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Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Superman #146

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 19, 1999

Cover date: July 1999

1999 Triangle No. 27

Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Joe Rubinstein

"Rough Day At The Office"

Michael (George) O'Connor Reviewed by: Michael O'Connor

At Lois and Clark's apartment, Lois anxiously awaits the arrival of her husband and as she begins to talk to the cat, Superman arrives, settling down for dinner with her, and telling her how his day went.

Earlier...

Superman is flying through Metropolis when he sees that a company originally dedicated to producing a classic board game has traded up for a highly interactive violent video game. Superman is concerned to see this, unable to believe that tradition and excellence will be replaced by a trashy piece of technology.

As Superman thinks this over, the robots surrounding the podium where the owner speaks, come to life, attacking the crowd.

Superman springs into action, easily taking out the robots and saving the innocents involved. Superman flies off, knowing that he must find the Toyman.

Superman arrives at prison, only to find that the Toyman is still in his cell. Superman searches the cell and finds that the Toyman has hidden toys in a secret compartment, but sees no evidence that the Toyman could have escaped. He apologizes for his intrusion and is about to leave when the Toyman clues him in on the Prankster's possible involvement.

Superman arrives at the Prankster's headquarters and quickly arrests the maniac after being doused with acid and fire.

Back home, Superman finishes his tale to Lois and can't help but feel sorry for the Toyman. Supes decides to give the Toyman one more chance and flies him off to an orphanage, where the Toyman's job will be to create new toys for the children. The Toyman is more than ecstatic and thanks Superman as the Man of Steel leaves with a smile on his face.

Story - 3: Fairly simple and nothing particularly exciting, it was nevertheless, a fun read. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. It was nice to see Supes giving the Toyman a second chance, but I couldn't help wondering why he didn't do it earlier. It very much had the feel of a Jurgens story, which is something that has been missing from the Superman books for a while now. I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing...