Sadly this comic doesn't really go out of it's way to help you understand Siobhan's (Banshee) struggle o why she is the way she is. The comic shows on the first page Siobhan being afraid as child in her room at night with her mother wooing her back to sleep.

Besides that it just goes back to Supergirl figuring out since Banshee took over Matee , she is heading toward the mental facility where her brother's killer is.

Silver Banshee gets a hit on Supergirl thinking she killed her, but since Supergirl is Linda and Banshee doesn't know her name, she can't end her life with her scream. Going back on her trail, the killer is no where to be found in the mental facility and the loonies. Supergirl and Banshee have a short fight, Supergirl holding Banshees mouth, Banshe choking Suppergirl. They come to a stalemate an Banshee let's Supergirl come with her to the prison.

Trying to convince Supergirl that there is such thing as genuine evil, that Supergirl's refusal to see that and instead believe that everyone has a light, a chance for redemption is a foolish delusion. Walking through the dark, dingey prison, Banshee shows Supergirl each prisoner. From rapist to murderers asking her what light can she find in such filth.

Appeasing to her friend Matee's side, Mae manages to split the two from eachother putting Siobhan back in her amnesia, child-like state. Sweetly Supergirl comforts and woos Banshee like the child on page 1. Siobhan shrinks until she is dust, returning to the spiritual realm I suppose?

Not the best of the run so far, not enough context or development was given for Siobhan in this... Still good though! more

Silver Banshee has lost her mind, trapped in a cave by the power of Satanus himself, Linda accidentally releases Silver Banshee from the confinement. Having no memory of who she is, Banshee runs wild throughout the town of Leesburg. Believing she is a beautiful blonde normal human, she terrifies everyone with her presence.

After releasing Banshee Supergirl gets snatched up by a tentacle and dragged down through the River Styx and hell to the domain of Satanus. Satanus warns Supergirl tat Silver Banshee has been confined for a reason and must be stopped. Satanus says he can't fight or mess with Supergirl in any way since she is one of the three chosen ones, "The Blue Angel", he offers no explanation for this. Interestingly he does give the reader information on Linda and Matrix' souls.

We now know that the existential Crisis Mae was going through in Showcase 96 wasn't just an emotional, physical reaction of questioning what the hell her existence means when she is just a protoplasm created in a lab. Mae was on the cusp of Spiritual annihilation, thus her merging with Linda not only helped Mae form an actual soul that is now legitimate in the eyes of God and Satanus, but also helped redeem Linda's corrupted Soul due to the goodness of Mae.

Without this merging of fate, Linda would be doomed to the pits of hell for eternity, and Mae despite her natural goodness, would be destined for OBLIVION. No Afterlife, No purgatory, no hell. NOTHING.

As to who saved both of these women from such horrible fates is yet to be seen.

Banshee gets shot up by Police responding to everyone's panic. They really bloody her up so much her arm comes off, the pain wakes her up to use her screaming ability and murder all of the cops where they stood, no chance. Supergirl tries to calm her down, but Banshee sees Linda's friend Maitee who has an angry soul felt by Banshee, she takes over her body to regain her powers 100%. more

Thank the gods for Orion!!

Darkseid manipulates Superman to believe he is his son. Granny trains Superman to be their weapon but due to his amnesia he is not at full strength.

Meanwhile Orion and Lightray travel from their New Genesis and head toward Apokolips. Darkseid's sentry warns him of their arrival and in response sends Superman to squash them. With a glance Darkseid activates Superman's powers to almost 100% with the added illusion of being his son. This illusion Darkseid enforces is to prevent Superman from truly waking up because to use his powers 100% would break him out of the amnesia.

Superman and Orion fight around Apokolips atmosphere, Lightray is almost tempted by Grace (Temptress) but blinds her before she can seduce him.

Orion realizing he can't beat Supes, tries to show shake him by revealing his face to Superman as the true son of Darkseid and the dark agony and burden that comes with it. He also then uses the motherbox as well.

Superman comes back suit and all and enraged screams out for Darkseid. Darkseid unhappy that his game is over, tries to annihilate Supes with his Omega rays but Superman maneuvers it back at Darkseid. Realizing he lost this one Darkseid sends Supes back to Earth before he could try to fight him more.

Orion and his father Darkseid speak briefly about fighting now or in the future with the normal conflict between New Genesis and Apokolips. Orion leaves, with Lightray asking him if Superman remembered the massacre he helped Darkseid do. Orion tells him how he restored everything but the massacre so Superman would never remember the atrocity he was a part of. Lightray perturbed and slightly annoyed says why not, Orion has many horrors he went through and retains.

Beautifully Orion says how that is because he is a warrior, Superman however is more than a warrior. He is a Champion and must never have that evil infect his psyche.

Another brilliant piece by Byrne and Giardano. Orion stands out and I love how it takes Darkseid's son to correct his father's evils.

