Superman Through the Ages! Forum

First off, let’s give credit where credit is due…

Superman #655
“Cold Comfort”
By Kurt Busiek & Carlos Pacheco
Jesus Merino*Inker
Dave Stewart*Colors
Comicraft*Letters
Nachie Castro*Associate Editor
Matt Idelson*Editor
Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

The Skinny: (As Non-Spoiler as possible)

Clark Kent recalls his recent meeting with the new CEO of LexCorp as he travels with a contingent of reporters to Kazakhstan to attend a press conference held by Callie Llewellyn, an arcanobiologist with ties to Kent’s past. But disaster strikes from the heart of the former Soviet science center that lies South of Ayaguz, forcing the hand of the mighty Man of Steel as he must now contend with…Subjekt 17!!! Plus…a DC guest-star, at a different point in his life, must soon get involved in their battle before the consequences for the world become too great!

My Review:

Kurt Busiek knocks another solid issue out of the park for me! Without spoiling anything, I thought the character interactions were spot-on, especially when concerning the shared history between Superman and the new head of LexCorp. I cannot wait to see how things develop. We’re also treated to a little sci-fi mystery in the form of Subjekt 17. Who or what is Subjekt 17, you say? You’ll have to read the issue to find out, but from the looks of the devastation caused and the strewn bodies everywhere, it can’t be anything good! I was also surprised to see our guest-star within these pages, especially since he’s in a different time in his life, and how the appearance will affect our hero. The artwork continues to look dynamic in this issue and even though there are other reviewers who have been mixed on the color palette used for this title, I enjoy it immensely. And for some reason I’m drawn to the way that Pacheco draws Superman’s cape, how it billows and folds. It reminds me of Don Newton during his days working on Detective Comics, back in the day. And come on, I’m just a sucker for a cover with dramatic dialogue on it. Hope they do this more often!

Next Up: Superman #656

It’s a fight to the finish! Superman’s key to victory will be deciphering his opponent’s past, but the answers will lead to even more dangerous questions for Superman.

Methinks Pacheco is more a fan of Lana than Lois...  just a hunch.

Sigh. I haven't read the previous issue yet! I can't wait anymore, reading these reviews this seems one of the best modern runs!

You noticed that too?  :lol:  

Lois intrepid victoria secret's reporter

I'm somewhat curious about the inspiration for Callie.  The sensationalist would've named her Chloe Sullivan.  The traditionalist in me might've snarfed a name from one of Superman's past flames (e.g. Lyla) rather than invent a new character name.

Also, the "magician from the past" element seems to have found its way into Superman as well as Samaritan at/around the same time, though for my money Infidel > Arion.  :)

Read it last week, at last!
A good issue, with an interesting story and great artworks. In this issue Pacheco's work seems even better than in the previous one! Look at his Lana Lang... Wow! I love her!
Wasn't Arion from some toy-related series? WARLORD, I think...
Only one thing disappoints me: at the end of the Ruin saga, it seemed that Lana and Pete could be a family again. Seeing them divorced isn't good, for me.
It's the same with Spider-Man: Peter and Mary Jane cannot split up because Spider-Man comics are (er... should be) for families, and for the publisher a divorced superhero is not a good example (even if, of course, a divorced man hasn't less dignity than the others). So, I don't like to see Superman's best friends divorced... This creates problems between Clark, Lana and Pete, while I'd like to see them more closer than before. Now for some reader Lana could be "the divorced one", and this is not good.

The problem started when in the Carlin era that marriage was approved... In those stories from the '90s, the first rule seemed to be "In the real world it would work this way". Yes, in the real world a beautiful, sweet and smart woman like Lana would find a husband, but Superman comics aren't real world...

I'm not sure being divorced bear all that much stigma -- or should -- but keep in mind that Lana in the Bronze Age was not only divorced, but a mother who'd lost a child.  She married in Europe, had a child, and divorced the father after her child was killed in a terrorist incident.  She returned to Matropolis a changed woman, and that's when she became Clark's co-anchor at WGBS.

kdb

My problem with divorce in these comics is related to the fact that, for what I have noticed, in the US the divorce is still seen as a sort of curse (quite odd: you made it legal several years before us!) so, a divorced character, especially if important or related to the main hero of the series, could become very hard to use. And we are talking about Lana Lang... One character I would like to see in every page.
By the way, thank you for the explanation, I have appreciated it, but... Can you tell me more about those stories? I don't remember any marriage or unborn child, probably because those issues were released before 1975/76. I suppose are stories "forgotten" by authors and editors, just like that issue where Martin Pasko explained why nobody can understand the truth about Clark... Every explanation from you or the rest of the board is welcome!

