Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Man of Steel #106

Superman: The Man of Steel #106

Scheduled to arrive in stores: September 20, 2000

Cover date: November 2000

2000 Shield No. 45

Writer: Mark Schultz
Penciller: Carlo Barberi
Inker: Juan Vlasco

"Under The Waterfront"

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



Lois walks through John's Ironworks and tells Steel that Superman has gone missing. He has been gone for a while now, at least a few days. After Lori Lemaris showed up, Superman flew to the waterfront to help her with something. He and Lois were supposed to meet that morning, but he never showed up. Steel looks up the files on Lori while Natasha bursts into the room late for school. She briefly shakes Lois' hand and then dashes out the door. Steel decides that they need to go out after Superman, and his deep-sea rig is just the suit to do it.

Under the water, Superman and Lori float motionless, held captive telepathically by a being that calls himself Kosnor.

Steel pilots his hovercraft down into the canyon that surrounds Suicide Slum because of the huge dams that now create power for Metropolis. He flies over the dam and then drops his small submersible in the water. He pilots the craft down deeper when suddenly the walls begin to cave in. Something from the outside is squeezing his sub. He escapes in the suit just in time to see Nekton materialize from the water. Nekton admits to being controlled by Kosnor, he has no choice about what he does. Steel nails Nekton with a huge laser, boiling the creature and sending him fleeing. However, the blast also shorts out Steel's suit and he drifts to the bottom where he finds Kosnor, two troops, Superman and Lori. At the base of the dam, eels are busy drilling holes into the concrete, ready to flood Metropolis. Without power, Steel can only watch as Kosnor begins using his psychic powers on him. However, for some reason Steel remains in control. Since he is immobile anyway, Kosnor doesn't realize that his power has failed him.

Lois screams at the screen, wondering what is wrong with Steel. Kosnor is about to crack open the armor when suddenly Nat comes home. She sees the problem and hits the emergency switch, restoring power and freeing Steel's hammer.

Steel grabs the hammer and hurls it past Kosnor's head, only to have it boomerang back and knock the villain out. Superman, free at last, surges forward and knocks the two troopers out. They are too late though, to stop the eels. The dams break through and water surges into the gorge. Superman rescues Steel and Lori but then turns to see the rushing water eating away at Metropolis' ground. To counteract the force, he and Nekton create a vacuum, letting the water slowly drain into the canyon.

Following the adventure, Luthor is seen on TV assuring the public that he will do whatever it takes to restore Metropolis. During the broadcast, John walks over to study the meteor that Superman brought him. He put parts of it in both his armor, which isn't responding to his psychic calls, and into the sea suit, which was impervious to Kosnor's mental control. Perhaps the meteor is more than it appears.

3Story - 3: The story was good, but nothing great. It was nice to see Steel again; it's been a little while (not counting Arkham Steel), especially since half of us probably forgot that Steel had lost his armor. It was also nice to see Nekton again, it's nice to know that the creative team isn't just going to create characters and then trash them right away.

2Art - 2: I don't like Barberi. I'm fine with a cartoony look, just look at my McGuinness reviews, but this is just bad art. Huge eyebrows, big lips, and oversized fingers do not make a good book. I don't know why DC likes this guy so much, but we have seen too much of him lately.

3Cover Art - 3: Decent, but nothing special, especially since Steel isn't even on the cover. Plus Superman's chin is way to big.



Other recent reviews:

Mild Mannered Reviews

2000

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

January 2000

February 2000 March 2000 April 2000 May 2000 June 2000 July 2000 August 2000 September 2000 October 2000 November 2000 December 2000 Annuals

Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.

Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2000.