Superman #5

Pre-Interim:

• AC 676 – [Hellgrammite]
• MOS 11 – [Hamilton, Flashpoint (from Exile World)]
• S 67
• AOS 49O – [Hamilton, Husque]
• AC 677 – (Sg will work with Lexcorp)
• MOS 12 – (Monster from beneath Metro.)
• S 68 – [Deathstroke the Terminator]
• AOS 491 – [Metallo]
• AC 678 [Lex, Metallo]
• MOS 13 – [Cerberus]
• S 69 – [Pete Ross, Agent Liberty]
• AOS 492 – [Ross, Agent Liberty]
• AC 679 – [Shellshock]
• MOS 14 – [Robin and Jimmy, Vampires]
• S 70 – [Robin and Jimmy, Vampires]
• AOS 493 – The Blaze Satanus War
• AC 680 – The Blaze Satanus War
• MOS 15 -The Blaze Satanus War
• S 71 – The Blaze Satanus War
• AOS 494 – [Kismet] (alternative possibilities)
• AC 681 – [Lex, Hellgrammite, Rampage]
• MOS 16 – (Spousal abuse)
• S 72 – (Spousal abuse)
• AOS 495 – [Forever People]
• AC 682 – [HiTech, Killgrave]

Issues that I want to read, but haven’t yet:

• AC 678
• AOS 494
• MOS 16 (powerless for spousal abuse)
• S 72

Doomsday:

• MOS 17 – Underworlders planning attack on Metropolis to even the economic disparity (ostensibly) [Kathana, Underworld (likely Cadmus rejects + WarWorld soldiers left over from the Panic In The Sky arc)]
• S 73 – Story about Waverider, at the start he’s being pursued by the Linear Men, but by the end he joins them.
• AOS 496 – Mr Mxyztplk is president and everyone dresses like him etc. He’s learned to lie, although turns reality into his lies. S convinces him to play for “not being caught in a lie” and they play a multiple choice game with Lex’s life at stake. Of course S wins.
• AC 683 – [Jackal] J interrupts and brutally attacks acts of organized crime. S stops, and J is arrested.
  • “A real Mensa reject”
• MOS 18 – End Underworld attempt to invade. Meanwhile Doomsday has punched his way out of some sort of underground containment and is now making its way to Metro.
• JLA 69 – Doomsday puts down the JLA
• S 74 – Not even with S added to the fray can they take D down.
• AOS 497 – S continues fight, with Maxima for some of it.
• AC 684 – S and D continue fight. Scene at Habitat. Lois and Olsen watching. D saw an ad for a WWF-like fight at Metro. and is now heading there. Previously there was no obvious sense or pattern to its trail of destruction. It’s incredibly fast and strong and resilent and is not getting tired while S is! Meanwhile, Lex won’t allow “Sg” to join the fray, saying that S can handle it plus she’s needed in Metro if S is gone. Which might be technically fair, except that his thoughts betray his hopes and his true identity.
• MOS 19 – S continues to track and battle D. Meanwhile Dubbilex wonders if D is some creation of Cadmus, but reading its mind reveals only anger, nothing else, and no proof of any origin whatsoever. Hamilton wonders if it is a doomsday device left behind bye War World invaders in case of failure (i.e. cf. Panic in the Sky). D reaches Metrol. and Lex allows her to attack D (whilst bad-mouthing S for “attracting it to Metro.).
• S 75 – Nice cover of S’s cape flying off a stick on top of a pile of rubble, like a grave or memorial. Title is “The Death of Superman”. Beautiful and sad full pages of S and Lois kissing,(with oblivious Olsen a small figure in the background taking “the best photographs of his career’, of D, how ironic). And then off he goes to strike once more, the last stand where all else have fallen. A lot of awesome incl. full page imagery in this one. The battle is to the death, and finally S takes D down, but not before D can strike an equally fatal blow. A somber ending; the death of superman.

