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Mild Mannered Reviews - Classic Post-Crisis Superman Comics

Superman #2

Cover date: February 1987

Writer: John Byrne
Penciller: John Byrne
Inker: Terry Austin

"The Secret Revealed!!"

Lex Luthor is briefed by Amanda McCoy; member of Lexcorp staff and the most brilliant computer scientist in her field. She has been overseeing analysis of all available news footage of Superman and has discovered the same woman (whom we as readers recognise as Lana Lang) appears in the crowds at many of Superman's public appearances. Luthor orders his staff to find the woman and pleased with McCoy's work, he 'allows' her to join him for dinner that night. As McCoy politely tries to refuse, citing a prior commitment, Luthor squeezes her hand painfully, telling her that she has misunderstood. McCoy hastily agrees to the dinner date.

Luthor visits Happersen, a Lexcorp scientist who has been studying the immobilised body of Metallo. Happersen expresses concern that Luthor is not wearing a protective suit, but Lex dismisses the danger, citing their discovery that the so-called 'Kryptonite' can't harm human beings. Happersen reports that there is a living brain in the robotic body. Metallo curses at Luthor for stopping him from killing Superman. Lex informs him that the death of Superman is a pleasure he reserves for himself. Happersen continues his report, informing Luthor that he's addressing the problem of how to remove the kryptonite, Metallo's power source, without killing him. Luthor simply rips the kryptonite from Metallo's chest and tosses it to Happersen, telling him he wants a full analysis by midnight.

Two men stalk the Kent's farm. Jenner and Breen have orders to retrieve information on Clark Kent. They shoot both Jonathan and Martha with knockout darts, ransack their house and take family albums, Clark's birth certificate, high school yearbook and a curious scrapbook. The first half of the scrapbook is filled with clippings about averted disasters, the second with clippings about Superman. As Jenner and Breen leave, they encounter Lana Lang, who gets a good look at the two men. They knock her out too and lacking any kill order for their mission, take her with them.

Back in Metropolis, Luthor wines and dines Amanda McCoy, who worries that if he doesn't go along with him, Luthor will destroy her. Lex receives a call about Jenner and Breen's mission. Apologising to Amanda, he leaves to attend the matter. Lex gives the order to have the 'idiotic' Jenner and Breen terminated, but changes his mind as he sees the woman they have captured. Instead, the (extremely relieved) two men are told they will receive special compensation in their pay envelopes. However a Doctor Kelley warns Lex not to be too jubilant - the woman (Lana) has had a bad reaction to the knock-out dart. If they use a truth serum on her, she would die. Lex merely considers this news unfortunate... for the woman.

Superman soars over Metropolis, happy that he appears to have fully recovered from exposure to Metallo's Kryptonite (in issue #1). As he muses that prolonged exposure may strip his powers completely, he spies a tracking device following him, which manages to keep pace with him as he tries to lose it. Stopping to buy a balloon seller's entire stock with some dollars from his hollow belt buckle, Supes uses the balloons to confuse the device long enough to grab hold of it. As he does, the tracker explodes. Unable to spot any more of the devices, Superman changes back to Clark Kent and returns to his apartment. There, he finds a trail of bloody footprints leading to his door, then away to a broom closet, where he finds a battered and bloodied Lana Lang. Taking Lana back to his apartment, he dresses her wounds and Lana calms down enough to tell him what happened to her. She was captured and tortured, interrogated about Clark and Superman. After nearly two days, she woke up alone and not knowing what else to do, came to see Clark and warn him - whoever did this to her must have Clark's parents too.

Luthor is informed by his staff that Superman is on his way. Amanda McCoy appears to have spent the night with him and he insists that she now call him 'Lex'. Amanda voices her fear that Lex's plan, to let Lang go in order to have Kent contact Superman, could be dangerous. He dismisses the notion, as Lang was moved to an abandoned factory complex. Her trail will only lead Superman to there and a waiting Jenner and Breen.

Superman flies through the walls of the complex, startling Jenner and Breen. Angry, he threatens to squash them like bugs if they don't start talking. The two men start to protest that they don't know what he means. Back at the Lexcorp tower, Lex presses a button and the entire factory complex explodes...

An enraged Superman smashes his way into Luthor's office, telling him he's going to pay. Luthor casually remains seated and offers the Man of Steel a seat and some brandy. Superman advances angrily, but falters, groans and is forced to prop himself up on Luthor's desk so as not to collapse. A gloating Luthor polishes his new signet ring, containing a cut gemstone of kryptonite. Taking hold of Superman, Lex happily informs him he could just stand there and watch him die, but that is not how he wants to play their little game. Admitting to Superman that he was behind everything and that there's no way on earth it can be proven; Lex escorts Superman away, telling him to get out of his office before he calls a cop.

Superman flies Lana back to his parents' house, lamenting that those who gave him guidance, taught him courage, to love the world, how to be human; are gone, with nothing he can do about it. Entering the farmhouse, he and Lana are surprised to find the Kents not only there but in good health. They have just finished cleaning up - all that seems to have been taken are some old yearbooks, family albums and Clark's birth certificate. When asked, Clark tells his parents that he knows who is behind all this. The real worry is what that person is going to do with the items he has taken.

