Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Legacy of Superman Review

It is time to dip into the Big Comic Book Box of Doom™ to take a look at a random comic book issue. Next on the pile is the Legacy of Superman Issue 1 From May 1993. This is a one shot comic set shortly after the Death of Superman event, with five separate stories “The Guardians of Metropolis”, “Sister Act”, “Gangbuster of Suicide Slum” “Funeral Pyres” and “Vanishing Point”.

 

Legacy of Superman Issue 1 May 1993 Review


Five separate stories, so I’m going to be nailing them down one by one and giving my thoughts. This comic book ran rather just meh with me, as it is technically a Superman comic book without Superman given the fact that the Man of Steel is currently dead after his battle with Doomsday in the Infamous Death of Superman comic.

First up is Guardians of Metropolis with Karl Kasel as the Writer, Walter Simonson on both Ink and Pencils, John Workman on Letters, and Mike Carlin and Jennifer Frank as Editors. In this episode, our good friends at Cadmus are up to their old tricks, having managed to figure out Superman’s DNA, which cannot go well at all. A clone Auron is created, partially made of Jim Harper, Guardian, but the Newsboy Legion foils the attempts to get the disc back to Cadmus, making Auron realize who he is. The disc is destroyed after the clone downloads the essential data into its mind. This story was fine and nothing special.

The next Story is Sister Act, Written by Roger Stern, with Denis Rodier as the Penciller, Ande Parks as the Inker, Albert Deguzman as the Letterer, Glenn Whitmore as the Colorist, Jennifer Frank as the Assistant Editor, and Mike Carlin as the Editor. In this issue, Rose Forrester is robbed and her alter ego the Thorn takes down the robbers. The obvious point of this issue was the crime rate has gone up in Metropolis has gone up since the Death of Superman. Well obviously. I’d be a bit cocky if I was a criminal as well. Other than that, didn’t really have much do with this issue.

The Gangbuster of Suicide Slum is the next issue, written by Jerry Ordway, with Dennis Janke as Penciler, Mike Machlan on the Inkers, Glenn Whitmore as colorist, John Costanza and Albert De Guzman as Letterers, Jennifer Frank as the Assistance Editor, and Mike Carlin as the editor. The Gangbuster(Jose Delgado) goes after some thugs, but this is not Gotham City, so his efforts are not appreciated all that much as a vigilante, especially when they are acts of vengeance. Gangbuster is encouraged forcefully to get out of town. A distinct miss and I found myself skimming which is not something you want with a comic book.

Next is Funeral Pyres written by William Messner-Loebs, Curt Swan as the Penciller, Josef Rubinstein as the Inker, Bill Oakley as the Letterer, Glenn Whitmore as the Colorist, Jennifer Frank as the Assistant Editor, and Mike Carlin as the Editor. In this issue, Lex Luthor Jr. is just a swell guy, not unlike his father that evil bald mad Lex Luthor. Except he is not such a nice guy, he manipulates Sinbad(no not that one, but that would have made quite the issue) and Soraya, into going after the Terrormasters for hijacking his company and he makes them believe they killed them. Yeah that one didn’t light my world on fire.

The final story of this comic book is Vanishing Point, with Dan Jurgens as the Writer, Trevor Scott on pencils and ink, Glenn Whitmore on colors, John Costanza on letters, Jennifer Frank as the Assistant Editor, and Mike Carlin as the editor. We see the Waverider watching the Death of Superman from the library of time and he feels compelled to stop it but obviously that cannot be permitted. Well you can’t have a Superman issue really without Superman and in a way we see him, at least a glorified flashback from Death of Superman. Of course, we all know he comes back because dead rarely means dead in comic book.

The advertisements, let me shed a tear for the days where you could get a comic book subscription for fifteen dollars a year. Also advertisements are showcased Batman the Returns the Video Game and Double Dragon the Video Game. And a Trade Paperback of the Star Trek Next Generation Trade Paperback is featured as well. It is nice to see Professor Xavier moonlighting in a DC Comic book, sort of.

I kind of found this issue to be a supplement but one where it wasn’t rather necessary to understand the overarching plot of the Death and eventual return of Superman. Pass on this one I think for all except for the obsessive completest

Past Random Comic Book Reviews and the Tale of the Big Box of Comic Books of Doom™ can be found here. 

 http://expertscolumn.com/content/legacy-superman-review

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