Credits: Written by Roger Stern, art by Jackson Guice with Denis Rodier and edited by Mike Carlin.
Cast: Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Jim ‘Guardian’ Harper, Director Paul Westfield, Lex Luthor II, Matrix/Supergirl, Maggie Sawyer & Dan Turpin of Metropolis SCU, Mayor Berkowitz, Jonathan & Martha Kent, Lana Lang/Ross, Toyman, Parasite & Bibbo.
Plot: With the battle to save Superman’s life over, the battle to possess his body begins in earnest. Cadmus director Westfield starts throwing federal authority to claim the body of what is essentially an alien. When Lex Luthor II gets wind of it, he sends Team Luthor (his personal armoured security team) to keep the body in place while he speaks to his ‘father’s’ contacts. This has the effect of the White House declaring Superman is an American and not subject to Cadmus’ experiments. The Mayor (very much in Luthor’s pocket) agrees and declares that part of Centennial Park will be set aside as a memorial. Lex offers to fund it, declaring the intent to create a monument worthy of the hero.
From there we get a whole bunch of vignettes with everyone reacting to the news of being in a Superman-less world. The Daily Bugle struggles with the absence of both the hero and also one of their own, since Clark Kent is also missing and now presumed dead along with many others. Clarks mum and dad are also devastated and avoid the call from Lana Lang-Ross who was Clark’s first love who is making a tearful phone call, which eventually Jonathan picks up. People Superman has saved all react as do people all around the world. Lex Luthor II is in the room with the dead body of Doomsday and loses his temper. Everyone thinks that it’s because Doomsday took Superman from him, but really its more that Lex wanted to kills Superman himself. In Strykers Island prison, inmates differ as to their reaction. Some are thrilled, others see an opportunity, but one or two remember how kind he was and that he’s saved their loved ones. On the mainland, a few bad guys try a robbery, thinking the coast is now clear, but are handily defeated by Supergirl, now free of her bruises, but definitely keen to help out again, to keep the place safe now that Superman can’t. Finally we get Bibbo, who closes his bar the Ace of Clubs and goes into the back and prays. He begs to understand why a bum like him gets to live and Superman doesn’t. He ends the issue with the words “It just ain’t right.”
Notes: The main thrust of this story is that he’s gone, so what do we do now? Some cry, some cheer and others try to carry on. People fight over the bodies and almost ownership of this iconic hero’s corpse. We watch Clark’s parents, ex-girlfriend and fiance struggle to mourn someone that no one knows is confirmed dead. They are trying to maintain his secret identity, mostly to protect each other as well as the memory of someone beloved to them.
One thing I always liked about the Crisis to Crisis era is that Superman wasn’t a real person. Clark was a real person and Superman was a sort of distorted reflection. Superman was Clark being heroic, but it’s the real person that mattered. That person dying has an emotional domino effect. This issue showed the loss of Superman, but the emotional core of it was the loss of Clark, the most devastated people were Jonathan, Martha, Lana and Lois and that tells you how good a job everyone was doing in this era, it feels earned.
Verdict: Writing 4 out of 5 – Well paced vignettes strung together after a tense opening scene made the whole issue work well in terms of pacing and the dialogue sells the emotion of each point of view. This issue was full of nice touches, like the inmate who remembered a family member was saved by Superman, or Lex’s rage that his victory had been stolen from him. With my feelings about organised religion aside, Bibbo praying to understand why his fav’rit was gone but he got to live was heart-breaking in it’s simplicity and pathos.
Art: 3 out of 5 – This is the only art team that either wasn’t a great one for me, or has improved on me over time, but the emotion is written large on every face and it’s a great issue for that.
Overall: 7 out of 10 – A solid issue of Action Comics that had little to no action and yet was as compelling as ever.
Next Time: Enter the W.I.L.D.Cats
My Marvel Life 