#12

... read _Superman for the Animals_ for yourself, the book was bagged with copies of _Superman Adventures_ #41, _Impulse_ #58, and (I believe) _Hourman_ #12, among others. We'll have a complete list in our next issue, along with a review of the book. ____________________________________ RATINGS AT A GLANCE: Titles shipped December 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------ Prepared by Shane Travis <travis@kryptonian-cybernet.com> Key: ---- Issue -- Issue for which 'Current' Rating and Rank are calculated. The 'Previous' columns refer to the issue immediately prior to this. Rating -- Average Rating, in Shields (maximum rat ...

... nove Art and Cover by Jon Bogdanove and Dennis Janke Simyan and Mokkari create a hybrid clone of Jimmy and Superman 3 - SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF TOMORROW #12, "Need to Know" Written by Louise Simonson Art by Paul Ryan and Joe Rubinstein Cover by Paul Ryan and Dennis Janke Lightning-powered Stryke invades STAR Labs, Lexcom, and Cadmus 4 - SUPERMAN #141, "Introducing Outburst!" Written by Dan Jurgens Art by Scot Eaton and Joe Rubinstein Cover by Jurgens and Rubinstein Superman meets Outburst, who helps him against DEO forces 5 - THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #564, "Visions of Death" Written by Karl Kesel and Jerry Ordway Art and Cover by Tom Grummett and ...

... man_ #131, 4.1 Shields), finishing only slightly behind the reintroduction of Cyborg as Ashbury Armstrong's teacher ("Within Human Reach", _Superman_ #129, 3.8 Shields), and tied with "Machinations!" (_Superman_ #126), where Lex stole back his kryptonite ring from Batman. While there were some mixed emotions about the new Brainiac -- much as there have always been about Mr. Jurgens and his writing -- most reviewers thought that this was a suitable coda to Dan's 10-year run. Whether you like or dislike his work, there's no denying that the man has left his own indelible mark on the Superman legacy. "And so it ends..." SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF TOMORRO ...

... SUPER-GIRL There have been a number of different Supergirls in DC's history. The first debuted in August 1958 in "The Girl of Steel" from _Superman_ #123 (first series -- written by Otto Binder with art by Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye). This "Super-Girl" was a magical creation that comes to life when Jimmy Olsen makes a wish on an ancient Indian totem that "a Super-Girl, with super-powers equal to Superman's, would appear and become his companion." I don't have the original story, but I believe in it Super-Girl wore the traditional blue and red outfit. I first came across this story as a reprint in Giant _Superman_ #216, where Super-Girl's appeara ...

... Section 7: New Comic Reviews Super-Family Titles (cont) Superman Adventures #35, by Cory Strode Team Titles JLA #33, by Edward Mathews Young Justice #12, by Gary Robinson Section 8: New Comic Reviews Miniseries and Specials A. Bizarro #3, by G.M. Nelson Batman & Superman: World's Finest #6, by Simon DelMonte JLA Annual #3, by Ed Mathews Section 9: The One, True, Original Superman! Episode 11: Action Archives Volume II -- Empire and Growing Pains (Feb-May 1940) Bob Hughes sets the historical stage and then rounds off the first two years of Action Comics by looking at issues 21-24, including the final tale of the Ultra-Humanite and Superman's fir ...

... f you have enough knowledge of Legion lore, and want to appreciate the story fully, start with the Mark Waid arc, "DOA" in the series _Valor_ (issues #12 on), about the death of Lar Gand, as well as _LSH_ v.4 #54-59, about the adult Legion on the run, before reading "End of an Era". _________________________________________________ End of Section 7 _________________________________________________ THE PHANTOM ZONE: Reviews of the pre-Crisis Man of Steel ------------------------------------------------------------------ TALES OF EARTH-ONE -------------------------------------- by Bob Hughes (bobhughes@ttlc.net) (or see Bob's web page, "Who's Whos ...

... kman -- but there were more old time readers than Schwartz had thought there were, and they wanted to see the old versions again also. So, in _Flash_ #123 in September 1961, they brought back the original Flash and placed his adventures, and by extension all the other heroes of the Forties, on a parallel world called Earth-2. Eventually (in 1963), the entire 1940s Justice Society of America was revived to meet the modern Justice League of America. But this caused a problem for a number of characters. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman had all been members of the Justice Society of America. And their books had never been cancelled, so there was n ...

... an eerie resemblance between the "Phantom Superboy" and a tale published only a couple of years earlier called "The Ghost of Lois Lane!" (_Superman_ #129, May 1959, by Jerry Coleman, Wayne Boring, and Stan Kaye). The splash page shows Superman in his Fortress, confronted by a ghostly figure of Lois Lane. He moans, "Lois ... why don't you stop haunting me? You know I didn't mean to kill you... that it was all an accident!" At the Daily Planet office one day, a glib salesman tries to sell Jimmy an electric typewriter. "It's so sensitive I can move the keys just by blowing on them!" says Jimmy. Lois then goes to return a briefcase to a Professor G ...

... rtant' stories during his tenure, including the death of Superman (_Superman_ #75) and the introduction of the 'Electric Blue Superman' in _Superman_ #123, but those aren't the ones that impress me. After all, most of the stories that Jurgens or any of the other Super-scribes write are part of the ongoing, cross-title saga and have a limited ability to stand on their own. Within that format though, Jurgens has been able to write some wonderful stand-alone issues -- and those are the ones that I will review here. Jurgens first worked with DC in 1982, doing artwork on Mike Grell's series, _Warlord_, starting with issue #63. On the Superman titles, ...

... he anti-matter universe. And a giant projection of the Anti-Monitor appeared, to welcome them to their doom. That threw the whole thing into _Crisis_ #12, on the cover of which both Supermen and Superboy of Earth-Prime appeared among a battalion of heroes letting the Anti-Monitor have it. It was another double-sized issue, and the counterpart Supermen would ride this one out to the very end. The Supermen observed the Anti-Monitor's shadow-demons attacking and killing people all over the new Earth. Before they could leap into action, Harbinger drafted them again to help in the last battle against their over-foe. They went back with a horde of her ...