ABSTRACT – JOHN BYRNE, MARVIN WOLFMAN & JERRY ORDWAY – SUPERMAN – THE MAN OF STEEL #2. 203 DC Comics. A re-editing of early classic Superman
stories, for the modern age, which sadly sucks much of the life and energy out of them. Here is Superman’s first encounter with Kryptonite when Metallo, an
evil Cyborg uses it to try to kill the hero. He is foiled when a very xenophobic Lex Luther kidnaps him to use the green weakening agent himself against Superman. In another
story, Superman finds himself possessed by a bitter evil genius that takes the hero on a destructive rampage, until he is saved by the Teen Titans and a robo-man called Cyborg. (Not Metallo The Cyborg). Superman rips Cyborg’s arm off, though only by the next page, continuity errors make this a leg instead of the arm. Superman flies quickly and proves able to distort his photos so he doesn’t look like Clark Kent (even though he always has before, even posing closely for shots by Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olson). In one story, Lex Luther finds out from a computer that Clark Kent is Superman, but refuses to
believe that Superman would ever take on a human identity. He erases the programming and sacks the computer technician. The book is riddled with cop out storylines like this. The last few stories move away from this story arc to tell of more modern Superman adventures. He meets the mysterious Phantom Stranger, a being who monitors the behaviour of the dead and the Gods. He has Superman hold back a powerful tornado like
demon who feeds off the dead within the graves of evildoers in the Earth. While Superman holds the outer creature at bay, The Phantom Stranger deals with its inner essence. The Phantom returns later, when Superman is obliged to relinquish his powers on Earth in a political attack on all superheroes. Superman is whisked to another world, Apokolips, where he is led to believe that he is the son of a Demon Lord called Darkseid, until the Gods spring to his aid in overthrowing the evil doers. The story ends abruptly with the vanquished villain nobly sending Superman back home with the memories of the horrors Superman himself committed as an evildoer erased. This is symptomatic of the stories in this very poor and deeply disappointing collection.
More reviews about the SUPERMAN - THE MAN OF STEEL 2