Grave Obsession
Credits:
Jerry Ordway (writer), Tom Grummett (penciler), Doug Hazelwood
(inker), Albert de Guzman (letterer), Glenn Whitmore (colorist)
Summary:
Lex Luthor’s sensors detect that Superman’s casket is missing.
Supergirl investigates underneath the tomb, arousing the suspicion of
the Metropolis police officers monitoring the memorial. Dan Turpin
follows Supergirl through a subway ventilation shaft entrance and soon
finds himself in Underworld. He sees Supergirl is under attack for
trespassing and tries to help. Eventually, Supergirl carries Turpin to
safety after one Underworlder drops several grenades. Meanwhile,
Gangbuster returns to action and teams up with Bibbo to stop a gang of
drug dealers.
Review:
Superman is still dead, although only two pages are dedicated to Lois
and the Kents mourning, re-establishing what we’ve already seen in other
chapters. This issue moves the focus to the peripheral characters
surrounding Superman, such as the street-level vigilante Gangbuster. I
have only a vague knowledge of who Gangbuster is supposed to be, but
there’s enough information in the reprint collections to infer that he’s
a retired vigilante who admires Superman. And now he makes clear he’s Cat
Grant’s ex-boyfriend.
I’m not sure why the Superman titles felt the need to establish such a
character, and I recall some readers complaining about the introduction
of more heroes within Metropolis when Superman is already there, but I
always have a soft spot for the street-level hero. Gangbuster’s design
isn’t exactly elegant, but the basic idea seems to be he’s taken a cop’s
riot gear and repurposed it for vigilante work, which is a reasonable
starting place for a costume. There are far worse examples of ‘90s
vigilante fashion, of course. I’m assuming Gangbuster was created as
some form of down-to-earth contrast to Superman, so bringing him out of
retirement to deal with Metropolis’ criminal element following
Superman’s death is a decent idea. Not that the books really go
anywhere with it, since the four false Supermen are soon to be
introduced, quickly followed by the actual Superman’s return.
Following the lead of Action Comics,
Supergirl turns out to be the star of this issue. There isn’t a lot of
depth to the story, it’s essentially killing time until the next
chapter reveals Cadmus’ plan, but there are some entertaining action
scenes. Tom Grummett helps a lot, drawing a very attractive Supergirl
and a host of monsters that aren’t exactly Kirby-esque but do evoke a
fun Silver Age feel. Dan Turpin is also thrown in, partially for comic
relief, but also to fulfill the role he always plays, that of the
tough-as-nails cop who refuses to back down to any superhuman menace.
Much of the issue is arguably filler, but it’s never dull and the
action scenes look great.
1 comment:
gangbuster is dropped in the main titles pretty quickly, but he is featured in the "legacy of superman" one-shot from the same period. the one shot also featured a super-powered guardian clone called auron, that only has another single appearance again a few motnsh after superman's return. a lot of ideas got thrown at the wall during this time period but a lot of subplots got swept away in the bigger events.
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