This little story arc at the very least should be adapted into an animated film, it combined all the elements that make Superman and his supporting world so captivating to begin with. more

When I read this ish a couple of years ago through the Deluxe Hardcover I was simply amazed at the Shakespearean tragic themes and betrayal throughout. Wondering to myself was this comic at the time of March 1987 controversial to fans and readers?

Darkseid has achieved complete corruption and decimation of the Man of Steel's symbol of hope. Continuing from last ish, Superman is recovered from the fire pits of Apokolips that only Orion himself has survived. Suffering from amnesia, Supes is swept up by the revolutionary leader Amazing Grace, the woman from before who Superman saved from execution.

Using the amnesia as an opportunity Grace molds Superman as the Revolution's savior against the tyranny of Darkseid. While this comic is not too beefy and long, the narration describing what Clark goes through in this short period is truly epic and dark. Before his final initiation, Grace seduces him quite easily in the hot tub, remember he has amnesia, plus he is not married to Lois or in any relationship yet back in Metropolis as of this point.

From there Grace and her revolutionaries create a new Spartucus like armor for Superman to wear and wave his House of El Symbol on a flag during battle. Leading battle after battle against Darkseid's legions of Parademons trained by Granny, slowly the armies of revolution are whittled down. Despite this fact, Superman gives them hope against all the odds of Darkseid's might.

The twist that blew my mind on the first read was how Grace was really working for Darkseid, and Superman due to his amnesia, willingly does the bidding of his greatest enemy. The revolutionaries have a mass celebration one night for their fighting, only to be trapped and slaughtered by Parademons, Superman allowing it as well. Superman, the Superman, stood and watched the massacre of those he fought with and gave hope to a better future. It was this moment in this 39 year old comic that gave me a whole new level of respect for Darkseid being one of the most evil villains. Tyranny personified perfectly. Props to Jack Kirby of course!

Perverting the innocence, compassion and love that Superman always stands for while he was suffering amnesia shows there are no bounds no limit to Darkseid's imaginative strategy and chess playing, any means necessary to retain his power.

This really makes you feel horrified for Superman and how he will handle this once he learns of the horror he helped commit.

It was truly epic how they depicted Superman's willing betrayal on the last couple pages. "You've had the hope of freedom burn within you long enough."

"Indeed it has sustained you through the terrible miseries you suffer each day."

"That hope for a savior is what has driven you against the rule of Darkseid."

"And now it is time for the great change. Let that last great hope... Be ended!"

The Parademons fly in and massacre the crowd.

Superman stands watching the horror with grace in complacent happiness with her around his arms. "The Revolution is over Grace. We have won."

Grace pleased by her bloody work responds, "you served us well Savior."

"If you don't mind Grace I'd as soon hear that from my true Master."

Darkseid smiles, proudly places his hand on Superman's shoulder, "You have led them along the path they so desired, and at the end they found only pain and suffering. The survivors-- if survivors there be-- will tell the rest of the hunger dogs."

"The Flame of Hope will flicker and grow cold again -- You have indeed served me well, my son..."

This was really awesome, making me think of Biblical concepts such as Revelations, the Anti-Christ, False Prophets, or False Savior's Christ warns us about. Darkseid being the DC Universe form of the Beast, Superman the False Messiah presented to the masses by the Beast. Leading the people to their deaths rather than their salvation or freedom.
more

The comic starts off with Lois having an interview with "Glorious Godfrey" who tells her why he hates Superheroes and plans to eradicate them. According to Godfrey Superheroes have taken humanity's independent spirit away to do for themselves, that the worship of heroes has bred a culture of complacency.

Lois finds the man's philosophy to be somewhat convincing but manages to shake herself to disagree and do her journalistic job.

Meanwhile Clark is running all around Metropolis from Darkseid's Omega rays. Unable to change to Superman to protect his identity he attempts to maneuver the rays through the sewage only to get hit. Not being death rays but teleportation rays to be summoned by the one and only Darkseid. Darkseid disappointed and confused that he has Clark Kent instead of Superman not knowing that they are the same. Accompanying him at his side is the Phantom Stranger.

Darkseid gets annoyed at the Stranger and his remarks, though he is just an observer, Darkseid throws Clark out of his tower. Clark tells us the Phantom Stranger let Darkseid do this because he knows he is Clark. Something tells me at the same time Darkseid is playing both Clark and Phantom Stranger.

From his long fall Clark gets up and is greeted by the nasty residents of Armagetto. Escaping he decided to rap himself in dirty rags to blend in better. He finds a woman being persecuted and ready to be executed. Sentenced to death for attempting to rally a revolution against the tyrant Darkseid, Superman decides to screw the disguise and save the woman from execution. He gets into a fight with a huge armored monster that turns out underneath to be an ugly ass reptile thing the residents call a "Glommer". The Glommer puts its whole mouth over Supermans head using its ability to try and control his nervous system like a headcrab from Half-Life except the size of an overgrown human.

