Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

Superman Metropolis: Secret Files and Origins #1

Superman Metropolis: Secret Files and Origins #1

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 26, 2000

Cover date: June 2000

Reviewed by: Gareth Baker (GHLBJEDI@aol.com)



This book has a wide variety of things inside, from stories, factual articles and character profiles. If you have bought a Secret Files & Origins before you'll know the sort of thing that I mean. We kick off with...

"Metropolica"

Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciller: Pascual Ferry
Inker: Alvaro Lopez

Hope and Mercy (Luthor's bodyguards, in case you didn't know) walk into Luthor's office after he has been dealing with a traitor. He has an important mission for them - find Lois Lane (see recent comics for details). They spend the rest of the story in various disguises as they search all over Metropolis following all sorts of leads, but to no avail. When they report in, they tell Luthor that they have been unable to find her. Luthor is amazed that all their looking with the latest equipment did not allow them to find Lena! He tells them to carry on looking for Lois tomorrow. The girls leave amazed at Luthor's Freudian slip. Above them they see Superman looking for Lois, and go for a drink and a chat - for the first time.



Next we have some character profiles. These consist of the usual sorts of things that have been done before - Lois, Superman, Steel, The Eradicator, The SCU, Hope and Mercy, La Encantadora, The Prankster, Rose and Thorn, STAR Labs, The Daily Planet, Brainiac and Imperiex. For the most part boring with nothing we don't know already within.

We are then treated to a 2 page tour of The NEW Fortress. This was a little bit interesting as it did tell us some stuff we didn't know.



Next we have another short story...

"Municipal Bond"

Writer: Mark Schultz
Artist: Cully Hamner

This was a vaguely interesting tour of the new Steelworks, Strykers Island, and SCU headquarters told through the eyes of a LexCorp employee complaining about John Henry Irons' imput into the SCU. Little does he know that JHI is listening in.



We are then treated in an informative and wonderfully illustrated tour of the new Metropolis, including LexCorp Towers, Metropolis Union Station and its Rail Whale, the Daily Planet building, Lois and Clark's home, Suicide Slum, the SCU, Police, STAR Labs and Stryker's Island.

The penultimate piece is a short story starring Strange Visitor - unfortunately another waste of space.

We finish off with some silly fun. Mr Mxyzptlk's 5th dimension fun.

2Written Content - 2: To be honest I never intended to buy this, and I wish I'd stuck to my initial instinct. Apart from the piece about the new Metropolis, this book was dull, pointless and didn't tell us anything we didn't already know - unless you don't read the comics that is. The story about Hope and Mercy was vaguely interesting in that I wanted to know about them, and Luthor's slip was revealing, but the story itself was dull, dull, dull! Only buy this if you have to buy everything for your collection!

4Art - 4: The art work and especially the concept diagrams of the new Metropolis was certainly the only (which doesn't say much) grace of this book. The computer generated views of Metropolis were impressive too.

2Cover Art - 2: Well, what's left to say really. The background is lovely, it has an art deco Superman cartoon feel about it, but the picture of Superman stuck on the top (which was nicely coloured) spoils it. Why not use one of the computer generated images from inside?


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.