Superman on Television
Superman: The Animated Series - Episode Reviews
Season 1 - Episode 9: "The Main Man - Part 1 of 2"
Original Air Date: November 9, 1996Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor
"Lobo: Assassin, brigand, sociopath, monster, scourge of the cosmos"
Writer's Note: Excuse me while I break the reviewer/reader fourth wall for a moment. When writing a review for Superman related stories, I really try to be as objective as possible and draw upon my knowledge of the character, his past stories and storytelling in general. How I rate and review this series is almost always based on those three things. So when it came to "The Main Man," I was a bit flustered. I know there are a lot of Lobo fans out there. I'm just not one of them.
So I did a little extra comic book research for this one in order to wrap my head around the character that is Lobo. I'd hoped to gain a greater understanding and perhaps even enjoyment from the character I thought was cool back when I was fourteen years old. My research included Omega Men #3 (Lobo's first appearance), Superman (2nd series) #41, Adventures of Superman #464, and 52 #17 for Keith Giffen's Origin of Lobo.
The first thing Lobo did on the first page he was in during 1983's Omega Men #3 was say "Your nose looks funny" to an alien. He then flicked the alien's nose, sending cartilage into his brain. He was just as misogynistic as we're used to. The difference was he wore a yellow and purple spandex costume, his hair was purple and helmet-shaped and he rode a colorful rainbow cube bike instead of his now familiar space-hog motorcycle.
In 2006's 52 #17, the back-up origin story explained that Lobo's name roughly translates to English as "He who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it." And don't miss this description: "To Learn that Lobo is after you is to know the sudden experience of spontaneous defecation. Enjoy it. It will be your last moment of warmth in this lifetime."
In 1990's Superman #42 and Adventures of Superman #464 (parts 1 and 2 of 6 of "The Day of the Krypton Man") Lobo and Bibbo, who ironically were both later played by Brad Garrett in Superman: The Animated Series, traveled to Superman's Fortress of Solitude while incredibly drunk on alien hooch. This was 1990 and Lobo had graduated from helmet hair, to 80's hair-band hair.
Lobo is a good choice for a Superman villain. They're both the last survivors of their respective races, but while Superman's Kryptonian people died in a natural disaster, Lobo killed every member of his planet for fun. In this episode, Lobo explained that he killed the people of his planet as a high school science project and gave himself an A. While I don't think that specific explanation has been used before (someone correct me on the comments page if I'm wrong - and please provide a source for me to look up) it was still an amusing addition to the original story.
It's hard to say that Lobo has powers. He can survive indefinitely in space without air, appears to be nearly indestructible and can regenerate from any amount of DNA, including a pool of blood.
Lobo has little to no sense of honor. For instance, in Superman: Man of Steel #30 from 1994, Superman saved Lobo's life and Lobo promised to leave him alone, but then in LEGION '94 #63, just two weeks later, Lobo accosted him again deciding to specifically go against his promise.
Suffice it to say that I still don't care for the character. I see him as an 80's biker punk who swears in alien-speak, and while "Fraggin' Bastich" isn't hard to translate, it allowed him to curse in comics and still pass by the Comic Code Authority (back when that mattered). Many Lobo fans are respectable people who have little in common with the character, so it's not just immature fart-joke loving teens who enjoy his antics. Lobo is a hard character to portray, whether it's in the 80's and 90's conforming to the restrictions of the CCA, or for the Kid's WB Saturday morning lineup. He's Superman's opposite in almost every way, much like the Joker is to Batman. He just doesn't have the wide appeal that Luthor does.
Rating - 3 (out of 5): The episode began with a serious continuity error. The last installment, "Stolen Memories," briefly showcased Superman's rocket that brought him to Earth as a baby. Superman piloted it past our solar system's nearest star, several light years away in just a few hours while Professor Hamilton studied its speed capabilities. This time, Hamilton seems surprised that it could break the speed of sound in the desert. Near the end of the episode, Hamilton exclaimed that the rocket hadn't been tested for space travel, which in continuity isn't true. Chances are that "The Main Man" was created before "Stolen Memories," but I can't explain why they couldn't just cut the 12 seconds of Hamilton's dialogue that prove it.
