An Earth 396 Review

Earth-396 Review

Action Comics 396
January, 1971
"The Super-Panhandler of Metropolis!"

Art by Swanderson
Words by Leo Dorfman

The cover is an Infantino/Anderson picture, with Superman, graying at the temples, wheeling away from a pursuing crowd, his super-suit exposed thanks to a blanket pulled from him. A sign saying "Feed the needy" is around his neck, and he's dropped a coffee cup, spilling the coins out. It's all very futuristic in the background, with a magnificent city the likes of which I haven't seen since Ranagar. Supes is shouting, "Stop hounding me! Have you no pity? I'm not a freak! Leave me alone!" The cover blurb reads: Is this the future for the World's Mightest Hero-- to become one day "The Super-Panhandler of Metropolis?"

This cover grabbed me as a kid, and the story still does to this day.

This imaginary story takes place in the 1990s (!), when folks still listen to the nostalgic "Where are they now?" television program... (hey, they didn't do too bad on the "forecast-o-meter" here... since a program of that name has been airing on VH1 for several years now). 10 years ago, astronaut Ron Fletcher was exploring the rings of Saturn, but now he's an Aquanaut, trying to establish a marine lab on the ocean floor (gee, they expected us to get to Saturn, when we haven't managed to land our last two Mars probes safely? And what did Aquaman think of the lab? Of course, since Supermaan comics seemed seperate from the rest of the DC Universe unless it wasa needed for a plot point, let's just invoke Hypertime and be done with it). The next subject of the program is Jimmy Olsen, who is the chief producer of WMET-TV these days (hey, wasn't WMET the station Mary Richards worked at? If this story had been done later, it probably would've been WGBS). Jimmy's asked what happened to Superman, who dropped out of sight years ago. Jimmy doesn't know, just that Superman began ignoring his friends, and when he disappeared, so did Clark, which leads Jimmy to believe they were the same. Duh! He's also tried calling him with the signal watch (zeeezeezeee), but it's as if he never existed! Jimmy's sporting some gray himself, by the way.

Wouldn't you know it, but outside an appliance store window, a man in a wheelchair is watching the show, a man nobody recognizes as the once-mighty Man of Steel! Most of his powers are gone, he's now a cripple, ashamed to face his friends. Once, he thought the world couldn't get along without him, but no more... for an overloaded crane suddenly buckles, sending tons of steel to the streets below! Fortunately, a worker uses an anti-grav pulse-ray to catch the eams. Yes, the super-science of the 1990s has made him a has-been! Then, Superman's super-hearing picks up a bank alarm, and he sees the bank around the corner is being robbed (super-hearing and super-vision are all that's left of his powers). He rolls to the scene, and tries to stop the heist, but before he even gets three, a glass cage emerges from the sidewalk to capture the robbers! It gets worse... as he wheels down the street, a fuel truck crashes, catching on fire, but a hover-craft douses the flames! Then, by an odd twist of fate, he sees a boy chasing a ball into heavy traffic! Pushing himself to the limit, he rolls up just in time to grab the boy. A man sees his act of heroism and gives him five bucks.

His next stop is a grocery store, where he gets a bag of groceries, and heads home... not to the Fortress of Solitude, which is exposed thanks to modern climate control defrosting the Arctic (presumably the resulting flooding was handled ably), but to a decaying tenement, marked for demolition (the fence around it has posters for Swan Real Estate and Anderson Shows). Inside, he's greeted by two people, but we can only see their forearms and hands, whic are covered with a strange mottling! After warming up a can of soup for them with his heat vision, he turns to his desk, where he's experimenting with discrded chemicals to try to restore his powers. He gets the reaction he was hoping fore, and believes the current jar ctains the super-stimulant that'll make him completely super again! He dons the faamous red-and-blues, and drinks the mixture, but the experiment is a failure! Then, a small explosion destroys his street clothing, leaving him with just his uniform to wear! He decides to cover it with a blanket and an old shawl.

