Random Happenstance

I took Tuesday off this week, since my internet was going to be out, and then it was out part of the next day as well. So, I'm typing this during my downtime and don't have the internet next to me, and I wonder how many typos we'll end up with! From 1999, Action Comics #755, "Necropolis" Plot by Stuart Immonen, dialogue by Mark Millar, pencils by Shawn Martinbrough, inks by Jose Marzan Jr.

Superman rescues a little girl from a collapsing building, which I had thought was going to be from whatever happened in the previous issue, but it was a slumlord's side project. Still, the slumlord cuts back, with a comment about Superman's recent attempt to take over the world. Supes knows he's going to have to rebuild people's trust in him; but he's still mildly steamed here, since somebody who's obviously a super-dick is scoring points off him. 

"Mildly steamed" is probably, at best, Lex Luthor's default state; and there's a brief interlude with him yelling at some DEO agents that serve him an injunction. How they got all the way in to see Lex, is a fair question; but Lex's ego might've blind-sided him here: he thought the government would be a bit more supportive of his synthetic Kryptonite projects, after Superman's attempted world domination. The DEO maybe didn't see it that way, arguing that the project might have weakened Superman and made him vulnerable for Dominus to take over. Lex yells at the agents as they leave, claiming deep insights...that I'm not sure Lex would usually have. I just don't see Lex as that interested in people; he wouldn't care if that guy was still a bedwetter.

Meanwhile, the newly pregnant Lucy Lane was visiting with Lois and Clark; but not privy to Clark's secret identity: the captions characterize her as a screwup that does everything wrong, and everyone wanted her to be more like Lois...I don't know about that, either; I can't see a lot of authority figures like her parents or teachers wanting that, Lois could be a bit of a pain in the ass. Lucy was going to check out her boyfriend Ron Troupe's new job, post-Daily Planet, and Lois and Clark go with. They're headed for a not-great neighborhood, though: the cab driver advises them against it. The cabbie also has a bit of an anti-Superman tirade, triggered by a tailgating Porsche. This in turn triggers a bit of a dream sequence for Supes, imagining the world if he had taken over: great for nature, bad for people. Humanity would've resisted, gotten slapped down, and whoever survived the downfall of civilization never trusted him again.

Clark wakes up downtown, as they arrive at the new Fairmont House, which turns out to be a shelter run by Ron. He's glad to have a job where he's helping people again, and Lucy is proud of him. She stays to help out, while Lois and Clark take a walk: Lois can tell the cabbie's words hurt. Clark wonders if Superman maybe does more harm than good, interferes with humanity too much; but is interrupted by the little girl he saved earlier. He and Lois take the girl and her mother to Fairmont House, to help them out until they were back on their feet.

Mark Millar has written some very good Superman stories--mostly for the animated tie-in Superman Adventures--and a lot of try-too-hard-to-be-edgy crap designed to be turned into a movie or whatever. I didn't love this one, but this is far from the depths he would sink to, so there you go.