Lobo is essentially a comedic character, so true to the Main Man's fart-joke mentality, Professor Hamilton pondered the great minds of alien worlds, followed by a quick cut to Lobo belching in a bar. Lobo's theme song in the series was an unfortunately cheesy rock guitar riff that the audience was forced to endure whenever he was being particularly Lobo-ish. The primary difference between Lobo of the comics and Superman: The Animated Series is that in the comics he can kill almost indiscriminately, whether for work, for fun, or for no reason at all. But in the cartoon, he was content to simply stop his enemies without killing them.
Enter The Preserver, who was more readily showcased in Part 2, but set up Lobo's motivation in this installment. The Preserver "preserves" endangered and all but extinct species from various planets and cages them as part of a collection. Brainiac's destruction of entire worlds from the previous episode may have created a number of new additions to his intergalactic zoo in recent years. He hired Lobo to capture the last Kryptonian.
There was an excellent moment in the Daily Planet before Lobo's arrival where Lois questioned why Clark was able to get such incredible news stories. Clark was unexpectedly honest and admitted he was Superman. Obviously Lois would never believe that explanation, but it was still very funny.
To get Superman's attention, Lobo randomly attacked a police building to draw him out. Cue the cheesy guitar music. Like many of Superman's villains, Lobo discovered Superman's weakness in that he would do whatever it took to save human life. During the fight, there was a very funny guest appearance by Lex Luthor. First both Superman and Lobo crashed through his penthouse office, leaving large holes in the floor and ceiling. Then later Superman launched Lobo to the sky with a punch. The scene cuts to Luthor ordering a repair crew to fix his office immediately, only to have Lobo once again crash through the floor and ceiling again, creating two more holes.
They say in space, no one can hear you curse. The laws of physics don't necessarily apply to Lobo though. Admittedly it did make the ending fight scene more interesting than it would have without voices. I still prefer some believability in my fantasy. As animation, it still holds up better than the opening (or the rest of) Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. In the Silver Age of comics, Superman could survive indefinitely in space because he had no need to breathe, although he could often talk and use his super-breath. After the 1986's Man of Steel, he could no longer last long in the vacuum and needed help to breathe. That's why he wore a space suit while tracking Lobo into space in this episode. His ability to talk in space after 1986 varied from issue to issue, sometimes even during the same story arc.
To end this part and set up the next episode, Superman was knocked out by a laser beam from The Preserver's ship and awoke in Kryptonian garb surrounded by unbreakable glass and shrouded by beams of synthetic red sunlight. This was the first appearance of red sunlight as a weakness for Superman in The Animated Series. Fans know that his power comes from Earth's yellow sunlight. The reason the people of Krypton weren't flying around under their own power was because their sun was red. So red sunlight cancels out Superman's yellow sun-based powers, keeping him safe in The Preserver's cage.
Unfortunately for Lobo as the last of his Czarnian race, The Preserver intended to keep him too. Lobo can either breathe in space or survive without air, so I can't explain why he was knocked out with gas.
Brad Garrett (TV's Everybody Loves Raymond) who normally played Bibbo Bibbowski in the series voiced Lobo as well. He was a wonderful choice for the role and played it perfectly. He had to be rough and gruff, but still must have a sense of humor, which Garrett pulled off nicely.
Sherman Howard (Lethal Weapon 2, Lex Luthor of TV's Superboy) voiced The Preserver. While there's little to say about him in this episode, all I can say is that he sounded pretty much like what one might expect from a floating egg-shaped alien. More on him next time when he's showcased as the villain for both Superman and Lobo.
The art and animation, which I've stated before went downhill in the first half or so of the first season, was improved over the previous episode. But that could be because this episode was created before the last one, as the continuity inconsistencies suggest. I can only assume "Stolen Memories" aired first because Brainiac has so much in common with The Preserver as they are both collectors of dead races.
Stay tuned for Part 2, yah fraggin' bastiches.
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