Monday, October 17, 2016

I think that billboard's parallel to the road; not great placement.


That's a huge billboard for leaving town, but it may be more effective if it was turned 90 degrees. But then we couldn't get it and sad Superboy in the same shot. From 1984, Superboy #51, featuring a Frank Miller cover...over reprints from Bob Rozakis and Kurt Schaffenberger.

I got the previous issue just a little while ago: #50 is a little lark guest-starring the then-current Legion of Super-Heroes, and a misused Dial H for Hero H-Dial. Superboy #51 opens with Superboy getting ready to move out of Smallville after the deaths of his foster parents, Ma and Pa Kent. (Y'know, they had names.) Bit of a downer, especially since as Superboy, he has to act like he's fine, while Clark is visibly despondent. Superboy bakes a colossal cake for everyone in Smallville, which most attendees save as a momento. (Do people still do that, save pieces of cake? Seems weird.) Later, Clark's cake is stolen by a boy trying to escape from his kidnappers, Superboy rescues him and takes it as an omen to move to Metropolis.

As Clark, and Lana, settle in at Metropolis University; the nation gets Superboy-mania, trying to guess where the Boy of Steel is going to hang his cape. Laying low for the time being, Superboy still saves reporter Perry White from mob gunmen, and White finds melted bullets later and realizes SB has made his choice. Perry's editor, somewhat understandably, is holding out for confirmation: when he gets it, the Daily Planet proudly proclaims "We've Got Superboy! Suck it hard, Gotham!" (OK, maybe not that last bit, but it's implied.)

In 1985, Frank Miller also did covers for the mini-series Superman: the Secret Years: like this cover, they seem odd now, since from Dark Knight Returns you get the impression that Frank didn't care for Supes...

2 comments:

SallyP said...

You have to admit... it is probably a tiny bit safer to live in Metropolis than it is to live in Gotham City.

Personally I would love to live in Opal City... if I was choosing a fictitious place of residence.

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

Sally's got a point. Plus the colorful cast of characters has that going for it too.
That is a pretty good cover though, and no, I don't personally think Frank too too much of Supes.....well definitely not since '86 and beyond.