Tag: 500

A Look Back at Action Comics #689 (1993)

A Look Back at Action Comics #689 (1993)

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Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back superhero enthusiasts, 20th century pop culture enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the year 1993 to take a close look at one of the tales of the Reign of the Supermen storyline told through an issue of Action Comics.

When Adventures of Superman #500 (1993) was released, it launched the Reign of the Supermen storyline (which focused on the tales of the Eradicator, Steel, Superboy and Cyborg Superman) and the comic book creators working on Superman comic books came up with lots of new concepts and storytelling ideas to sell to fans of the Man of Steel. Along the way, there was some suspense regarding the state of the supposedly dead Superman.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Action Comics , published in 1993 by DC Comics with a story written by Roger Stern and drawn by Jackson Guice.  

The cover.

Early story

The story begins in Metropolis when a major infrastructure of the city got heavily damaged leaving both Supergirl and Superboy (the lone teenager among the Supermen who emerged mysteriously after the death and funeral of Superman) no choice but to prevent the loss of human lives.

As the struggle in Metropolis continues, the Regeneration Matrix inside the Fortress of Solitude suddenly overloads with energy and breaks open. A man in Kryptonian garb wakes up feeling disoriented in the presence of several robots of the fortress. The man commands the robots to tell them what has been going on.

A short time later, the man uses the Kryptonian technologies of the fortress to examine simultaneous videos while receiving verbal updates from one of the robots. He gets informed that all individuals operating under the name of Superman have been monitored before he woke up. Carefully the man the captured footage of Superboy, the Eradicator, Steel and Cyborg Superman.

He is convinced that things have gotten completely out of hand and the name of Superman will not be turned into a franchise. He decides that something must be done and he has to get to Metropolis…

Quality

Steel and the Eradicator fought each other.

This chapter of the Reign of the Supermen storyline has a lot of developments moving simultaneously with the spotlight being shared among Superboy, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent, Steel and the Eradicator plus the traditional supporting characters of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. To say the least, it will take an effort for any reader to grasp the many plot developments and all the details crammed into this single comic book.

By looking at the plot developments, Superboy’s plot does not have much depth. Apart from seeing him and Supergirl helping the people affected by the disaster, you will see his interactions with (and his perception of) her and Lex Luthor getting frustrated because Superboy rejected his offer to work for Lexcorp. Superboy is not so interesting here.

The other plots such as Jonathan Kent expressing his strong belief that Clark Kent is the true and the definitive Superman, the conflict between Steel and the Eradicator, and the mysterious man (Superman actually) inside Fortress of Solitude are the more engaging ones to follow. It was only right that the cover of this comic book focused on the newly returned Superman monitoring the other Supermen while inside the fortress.

What made this comic book interesting was the creative team’s exploration of the actual meaning of heroism, people’s fear and confusion while dealing with the existence of four Supermen, and humanity’s exploitation of the presence of powerful beings for financial gain or greater influence over the people.

Conclusion

The mysterious man inside the Fortress of Solitude monitors recent events and who the Supermen are.

Action Comics (1993) is crammed and had a lot of plots dramatized. This was intentionally done because DC Comics at the time had momentum with the Reign of the Supermen storyline and it was inevitable that they started building up for the next stage that eventually became the return of the iconic Superman and re-establishing his prominence within the shared post-Crisis universe.

Overall, Action Comics (1993) is satisfactory.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at  @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

A Look Back at Superman #79 (1993)

A Look Back at Superman #79 (1993)

carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back superhero enthusiasts, 1990s pop culture enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the year 1993 and explore a notable chapter of the post-Crisis DC Comics universe through the Superman monthly series.

Months after DC Comics published the death of Superman with the best-selling Superman (1993), the publisher went on to shake things up with the Reign of the Supermen storyline. One of the four Supermen was Cyborg Superman who first appeared in Adventures of Superman #500 (1993) and had his first story in Superman #78 (1993).

