I picked up a McFarlane Super Powers Superman and Supermobile the other day, so apparently I was a little nostalgic for Superman stuff. Despite being from 2007, this one almost fits that bill: Action Comics Annual #10, written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, with art by Art Adams, Eric Wight, Joe Kubert, Rags Morales, Gary Frank, and more.

This felt a little like a recap, possibly intending to set up future stories: in "The Many Deaths of Superman" Lex Luthor cheerfully revisits the multiple ways the Man of Steel could die; after which he could get back to solving all the problems facing humanity. After. "Who Is Clark Kent's Big Brother?" really should have some credits for Robert Bernstein and George Papp's Superboy #89, as this is a pretty straight retelling of Mon-El's origin.

"Mystery Under the Blue Sun" is short, as a Thanagarian patrol tries to find why three of their patrol-ships have disappeared in this sector. Hint: it ain't the "thought-gluttons" from Rann! "The Criminals of Krypton" is maybe a bit of a retcon for Non, the silent brute of General Zod and Ursa's trio; but he wasn't always such. Non had been a brilliant scientist, who had worked with Jor-El and knew Krypton was doomed. Unfortunately, the ruling Science Council considered that heresy, and while eventually Zod and Ursa would come to believe him, someone on the Council had Non kidnapped and chunks of his brain removed. Zod tries to convince Jor-El to join them in open revolt, but he didn't think there was time for that, and Zod and company were a little too quick to murder for his tastes, anyway. The trio manages to kill some of the Council, before being captured: Jor-El argues they shouldn't die, and instead should be banished to the Phantom Zone. Zod, of course, swears vengeance, on Jor-El and his son.

Finally, in "The Deadliest Forms of Kryptonite," Lex runs down the assorted, relatively new, flavors of Kryptonite: most had been phased out post-Crisis, but were creeping back. Unsure which to use, Lex crams a bunch into the chest of an unwilling-looking Metallo, the first maybe not-willing member of Lex's new Revenge Squad...This felt a little like the pendulum swinging back, from Lex having some redeeming qualities, back to being a total dick. Read more!

Prime directive, Primortal directive, same thing.

Ooh, behind schedule today, and the first thing I grabbed was a spare copy of DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern #1--and not the Hawkman issue I needed! So we have the choice between an old Superboy, or a title we've never read or blogged before. Let's try that: from 1995, Leonard Nimoy's Primortals Origins #1, "the Origin of the Primortals, part 1" Plot by Leonard Nimoy, script by James Chambers, additional story concepts by Christopher Mills, pencils by Scot Eaton, inks by Mike Barreiro. Cover by Arthur Adams!

The aliens known as the Primortals have only been on earth for like three days, in search of their enemy Zeerus. The U.S. government has faked a jet crash, to make it seem like the Primortals and their human friends are dead; and the humans quickly realize that means not only do their families think they're dead, the goverment can now do whatever it wants to them. But the government has an offer: they might be willing to work with them, if they can explain their resemblance to earth creatures. Primaster, the leader, is reluctant, but ultimately decides to tell his story.

Primaster's race, the Majae, had interstellar travel well over 65 million years ago; and one of his family line was part of their exploratory mission to earth. While they had visited and experimented on hundreds of planets prior, they were caught off-guard by earth: their usual techniques to stun subjects for study proves ineffectual against a tyrannosaurus, leading to multiple deaths. But while the Majae were soon able to co-exist with dinosaurs, after a thousand years or so they realized "a cosmic-scale ecological disaster would cut earth's life short by several billion years." While he may have been unable to save the planet, Primaster's ancestor decides to save the life, moving them to "habitat worlds," where they could continue to thrive and evolve. While sucessful, after a while he starts to wonder if that had been the right thing to do; and eventually a 'routine' pick-up mission crashes into earth. It's the worst disaster in the Majae's history, and causes them to adapt a non-interference directive. Ever since, Primaster's family had been taking care of earth's refugees, helping them evolve into the Primortals; and he felt he still had a duty to earth.