Amanda McCoy briefs Lex on what they have discovered, after cross referencing all the data in their possession. Superman's height, weight, eye colour etc have been assessed to within .09% and the information collated about Clark Kent, shows a noteworthy four year gap in his life. From leaving Smallville to enrolling at Metropolis University, there is no sign of him and the beginning of the gap corresponds to early clippings in the Kent's scrapbook. Lex impatiently wants to know what all this means. McCoy retrieves the conclusion of the computer's analysis...'Clark Kent is Superman'! McCoy is stunned. To her, it all seems so logical. Lex on the other hand; is furious. He knows better than any soulless machine and refuses to accept that anyone with the power of Superman would ever pretend to be a mere human. He tells McCoy she has failed him and promptly fires her; he has no place in his organisation for those that cannot see the obvious!

Story - 5: Okay, first up? I think that this is, hands down, my favourite issue of Superman ever. I only say 'think', because I can think of one or two other issues that I really love and without breaking off to go and look through my collection, I can't honestly say if they appeared in Superman, Adventures, Action, Man of Steel or Man of Tomorrow (hands up if you remember that one?). But never mind. I think this story is excellent. For me it encapsulates everything that was so good and fresh, about the (then) revamped big blue boy scout.

This story is a must-read, folks. We get a real feel for who and what Lex Luthor is. A ruthless emperor in his own domain, whose every word is to be obeyed without question. Surrounded by female staff (Lexcorp's dress code involving mini skirts and high heels), he rewards those who please him by 'allowing' them the privilege of sleeping with him, and perhaps granting them the boon of calling him 'Lex'. He bullies, intimidates, assaults, beds and kills his staff in this one story alone. He casually rips out Metallo's heart with his bare hands, uncaring that it will cause his death (of course it doesn't, but that's another story), orders his own men to be terminated with a moment's thought, kills them himself all to further his own ends and to manipulate the Man of Steel. This is a dangerous, merciless, ruthless and powerful man. And yet that power also blinds him to the truth. Right here, in only the second issue of the title, we have Superman's arch nemesis discover his secret identity - only to not believe it. The battlefield between Lex and Clark is wonderfully set up here. Clark knows what Lex has done and what he is capable of, but also knows he can't (yet) prove it. I much prefer the 'untouchable' Lex that strikes from the shadows over the green and purple one that fights toe to toe with Superman, although getting to see some of the latter does add some spice in what has become the best part of twenty year's continuity (if Birthright hasn't wrecked quite everything...).

We are also given a good insight into Clark's character. His interaction with Lana is genuinely touching and the fact he tells her that keeping his secret wasn't worth her suffering so much, speaks volumes about the man's character. It's also ironic, given that we later get to see Lex's reaction upon discovering that secret.

Plot, character, drama, intrigue, tension, forward motion and an adversary you can't help but love to hate. For me, this issue has got it all and more. Easily up there with what I consider Byrne's best work, if not actually his best work ever. Well done John.

(My favourite sound effect this issue has to be the 'thep' as a knockout dart hits Jonathan Kent in the neck.)

Art - 5: I thought that first panel on page 10, of Superman soaring over metropolis, was superb. I know everyone has their own favourite artists and interpretations of Superman, but for me, it's one of the best pictures of him, by anybody, anywhere, ever. Does that sound a bit over the top? If you're lucky enough to have access to a copy of this story, go and take another look. What d'you reckon?

I also love the way Lex is drawn here. Look at him next to Amanda McCoy. The size of his fists, the hair on the back of his hands, the shape of his eyebrows, the slight roll of fat bulging up from behind his collar. This looks like a powerful, imposing man. One who is no longer in his prime, perhaps, and beginning to go to seed a little, but nonetheless; dangerous. Byrne and Austin's Metallo looks great for the five panels he is in. I appreciated the way Lana looks tired and a little drawn in the footage Lexcorp has of her (before she gets tortured). She actually looks like a woman keeping an enormous secret, one who is rushing around from place to place to catch a glimpse of someone she knew so well long ago. And on page 17, Clark really does look like he's ready to rip Lex limb from limb. I can't remember ever seeing him drawn looking this angry and upset. He's even been given a much redder face in this panel than the others too.

Again, there's the occasional lack of background detail in several panels, but with Byrne drawing two books a month at this time, Terry Austin's inks working for me a lot better than Dick Giordano's did over in the pages of 'Action', and the amount of detail on other panels (look at all the fine line work on the interior of Lex Corp) I don't notice it as much and can't quite bring myself to dock a point.

Cover Art - 3: The cover reflects what happens in the story, there's a background, Lex looks like Lex, Amanda McCoy looks like Amanda McCoy but it just somehow doesn't all gel for me. Perhaps it's the overly simple graphics on the monitor? What the monitor's showing is good; Clark caught partway between looking like himself and Superman, but it looks like Lex is using a ZX81 computer (did you guys stateside ever even have those ol' things - cardboard 'keyboards' and all??) in his company to generate graphics. Perhaps it's the muted colours, although everything is coloured as you would expect it to be for the environment shown. Maybe it's the composition. I think perhaps a 'camera angle' from behind of a silhouetted Lex looking up at a monitor screen towering in front of him with the same image(rendered a little less simplistically) would be more striking. No, I don't think there's nothing really 'wrong' as such with this cover - it just doesn't grab me.