Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Superman #159

Superman #159

Scheduled to arrive in stores: June 7, 2000

Cover date: August 2000

2000 Shield No. 30

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Penciller: Ed McGuinness & Paul Pelletier
Inker: Cam Smith

"Detour"

Reviewed by: Nick Newman (Nnewman8283@yahoo.com)



In the Kent apartment, Clark and Lois enjoy a night alone together, complete with a bubble bath and strawberries....

In the JLA Watchtower on the moon, Kyle Rayner silently looks out into space. He never had a mentor to teach him the ropes, but he hopes that Superman might teach him something. Superman comes up behind him and they discuss their planned trip around the solar system. Shortly, the two fly off into the void.

In Lex Luthor's tower, Lois pays Lex and Mercy a visit. She tells him that she absorbed some of Parasite's memories when he took her's, and she knows what the Parasite and Luthor did that night (see Superman #154). Everyone knows that Lex Luthor doesn't like metahumans, and the public would not like it if they knew what he did with one. Smiling, Lois leaves.

Flying through space, Green Lantern and Superman suddenly come upon a space that should be occupied by Pluto, but the planet is nowhere to be seen. Searching the area, Superman finds ion particles, the kind that are emitted by the engines that were used on Warworld. The two start to follow the trail, when they see a huge procession of people. Green Lantern sets up a barricade in front of them, but Maxima flies forward and slams into Superman, demanding to be let through.

Suddenly, Massacre grabs Green Lantern and punched him in the face. Superman flies around and returns to Maxima, telling Kyle that he can easily handle Massacre. Green Lantern takes Massacre down, and Superman briefly subdues Maxima. Then the two heroes then throw themselves at the hundreds of Almerac citizens travelling through space. Massacre powers up a huge gun and prepares to fire at the heroes, but they fire at him first and the gun is destroyed. Maxima flies forward and screams at Superman to stop, and that if she's missed her rendezvous then she will kill him.

Suddenly, a boom tube appears, and Grayven steps out. Green Lantern launches himself at him, but Grayven gets rid of the young hero. Superman grabs Maxima by the shoulder and asks her where the army is going. Maxima lowers her head and admits the truth. She isn't leading an army; her people are retreating. These refugees are all that's left after Imperiex destroyed her world. Superman is shocked, he thought that Imperiex was dead. It seems he was wrong. With that Maxima and her people disappear into the tunnel. Superman turns to Green Lantern, and admits that Imperiex is coming. With that solemn thought, the two fly home. 5Story - 5: It's a Loeb issue, of course it's a five. Loeb can do no wrong. He brought back Maxima and Massacre, had a cool battle, and then got rid of them all within one short issue. This is what we need, self-contained stories. Plus, he reminded us all of Imperiex. He is definitely building to something cool.

4Art - 4: McGuinness gets a five, but why did he only do like four pages. I have always loved Pelletier, but it would have been really cool to see Green Lantern done by Ed. Even so, great art.

5Cover Art - 5: The same as above, except all McGuinness. Shows what the issue is about and catches your attention. Massacre looks a little strange, but that's ok, Ed's art is the best.



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Mild Mannered Reviews

2000

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