The Glommer makes Supes flying go haywire forcing them both to fall into the extreme fiery furnace pit.

Clearly this is all part of Darkseid's plan as the last panel shows him laughing as he observed.

Really great ish that shows you so many interesting angles of Superman's lore. more

Comic starts off with Superman having a fight with a Arathaza. Superman is old and on the cusp of death due to her powerful magic. Superman defeats her by getting close enough to get her staff and return her to her normal human form.

Phantom Stranger narrates a good amount, filled with some really cool classic noire like drawings and panels of the Phantom Stranger. From defeating Arathaza, her Sky Palace collapses, debris including a jewel from her staff falls onto a graveyard bringing back weary evil souls as a giant whirlwind beast trying to swallow the earth.

Phantom Stranger visits Superman, Clark because he like the Spectre is supernatural and knows all pretty much. Asking Superman after a tough battle to fight a giant spiritual beast to hold off and give the Phantom Stranger time to enter the realm of the dead and defeat the evil spirits attempting to self-resurrect themselves through the fallen jewel.

There was some cool use of him bringing the souls who were victimized to help take down the evil ones. Really cool art I enjoyed this very much! more

This was the first Action Comics issue written by John Byrne after the Alan Moore Action Comics run that I didn't read. I didn't even know Moore wrote any Superman stories until now so will add it to my reading list for sure.

In this we get special guest from the Teen Titans starting with Cyborg, Donna, and Beast Boy.

Superman appears to have gone apeshit, obviously his mind was transfered with a disabled man full of anger toward the world.

Bad Superman flexing his strength, endangering the people, Cyborg at first on his own attempts to fight the Man of Steel. Superman literally takes his arm off and shows no honor, Cyborg reacts fast enough to get away but really takes a lot of damage from a long fall from a hug building.

Donna and Beast Boy get called up and come to the scene as fast as they could. Beast Boy uses his Elephant form to try to crush Supes he fails, then Donna puts up a decent fight but also falls. The last card is Jericho who uses his mind powers to take over Superman's body.

The real Superman in his false body shows up and explains everything, they bring them both to the machine that caused the swap to begin with and all is well.

A cool start but pretty tame compared to later issues. more

Going to use this as a base for Martian Manhunter 1988 4 issue mini-series by J.M DeMatteis since they are not on this site.

(1988) #1:

I fine work of art, very abstract line work teamed with a beautiful dreamlike color and texture.

This ish starts off with Batman chasing a child murderer who then kills himself before Bats could do anything. J'onn surprises Batman and begs for his help, he is all disfigured. Being chased by some fire god from Mars, J'onn gets away from Batman out of fear that Batman will be killed.

We get a flashback that keeps showing of J'onn as a child showing some kind of toy to his father. Probably a little sculpt he made.

In this version J'onn was accidentally transported by a Dr. Erdel. J'onn was on his way to becoming a General like his father only to be swept away by Dr. Erdel and be trapped on Earth with no way back to Mars. Shocked by the appearance of a Martian Erdel died of a heart attack on the spot.

Batman goes to JL to tell them what is happening to J'onn and so far the only guess is his body is fighting a dangerous cellular virus he absorbed in JL annual #1 who knows what year though it doesn't say.

(1988) #2:

This obscure Martian Manhunter mini series is really a thing of abstract beauty, it is a work of art, the fresco like texture, the painterly composition, the rough sketch like poses and pencil work is truly timeless how it is all captured in this piece.

Not just the art but the story is really captivating having me curious as hell as what is going on with Martian Manhunter and this Martian god of light H'Ronmeer which sounds like it should be in Scandanavian Mythology.

So we find out here that J'onn is not going crazy from the dangerous spore he absorbed in JL Annual #1. He flies all over the world to flee from H'Ronmeer who is trying to persuade J'onn that he is not the evil god of folklore the Martians would tell their children. J'onn throughout the ish fights and refuses to be persuaded.

J'onn crashes in Italy, then flies up into space to almost die, his brain activity practically blowing up. The JL Bats, Beetle and company rescue him and bring J'onn back to earth. H'Ronmeer breaks in and beats everyone without a fight. He only persuades Mister Miracle to let him through when he tells him that coming from a world with God he should understand if he listens to the song of H'Ronmeer. Scott let's the god go to Martian Manhunter only to still have J'onn fight him.

The comic ends with J'onn crashing in Colorado to be greeted by Dr. Erdel who we all thought was dead.

My theory is it's not Erdel and maybe someone from Mars that we saw in one of J'onn's visions. We hear of his father, but there was a mysterious silhouette of a female Martian in the distance in one dream. There was also the vision of the Martian Sky Mauraders J'onn was fighting before his new life on earth.

The back and forth is really good here.

