BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #194

After my brief moment of having let an issue of SUPERMAN FAMILY go by and then turning back and picking it up later, I seemed to be back on the train of purchasing the series regularly. And I’m not entirely certain why. Some of it, I’m sure, is that I just liked Superman. And while every issue was a mixed bag, there must have been enough good bits in each one to keep me coming back. Or maybe the build-up to the soon-to-arrive SUPERMAN THE MOVIE had an effect on me, though I don’t think that was it. In any case, when this issue came out, I dutifully picked it up. I wonder if the miniature Justice League clones on the cover may have been a deciding factor for me.

This issue of SUPERMAN FAMILY featured the wrap-up of some long-running subplots in a climax that was a lot longer than usual and that involved the characters from several strips. So there are fewer stories in this issue than usual. But to start with, the book opened up with another charming Superboy adventure written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Joe Staton. I think Staton’s art style fit the nostalgic 1950s atmosphere of the character and his world pretty well. it involves the return of an obscure character from Superboy’s past, Gary the Witch-Boy, a sure sign that historian E. Nelson Bridwell is editing this issue. Superboy and Gary butt heads over a demonic artifact, but it turns out that both want to destroy it before its power can be used for evil, so everything works out well in the end.

The very cool and modern-flavored artwork of Marshall Rogers gives some additional snap to the next story, a tale of Nightwing and Flamebird, the Batman and Robin of the Bottle City of Kandor. In this installment, writer Paul Kupperberg reveals the identity of the mysterious crime-Lord who has been plaguing Kandor’s Dynamic duo for issues now. It turns out that he’s Jur-LL, a parallel universe version of Jor-El from a mirror universe in the manner of STAR TREK. To say that this is a crazy reveal is an understatement–it’s the sort of revelation that draws the story up short. I know that my suspension of disbelief was broken at that moment. Still, nice art by Marshall carries the day, and of course Jur-Ll pays for his crimes with his life, so we’re at least spared the continuation of this ridiculous conceit.

And then we get to the main event–the end of the Quest for the Guardian and the machinations of the DNA Factory that have been bedeviling both Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane across recent issues. Unfortunately, this epic is illustrated by John Calnan and inked with the rubbery line of Vince Colletta, so the artwork never rises above serviceable. This entire storyline was an attempt to do a Marvel-style epic steeped in past continuity and was driven by the interests of editor Bridwell. Tom DeFalco once told me that his deal with Nelson was that for every continuity-based story that he wrote, he’d be able to write one story completely of his own devising. As Tom was relatively new to the freelance writer’s life, this worked out to be a good deal–at least until Bridwell was taken off of the title, and DeFalco found himself in similar waters thereafter.

The plot is a whole lot of nonsense in which the corrupt clone Adam is attempting to harness the bio-energy of Lois Lane’s friend Tina Ames so as to create an army of clones with which to take over the world. Just another day at the office, really. The story teams up Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion and Speedy, Green Arrow’s protege, with Lois Lane and the Human Cannonball, and Superman as well. Along the way, Speedy finds and frees both the Guardian and Dubbilex, adding them into the mix as well. And we learn conclusively that Speedy is the nephew of the Guardian (well, the original Guardian–this one is a 1970s-grown clone) which we might have sussed out in that they have the same last name. In comics, that’s practically a DNA test!

Everybody gets a moment to shine, the bad guys are defeated and Tina is drained of her hazardous bio-energy, all of the Jimmy Olsen clones keel over when Adam goes down, and the Newsboys are reunited with the Guardian. it even has an ending where a shadowy figure looks on at the aftermath and plots his next move, a portent for the future that will never be realized. For all that this whole effort is a big continuity story, I have to admit that I liked it. I didn’t necessarily know the continuity involved, but I could appreciate that it was all based on earlier stories, which was something I found very appealing at this time, like a little reward for having read those earlier comics. Plus, it had that lovable lunkhead the Human Cannonball in it, albeit briefly, and no story is ever without merit if it contains that character.

And finally, at the back of the book, we get a pedestrian Supergirl adventure written by Scott Edelman and illustrated by Don Heck. It’s a super hero take on that classic college experiment where students are designated either guards or prisoners and the natural tendency to dominate and abuse. In this instance, a similar experiment is played out on the New Athens campus where Linda Danvers works. And of course the teacher behind it has nefarious purposes in mind and has also built himself a working exo-skeleton powered by hate so that he can give Supergirl a fight. In the 1970s, we just accepted stuff like this. Also, along the way, there’s a full page continuity explanation connecting several recent Supergirl stories together needlessly. And also, former honorary JLA member Snapper Carr is here, tinkering with a Superman robot that promptly goes out of control by the final page. Something that Supergirl is going to have to spar with next time/ Could be.