1993:

Funeral For A Friend:

• JLA 70 – Superheroes come together to begin mourning the loss of the great one. Blue Beetle is in a deep coma, doctors say unlikely to ever recover fully – another loss, more painful for some like Booster Gold who were best friends. The league feels broken without its leader, but its members swear on its heritage.
• AOS 498 – The civilians reactions: Lois forced to become a reporter, but mourning, same with her co-workers. Cadmus seem to be trying to snatch the body (plus D’s), but are prevented by Maggee and Turpin, who along with the Gaurdian and Hamilton try to super shock the body into life, but despite tremendous effort, it is all to no avail. “CK is missing” too, of course.
• AC  685 – The cover is a copy of AC#1 (S lifting the car) except with Sg in his place. Continuing to come to terms, Lois, Lana, Kents, world leaders, Bibbo, Lex; Sg is pushed by Lex to start to take over the protector-of-metro. role.
• MOS 20 – The funeral. A real tear jerker.
• S 76 – Continue. Incl. JL realizing how much S did for the little man – the bags of mail he gets – and try to do some similar. Last scene is Cadmus stealing the body.
• AOS 499 – Continue, although note that now Lex/Sg and Sawyer both know that the body is missing, and the latter suspect/know its Cadmus.
• AC 686 – Westfield has gone rogue within Cadmus vis a vis S’s cadaver, but managest to convince others to go along with a plan to clone S. Meanwhile continue mourning, but the Kents and Lana must say their goodbyes to Lois.
• MOS 21 – Investigating the flooding of Underworld, Lois breaks the story of the body’s abduction. Last panel, Pa Kent collapses.
• S 77 – Body recovered, Lex gloats that now Metro is his. Pa Kent dies.
• The Legacy of Superman #1 – Tales of those who, whilst never replacing S, can at least serve in respect of his legacy: [Gaurdian, Auron, Westfield; Thorn; Gangbuster; Sinbad; Wave Rider, Linear Men]
• Supergirl and Team Luthor #1 – Tries to set Team Luthor up as replacement for S. The relationship of Lex and Sg.

Reign of the Supermen:

• AOS 500 – Pa Kent in the afterlife, “rescues” S from the white light. In Metro. there are sightings of someone that looks like S, but with some differences, and who kills. S’s coffin is empty. There might a few contenders. Incl. a Cadmus project that’s escaped; the clone, an un-programmed Superboy.
• AC 687 – The post-Eradicator tech in the Fortress regenerates S’s energy, who then goes to reclaim his body. He’s back, but he’s changed. He’s sensitive to light (has to rejuvenate off a Matrix), but he’s also much more Kryptonian, willing to kill, and uncaring about Lois (whose loss he sympathizes for, he claims, but is no longer Clark he says).
• MOS 22 – Henry Johnson creates a metal suit and calls himself Superman The Man of Steel as he tackles war weapons in the hands of gangs.
• S 78 – Cyborg S, made of his DNA and Kryptonian tech (incl. living metal), steals Doomsday from Cadmus and throws him into the cold of space (because of its danger, plus the risk of cloning). Hamilton confirms its identity to Lois, although its missing most of its memory.
• AOS 501 – (Bibbo is doing little man’s “S”, giving out food etc). The Newspaper Boys had liberated S clone from Cadmus who’s now in town, and loving it. He helps out, but he’s just a boy, he wasn’t raised by the Kents, and he reminds me of Booster Gold’s narcissism.
• AC 688 – [Guy Gardner, Kryptonian-S]
• MOS 23 – [Steel-S, White Rabbit, S-boy]
• S 79 – [Cyborg-S, Quraci (terror plot)] (Told as a newspaper report by the reporter who his hired into CK’s shadow)
• AOS 502 – [Sg, S-boy, The Stinger] Lex is trying to woo S-boy into his control (esp. using Sg), whilst so is Edge, and who sends Stinger after him in order to create good tv. Last scene shows a ship heading for Earth and planning to destroy it.