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Superman , published in 1993 by DC Comics with a story written and drawn by Dan Jurgens.   

The cover.

Early story

The story begins inside a dark part of The Daily Planet with journalist Ronald Troupe starting his work in the absence of Clark Kent. Since Superman’s death, the very accomplished Kent has been absent and was perceived to have died somehow while covering Doomsday’s rampage through Metropolis. 

With Kent absent, the newspaper lost one of its best writers. This opened an opportunity for Ronald Troupe to approach Perry White to fill Kent’s slot and work. White, who was close with Kent, values hungry reporters and challenged Troupe to bring him a story so big, he could not turn it down.

With the sudden presence of the Supermen, Troupe viewed Cyborg Superman as a major subject to report about…

Quality

The evil Cyborg Superman handing over a device to US President Bill Clinton. This image is strangely symbolic as both of them are evil figures – one is fictional and the other is real. Clinton’s legacy of empowering Palestinian terrorists through the mass murderer Yasser Arafat still remains.

I want to start with the approach Dan Jurgens took to come up with this particular Reign of the Supermen story. Instead of telling the tale through the viewpoint of the more established Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane or photographer Jimmy Olsen, Jurgens instead used the newcomer Ronald Troupe who happened to be a hungry journalist tasked with coming up with a compelling report about Cyborg Superman. This creative approach resulted in a very fresh look at the events involving the caped cyborg complete with the use of a journalistic narrative Troupe wrote on his computer (the paragraphs are stylishly displayed on each page). The writing done was pretty lively to read from start to finish.

I do have a problem with how specific events turned out. To ensure that Troupe would encounter Cyborg Superman, the established character Max Lord (who is working directly with the US President over very sensitive matters) very unrealistically had his government-provided limousine stop (while entering the White House gate half-way) and actually got out to meet Troupe only because the reporter convinced him too easily. Even back in the 1990s, such a scenario is very unrealistic and no person working with the US President would ever stop to give a reporter special attention while compromising security of the White House.

And then there was the short sequence in which Troupe – already within the White House perimeter with several defense turrets already firing energy blasts – miraculously managed to get close to Cyborg Superman without getting hit was also very unbelievable. Very clearly, Troupe is this comic book’s magical black man.

To come up with the superhero spectacle, elements of Islamic terrorism (represented by the fictional Qurac and its terrorists) attacking the White House plus Cyborg Superman’s sudden involvement were implemented. Quite predictably, the caped cyborg became the centerpiece of the action. I can say the spectacle here was fresh and intriguing to see.

Conclusion

Cyborg Superman fights the terrorists of Qurac.

Superman (1993) has a very unique approach on storytelling but the above-mentioned unbelievable turnout of events plus Ronald Troupe being the magical black person (literally protected by plot armor) somewhat ruined the reading experience for me. By the time the story ended, the anticipated pay-off to everything that was built-up ended up weak and unsatisfying. To be clear, this is not a badly made comic book but its flaws really ruined it. Also by today’s standards, Cyborg Superman is a very evil character and having him with the American flag on the cover is disgusting.

With regards to geopolitics, having Bill Clinton as the US President made this comic book age very badly. As President, Clinton empowered Palestinian terrorists and anti-Semitic people through the mass murderer Yasser Arafat (a real-life demon) while disrespecting Israel and its people. People who love abortion, political correctness (which leads to wokeness), victimhood and LGBTQ rights also benefited from Clinton’s sinister leadership. By today’s standards, having Clinton and Cyborg Superman appear together strongly symbolize real-life evil and fictional evil in a rather creative way.

It was destiny that his wife Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 US Presidential Election to Donald Trump. This is because the Clinton legacy remains very bad for the whole world. Trump, who is now the US President once again, is already working to make serious corrections while also restoring dignity in America.

Overall, Superman (1987) is not worth your time. Only those who are really obsessed with the Reign of the Supermen storyline can enjoy it. For those looking for the iconic Superman, better look for another comic book!

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at  @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco