Maggie Sawyer, Braniac, and Checkmate
This month Superman gets to know Maggie Sawyer a little better, meets Braniac for the first time again, and meets Checkmate for the first time for real.
Maggie Sawyer takes the spotlight for the first time. Maggie's daughter Jamie has run away from her father in Star City, but is kidnapped by a new villain named Skyhook when she gets to Metropolis. Borrowing Jimmy Olsen's signal watch, Maggie summons the Man of Steel to help, and reveals to Superman that she's a lesbian, although the book never actually mentions the L word. When she and her husband divorced, the court declared her an unfit mother because of her sexuality. Superman thinks this is unfair, and after defeating Skyhook, takes the girl to her father and asks him to allow Maggie to visit. Superman himself notes that this effort is similar to what he previously did for Cat Grant and her son.
Skyhook is a new villain who kidnaps children and mutates them into flying creatures. No origin is provided, and although he made a handful of appearances in the next few years, he would eventually disappear for over 20 years until being used again recently in several DC Rebirth stories.
Braniac makes his underwhelming post-Crisis return. Pre-Crisis Braniac was the villain who stole the entire city of Kandor from Krypton before it was destroyed. While originally a green-skinned alien who didn't wear pants, he was later transformed into a frightening robot with an awesome skull-shaped spaceship. This version of Braniac is none of the above.
Clark Kent, Cat Grant, her son, and Jimmy Olsen go to the circus together. Superman stops a rampaging, abused elephant, but then he gets mentally attacked by the side-show mentalist Milton Fine, who calls himself Braniac. Milton Fine says his powers come from Vril Drox, a scientist from the planet Colu. Doctors try to explain it away as just something his mind invented to cope with his inexplicably manifesting powers.
I'll be frank, this version of Braniac is my least favorite. The rules of post-Crisis Superman dictate that there can't be any other Kryptonians surviving in a bottled city, so his origin had to be changed drastically. While the approach is trying to acknowledge the past while grounding it more in the real world, the end result is really just pathetic.
The espionage organization Checkmate appears for the first time before spinning off into their own series. The Quraci Minister of Defense comes to Metropolis to denounce Superman at the U.N. Lois Lane goes to interview the chauvinistic minster, but they both end up being abducted together. Meanwhile, Superman is busy with terrorists who seize a nuclear aircraft carrier. A mysterious modern knight in shining armor helps both of them, although Superman is certain it couldn't have been the same person. The new hero Checkmate lets the Quraci official get back to his plane to escape, but in the epilogue at Checkmate headquarters, we see the plane explodes once its no longer under the protection of the U.S. Also, Superman regrets he didn't talk to Wonder Woman during the Millennium crisis, as he calls it. More on this storyline is coming soon.
In an exclusive interview to Lois Lane, Superman tells the story of the last days on Krypton for his parents Jorl El and Lara. Some of it is repeated verbatim from Man of Steel #1. Now that the characters are more familiar, this issue is a little more compelling than the previous ones. However, the anti-social and sterile world of post-Crisis Krypton still leaves the reader thinking that the destruction of his planet was probably the best thing to ever happen to Kal El. Next month, the next interlocking miniseries will begin with the World of Smallville.
Superman #15
Skyhook is a new villain who kidnaps children and mutates them into flying creatures. No origin is provided, and although he made a handful of appearances in the next few years, he would eventually disappear for over 20 years until being used again recently in several DC Rebirth stories.
Adventures of Superman #438
Clark Kent, Cat Grant, her son, and Jimmy Olsen go to the circus together. Superman stops a rampaging, abused elephant, but then he gets mentally attacked by the side-show mentalist Milton Fine, who calls himself Braniac. Milton Fine says his powers come from Vril Drox, a scientist from the planet Colu. Doctors try to explain it away as just something his mind invented to cope with his inexplicably manifesting powers.
I'll be frank, this version of Braniac is my least favorite. The rules of post-Crisis Superman dictate that there can't be any other Kryptonians surviving in a bottled city, so his origin had to be changed drastically. While the approach is trying to acknowledge the past while grounding it more in the real world, the end result is really just pathetic.
Action Comics #598
World of Krypton #4
In an exclusive interview to Lois Lane, Superman tells the story of the last days on Krypton for his parents Jorl El and Lara. Some of it is repeated verbatim from Man of Steel #1. Now that the characters are more familiar, this issue is a little more compelling than the previous ones. However, the anti-social and sterile world of post-Crisis Krypton still leaves the reader thinking that the destruction of his planet was probably the best thing to ever happen to Kal El. Next month, the next interlocking miniseries will begin with the World of Smallville.
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