Superman on Television

Superman: The Animated Series - Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episode 12: "Tools of the Trade"

Original Air Date: February 1, 1997

Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor

"If you only knew the power of the Darkseid."

Superman #3 Jack Kirby is one of the most well-known comic book creators in history. Most know him from his artwork in Marvel's heyday including the first issues of The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men and so on with Stan Lee, who is a legend unto himself. Before the 60s he used to draw the original Captain America comics from the 1940s when Joe Simon edited at Timely Comics, which later became Marvel. Many of his fans would say his writing took a backseat compared to his art. Casual fans may not even know of his writing in comics and science fiction. In the very early 1970s Kirby returned to DC Comics (he had been there briefly in the late 50s) where he wrote four titles: The New Gods, The Forever People, Mister Miracle and the ongoing Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen. Together these books created what is affectionately known as Jack Kirby's "The Fourth World." That creation was centered around New Genesis, a heaven-like home to the New Gods, and Apokolips, which was a hell-like industrial planet ruled by the despot Darkseid (pronounced Dark-Side).

The original Fourth World story covered a lot of ground and introduced readers to some incredible characters, many of whom are still around today (The Death of the New Gods miniseries hasn't been released yet at the time of this review, so we'll see how much longer they're with us), including Darkseid and the villains of Apokolips. Kirby also created the character Dan "Terrible" Turpin who was made to look like Kirby himself and became prevalent in Superman books.

Between Jimmy Olsen's role in The Fourth World and Terrible Turpin's appearances in Superman comics, it made sense for the Man of Steel to somehow be a part of the story. Many if not all of the creators of Superman: The Animated Series are huge fans of "The Fourth World" so it was only a matter of time before it became part of the show, plus Darkseid had become a staple Superman villain. Basically compared to Batman villains, Lex Luthor is to the Joker and Darkseid is the Ra's Al Ghul. Technically this arc, which will slowly run through most of the rest of the series, began back in episode 4: "Fun and Games" with the first appearance of Bruno Manheim and Intergang. Manheim's fate became entwined with that of "The Fourth World" at the end this episode.

5Rating - 5 (out of 5): Most of what I know about Kirby's Fourth World is stated above. I haven't read it beyond what's gone on in Superman books since 1986, so the rating really reflects the episode as a whole and not just the inclusion of a story arc that I never actually read. What makes this episode click in ways that perhaps previous episodes have not are the introductions of Maggie Sawyer and Dan "Terrible" Turpin as leaders of the SCU (Special Crimes Unit), and how they as law enforcement are used in a world that has a Superman to save the day.

The SCU's job in both the comics and the show is to enforce the law against super-villains who commit super-crimes. Superman can't be everywhere at once and so the SCU represents a force of law made up of ordinary, non-powered people. The leaders of the SCU are Dan Turpin, played by Joseph Bologna (That's right - Joey Baloney, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Transylvania 6-5000) and Maggie Sawyer played by Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner and TV's Six Feet Under).

Turpin is the shoot-first-ask-questions-later kind of cop, which is probably where his nickname, "Terrible" Turpin comes from. Although he was around for a long time in the comics and was made to look like Jack Kirby himself, I don't think he's ever looked as much like Kirby as the artists of Superman: The Animated Series drew him. He's a good guy and someone you'd want in your corner, but he can hold a grudge for a long time if you cross him. One of my favorite Turpin quotes from my early days of comic reading was when he said, or rather thought, "I'll personally kick his behind till his nose bleeds," from Action Comics #686.

Maggie Sawyer on the other hand is the good cop to Turpin's bad cop. They make a great team in any format they're together in. She's the sense of reason. In the comics she was also a lesbian, which was great for me growing up and represents one of many lessons that taught me to be accepting of homosexuality and other differences. There are very few references to Sawyer's sexuality in the whole of this series, but none in this episode (unless you want to get nitpicky about short hair on a woman - which I don't). My point is that the Superman: TAS crew did not stray completely away from that issue, but offered a nod here or there about it instead of, say, giving her a family complete with hubby and 2.3 kids. That's about all that can be asked for in a Saturday Morning Cartoon and I for one appreciate it.

The episode opened perfectly with a close up of the sign for the "Metropolis Gold Exchange." I challenge anyone out there to say that first shot didn't look or at least feel like the opening to one of the Fleischer cartoons or even one of the New Adventures of Superman episodes from the mid-60s. Right off the bat, we were introduced to action, new characters (Sawyer and Turpin) and the inciting incident, all in the space of a couple of minutes. Recent episodes have taken considerably longer to get into the meat of their stories.

