Current Affairs - Hector Hammond

From reading the solicitations of what's being released today, it looks like things with Hector Hammond are going to be heating up in Superman #20.

Hector Hammond is a character that is so closely associated with the Green Lantern family of books, that it got me thinking about if he has ever shown up in a Superman book before.  Nothing sprung immediately to mind, but luckily google knows all.

It turns out that he made one solitary appearance (aside from a cameo in a Green Lantern serial when Action Comics was Action Comics Weekly) in the pages of Action Comics #799!

This was during the time period where the art took a decidedly non-traditional look.  Very stylized and cartoony, with a definite nod towards the manga sensibility.  I'm a big fan of Joe Kelly's run, so I've learned to like the art from this period, but it does take some getting used to.

In fact, if Superman hadn't said his name in this panel, I wouldn't even have recognized good old Hector.

But there he is, in all of his big head glory, in his sole solitary appearance in the Superman books before the current storyline started.  He doesn't do much in this story, as he's basically being taken advantage of by another doctor at the prison where he's held.  There, he's being forced to mind-control Gorilla Grodd, who naturally gets in a fight with Superman.

All in all, it's a nice stand-alone story, with some interesting layouts and visuals.

Script by Joe Kelly
Pencils by Carlos Meglia
Inks by Carlos Meglia
Colors by Carlos Meglia
Letters by Comicraft

Action Comics #799
The Cage
March 2003
 Copyright (c) DC Comics

Wish granted

Ask, and thou shall receive.

Yes!  That is Jonathan and Martha Kent, evil criminals on the run!

Who knew that the imaginary story we recently read was the second half of a two-parter, with this part even better than the previous?

That's the one thing I love about the width and breadth of Superman stories...however crazy you can imagine a story, there's probably a published one out there that comes pretty darn close.

Script by Cary Bates 
Pencils by Curt Swan 
Inks by Dan Adkins 

Superman #230 
Killer Kent Versus Super Luthor 
October 1970 
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Super-Lex!

For those of you playing along at home with the quiz from our last post, give yourself two super-pats on the back if you were able to deduce that that wasn't actually Superman on the cover of Superman #231 getting pummeled by an orange robot, but Super-Lex!

What's that, you ask?  How could this be?

Well, anything's possible with the patented "Imaginary Stories" that populated the Super-titles with varying frequency during the Silver and Bronze Ages.

This particular story had Lex-El, the son of Jor-El, surviving the crash that brought both himself and his father to Earth!  Clark, meanwhile, was being experimented on by an evil scientist who implanted a "chromostimulant" into his brain, patterned after the "evil" chromosomes of the centuries most notorious crime couple...Jonathan and Martha Kent!

Forget Super-Lex and Gangster Kent, I want more imaginary stories of Ma and Pa Kent, the Bonnie and Clyde of the DC Universe!

Script by Cary Bates 
Pencils by Curt Swan 
Inks by Dan Adkins 

Superman (Vol. 1) #231 
"The Wheel of Super-Fortune!" 
November 1970 
Copyright (c) DC Comics

...and we're back

Well...so it's been a while.

Honestly, we may end up saying the same thing again next year, after this post goes dormant. I'd like to think not, but we shall see.

So yeah, I'm back. In what capacity? That remains to be seen, but I've missed blogging about comics. Superman comics, specifically!! I don't think I'm going to be as bold as last time and try to do a post a day, but we'll see.

To get things started, I just took a random jog through my books and pulled out this one.  Superman #231, from November of 1970!

 

SUPER WHAT?

A precursor to the recent WTF cover gimmick, perhaps?

So what is the cause of so much consternation that they have to question reality right there on the cover?

Here's a multiple choice quiz. Put your Bronze Age Thinking Cap on, and I'll see you in a day or two for the answer.

• That's really Lois trapped inside the orange robot after one of her patented secret identity schemes go awry.
• That's not really Clark getting punched, but Lex Luthor?!
• This was the one time that a villains scheme of using a robot worked to defeat Superman.  Sadly, there were never any Superman issues after this one as a result.

All right Superfans...see you in a day or two!

Superman guides us through the New 52 - O.M.A.C.

You know what doesn't make me mad?

Another installment of Superman guiding us through the New 52, that's what!

And since we just happen to have a picture of Superman duking it out with OMAC up top, we might as well talk about O.M.A.C. #1 by Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen.

When I first heard they were bringing this title back, my first thought was "Really? With DiDio writing?" Then I saw that Keith Giffen was on pencils and plots and all is right with the world. After reading this issue, I'm glad to say that not only is everything right with the world, it's even better!