(1988) #3:

The abstract fever dream continues in glorious fashion as we learn that all of the madness and H'Ronmeer have been physical manifestations coming from J'onn's powerful psyche. It turns out that his mind, his identity, everything has been a form of repression from his past. So his torture and struggle throughout this comic has been his past trying to break free from the lies.

Dr. Erdel turns out to still be alive and was the main source of J'onn's whole earth identity. When Erdel miraculously conjured the Martian to earth by accident, J'onn didn't come alone. In his arms he held the dead cold body of his young daughter who we think died of a Martian plague which most likely wiped out all the Martians. However this is not conclusive because this story likes to throw some nice curve balls at the reader so hopefully ish 4 clarifies more details!

J'onn immediatly after being teleported fell unconscious for a long time. Dr. Erdel buried his daughter and took care of J'onn. Even though he was unconscious J'onn's mind was connecting with Erdel's in his sleep. Through this connection Erdel helped J'onn repress is tragic past and trauma too help him live on earth. Unable to erase the Martian totally, the least Erdel was capable of was using his past inspiration of Science Fiction pulp novels to create a J'onn Jones of heroism, a human's ideal vision of what a man from Mars would be. This explained J'oonn's desire to be in the JLA.

But Martian Manhunter's past and true form violently came out here. And so we see the true form of the Green Martian in the most beautiful abstract, traditional rendering available. From this Erdel was prepared for this and had the machine built back that J'onn destroyed from fear of going back. Now he is ready to return and remember. All we know so far is he was a father, but we don't know what his status was.

The only clue we get at one point is when we find out it was a lie that his father was a general, he was some kind of poet or singer.

When arriving to Mars he is greeted by H'Ronmeer, the question is, is this real or is J'onn's psyche violently reacting to the actual physical setting and return to Mars?

(1988) #4:

Jaw dropped, astounded, a masterpiece, a diamond hidden in the rough.

Why is this not on Comicbookroundup to talk about??

I was listening to Patrick Cassidy's Deirdre of Sorrows while reading this ish and found myself swelling with emotion and tearing up. For a moment I swear I was connected to Martian Manhunter, joke aside. H'Ronmeer is real but is not a demon or evil entity. He is the Martian God of the dead.

He allowed J'onn to see his wife and daughter and people again. To remember every detail. H'Ronmeer summoned Martian Manhunter because his inability to let go of the past has literally kept the souls and spirits of all the deceased Martians to remain trapped on Mars unable to move on and transcend to the afterlife.

It was left to J'onn to not forget but accept the truth and fully embrace his new life on earth. Feeling the last moments of ethereal love and sadness of the souls, H'Ronmeer was finally able to help them pass over. Leaving Mars now completely empty of any spirit.

This helped J'onn accept his fate and return to earth to embrace his friends and dance in memorium alone in the desert. Expressing his form and appreciation for the grand mysterious thing called life.

Such a masterpiece, I've decided to read just this whole issue and create a video with music and sound. Patrick Cassidy is probably copyrighted but I will try, otherwise I will find orchestral sad music that fits elsewhere. This is a story that should be talked about still.

It's not about genocide like modern iterations so it's not as dark, but there is something life affirming in the message that just flows so well in here. more

Wow while ish #424 was not so impressive this one really surprised me with how well put together it was! Hamilton is one of the most retarded scientist that exist in Superman's world. He was fooled working for Lex Luthor and had his invention stolen. He then lost everything to luckily partner with an investor to make a defensive weapon. Only to then test the weapon on that very same investor and accidentally kill him. To then running from the law and trying to prove his invention during the battle Superman was having against the Freedom Terrorist group.

The terrorist once defeated by Superman commit mass suicide because they were all hooked up to the transformer thing.

Superman tried to stop them but he really couldn't since they were on an unstoppable suicide mission to begin with. Superman feeling disappointed in not preventing the loss of life leaves the scene without talking to any of the journalist.

Never getting a rest, Hamilton calls out for Superman holding a young prostitute hostage with a gun. Forcing Superman to be a test subject in his weapon invention system. Superman accepts the challenge and gets hit with everything.

We can quote Superman here telling Hamilton that "science is never greater than Man". So suck my c**k you scientism cultist even Superman says screw scientism!!

Fun ish for sure! more

The best parts in this comic are the interactions between Cat and Clark, Lex Luthor trying to make Lois fall in love with him in an extremely disgusting and deceitful way. The terrorist attacking Metropolis in a literal transformer that tries to kill Superman is a bit dorky.

Lex Luthor literally causes Lois' mother to become fatally sick from working in one of his subsidized labs. He then kidnaps Lois to tell her how sorry and responsible he feels since it is his lab. Offering Lois a monthly serum to keep her mother alive. Lois gives in without hesitation not realizing the great deception. Lex even admits his plan to mold Lois
' love for him to one of his servants that he even is capable of creating a one time serum but deliberately chose a monthly one to force Lois to deal with him and feel indebted.

