Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

Superman: Mann and Superman

Superman: Mann and Superman

Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 18, 2000

Cover date: December 2000

Writen, pencilled, and colored by Michael T. Gilbert.

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



Marty Mann, in Superman's body, kicks a rock to pieces as a horrified Superman watches, in Marty Mann's body.

Cut to twenty four hours earlier.

Marty Mann sits in a bar and laments his life. He can't pay the bills, his son looks up to Superman, and he can't stop drinking.

Clark Kent interviews him on how such a lifestyle can lead to becoming the criminal element. Marty blasts Superman, saying how easy it is to fight crime and be a nice guy when you're born with Superpowers. Clark is upset.

Lois tells him that Mann is just a lousy drunk... then she leaves for a foreign correspondance assignment.

Superman hears a plane crashing, and saves it. Ricky, Mann's son, sees Superman and lauds him. Marty yells at Ricky and tells the boy to let him sleep.

Marty sees an amulet being shown in a museum - it's worth a good deal of money.

The landlord knocks on the door and promises eviction.

Marty decides upon a course of action. That night, he breaks into the Metropolis Museum and steals the Demon's Desire amulet. He reads the inscription on the back, which promises a wish to the owner. Security arrives before Marty can make his wish.

Superman shows up, and nearly catches Mann. Everyone lauds Supes for saving the day. "Wish I was Superman." Mann laments.

BOOM! He is. Mann realizes what's happened, grabs his body, and makes for Mt. Rushmore, where he beats his former self up. Superman, in Mann's body, grabs the amulet and wishes to be Superman again. But it doesn't work - he's in Mann's body, and Mann has already had a wish.

Thinking quick, Superman challenges Mann to a bet. He will live Marty's life for a month, and Marty can live his, and at the end of a month, if Mann still wants the job, he can stay Superman.

The first day for Marty is great. He gets women, lauds, and love. Supes is not faring so well. Mann's body is weak, and he has trouble climbing stairs and staying motivated without cigarettes and alcohol.

Mann goes to a hotel as Superman, and they give him a free penthouse suite. Supes, in Mann's body, brings home thrift food for Ricky.

Mann fixes Rushmore, which he scrapped up in his pummeling of Superman, and starts commercializing off of Superman's name, asking camera's for movie deals. Perry throws a fit.

Superman can't find Mann a job with his job history. A random mug on the street pops him for no apparent reason.

Superman shaves Mann, dresses him up, and goes out for a job with Ricky.

Mann, in a bar as Supes, can't get drunk. He goes home and finds many people petitioning him to star in movies. He flees.

Superman has found a job for Mann... fixing up his landlord's houses to work off his debt and make some cash.

Mann stops a train to save a girl about to be hit, but in the process destroys more than he saved, and people berate him about it.

Back to Mt. Rushmore at month's end, Mann concedes and becomes himself again. He and Ricky admire Supes as he flies away, and the story closes.

3Story - 3: Not an amazingly creative idea... it's been done before. But I always like Superman in the rain stories as opposed to Superman being all pie-in-the-sky and never in any kind of real life trouble. The trouble is, Superman, instead of realizing how tough real life is, turns the tables and makes living a poor person's life look easy. This is quite improbable, even for Supes. I can see him beating the crud out of an unstoppable bad guy, but living in poverty, which it seems he never did, even as a kid, would not so easily be triumphed over. But good structure, well written despite the feel of something you've seen before... just nothing that sticks out.

2Art - 2: Lots and lots of people like this kind of Superman drawing, because it was popular in the sixties and when Superman was young. I never did. Everything is a bit too green, yellow, red, or blue for my tastes. Superman even seems threatening as opposed to good.

4Cover Art - 4: Very representational of the story, and not bland. The black and white contrasts well with the larger Supes. My only problem is the roughly hewn characters with the near impeccable and symmetrical Planet in the background.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2000

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

January 2000

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