No, not that Protector.

Let's take a look at the some of the constants between the two.  At the end of both versions, A) The yellow impurity and 24-hour time limit are eliminated from the rings, and B) Hal Jordan is no longer a Green Lantern.  Now, it's not much of a secret that during his time Hal has "quit" the Lanterns so often that it's almost a running gag.  Had the original story gone forward, I believe it would have felt more like "Hal being Hal" than anything profound or special.

As for the Guardians of the Universe being "behind the scenes" as it pertains to the death of Martin Jordan... hmm, I'm getting flashbacks to the end of the Grant Morrison run on Doom Patrol, where it was revealed that Niles Caulder kind of "masterminded" the circumstances behind Larry, Cliff, and Rita ultimately becoming Doomies.  That story hit in 1992, if I'm not mistaken... and I really can't speak to how much of a crossover audience the two books shared, but still interesting.

This being the mid-1990's, DC felt they had to commemorate the landmark 50th issue with an enhanced cover.  Rather than just shovel out another book covered in tin-foil, however, they gave us a much more interesting glow-in-the-dark deal... which much to my surprise, still glows in the dark!  Below you can see it illuminated... I closed myself in my laundry room with the lights out like a goon to snap the pic.

Of course I recommend anybody check this one out.  Love it or hate it, Emerald Twilight is one of those stories all fans of superhero comics should know about.  Again, Reggie and I spent about 45 minutes discussing it (and a lot of the stuff surrounding it, including fan theories and the emergence of H.E.A.T.) on this past week's Weird Science DC Comics Podcast.

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Letters Page (with a great post-script by Eddie Berganza):

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