Art is good but not as stand out as the Superman line up. more

Another home run here, Lex figures out how to modify the suns rays on Superman and over amplify it to cause Superman's powers to go haywire and turn him into a danger for everyone. He sends an android named Klaash to fight Superman and have him aim his uncontrolled powers at the city. Lex modified Klaash' infrared to make him invisible to the human eye and only Superman could see him because Lex turned on his infrared vision. So to the city it looked like Superman was aiming his powers and trying to destroy Metropolis of his own volition.

They figure it out and Lex Luthor gets away with it with a really good lawyer. more

Wow this was a hell of an issue!!

The Joker doesn't mess around when he plays in Superman's backyard. The comic starts off with Joker in Metropolis sending a Superman android to steal a high risk jewel. Superman comes to stop it and the android opens it's chest to reveal an atomic bomb capable of blowing up all of Metropolis.

Superman without hesitation flies out into space with the android as fast as he can and the atom bomb detonates with him. I loved this because the next page Supes crashes back to earth and isn't terribly hurt he's just Shakey and loopy. He struggles for a bit and shakes it off to fly back to Metropolis.

Joker threatens Superman by telling him Lois, Jimmy and Perry are trapped in led coffins with only 30 minutes of air. Superman flies off. Joker lied and still has all three hostages with him in a mobile gas tank truck. Superman shows up almost immediatly sending the clown prince of crime to strikers island in a hilarious fashion. Lifting the mobile gas tank flying it to the prison. When Superman drops it he drops it over himself to tell off the Joker inside I thought that was a badass and hilarious little detail that made this really memorable.

Also this comic will be a reference point from now on for me that will cause me to look at Snyder's BVS with more skepticism. Why?

Remember that part of BvS where Superman willingly came to Washington DC to talk to Congress, only to be set up by Luthor putting a led bomb in that wheelchair guy? Well this comic makes Henry Cavill's Superman look like a complete moron.

Superman here explains how he was able to figure out so fast that the Joker was lying about Lois, Jimmy and Perry being trapped in led coffins. When he used his super telescopic vision to and X-ray vision to look around the city led objects show up in his vision more pronounced because he can't see through them! In other words if everything is see through except the coffins than in his sight he will spot 3 floating led coffins!!

So this comic logic would have helped Cavill spot a suspicious floating led box in that guy's fancy wheelchair sitting right next to Luthors minion Mercy. Snyder cmon bro.

Lastly Lex Luthor had a nice little private moment of sadism. Eating at a small town restaurant 900 miles from Metropolis he picks out the hottest waitress and offers her a million dollars to live with him for one month. She puts up a moral fight not giving in. He tells her he'll wait in the car giving her 10 minutes to decide. She ponders it and eventually gives in to temptation when she calls her drunk husband over the phone. When she comes out Lex left. He enjoys dangling wealth in such a sadistic mean manner to people in the dumps. This little bit shows how low and vile Lex is and I love the detail. more

Really good confrontation with Time Trapper and some amazing art to boot. So Time Trapper was keeping Superboy's Earth safe from the infinite Crisis by keeping it in his own pocket timestream. Making a deal that Superboy's world will stay safe if he brings all the Legion to Time Trapper than kill them.

Obviously Superboy changes heart and frees the Legion to try to stop Trap. But Trap is OP and just zips out to a safer time bubble. The device keeping Superboy's Earth safe is destroyed this commencing the infinite Crisis destruction that was paused to continue and finish the job.

Superboy takes the place of the destroyed device and takes all of the energy he can sustain to take this pocket universe away from the cosmic destruction.

It works with Superboy being almost dead. He uses the last of his energy to bring the Legion back to their proper time in the 30th century. When he safely delivers them home, he dies in the arms of his good friend Mon-El and the comic ends with a two page splash of his funeral. This was epic and did a good job showing just how powerful Superboy is and how he is at a power level Kal on the main earth isn't even at as an adult.

You see in the modern Action Comics by Waid #1070 and up Waid miserably fails at impressing on the reader just how powerful Superboy Prime really is. He tells you, and the least he does is show you his unique ability to individually break through the multiverse but it comes off like a lame fourth wall Deadpool joke. In this, Superman #8, and AC #591, it takes Superboy seriously and shows how he could take on an adult Superman from main earth so well where he was holding back according to main Clark "Your hearts not in the battle".

Too bad Krypto had to sacrifice his powers for nothing!!

But what these old comics have that the new ones don't is it treats the reader to nice comic science detail without sounding like an edgy teenager who thinks their lame jokes are funny.

This was some great stuff and I hope after finishing my other reading I can eventually learn more about Superboy and the Legion! more

I enjoyed this very much, loved how Superboy's Krypto came to help him fight adult 1987 Superman. But sadly Krypto in an attempt to help Superboy by getting Gold Kryptonite loses all his powers and intelligence "forever" poor thing.

