Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Man of Steel #100

Superman: The Man of Steel #100

Scheduled to arrive in stores: March 15, 2000

Cover date: May 2000

2000 Shield No. 20

Reviewed by: Nick Newman (NNewman8283@yahoo.com)



"Creation Story"

Writer: Mark Schultz
Penciller: Doug Mahnke
Inker: Tom Nguyen

Clark leaves his apartment, but Lois doesn't give him a second look. Steel leaves his own house, leaving Nat to watch TV alone. Then the pair carries a huge apparatus across the face of the world. Steel attempts to explain it to Superman, but it is beyond him. All he knows is, this machine will let them transport the ghost fortress. Setting the machinery at the South Pole, the two stand back as the ghost fortress is siphoned out of the air. Amidst the cords and wires of the machine, a strange humanoid creature sits.

Somewhere in Metropolis, the Cybermoths and their leader Luna prepare to contact the Overmind. As Luna contacts him, she tells him how Steel and Superman formed a tesseract in Steel's Lab. After Superman decided to build his fortress in the tesseract, the two began to modify the Steelworks to handle the task. Superman traveled the world to collect the raw materials that would be required to reconstruct the fortress. Then they constructed a containment sphere around the tesseract to allow them to transport it and keep people out. Luna has had an agent in the Steelworks the whole time, and now he resides in the Specnap (the capturing machine). Finishing her communication, Luna rallies the Cybermoths.

Returning to the Steelworks, Superman and Steel set the Specnap down. Steel fires up the machinery and Superman, Kelex, and the Fortress are ejected into the tesseract. Steel suddenly begins to get some strange readings, and asks Natasha to check out the Specnap. She finds the Cybermoth, now integrated directly into the machinery. She begins to warn her Uncle, but suddenly the Steelworks is filled with Moths everywhere. They bind Steel to the wall and hold Nat under armed watch.

Inside the fortress, raw materials begin to pour in to reconstruct the fortress. The particles of matter flow around Kal-El, as the fortress literally rebuilds itself. It is not an exact replica, however. The Kryptonian technology is integrating with the Earth's and forming a hybrid. The new fortress even has a portal to the Phantom Zone. Suddenly, Superman sees visions of battlesuits, cubic worlds, and flying dogs. He is overwhelmed by what is happening and collapses to the ground. Suddenly he notices a Cybermoth climbing over the portal to the Zone, and before he can stop him the Phantom Zone is opened. Out of the Zone comes the Cyborg.

Henshaw attacks Superman as Luna and her Moths invade the Fortress. Outside in the Steelworks, the sudden appearance of Boris (Nat's friend) gives Steel the chance to escape and start beating the hordes of Moths. Inside the Fortress Superman and Cyborg continue to fight as Luna attempts to seize the Fortress. As Superman lies on the ground, tiny Kandorians suddenly appear from out of the Zone and rescue Superman. Kandor was saved from the destruction of the Fortress by escaping to the Phantom Zone. There they found the Cyborg, and now they are taking him back. Free from distraction, Superman quickly stops the two Moths assisting Luna. Afraid, Luna flees, and falls into the Phantom Zone. Superman starts to go after her, but Kelex stops him. As he closes the portal, Superman vows one day to save Luna.

Exiting the tesseract, Superman helps Steel with the remaining Moths. Then the two of them relocate the tesseract out of the Steelworks. Opening the portal, Superman and Steel enter the Fortress. Superman walks up to a chest and produces a cape from within. On the back of the cape, is the 'S' insignia. He hands it to Steel, his "partner" in Metropolis. The two fly back to Metropolis together.

5Story - 5: This was a great story. They actually rebuilt the Fortress instead of just bringing it back like they did last time. It was well thought out and an enjoyable story. The Cyborg seemed a little forced, and I am sure that the Kandorians are going to anger a few people out there. But overall, a great story.

4Art - 4: Mahnke's art is great, it always tells a great story. The Cyborg especially looked terrific. The new Fortress, what we saw of it, was also awesome. A few parts were a little two heavy on the inks, but overall great art.

4Cover Art - 4: I liked both of them, but like the special cover isn't worth an extra buck. It was cool, and that's about it.



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2000

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