A billionaire that nearly destroys the world accidentally and not on purpose? And that only has one kid and seems to love him?
And a loving wife? When the hell was this written--oh. From 2001,
Legends of the DC Universe #39, "Sole Survivor of Earth" Written by Danny Fingeroth, pencils by Randy Green, inks by Wayne Faucher. Cover by Kevin Nowlan!
In scenic Washington state--I call foul already, that can't be Washington, it's not raining!--billionaire Anton Balboa tells his wife, no one believes him or his findings: that earth would soon explode! But, maybe he can save the world, by sending his transforming multibots, into Mount St. Helens, to stabilize the earth's core. Or, maybe he should have checked his figures, since he's actually making things worse, and might even cause the disaster he was trying to prevent! While Superman tries to stop the robots, not knowing they were trying to help; Anton can't recall them, so plan B: launch his son, to the planet Orion 4! Sure the suspended animation function hasn't been tested, and his wife points out they aren't really sure that planet is even there; ah, I'm sure he'll be fine. (I wonder if Anton isn't intended as a riff on classic
DC Comics Presents baddie
I.Q., who was likewise smart enough to be
real stupid.)
I think this was set at Superman's then-current Fortress of Solitude, yet this still feels like they're trying to play it as early in his career and maybe not as invulnerable as usual; but Supes stops the robots, then has to use one to get out from underground and into space to save the baby. Afterwards, the Feds are a little cheesed with Anton and his wife, although they don't seem to know exactly what to charge him with; while Superman feels a strong kinship with the baby, who could have been sole survivor of earth.
This is why you tax billionaires, people! 25 years later and no one's learned a goddamn thing...
1 comment:
Unfortunately, no not yet or likely anytime soon the way things have been going for humanity.
Don’t let Elon or someone similar see this because they’ll definitely get ideas to do something similar, yet it’ll somehow be “our fault.” 🙄🤦♂️
So…..Anton Balboa huh? Any relation to Rocky would be purely incidental right? Was Fingeroth watching Rocky movies before he wrote this, because even in the world of eccentric billionaires with equally eccentric names, “Anton Balboa” definitely stretches the boundaries of acceptable disbelief.
I do like though that realistic issues & problems like the very ones that Anton’s son would face had his father had been successful in launching into space towards Orion 4 are raised & addressed, because in Clark’s case they never were.
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