Time Trapper created a whole pocket universe to curate his own Superboy. I need to read Legion of Superheroes #38 to find out what happens to everybody because the legion had to send Superman '87 back to the 20th century because they can't risk him being stuck in the Time Trapper's eternity in case they fail because then their reality will cease.

This was a lot of fun this ish!!! more

Lot of exposition explaining the contrived plot of why the Legion of Superheroes are running from Superboy from the parallel world that was destroyed in Infinite Crisis.

But I can't rank it too low because there's a lot of story I'm missing on the Legion so it wouldn't be fair!

I do love the chill hang out Clark has with Lana in this ish in the beginning after his fight with rampage. more

Rampage makes her first appearance in this series and Superman stops her by absorbing all of her energy and releasing it through a thunderbolt.

I remember being happy to finish this ish. Actually this is where I got bored of reading the Man of Steel HC book and took a long hiatus unfortunately.

The best part of this is just the art and Superman has a dream where him and Wonder Woman are fighting giant robo wolves and then they get hot for each other.

Otherwise this and next ish was really bad.

I wasn't too excited to reread this for my review because I thought I remembered it well but I was wrong. This was excellent 👌. Idris Elba got nothing on this Bloodsport, this Bloodsport is insane!

The comic literally starts off with him committing a horrible mass shooting at a diner Jimmy and Lucy Lane were hanging out in. 25 people men, woman and children slaughtered in the blink of an eye by Bloodsport. Rambling off about Vietnam as he ran off.

Superman surprisingly comes in after the fact and gets on Bloodsports trail. Blood gets the better of Supes with a Kryptonite loaded gun that puts Supes out for a bit.

Knowing Lex is the only guy who has Kryptonite, Superman figures out that Bloodsport was unleashed on the public by Lex to get Superman. The action in this comic was balls deep and didn't hold back at all. It gets so tense where Superman almost gets killed but luckily Jimmy courageously picks up a dropped weapon to stop Bloodsport.

Superman finally learns how Bloodsport literally materializes any weapon from thin air. He uses some kind of transporter so Superman overheats the area to mess with the transporter causing the teleported weapons to melt in Bloodsport's hands.

Jimmy in the meantime did some digging on Bloodsport whose real name is Bobby DuBois. He brings with him Bobby's brother Michael who has no legs and arms from Vietnam. Bobby never was in Vietnam, he was a draft dodger who fled to Canada and his brother took his place. This made Bobby go insane from guilt.

I liked also how Superman clearly says it was a useless war. The comic was nice enough to dedicate to the dead soldiers of Vietnam. more

Just for the record comicbookroundup has the incorrect issue and date for this one. This ish was 1986, and the cover is incorrect.

Anyway Lex with all his resources and workers and computer data analysis finds out Clark is Superman. Hilariously though Lex does not believe the conclusion of the computer. He cannot for the life of him believe that someone with the powers of Superman would live a double life as just Clark Kent. Lex believes that any one with such power would exploit it for selfish gain and domination.

This reaction of Lex is actually realistic since he is so impressed with himself he can't
believe that someone like Superman with real values beyond the materialistic could actually exist. more

This was an interesting start to the new Superman after the events of Infinite Crisis. Clark is just discovering that he came from Krypton but for years as Superman has been unaware of this fact.

Metallo is created by a mad scientist who for years has been studying and researching Clark since the day he landed as a baby. Knowing Clark came from space, the scientist was paranoic that more Kryptonians would come. Somehow he got a hold of Kryptonite and uses it as Metallos ultimate source of power in his heart.

Some really good fight scenes here and it shows just how deadly Metallo is to Superman. Metallo was just about to kill Superman only to be thwarted by Lex Luthor. Lex promises that Superman will die by Lex Luthor alone and no one else.

I read this ish the first time through the Man of Steel Hardcover deluxe edition last year. Reread this ish now to write my thoughts on it here. more

Um yeah...Good premise but actual story and product isn't that great. Thankfully the series is over and there is no need for a follow up. NEXT!

Better than ish 3, here Mae almost kills the dying Lex Luthor II but is stopped by Superman who saves him from her wrath. Superman convinces her that despite all the deceptions, plots and lies Lex has committed against Mae to use her, Lex really was dying in this case.

If anything the best part was what Superman said to Lex. How he lost a true love like Mae from all the lies when she would have done anything for him if he just told her the truth.

This was a strange experience to say the least, I can't imagine what people were feeling at the time when they were reading this. more

My god the 90s really hit Supergirl hard here, almost a disaster. If not for the interesting dialogue by Stern to keep it going this would be a total mess. The art here is awful, the fight with the Supergirl clones was just bad, and how they turn to white goop when she throws them into the gestation chambers is an extremely questionable aesthetic.

Lastly her horrifying transformation in the end, my God who greenlit this back in the day?! more

This was a good read compared to ish #1. Luthor's colors are finally showing here and Supergirl is catching on that she is being used for nefarious purposes but she doesn't find out about the clones in this ish yet. While visiting Asia Mae is horded by fans asking for autographs and the market is selling Supergirl dolls that are licensed by Lexcorp. The dolls were already a sign of exploitation but it wasn't enough to convince Mae.

