Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Adventures of Superman #574

Adventures of Superman #574

Scheduled to arrive in stores: November 10, 1999

Cover date: January 2000

2000 Triangle No. 2

Writer: Stuart Immonen and Mark Millar
Penciller: Joe Phillips
Inker: Rich Faber

"Something Borrowed, Something Blue"

Reviewed by: Nick Newman (NNewman8283@yahoo.com)



In a dark alley four boys meet with a man, hidden in the shadows. He offers them DMN, the demon drug. One of the boys holds up a wad of cash and the two exchange. The boys scamper away while the man in black disappears into mist.

Downtown Metropolis. Superman is engaged in a battle with Gabriel Van Daniken, clad in robotic exo-suit. Superman hurls Van Daniken into a truck of liquid oxygen and the crowd begins to draw closer. The villain emerges from the tank but a sudden whoosh, removes him from the area. Up in the sky hovers a female clad in a variation of the Superman costume.

Superman recognizes her instantly as Obsession, the girl who once gained super powers and went after Superman, but then appeared to die. Superman flies up to meet her. She demands to know whom he married, and when Superman denies it she hurls him through a building.

Back in the Daily Planet building, Lois and her sister Lucy talk about Lucy' s pregnancy. Ron comes in and talks to them for a minute, before being summoned into Perry's office. Perry offers Ron his job back at the Planet. Ron says that he has his job at the mission, and needs to help the people there. Lois and Jimmy pop through the door, saying that Superman is downtown fighting with his wife. Lois, Jimmy, and Ron head downtown.

Superman pursues Obsession with his x-ray vision, flying up behind her and grabbing her by the arms. Obsession flips Superman over her back and into the side of a building. On a quiet street four monsters, obviously products of the DMN drug, burst through a window. The four then proceed to terrorize the store and any citizens in the area. The run down the street past Ron, who realizes they are headed toward the mission and takes off after them.

Superman and Obsession continue to battle, until Superman convinces her to help him with the demons.

Ron stands before the monsters, defending the people of the mission. They just are about to deprive Ron of some vital piece of his anatomy when Superman and Obsession stop them. All seem subdued when suddenly one of the monsters rears up and dives for Superman. Obsession pushes him out of the way and sacrifices herself, for Superman.

Superman flies away with the monsters, ignoring the crowd's questions about Mrs. Superman. Inside the mission a shadowy figure appears to claim Obsession's body, and then vanishes in an explosion of mist.

3Story - 3: On my second read through the story was more interesting, but still it is only average. This is Stuart's second book since the "October revamp" and both have focused on old plot lines. Did any of us really care about Obsession, or want to see her again? Plus, Lucy and Ron seemed to be just filler. We barely saw any Superman this issue. Bring on one of the other titles.

3Art - 3: Phillips looks like he is trying to do a cartoony-style, but it just isn't working. Superman looks dopey on many of the pages, and Lois looks horrible. His splashes are good though, so he makes average.

4Cover Art - 4: Definitely eye-catching, but since when did Obsession get so, uh, big? Anyways, it looks cool and is appropriate to the issue.



Other recent reviews:

Mild Mannered Reviews

2000

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic was on sale.

January 2000

February 2000 March 2000 April 2000 May 2000 June 2000 July 2000 August 2000 September 2000 October 2000 November 2000 December 2000 Annuals

Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.

Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2000.