Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Man of Steel #101

Superman: The Man of Steel #101

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 19, 2000

Cover date: June 2000

2000 Shield No. 24

Reviewed by: Michael Lum (machina_rex@yahoo.com)



"All Fall Down"

Writer: Mark Schultz
Penciller: Pablo Raimondi
Inker: Tom Nguyen

Superman crashes through the ceiling of the steelworks, much to the surprise of John Henry Irons. As he tumbles to the floor, JHI helps him to his feet and begins to perform a check-up. After JHI runs a diagnostic on Superman, he struggles to his feet and tells JHI that he needs help restoring his strength.

A large magnifying glass reflects the light from the sun and Superman positions himself to intercept the beam. He is then restored to better health with a quick fix of solar energy. Against John Henry's advice, Superman departs in search of Lois.

Wearing sunglasses and shrouded by a trench coat, Superman makes his way into the Lexcorp Tower. He steps into an empty elevator and, with his heat vision, he is able to rig the panel to access the restricted areas. As the elevator door opens, Superman is faced before a long hallway laced with beams of energy. As he sets foot in the corridor, the floor and ground begin to move and Superman is overcome by the tower's defense systems.

Hope and Mercy drag Superman's limp body into Lex Luthor's office. While Superman tries unsuccessfully to get the whereabouts of Lois Lane from Luthor, Lex takes advantage of Superman's weakened state and orders Hope and Mercy to kill him. As they pummel Superman around the office, he decides to take a chance and jump through the window. Superman charges through the mutable glass and falls to the ground below. As he lies motionless on the pavement, waiting for Hope and Mercy to arrive and finish him off, Batman helps him to his feet and assures him that they'll find Lois.

Meanwhile, John Henry gets the results from Superman's diagnostic and finds out that Superman is dying.

2Story - 2: Superman goes to the Lextower and gets thrown around, very dull. Couldn't Schultz have made the story a little better than this? Sure, he threw in Batman, showed off some of the B13 technology and revealed a prognosis negative, but that didn't make the story any good.

3Art - 3: Raimondi did a pretty good job on the backgrounds and landscapes, but his execution of Superman is horrible.

3Cover Art - 3: When I first saw this cover, Superman looked like alot like The Hulk. All of the green is eye-catching but I don't quite like "all face close-up" covers.



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Mild Mannered Reviews

2000

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