Credits: Script and Layouts by Dan Jurgens, finishes by Brett Breeding and edited by Mike Carlin
Cast: Lois Lane, Lex Luthor II, Supergirl/Matrix, Martha Kent, Jonathan Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Colin Thornton, Sasha, the Outsiders of Habitat and Director Westfield of Cadmus.
Plot: Lex Luthor II (actually Lex Luthor’s brain in a cloned body) is being trained by Sasha, a martial arts instructor. While he is distracted by remembering his old back-story (his feud with Superman, the kryptonite ring and the cancer) and is floored by a well placed kick. Before he can get all tantrummy about it, his girlfriend Supergirl arrives, escorting Lois Lane. Lane comments how Lex Snr would have probably had Sasha killed for knocking him down like that, before getting to the point that she’s learned the Cadmus has stolen the body of Superman. Lois was planning to publish this fact, but wants Lex Jnr and Supergirl to do what they can first.
Elsewhere, more accurately Smallville, KS, Jonathan Kent is being rushed to the emergency room after his heart attack. Martha is terrified she will lose her husband, so soon after losing their son. Jonathan is unconscious and is remembering Clark’s childhood, like the time he was fixing the old truck, using it to teach him about taking care of things. Back in Metropolis, Jimmy Olsen is meeting with Colin Thornton, editor of Newstime, who is planning an issue of the magazine dedicated to Superman’s memory and wants Jimmy to select pictures, including the other, since Jimmy is one of the people who took the most recognised photos of the man of steel. Elsewhere in the city, Sasha is cornered in the ladies locker room and is killed by someone she recognises, but we don’t get to see at this point.
Supergirl flies Lois to Habitat, so that she can break into Cadmus. She drops Lois off and heads into the covert agency’s headquarters. Lois gets a ride with a couple of the motorcycle riding, outsiders who live in Habitat and she follows Supergirl from the ground. By the time Lois arrives, all the defences are down and Supergirl is holding the dead body of Superman, his cape acting as a shroud.
Back in Kansas, Jonathan Kent is slipping away, his mind filled with images of his son as the hero he grew up to be. At Superman’s memorial, his body is interned once more. Lex Jnr asks for a moment after Lois and Supergirl leave and he drops his Australian accent and begins to monologue. He villain-splains that he killed Sasha, because he could and now he would be able to do whatever he likes, because he won.
Just as that happens, Jonathan flatlines and you can see him head for the light as Martha begs at his bedside to not be left alone.
Notes: It‘s another issue that has more than one thread and it works really well. Jonathan is dying and he’s looking back at his son. Lois is looking at the present, laying to rest the man she loves and Lex Luthor looks to the future where he is back on top and able to do whatever he likes again.
This is a great era of Superman. I’ve said it before, no doubt I’ll say it again. The reason is that even without Superman in it, the comic is a worthwhile read. Jimmy Olsen, Martha and Jonathan Kent, Lois Lapacne and Lex Luthor II are fully fleshed out characters with their own agencies and motivations. Lois brave-facing the world as she is trying to mourn a love that she can’t actually admit to, with her fiance only missing. Martha heart breaks for the second time in two months as the man she loves dies of a heart attack brought on by the stresses of losing their son so publicly, yet also so privately. Jimmy Olsen tries to come to grips with the legacy of Superman and Lex Luthor proves how great a villain he can be with his moustache twirling monologue. Weirdly though, without a moustache. It’s all right there and all jam packed with emotion as this era starts to come to an finale.
Verdict: 7 out of 10 – Jurgens pulls double duty as writer and layouts guy, while Breeding maintains the look of the book. It’s paced incredibly well, no scene overstays its welcome an d emotion beats are hit well enough that you take the hit along with them. A dad reminiscing about his son as he clings to life is such a human moment in the story about the death of an alien. I’ve drifted away from this blog and the unfolding story and Jurgen just brings me back with one issue
NEXT TIME: Shock and Revelations in Wild.C.A.T.S.
My Marvel Life 