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Adventures of Superman #591

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 11, 2001

Cover date: June 2001

2001 Shield No. 23

Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Paco Medina
Inker: Walden Wong

Infestation [Part 2 of 4] - "The Alien Swarm" (Cover Title)

Reviewed by: Neal Bailey (baileyn@cc.wwu.edu)

NINE MORE TILL 600! (::Reviewer stifles childish grin::)

Superman makes rubble of asteroids in furor, trying to come to some kind of terms with the loss of Lois. Again, the story jumps back to how this occurred, as it did in the first part of the story...

The alien entity known as Viroxx is marching through the galaxy, assimilating all in its path, killing or bringing anyone it ventures into to its service in some capacity, be it as food or a brood leader for the armies it creates out of the people that it decimates.

Superman, having seen Viroxx's capability for destruction, fights with a large army to try and take Viroxx down. Korsa Majalis, Superman's newfound ally, struggles to deal with the fact that Viroxx, anticipating his weakness after assimilating his wife, has made her a brood leader and sent her after Korsa.

Superman shields Korsa from his wife, and his wife escapes, off to do Viroxx's bidding, which calls her elsewhere.

The army regroups, thinking strategy. Korsa attempts to do what others have tried and failed to do in the past... figure out a way to bring back someone from Viroxx's hold. But with the way Viroxx molds molecules and changes structures, the people who Viroxx assimilates are fundamentally no longer who they were, and the task is soon deemed impossible.

This after his children plead for their mother as Superman looks on.

The war rages on. Superman tries to maintain some semblance of an order, telling the army not to kill, but to try and capture the Viroxx army, but they blast away, thinking only of revenge. Korsa's wife and Korsa go at each other. Korsa tries and fails to stop her from destroying a medical space vessel filled with children, and fails. Superman saves him from his own wife, and she is captured in the effort.

Korsa tries to save his captured wife. She escapes her bonds and calls their son over to give him a hug. Korsa tries to stop him, but the mother has already killed his son. Korsa, in blind rage, shoots his wife again and again, killing her.

The army bands together in one final, last ditch assault, pouring everything they can into Viroxx. Viroxx swells, shrinks, then explodes outward, killing many. It seems Viroxx is dead.

Superman helps to start relocation efforts for survivors, then heads home to see Lois. They have a touching evening together, declaring their love for one another, then Viroxx comes out of hibernation and sends a drone to earth. Despite Superman's best efforts, Lois is assimilated as a drone leader.

Superman notes this past from the present, and declares that the evening after this event, things got much worse.

Story - 5: This is such a nice story. So well done. So well presented. This subject matter is easily cheesy, it's been done before a hundred different ways with the Borg, the Empire, Vampires, Outbreak, etc, but what could have been bad, very bad, has been given a new twist, and a well put set of dialogue and circumstances. Everyone stays in character. The plot twists aren't truly twists, but they are put well, and Superman can't save the day. I love it when Superman can't save the day. There's no way he can always win, and here he doesn't. I respect stories like that. I am always told not to judge multi-parters halfway through, but if the rest of the arc is like this, I know I for one will be satisfied.

Art - 5: One for the penciller and inker, and one for the colorist. The details and the plot were well shown without being encumbered by the panel format, and the action was well done without bringing too much attention to itself. Superman is a bit cartoonish, but hey. He's Superman. Erring towards cartoonish is better than erring towards dark. That's Bats. Special note, however, goes to the colorist, who really brought out the alien feel of the issue. The colors on this issue are really great, better than comics usually are that I read. Nice and hazy, but distinct. Every page, though it had many pseudo panels, seemed like a splash. I loved it.

Cover Art - 2: Nice drawing, but we've seen this exact cover before, several times. The most recent time in memory are the covers from man of steel in the early nineties, when Superman battled a lady who sent out brain beasts and took over Lois (The cover depicted a covered Supes), and there was one, I believe, with Superman covered in Lex Men. Or not. But either way, I saw it, and immediately felt deja-vu, a bad thing as far as I'm concerned when looking at a cover.

Amended Cover Art Rating - 5: It seems that DC is doing their absolute best to have us keep our eyes open... I said I felt Deja-Vu, I was right. Though I must apologize to the cover artist, because it wasn't the Man of Steel past issues, I've since checked, but rather, as an alert reader (Dheirun2@aol.com) tells me, a panel in the last part of this series... right down to everything but the chin! Check out Superman #169 on the bottom of page 20... it's eerie! I now give this cover a 5, and solemnly smack myself in the mouth for not keeping my eyes open. ::SMACK!:: Ow. Hope you're happy, DC! Just kidding.

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Mild Mannered Reviews

2001

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Adventures of Superman #591

Mild Mannered Reviews

2001

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