Tuesday, August 18, 2015

This is a weird point for Superman, but at least Steel has something to do.


From 2000, Superman: the Man of Steel #100, "Creation Story" Written by Mark Schultz, pencils by Doug Mahnke, inks by Tom Nguyen. Superman and Steel--with the assistance of Steel's niece Natasha and the Kryptonian robot Kelex--work to restore the lost Fortress of Solitude. They also hope to bring back the likewise lost bottle city of Kandor, which had been sucked into the Phantom Zone, or something like it; but I don't think this was the Kandor from Krypton. Just a colony city now mostly inhabited by aliens, but anyway.

Unknown to our heroes, the band of tech-criminals known as the Cybermoths were plotting to hijack the Kryptonian databases when they came back up. The 'Moths weren't the most memorable of bad guys, certainly liking the panache of Skull, but they do succeed in bringing back a big Superman baddie: the Cyborg Superman! Who is defeated fairly quickly, by the arrival of the tiny Kandorian Rescue Squad!

The Fortress is restored, even if Kandor isn't yet; and Superman gives Steel a new cape, since he thinks of John Henry as his partner. A fun issue, but it feels like a bit of an odd time in the Superman titles, as shown by Superman having a persistent cough and by Lois acting uncharacteristically bitchy about it. This was about a year out from the start of the "President Luthor" storyline, and Steel would briefly be believed dead after "Our Worlds at War." He'd be back!

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Wasn't this around the same time that Parasite masqueraded as Lois Lane? Which means Superman couldn't tell the difference between banging fake Loisa and the real Lois? Weak sauce.