This issue scratched the Kirby itch in a big way, that not even Morrison was able to do during his Final Crisis saga. It's an unapologetic homage to the mad-cap craziness that was Kirby at DC during the early 70's. The fact that they were able to work a "Build-A-Friend" into the first issue was just the icing on the cake. For those of you unaware, that's one of those flying bathtub ladies from the cover of the original OMAC #1.

As much fun as the story was, it wouldn't have been half as entertaining without the fantastic pencils of Keith Giffen. I've been a fan of his style for a long time, but I haven't had this much fun with the energy and dynamism (is that a word?) of his stuff since his early Defenders.


All in all, if DC can manage to make the rest of their fringe and bottom-tier titles half as entertaining as this one, they just might be on to something with this whole reboot thing.

Script by Len Wein
Pencils by George Perez
Inks by Pablo Marcos
Colors by Gene D'Angelo
Letters by John Costanza

DC Comics Presents #61
The Once And Future War!
September 1983
Copyright (c) DC Comics

and

Story by Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen
Pencils by Keith Giffen
Inks by Scott Koblish
Colors by Hi-Fi
Letters by Travis Lanham

O.M.A.C. (Vol. 2) #1
Office Management Amidst Chaos
November 2011
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Superman guides us through the New 52 - Action Comics

I've often wondered what it must have been like to pick up a copy of Action Comics #1 off the newsstand and read it back in the day.

After today, I have just the slightest glimmer of that experience.

Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' reboot of Superman was everything that I hoped it would be. It was wonderfully golden age in its themes and visuals, yet decidedly modern age in its storytelling and execution.

This was a Superman unencumbered by years of pre-existing stories, freeing him up to do what Superman was originally intended to do...fight for the people who couldn't fight for themselves, or were powerless before the rich and corrupt. That's not to say that the planet and universe didn't need saving many times over in the intervening decades, but by taking Superman back to the roots of his roots, we're getting our freshest take since All-Star Superman.

And while Morrison is sure to receive the lion's share of credit for this issue, you'd be foolish to overlook the contribution of Rags Morales, Rick Bryant, and Brad Anderson. Together, the three of them have put together one of the most fluid comic books I've read in some time. Each page flowed into the next one, never leaving me with any question about what was going on. Damn, if this wasn't one fine looking book.

Both of the central creators have had the occasion where the "confusing" Morrison or "rushed" Morales has shown up, thankfully this was not one of those times. If the New 52 had done nothing other than give us this Superman, you'd be hard pressed to call it anything other than a smashing success.

And my favorite part?


That right there is a Superman I want to read for the next few decades.

Script by Jerry Siegel
Artwork by Joe Shuster

Action Comics #1
Superman, Champion Of The Oppressed!
June 1938
Copyright (c) DC Comics

and

Script by Grant Morrison
Pencils by Rags Morales
Inks by Rick Bryant
Colors by Brad Anderson
Letters by Patrick Brosseau

Action Comics (Volume 2) #1
Superman Versus The City Of Tomorrow
November 2011
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The new guy

"Yeah, sorry about that Batman. I'd totally be down with teaming up, but Powerman doesn't think it's the right move for me at this point in my career. You understand, right?"

And sorry from me about the recent spate of posts on autopilot. It's been an exceptionally busy period for my secret identity, and I didn't get as far ahead as I usually like to be after the summer.

In fact, this whole month is going to be a little touch and go as things don't appear to be lightening up, so I'm thinking about messing with the format for the month of September to amp up the excitement and danger level. We'll see if I can keep the daily posts going, while flying by the seat of my pants.

So join us tomorrow as the pre-crisis, post-crisis, golden age, and silver age version of Superman takes us on a whirlwind tour of the new DCU.

Script by Edmond Hamilton
Pencils by Dick Sprang
Inks by Stan Kaye

World's Finest Comics #94
The Origin Of The Superman-Batman Team!
May/June 1958
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The Many Lives of Superman #14

The Many Lives of Superman

Green Lantern!

Script by Paul Levitz
Pencils by Curt Swan
Inks by Francisco Chiaramonte
Colors by Jery Serpe
Letters by Ben Oda

DC Comics Presents #6
The Fantastic Fall of Green Lantern!
February 1979
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The Many Lives of Superman #13

The Many Lives of Superman

The Flash!

Script by Cary Bates
Pencils by Curt Swan
Inks by Bob Oksner

Action Comics #441
Weather War Over Metropolis!
November 1974
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The Many Lives of Superman #12

The Many Lives of Superman

Magician!
a.k.a. The Great Kento

Script by Leo Dorfman
Pencils by Curt Swan
Inks by George Roussos

Action Comics #382
Clark Kent, Magician
November 1969
Copyright (c) DC Comics