Friday, January 2, 2009

This is not a Job for Superman.

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The above cover is the Adventures of Superman #596, published on September 12, 2001. One of the first things I noticed about the cover was that Superman's emblem had a black background, not the traditional yellow. In the sub-title "This is not a job for Superman", we notice the O in not is a miniature sun. Above the sun is the word "Isis". The logo itself is an upside down pyramid.

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On the first panel of page two, we get this shot.

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Lexcorp's twin towers are partially destroyed, with helicopters swirling about. Anyone who knows about comics knows that they are written and drawn months before the publish date, and this one went on sale a day after 911. The plot of the story is that there has been an alien invasion which has left much of the Earth damaged, and Superman hasn't lifted a finger to help with the rebuilding.

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Of course J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter is going to make an appearance. It seems that every time the disaster was foreseen in D.C. Comics, he was there. In this panel he wants to know why Supes isn't helping, and in the background you can see the twin towers. Only in this shot, they are much less damaged. On another monitor to the right you can see the Great Pyramid of Cheops.

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Uh-oh! There is a crisis in Antarctica. It seems the ice is melting for no good reason. To the Left of J'onn you can see the towers now appearing undamaged. And of course we must have a shot of the pyramids in this panel as well.

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The Weather Wizard is melting the ice in Antarctica, and is putting it on Youtube! While most people would be shocked that a man in bright spandex is standing in the middle of the South Pole, I am more curious as to why a polar bear is 12000 miles away from his home. Everyone knows that polar bears are native to the Arctic, not the Antartic. Everyone except the editors at D.C. Comics it would seem.

Theres not much to tell for the rest of the issue. Superman easily dispatches the weather Wizard, and then saves a construction worker from falling. The construction worker then tells off president Luthor.

So in this comic book that was released on September 12, 2001, we have an alien invasion, 911, global warming, Isis, the pyramids, and weather control. Not to mention my favorite martian. Of course no comic book review would be complete without posting the back cover, as they usually synch well with the rest of the story. I wonder what it will be this time. They could have a bunch of college cheerleaders cheering on bradly tanks and it wouldn't surprise me.

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Okay, I lied, It does surprise me. The game is called "Advance Wars". Go beavers! Build that dam!

3 comments:

Michael said...

Another S man synch! Not a job for Superman, that is most excellent. I also love the Eiffel Tower, and the fact that the monitors only monitor the symbol of a nation. Symbol OK? Nation OK. As you were, soldier.

Fascinating that yesterday was 1/1/09, 911 backwards. I recall how Superman often fixed things by making time run backwards.

Cheers, Michael

The Secret Sun said...

RIP Mike Wieringo.

Ed said...

Hello Michael. I didn't notice the date was 911 in reverse, interesting.

Christopher. I had no idea the artist for this issue had passed on, and I meant no disrespect.