Back into the world, he sees another ghost of the past, Lois Lane, who's with her son, Clark, waiting for her husband, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Clark Kent. Unlike Jimmy, Lois hasn't aged much... a little more mature perhaps, but definitely no graying! Superman remembers the Planet staff gets paid this day, and heads to the building to beg, further disguising himself with dark glasses. Soon, at the Planet (now owned by a giant conglomerate... foreshadowing WGBS buying it?), he's reminded that Perry White's been dead for some time (a memorial plaque to him is on the building, but I can't tell when he was supposed to have died). Jimmy Olsen exits the building at this time, with a girlfriend on his arm (no, it's not Lucy Lane... and you know, Jimmy seems to have grown six inches since his cub reporter days), and tosses a quarter to Superman (gee, Jimmy, still the big spender, eh?). The quarter bounces off the cup, and when Clark bends down to pick it up, his super-suit is exposed!

Everyone round him immediately notices it, and start asking him why he's in a wheelchair, taking his picture! Finally, he erupts in fury, "I'm not a circus freak on exhibition! Let me out of here!" As he speeds away, he's chased by the crowds!

Wow! This part of the story ends there (the back-up is "Tales of the Fortress: The Invaders From Nowhere," by the same art team, story by Geoff Brown). As I said previously, I got this comic as a kid, adn devoured it, but I was never able to find part two for years and years and years! Here's an extra tidbit: About 1980 or so, at a comic book shop, I saw this book again, and bought it, thinking it was the conclusion... but it wasn't. Years went by, and in the early 90s, when I started avidly collecting Superman comics, I bought my third copy of his comic.... and the following issue! Oh joy!

Anyway, on the story itself. Curt Swan really shone in the artwork here, capturing Supes' emotions extremely well. Some people didn't care for this tale, I know, but it still gets to me now. Superman's frustration at the world around him is well-portrayed, and even provided a clue as to what happened! The future's not like Leo, Curt and Murphy expected, of course... but then, it never is, is it? The story was printed just as big changes were in store for the Man of Steel, and if I'm not mistaken, this would have been one of the last Imaginary Stories.

Action Comics 397

February, 1971

"Secret of the Wheel-Chair Superman!"

Script by Leo Dorftman, Art by Swanderson

Cover by Infantino and Anderson

Part two begins with a great cover picture: Superman's in his wheelchair, his blanket in disarray, sitting in his hovel. Out the window, we see an Infantino city, and inside, the closet door is open, revealing two busted-up Superman robots shrouded in cobwebs. Supes has his head in his hand, with pictures of Lois and her husband (a lookalike for Clark) and Jimmy at his side, and he's moaning, "Lois is married... Jimmy's a big wheel... all my friends, gone! The world doesn't need me anymore!"

We get a recap, reminding us it's the 1990s, as Jimmy Olsen tosses a quarter into Clark's cup, but it bounces onto the sidewalk. Clark leans over to pick it up, but his Superman uniform is revealed! What we didn't see before was that Jimmy saw this, too, and puts is girlfriend in a hover-cab so he can check this out. However, the crowd pursues the wheelchair-bound Man of Steel! Within moments, the crowd grows even bigger, and even a tour bus guide points out Superman to the passengers! As he wheels himself awaay, Superman bemoans the fact thaat he can't fly away, but since he still has his vision powers, he trains his heat vision on a convenient puddle of water, creating a heavy mist to cover his retreat! Later, he returns to what has become his home, but there's soon a knock on the door!

It's Jimmy, who gives his old pal a hug, then asks what happened to him. Superman replies that it began after a mission ended, when he couldn't fly away! He discovered his other powers were dwindling, too, his once-mighty strength reduced to that of a weakling! Jimmy realizes that was the time Clark started walking with a cane, and Supes admits he was Clark. Anyway, growing weaker each day, the owner of the ompany that bought the Planet fired Clark for too many sick days (he's not called it by name, but it *is* Morgan Edge in this panel... maybe he hadn't been named yet). Well, Superman thought maybe the condition was temporary, and used his Superman robots to cover for him for a while (apparently, in this Imaginary Story, the pollution effect didn't disable the robots), but one by one, they were broken... one even got trashed by a lightning bolt, and I could've sworn Supes built 'em better than that. Having no savings (apparently, Clark's apartment on 344 Clinton pretty much ate up his paychecks from the Planet... of course, maybe he spent the rest of his money on blue suits... after all, Clark didn't need money for much else), things went swiftly downhill for Clark (who apparently never thought to have his robots fly him to the Fortress before they got smashed), as he got kicked out of worse and worse apartments. Jimmy asks Superman why didn't he go see a doctor, or apply for welfare, but Earth's finiest specialists know little about super-powers (okay, but aren't there plenty of docs in the DC Universe who might've... oh, wait, I forgot, SA Superman comics don't co-exist in the rest of the DC Universe unless it's necessary for the plot... and we can guess that Kandor was already restored to its original size). Superman had headed for the relief office, but seeing a poster of him stomping for the UN war relief fund, he decides he can't destroy the kids' faith in their idol.

