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DC1st: Superman/Lobo #1

DC1st: Superman/Lobo #1

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 1, 2002

Cover date: July 2002

Writer: Keith Geffen
Penciller: Cliff Rathburn
Inker: Rob Leigh

"First Date"

Neal Bailey Reviewed by: Neal Bailey (baileyn@cc.wwu.edu)



In 1952, two men in suits, obviously aliens imitating humans, check the water. They determine that it is too early for something, and leave.

Metropolis, a couple of years back...

Clark Kent is talking on the phone in the Daily Planet when a man approaches him speaking in Kryptonian. He offers Superman great amounts of wealth for allowing them to take the resources they need. Superman refuses, and the man turns into a robot and attacks. Superman attacks while members of the "hegemony", a criminal syndicate, watch.

They determine that the world will be easier to subdue, and they call Lobo, who refuses them at first, and then accepts, because the target, Superman, is the last of his kind. Lobo respects that because he too is the last of his race, not because he was orphaned, but because he killed his race to be unique. He jumps on his hog and takes off for Earth after killing the messengers for the contract.

Clark, trying to make up for blowing Lois off, eats with her. They discuss Jimmy getting a tattoo to impress a girl.

Meanwhile, Jimmy, trying to impress the girl, agrees to go to a rave.

Lobo crashes through a diner. Cops approach him and shoot at him. The bullets go through his body, and he bleeds, but it regenerates. He knocks on of the cops out with cigar smoke, and finds out from the other cop that in order to get Superman's attention, he needs to attack innocents. Lobo picks a nearby rave.

Clark and Lois debate the politics of paying for dinner, until Lobo shows up. Clark disappears, and Lois is furious.

Jimmy, with his new Superman symbol tattoo on his arm, takes pictures of Lobo destroying the rave, and Lobo goes after him, until Superman arrives and takes charge of the situation. They banter and smash around a bit, with Lobo using his chain to choke Superman. Superman knocks Lobo into the lake.

At the hegemony, it is revealed that the reason they're attacking Earth is the water, just properly tainted with the right amount of chemicals to be intoxicating to some races. The command sends a water collecting ship to Earth.

Superman tosses Lobo through a bridge, then grabs him by a leg and throws him into the hegemony craft sent down from space. They battle back into the water.

The craft starts stealing water.

Some machines from the hegemony, aiming for Superman, hit Lobo and Superman at the same time. Lobo gets mad, tears them apart, and considers the contract null and void. He is torn halfway apart.

Superman and Lobo agree to a truce, and after getting the hegemony to return the water, Superman returns Lobo's ride and Lobo leaves. Lois and Jimmy wonder where Clark is.

3Story - 3: Average. Nothing very great here, nothing very poorly done. It's a smash 'em up issue with some good banter and humor, and not much else. There are also continuity mess ups, which always drives me nuts. For instance, has Jimmy ever had a tattoo? Honestly, will we ever see that tattoo again?

But put that aside, and enjoy the average show.

I think it's an oversight that Lobo can kill/intimidate a populace and Superman will just let him go without answering for his crimes. But it's only there if you look for it. It's an okay ish. Not worth the price, though.

3Art - 3: Pretty cool with the Lobo battle damage, but still, quite average, even bordering on a little dark. I would say that the issue's best quality is that the characters look like they're supposed to without being too interpreted. Still, pretty average.

1Cover Art - 1: Bleah. Dark and ugly. Plus, it looks like Superman's been mostly killed by the Parasite from the waist down. And it also looks like the artist just didn't feel like finishing Lobo's other leg. Not particularly dramatic, and pretty dull.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2002

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2002

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