Luthor is sick as he only is showing himself through video to his workers. The comic hasn't said what his condition is, but if I had to guess, the genetic cloned body he put his brain in has some kind of defect or maybe it ages faster than an average natural human body.

Mae gets pulled over by one of Lex's ex-wives who warns Mae. Mae gets angry at her but she starts to grow suspicion and begins eavesdropping on Lexcorp employees.

There was one particular part of the comic that was strangely disturbing. Before her suspicion one of the scientist wanted to put her through a shapeshift test. Mae could shapeshift into any gender, any species, the kick is when she adds mass to her form that she actually doesn't ave it causes tremendous pain for her. There's a part where she shapeshifts into a man, then adds extreme muscle mass. This is really intriguing science fiction that adds a whole demented almost perverse underlying tone to the DC universe but I don't like how this concept had to be thrown onto Supergirl. I would be against this if it happened to Superman as well.

Atleast the comic maes it clear this is not Supergirl. This is another creature, they call it Protoplasm. I was reading an old blog from a Supergirl Fan archive, and the blogger brilliantly went back to older comics like AC #292 I believe where the og Lex was working with living Protoplasm all the way back then, and the blogger says it's possible John Byrne took inspiratin from that when doing the SUpergirl Saga.

So my question is, is protoplasm just that, a material concocted from a chemistry set? It's not some species from another planet, so it just happens to have a mind? I am so confused as to what this protoplasm is and again this only adds salt to th wound because Supergirl to me is not just some lab accident goo that could recite it's ABCs.

While this comic was good, the concept still kills it for me. more

Supergirl Team Luthor Special #1 (7.5)

Can't find the special on here so will write thoughts on here. So the Team Luthor special came out in 1993 before this volume of 4 issues. So from someone who just jumped into this part of the 90's Superman universe I must say it is certainly a trip. From some of the context provided, this is after "A Death in the Family" or after Doomsday killed Superman. Lois, Lex, Supergirl are the only ones who know he is dead apparently and most people think he is coming back? There was no explanation as to what Supergirl is at this point, I guess she was a Lex Luthor protoplasm experiment either in Action Comics or Superman. But in here there is still not much explanation on it.

Luthor died but managed to get his brain in a younger genetically modified cloned version of himself. And this time he had plenty of Rogaine so he has an entire main of red hair. Lex and Supergirl have a whole romantic relationship, but it seems like SUpergirl is just his love toy at this point so it's kind of weird.

So with Superman dead, Lex is trying to create a team led by Supergirl to "fill the void" of Superman. This is very 90s and this time I mean this in a negative way. Too edgy, too on the nose. The positive is the art for sure, it's nice and poppy. But whatever was going on at the time they definitely over-complicated Supergirl during this period of Superman's history.

Supergirl #1

So while this is still a trip and I am having a hard time wrapping my head around how they have pretty much handled Supergirl after they killed her off in the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths which I love. But frankly this whole protoplasm concept really muddies Supergirl's legacy and I would honestly just prefer a resurrection of the actual Kara. While I am a critic of resurrection themes being overused in this case there should have been an exception. There is just something totally wrong and vile that the beautiful Supergirl who is now called Matrix or better called as "Mae" by Ma and Pa Kent, is now underneath nothing but a protoplasmic purply sludge thing that can change it's matter into any form, shape, etc.

Now as much as I am not looking forward to the Gunn movie since it is based off of King, at least they are using Kara not Matrix but even if. The Kara in the movie will be another imposter of a different sort. I suppose the TV CW show is going to be the only decent live-0action version of Kara available.

So this ish ends with revealing Lex II's true plan, he has tubes of Matrix clones waiting to be released for his use. As Science fiction and weird as this is, it just feels wrong. I really think DC made a mistake doing this to Supergirl after her death it feels like a mockery. Peter David had a hell of a task somewhat fixing this mistake or at least making it more digestible and tolerable compared to what they produced in this part of her saga.

I am curious enough to dive back into some old action comics, maybe go as far back to #659, and Superman vol. 2 #40 up just to get more on Proto Supergirl Mae. I will refer to her as Mae from now on because I liek that nickname. more

This was a more casual experience compared to the final end of the first 10 issues. With a new artist Kirk, the art has taken back a bit compared to Gary Frank who was really getting good. Peter David still has a charm that what would seem like boring outings or table talk to more interesting life-like moments.

Mattie has an outburst during the trial of the store owner who murdered her brother PJ during Gorilla Grodds Primordial revolution of #3-4. Cutter stops her from being in contempt of court and invites her and Linda to the comedy club. The comedian is Cutter's ex, and we find out his real name is Wendell. He's lived a crazy life going from Hollywood, trying to make it but he clearly is having plenty of trouble.

