Superman ’78: The Metal Curtain #2
Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 5, 2023
Cover date: February 2024
Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Gavin Guidry
Cover: Gavin Guidry
Variant Covers: Michael Cho and Max Dunbar
Reviewed by: Marc Lax
“New Worlds” – Part Three
A fighter pilot detects something strange on his radar. We then cut to Lois and Superman in mid flight. Superman tells her to keep her eyes closed. When she opens them Superman reveals… the Fortress of Solitude! Lois is full of questions but before they get down to business he introduces Lois to his parents in Kandor. Clark is very nervous about all of this and Lara tells Jor -El how nervous she remembers he was when he introduced her to his parents.
Meanwhile the pilot is attacked just as Clark is about to tell Lois he’s Superman. He flies off to the rescue. He saves the pilot before the plane crashes into the water when suddenly he’s attacked. He comes face to face with Metallo! Superman and Metallo throw down but Superman realizes that he’s feeling weak. The pilot tries to help only for Metallo to toss him away with the flick of his wrist. After some pontificating about Mother Russia and how he is a true superman Metallo opens his armor to reveal the Kryptonite. Superman collapses and Metallo leaves him for dead.
Story – 4: This was a fun issue. My only real complaint is where in the Superman ’78 universe does this take place? I believe this happens before “Superman II” but if he’s showing Lois the Fortress for the first time why does she not know what the Fortress is in the movie? She saw it for the first time then but according to this issue she’s already been there! Am I thinking on this too much? Plus Jor-El and Lara are clearly dead in the movies and here they’re very much alive. Is this book ignoring “Superman II” altogether? I guess we’ll deal with that as the series continues… but back to the story. The scenes in the Fortress were both sweet and funny. Lois being annoyed that Superman leaves her with his parents while he gets dressed and ready to reveal who he is was very funny. And I think we all knew Clark telling her the truth wouldn’t work out as planned. I’m curious as to the identity of the pilot. Could it be Hal Jordan? Time will tell. So far changing Metallo into a Russian weapon seems to be coming along well but we have quite a ways to go. Unlike the first mini series I’m not quite sure where this story is taking us. And that’s a good thing. On to issue #3.Art – 4: I’m not quite sure how I feel about the art in this book. On the one hand I think Guidry’s take on the characters is excellent. While you can see some resemblance to the actors it’s very subtle. Wilfredo Torres’ likenesses were more spot on but still not enough to be creepy. Yet I find Guidry’s art not as neat as Torres’. There’s a slight roughness to his pencils that I have yet to get used to. I still like the art, it’s just not as clean as I would like.Cover Art – 4: This cover reminds me of two cowboys ready to shoot it out. While neither character has a weapon per se that’s a classic cowboy stance. Nice homage.Variant Cover Art – 4: Michael Cho has done a great job capturing both the actors and the characters themselves. It’s a nice cover invoking the first film.
1:25 Variant Cover Art – 3: Nothing special art-wise except Dunbar is going with the “you’ve got me, who’s got you?” scenario and I like it.
Check out the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.