Return of the Superman:

• AC 689 – Original S attacks Steel-S, for using his insignia, etc. He’s gone full Krypto.
• MOS 24 – Lex tries to have Steel-S killed but fails.
• S 80 – That spaceship finally arrives. Coast City destroyed, and a giant construct built in its place. Cyber-S is behind it, and on the ship is Mongul working for him.
• AOS 503 – S-boy comes to help, and is attacked by Cyber-S, is possibly killed, uncertain, in last scene.
• AC 690 – Krypto-S in healing in Fortress, it is revealed that he is a combination of the Eradicator’s memories and energies with S’s dead body. Evil/Cyber-S sends the JLA out into space, supposedly chasing a rogue S. S-boy is a prisoner. Next target is Metropolis. There’s another S in the Fortress’ War Suit, somehow, I’m not sure who he is, and on his way to see what’s going on.
• MOS 25 – Steel-S is on their way to Coast City, Sb escapes, but Evil-S tells everyone he is under control by a rogue power. Lex sends Sg to deal with War Suit-S, thinking it’s part of the invasion; Steel-S sees them and joins the fight. They stop fighting when ?-S leaves the suit.
• S 81 – It looks like ?-S is somehow the genuine thing. Meanwhile we learn that Cyber-S was that astronaught who later turned into an ability control all electrical systems, and who left Earth on S’s spaceship which was parked in space, specifically it’s Matrix, which it used to travel the stars until it came upon Mongul, who since the Invasion arc is on some two-bit world. He became reminded of his hatred for S – whom he blamed for all his issues – and decided to use Mongul as a minion on a quest to punish S and to recreated Warworld (which Mongul lost) on Earth. Hence the building of giant engines. (Btw, that astonaut-person-thing [Hant Henshaw], I don’t remember him being so evil and hating; I remember him more as a desperate broken thing which couldn’t fit in anymore).
• AOS 504 – Newest-, Steel- and S-Boy all team up to attack the Engine City. (New-S is weak, but it’s still weak to see him carry guns, especially with that corny line, “People call me a boy scout, well you know what I say, always be prepared[!]”) S-Boy goes after a rocket that’s heading for Metro., diverts it, but is he killed in the explosion?
• AC 691 – Sg is with Steel-S (btw [John Henry Irons]) and New-S. Sb is alive but weak. Mongul plans to escape whilst blowing up the planet, nb. the eengine is being powered by Kr. Krypto-S has finished healing, but is changed (more human?) and is on his way to join the fray.
• MOS 26 – Lots of fights. GL Hal joins in.
• S 82 – More fights. We discover that Krypto-S had a role in resurecting new-S, qua his role as Eradicator protector of Krpton, by taking his body and placing it in the Matrix etc. Krypt-S places himself in the path of a Kr-beam, but some of the powerful beam travels through his body into New-S’s, but in the process, the Eradicator passed power onto S, empowering him enough to take down Evil-S/Henshaw. Finally, it’s over, and S is back!
• AOS 505 – First thing’s first, S gets Lois back in his arms. Btw, problem of how to explain CK’s return. Meanwhile S makes his return to Metro., stopping a crime, saying hello to some fans, rescuing others. All in the day of the man of steel.
• AC 692 – Use Sg/Matrix to trick world into explaining CK’s return (buried in shelter during Doomsday attack). Doctor Ocult visits the couple and explains the whole resurection business. Pretty much what we knew. He died. Still had a spark of life, combined with sun energy, and doctor’s efforts, then buried, then Eradicator tried to use his body, and did use some to build itself, but also allowed the rest to heal in the Matrix. Nb. Eradicator-S’s body is in STAR labs, dead, until suddently there’s a flicker of life. (To be revisited much later I assume). S-boy is fine, and the once-Steel-S is recuperating.
• S 83 – JLA + GLC + S deal with remains of Engine City (despite Lex’s attempts at grabbing some Kr, or even better the instructions for making more, nb. it seems that he fails as the city collapses around and Sg grabs him out of there). The end to this saga!