Yeah, sure, Superman, but why couldn't Clark Kent have applied for welfare, huh? Answer me that, big blue!

Superman couldn't ask his friends for help, because there's nothing worse than a has-been mooching off his friends (except maybe a has-been mooching off his dead friends... like Ray Manzarek)... plus, he didn't want his enemies to gloat. Jimmy says, "Talk about mooching! You were begging from strangers! What happened to your pride?" Well, he was begging, t not for himself. Remember the mottled hands from last issue? They belonged to Dr. Carl Reynolds and his wife, who were experimenting with cures for leprosy and the plague when they were infected with amutanat virus deadlier than any known diseaase (yeah? What about Virus X?). Since they've only got weeks to live, Superman is helping them be quarantined there, while he begs for money to feed them.

Jimmy decides to take a hand in things, and brings Superman to a specialist he knows, who asks him when he started losing his powers. It was after a series of fizzled missions... a damaged ship uses a flotation collar to keep afloat, a cryogenic ray freezes flood waters, then a pollution alert he tries to deal with turns out to be a vital experiment, as smoke is turned by sunlight into a rain of jewel-like drops (Superman noted the smoke filtered the sun's rays, turning it red), forming an instant fertilizer, making crops grow before his eyes! As one of the scientists says on the scene, "Frankly, with our scientific advances, who needs you, Superman? Ha-ha-ha!" Soon afterward, when he tried to take off, he couldn't, and wondered if the red sun effect affected him! That was the beginning, and over the weeks, he ost all his powers except for his super-vision, super-hearing and invulnerability (wow, he even lost super-ventriloquism?). The neurologist tells Superman he's never lost his powers! They're still intact, but the Man of Steel is suffering from a mental hysterial blocking their use. It's like a panic syndrome, when he feared the world no longer needed him or his doctors!

"A billiant diagnosis, doctor!" Superman replies. "But if I do have my powers, where's the switch that turns them on? Why can't I fly? Why can't I even walk? You don't have the answer, do you, doc?" He rolls out, telling Jimmy to forget him. That night, in Superman's hovel, he's drying his laundry with heat vision when he forgets to control his powers, and sets the place on fire! Superman figures the fire department will put the blaze out, but all they do is surround the condemmed building with fireproof foam to keep it from spreading. Dr. Reynolds begs Superman, who's still invulnerable, to do something to save him and his wife, but Superman responds, "Do what? You know I have no super-strength, and no flying power.... don't you understand?" Does that sound like the Man of Steel we know?

"No," he thinks, "I can't give up so easily... I can't let those people die without putting up a fight!" He puts forth a mighty effort, saaying, "I've got to try... try! I've got to help them... save them! hey need me... they need Superman!" Standing proud at lsat, Superman takes his charges in his arms and flies away, but it's too late for the Reynolds, who only had hours to live anyway. To honor the people who helped him break his mental block, Superman carves a tomb deep in the earth for them, wheer their bodies will never sead contamination. Then, he flies back to Metropolis, to announce that he's back, until he remembers the world doesn't need him today, and in fact, man himself may become super! "Face it! Superman is obsolete now, here on Earth! But somewhere out there, among the millions of galaxies, there must be a world like the Earth I once knoew... a world that still needs a Superman!" he thinks as he flies off into space.

The back-up story is another Untold Tale of the Fortress, "The Super-Captive of the Sea!" with art by Swanderson, and words by Geoff Brown... but a quick check of the lettercol reveals that Geoff Brown is really Leo Dorfman!