Turpin is of course an oldschool kind of cop who you might expect from the era of The French Connection or Serpico. He's got a huge sense of honor and does right by what he believes in. In a world where there's a Superman to stop super-villains and his job is also to stop super-villains, you might see why he would have a problem with Superman. Turpin thought he was a showboat. He just wanted the chance to do his job without a super-civilian solving the problem for him. Turpin HATED Superman for it, and his frustration was entirely understandable.

This episode only offered a taste of The Fourth World and most of that taste came in the form of Kanto, from Apokolips, voiced by Michael York (Logans Run and The Three Musketeers - Yes the Lester/Salkind one). He offered Manheim some incredibly advanced weapons including some that can (finally) slow down and hurt Superman. The energy hands were a brilliant creation. The idea is that someone could put on these gloves and giant energy-based hands appear in the air which the wearer can use to lift heavy objects or beat up superheroes. During the end fight, an Intergang lackey managed to grab hold of Superman and squeeze him, but after some struggling, Big Blue used his super strength to break the energy fingers, thus breaking the fingers of the wearer of the gloves. "Would you like to go a few rounds without the gloves?"

At the end, it appeared that Superman was about to catch Manheim and Kanto, but Kanto escaped, followed by Manheim, through a Boom Tube. A Boom Tube is another creation by Kirby from The Fourth World. The people of New Genesis and Apokolips have these little boxes called "Mother Boxes," which are living computers that can help them heal, guide them, give information and so on. They can also create Boom Tubes which are holes in space that allow someone to instantly travel to any place in the universe, and when the box forms one it sparks a loud BOOM. Thus "Boom Tube."

Manheim believed that by following Kanto, that he would escape Superman and be safe. Unfortunately he ended up on Apokolips where we got a very very brief glimpse of Darkseid, voiced by Michael Ironside (Top Gun, Total Recall and Sam Lane on Smallville). Ironside's voice was perfect for the character. It's already deep and gruff, but then the sound people lowered it a pitch and added some more gruffness. It sounds like the voice that would come from a huge man made of rock. I wish I could say more about Darkseid, but he really only appeared for a few seconds from behind followed by a close up of his face. He'll be back, so more on him later.

Back on Earth, Turpin had played a small role in helping Superman take down Intergang. When the press asked Superman about today's exploits, he explained how it was all thanks to Turpin, which solved his issues explained earlier. Turpin learned what we Superman fans already know, that despite his great power, the Man of Steel is really humble at heart.

Other great moments from this episode include: Superman appearing in the dark with glowing red eyes, which hadn't really been shown yet in this series. The idea is that he can bounce his heat vision within his own eyes to make them glow and appear quite menacing. Lois finally got a new red and black business suit. I explained in the last episode's review how making Lois's eyes purple limits her costume options, so while the staple purple and white suit worked, a green dress would not. The red blazer/black skirt from this installment worked quite well. I don't remember if it made many future appearances after this, but I can hope.

The sound effects were outstanding, especially since there were so many new weapons that made all sorts of noises we would not already be familiar with. Finally there was a new take on the old Clark-changing-to-Superman bit. Clark looked around to make sure no one was watching, and backed into an open elevator shaft. He fell and came out the bottom as Superman at super speed. Superman writers often have to find original ways to deal with that same situation all the time, but this one was fresh and new.

I know it's nitpicky, but one of my jobs as a reviewer is to point out at least one positive aspect of a bad story, and conversely at least one or two low points in a really great story. This was an excellent episode, so here are a couple of the problem moments.

In the first scene where Intergang attacked the Metropolis Gold Exchange with a tank, Manheim seemed genuinely surprised that Superman showed up. Seriously. You're in Metropolis - check. You attack the Gold Exchange - check. You use a tank to do it - check. Superman's going to show up. That's just how it works.

During the middle fight of this episode, a high tension power line tower began to fall. It fell enough that the power lines on either side of the tower are seen to snap, so no electricity was flowing through those lines any more. Yet when Superman caught the tower, the lines still electrocuted him, despite the impossibility of there being any power flowing through them. I know both points are nitpicky, but I at least had to point out the second one.

The animation was definitely a step up from some of the recent episodes. Keep in mind that this is nearing the end of the first season and the creators started off really well and probably wanted to end with a bang. There's only one episode to go after this, so some of their best stuff would be coming out about now.

Kevin M. Richardson (Clerks II, Matrix: Revolutions) who played a cop in episode 4: "Fun and Games" returned to play Al. Phil Hayes who played a Guard in Episode 6: "Feeding Time," returned to voice Blaine. Also returning from early appearances in the show were Lauren Tom as Angela Chen and Bruce Weitz as Bruno Manheim.



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