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Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Adventures of Superman #609

Adventures of Superman #609

Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 9, 2002

Cover date: December 2002

Writer: Joe Casey
Penciller: Derec Aucoin
Inker: Derec Aucoin

"Rush Hour" (Ending Battle - Part 6 of 8)

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



Superman crouches on the ground in pain, the Kryptonite in Metallo's chest forcing him back. As Metallo taunts him, Superman grits his teeth and wraps his arms around the chains connecting him to Metallo. With a sudden surge of strength, Superman fights through the pain and pulls Metallo down. Swinging the villain around his head, Superman sends him flying over a guardrail and into the blackness. Master Jailer sees the Kryptonite pop free of its housing and go sailing off, and quickly dives after it.

Recovering his strength, Superman takes to the sky. Around the bend, he finds his city teeming with villains. Dozens of evil doers surge forward, but Superman just bats them aside. At this point, none of them are powerful enough to give the exasperated hero a moment's pause. Superman bats them aside like flies. Villain after villain falls to his strength.

Inside WGBS, a group of men lead Senator Kale around the building. The men are trying to find their way, but really just hope that Superman will save them. The Senator then proceeds to question why they need Superman at all.

Outside, a giant woman composed of energy begins to devour buildings. Superman simply tells her not to do that, before blasting through her stomach and sending her crashing to the ground below.

Back in WGBS, Kale continues on his rant. He says that Superman isn't fighting for them, he is just fighting. Nothing he does accomplishes anything.

Superman continues to subdue villain after villain, finally sending one crashing through the wall of the nearby WGBS building, and into the stairwell with Senator Kale and the rest. As the others scramble for cover, Kale gazes out of the hole and into the sun, where he sees Superman battling the hordes of rogues.

Superman takes out a few more before he decides to change his tactic slightly. He takes to the air and aims his heat vision carefully. With perfect precision, he reflects his blast off of the villains, taking down another group.

Inside the Steelworks, Lois tells Jimmy that she just can't wait any longer. She needs to be out there reporting. She convinces him to stay behind and take care of everyone, as she heads out into the chaos.

The Senator and his group proceed on. Kale says that Superman, and all of his kind, just use the city for their playground, and every day they live there, they are risking their own lives because of the superheroes.

Outside, Superman interrogates one of the last remaining rogues. He refuses to answer any questions. As Kal drops him to the ground, a voice brings his attention around. Standing there are Bizarro, Mongul, Silver Banshee, and Master Jailer, holding the Kryptonite.

Inside their apartment, Lois lights a candle to dispel the darkness. A knock on the door brings her to the peephole. Looking out she sees one of her elderly neighbors. Opening the door to help her, Lois is confronted by Manchester Black.

3Story - 3: Part of me enjoyed this story, and part didn't. The villain thing was cool at the beginning, but throwing literally hundreds of people at Superman, especially when it is these people, is getting a little tiring. It still is fun though, and at least they have a good explanation for it (Manchester's psychic control). I definitely did not like the Senator's role in this issue. We have seen the 'superheroes are good for normal people' idea before, and it doesn't really work well for most of DC, and especially Superman. I really doubt anyone could be that naïve to ignore the fact that Superman is needed. The whole thing just seemed forced. It was good to see Lois finally get out so that we can have some interaction with someone other than Clark. Don't get me wrong, I like Superman, and think that 98% of each issue should be devoted to him, but we've needed the supporting characters lately. Overall it was a fun read, but it didn't really accomplish anything. It got Lois home, and it brought in the big guns. I really cannot wait for next issue, but this one was really just average.

3Art - 3: I liked most of the art in this book, with one major exception: Superman. I do not like Aucoin's rendition of Superman. It just really didn't do anything for me. His face is too grim and he has all too much black on him. I realize this is supposed to be a dark storyline, but his costume is still supposed to be blue. All of the villains looked great though, and Superman really didn't look that bad, that was just my opinion. Still, there really wasn't anything to make the art stand out.

2Cover Art - 2: I really do not like Nowlan's art. Superman's head is too small, his arms are too long, and his legs look like an anorexic's. Considering that Kal is the only thing really on the cover, which drags it down pretty severely. There was a background, even if it was nondescript, so that's something I suppose. Its colors though, left a little to be desired. There is also the matter that despite the first 5 panels when Superman is being attacked by the Kryptonite, he is never cornered. Kal blasts through every villain in this issue like nothing. He wasn't cornered; he was taking back his town. Oh well. I didn't like this cover; it was a poor representation of the issue and doesn't look good anyway. On a side note though, does this cover remind anyone else of a mid-1987 Adventures cover? I'm not sure why, but that's what I see when I look at this cover.



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