Dick is Linda's date and comes from a wealthy southern family but is living on his own to prove his worth. He has a rolls Royce though as a "gift".

Alot of comic writers don't make such little characters like this stand out like David does.

The big reveal as to the monster in the cave is Banshee! So can't wait to see what the hell Banshee is up to back in 1997 lmao! more

This annuals best short story is the one written by Chuck Dixon hands down. While it has nothing to do with what is going on with Supergirl's main story by Peter David, it offers a horrifying glimpse into the hell of some random character being used by some evil planetary corporation mining for rare minerals on a hot planet.

The character as an adult speaks no words at all, we just see her being forced against her will to be strapped to a machine and transfer her mind to an autonomous android "tooljerk" on the hot planet to mine resources. The only context we get from her is memories from her childhood. How her father would retell childlike stories of Supergirl to put her to sleep.

The horror of this was that was all the memories the tragic character had left that gave her any happiness at all. So a malfunction happens where her consciousness leaves her mortal body completely and permanently attaches itself to the tooljerk which has a God Like form that can change into anything.

From the memories of Supergirl's tales, she transforms herself into Supergirl and destroys her corporate slaver's. While I simplify the message, the experience while short was very emotional and sad. As for the next short stories after this one, eh, nothing to write about. more

Here Peter David again puts Supergirl to the fire literally (as seen on the cover of the ish) and most importantly metaphorically. Tempus blows up Linda's home and from what it looks like he murdered her parents before she could do anything about it. We discover further that Buzz has been laying the foundations of everything up to this moment. From corrupting the innocent Linda, to even using Chakal just to entrap Supergirl and Linda to mix their souls together. Buzz is not the mastermind totally, as he is doing this for some other force not yet revealed to us. He is stuck in some kind of hellish bargain.

So many things a happen here and in Supergirl's moment of vulnerability, some really good emotional writing comes out of here. When Linda's parents die, Supergirl looses her mind.

SUpergirl says to herself;

"Yes... as his cloud surrounds me, I see the world as it truly is. SUpergirl died with Linda, instead of saving her. We're burning together."

In the background you see distorted faces of her parents and ma and pa Kent, SUpergirl continues;

"It's all been a joke. A sick cosmic joke. I understand the world now... It makes so much sense... It's all sickness and depravity wherever you look. That's the reality of it. All it takes is the guts to see it that way, and that's what Supergirl provided: The bravery to meet the world on it's own twisted level."

"We look to the skies-- look to the super-beings to give us hope--but at the end of life, we sink beneath the earth, and God and his "heroes" laugh down at us all. Because God is insane, and he made us in his own image."

Then the next page have these great intense panels of Linda trying to shake SUpergirl out of her nihilism. Linda tries to say to Supergirl;

"No... You're wrong... I was wrong...I... I've seen the world through your eyes... Seen so much... Seen what you aspire to...What humanity aspires to...God Supergirl... You thought you weren't human... You're the most human creature I've Ever met. You've learned--"

A panel of Supergirl screaming with blooddripping on her face interrupts,
"I've learned it doesn;t mean anything! I sacrifice and people die! I show mercy and people die! Love begets hate, trust begets betrayal...No more! It ends here! It ends here! No Mercy! No Mercy! Because now they die for their sins! I'll leave their bodies in ruins and let God worry about their souls!"

Now on just this write up you may say that's not anything special, but from the intensity of the panels, and the desperation of Supergirl I really felt each moment and heard their voices.

Buzz shows some compassion, a panel shows a subtle glint in his eye of sorrow for what he had to do to Supergirl. As she is about to kill Tempus, Buzz interrupts her and tells her;

" Is this what you want. Angel? When alls said and done? It's my way sure.. And it was Linda's way... Except maybe it's not anymore... Which makes you the swing vote. As in whether you swi9ng that fist or not. Do you make Linda's way yours? Or your way hers? Here and now Angel you'll finally truly become one. The only question is: One what?"

This all shakes Supergirl to her core and she chooses the right way.

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We find out more about Buzz in this ish, I was close but he's not Lucifer. Buzz is a demon that was exiled from hell, all the demons exiled ran to space, other worlds or earth like him. But Buzz in his time away from hell turned himself into some kind of cosmic business man and made a mysterious deal with an unnamed force to turn Supergirl into their personal weapon.

Buzz is still evil, but he does seem to have an understanding with Supergirl which shows more in the next ish. Most of this comic was Linda having Dinner with her mom and dad who set up the "blind date" with Buzz. Believe it or not but this was really well written, an entire comic devoted to a slowly intensifying dinner table conversation works beautifully here.

You learn so much about Buzz in this and the reactions of Linda and her parents only add to the believability of the situation.

Linda not wanting to expose her identity as Supergirl hesitates to do anything until Buzz surprise attacks the family with Tempus Fugit showing up. more