Matropolis:  City Of Matrimony, right?

:)

I totally agree with Mr. Busiek,since in my opinion you can tell every kind of story in a superhero comic book just as long is treated rightly,
and maybe i'm old fashioned for saying this,but i still believe in the educational value of this media that can help kids to undertestand better moral value and social issue.

 :s:  :s:  :s:

I don't think it is, not any more.  The last time I heard anything about divorce being a stigma was when Reagan was running for President, and it didn't hurt him any.



Actually, Lana returns to the cast in 1977, in SUPERMAN #317.  I don't remember when the details of why she came back from Europe came out, but I think it was sometime after that.

And it wasn't an unborn child, but a child that got killed.



Rather than being "forgotten," that stuff was the reason she came back from Europe so different, with an altered personality and drive.  And a habit of calling everyone "luv."

kdb

In the U.S., it used to be the case that to get a divorce, you had to admit a crime or heinous act so "fault" could be assigned.  It was kind of a bogus system in the case of mutually-agreed-upon divorce, and steps were taken to correct it.  Once "no-fault" divorce emerged as an option (with Ronald Reagan leading the way as California governor), divorce became more accepted.  There's far from universal acceptance.  Parts of the U.S. with strong religious leanings still tend to look down upon the divorced.  

BTW, the legal concept of "no-fault" divorce originated in Subjekt-17's (Earthly) homeland.  I'm sure divorce law will figure prominently in Kurt's upcoming mini-series "Jimmy Olsen Goes To Law School!".  


Here's some references to it -- Lois Lane miniseries, circa late 1986:
http://politedissent.com/archives/1280
http://politedissent.com/images/jun06/lana.html
Those damned Italian terrorists...  someone must've really hated


Was there mention of it earlier?  Something gnawing in the back of my mind is thinking that there was an attempt to give Lana a kid or somesuch in the comics as part of Superman III, which would've been around 1983, but I'll be damned it I remember it.

sheesh... I am not a big fan of the Bronze Age.

Give me Silver Age Lana Lang anyday...

(http://img.search.com/4/40/300px-Super_lois_and_lana.jpg)

P.S. They both gain super powers in this story, if you couldn't tell.


P.S.P.S Yes.. Super Powers!

It's a post-Crisis pre-Byrne tale.  It should be safe to cast into total oblivion if one were so inclined, right along with Supergirl marrying Salkor.

Beppo, that's a fascinating Lois Lane cover.

I've been trying to figure out just who the artist was.  It looks like Kurt Schaffenburger drew Lois' face; Curt Swan drew Lana's face; Wayne Boring drew Superman's chest; and the rest is a complete mystery.

:s:

Schaffenberger often drew Lois on Curt Swan covers.  I think the rest is Curt Swan, back when Curt would draw more like Boring with the barrel chest.

Looks to me like Swan drew the cover, Schaffenberger inked the girls, and someone else -- Stan Kaye? -- inked Supes and the skyline.

kdb

Yeah, I forgot about the inker...  probably Stan Kaye.  
FWIW, comics.org says:

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=15946

Cover Credits:
Curt Swan (Pencils) "Stan Kaye, Kurt Schaffenberger" (Inks) ? (Colors) ? (Letters)

Thank you for the explanations!
Now it makes sense: I knew that Lana left Metropolis (before 1975: I have hundreds of Superman comics from that year and Lana was already away) and that she returned in the second half of the '70s (I think it was one of the Metallo II issues), so I supposed that the marriage/son story was told in the middle. Instead, it was a retcon shown in a miniseries several years later. One of those stories almost nobody remembers, I'd say.
How old was the child? It's hard to think that such an event has been told in a Superman comic.
By the way, was the child killed in Italy? Italian terrorists (and writing those two words together makes me feel very ashamed, I hope you can understand me) didn't use to act in other countries, for what I remember.