The humans are a little concerned to realize their new alien buddies had "killed the entire planet," but Primaster admits that was only the beginning...I'm not sure how he could've topped that, though. "Yeah, humans totally weren't supposed to become the dominant life form on earth; pandas were. We aren't sure if we dropped the ball, or they did..." Read more!

Art Adams, Kevin Maguire, and Ty Templeton on this one? Sold!

And Bizarro? Whoa, I'm already sold, quit selling! From 1990, Superboy #8, "But Am It Art?" Written by John Moore, pencils by Jim Mooney, inks by Art Adams. Cover by Maguire and Templeton.

This series was based on the syndicated TV show that ran four seasons from 1988 to 1992, which was run late night Saturdays in my neck of the woods, so I rarely saw it. Still, even if this wasn't the traditional continuity, with a college-age Clark; it's still a pretty recognizable Superboy. Even though Lana Lang is in this one too, Clark spends a lot of the issue with his co-worker at the Herald, photographer Janelle Cisernos. Unlike Clark, she's not devoted to journalism, just an art student working on the side; but she's observant and does a good job. Good enough to notice Clark's kinda buff, not good enough to notice he's Superboy! Still, when Bizarro returns from space, Janelle gets the idea to use him as part of her art installation. With mixed results: Bizarro is mostly harmless, and kept docile with cartoons, but apt to get riled if they're interrupted.

There is a subplot about Bizarro's instability, and how he might explode; but white Kryptonite stabilized him to the point where he only blows up a little. Bizarro heads out into space to make his own art, while Janelle is a surprise success. "Am over."

Looking at the cover gallery, I feel like I read more of this series than I saw the TV show; and I watch a lotta TV! But I don't think I watched Lois & Clark or even Smallville regularly. Love Supergirl, though.
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Nightcrawler shouldn't be here, but OK:

From X-Men Annual #10, "Performance" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Art Adams, inks by Terry Austin.

The good: Art Adams art, duh. Cameo appearances from Walt and Louise Simonson, Puddlegulp (aka Frog Thor, now!) and in the page above, the Robot B-9 from Lost in Space!

The bad: Ugh, New Mutants! I just have never, ever liked them. Any of them. Mojo and Spiral...who turn the X-Men into kids...and the New Mutants have to step up to the a-team to rescue and/or avenge them. Longshot joins the team, and while he always looked sharp with Adams drawing him, for some reason Claremont wrote him as so dumb he didn't recognize water.

Admittedly, Longshot was kind of an alien, but still. Also, Kurt and Kitty probably shouldn't even be in this issue: they were both injured in the Mutant Massacre crossover and weren't on the team when Longshot joined. Ah, if Art Adams wants to draw them, why not?

And that's it, I'm on vacation! There'll still be posts here next week, but I'll be in my ancestral homeland in Montana, so have fun!
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Man, Art Adams can draw mole people...

I'm thinking of the Moloids from the replacement Fantastic Four and the Shrewmanoid from Monkeyman and O'Brien; but this time is with the Challengers of the Unknown, from Legends of the DC Universe 80-Page Giant. ("The Great Unknown!" Story and inks by Karl Kesel, pencils by Art Adams.)

I lucked into a dinged-up quarter copy of that one, a good price for it, since it's a little hit-or-miss. There's a Deadman story with Eduardo Barreto art; then Beast Boy and Wonder Girl solo stories that aren't great. Admittedly, outside of the Teen Titans cartoon, I don't think I've ever liked Beast Boy, and don't even think of him as part of the Doom Patrol, either. Then, a Metal Men story set when Doc Magnus was Veridium--yeah.

Nice art, but...man. The Metal Men weren't robots in this one, but copies of Dr. Magnus's dead lab crew; which makes a story with them fighting a giant monster geranium less fun than you'd hope. ("Heart of Tin," written by Tom Peyer, pencils by Scott Kolins, inks by Bob Layton.)

Then there's a nice Walt Simonson and Klaus Janson Apokolips story, and a Legion of Super-Heroes story that's more about Superman than anything. Not the best 80-page special, then, but not the worst either.
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