Oh, there's also a 1971 Superman calendar at the back of the comic.

Well, there you have it, the exciting conclusion! As I alluded to yesterday, there was foreshadowing in part one as far as what the cause of Superman's lost powers was. Yeah, part 2 gets really sappy, so sue me, I like a bit of sap in my Superman stories. This was the Superman I remember from my childhood (okay, I would've been nine when this came out, and I'd been buying and reading comics before this, but it's this era I remember most), who would soon start having Amazing Adventures as his life would be changed forever (or aas long as forever lasts in comics). In my own opinion, it was worth finally tracking down this comic to read the conclusion.

Action Comics #397 (refry)

"Secret Of The Wheel-Chair Superman"

February, 1971

Story: Leo Dorfman Art: Swan and Anderson

In the 1990's, the wheel-chair bound Man of Steel clutches a wedding picture of Lois and her husband, while a personalized picture of Jimmy Olsen is on the floor. In a nearby closet, two discarded Superman robots are gathering dust, as the depressed Superman is oblivious to the lively futuristic architecture and space ships outside his window, as rendered by the team of Infantino and Anderson.

Jimmy Olsen, now a big TV producer is escorting his latest prospect, as he deposits a handout to a certain figure in a wheel-chair, but as the coin falls short of the metal cup, the figure bends, revealing the familiar uniform of Superman! A crowd gathers, speculating that The Man of Steel hasn't been seen in years, others thought he was deceased, and Jimmy hasn't seen his pal since his time on the paper. (Gee, I hope that was a five-dollar coin.) As Jimmy's date beckons towards the waiting hover-cab, Jimmy decides instead to find out what happened to Superman. (Hmm, I guess Mayor Quimby is spared his tip, indeed.) The crowd of curiousity-seekers give chase to The Man of Steel, who strives to elude his pursuers... (Hmm, if it were me, this could be a Elseworlds sequel to "Doomsday" with Superman injured instead of dying.)

A futuristic tourist-train is giving a tour of Metropolis and gives reference to "The Once-Mighty Superman", while passerbys in retro-'70s clothing are amazed to find Superman in this age, but The Once-Man of Steel only wishes to be left alone. This "push-button" age has left Superman far behind, apparently.

Superman continues to roll his wheel-chair, noting that in the old days, he'd merely fly away at the speed of light, but seeing a puddle, he uses his heat-vision to cause a heavy mist to appear, so that he takes the alley, and enters a decaying slum, where he hears the approach of a single pursuer...

Jimmy Olsen greets his old pal, and both are pleased to see one another once more. Jimmy's question as to whatever happened to The Man of Tomorrow is answered: After a mission, Superman found that he lost the ability to fly, and as time passed, he found that he needed to use a cane to help him walk, as he found himself weaker than a normal human. Jimmy is startled since it was around this time that Clark Kent began walking with a cane, and Superman tells him that he was Clark Kent, who was fired by Morgan Edge after being out sick for the last time. (Yup, that Morgan Edge sure has a heart... in a jar by the door...)

In hopes that his condition was temporary, the super-robots were used on missions, but one by one, they fell, left as so much scrap. (Hmm, why didn't he go to his Fortress of Solitude or Kandor for others?) Without funds, he was evicted from one place after another, the man who gave so much for charities was now penniless. Jimmy asks him why he didn't see a doctor or apply for welfare, and while Earth's finest specialists knew nothing about his super-abilities, the prospect of welfare was squelched on the day that he was headed for the relief office, and saw a group of children admiring his poster for The United Nations War Relief Fund, and he could not bear in destroying their faith in their idol, one whom they regarded as one of the last great heroes.

Jimmy tells Superman that he had friends he could have turned to, who would give their very lives for him, but The Man of Steel was ashamed in becoming a moocher or giving a chance for his enemies to gloat. Jimmy asks him why he was begging for strangers if he felt this way, and an answer comes from the doorway. It was for Dr. Reynolds and his wife, scientists who were experimenting with cures for Leprosy and The Plague, when they were infected by a mutant virus far dealier than any plague. They have a short time to live and if they had gone to a hospital, they would have risked infecting others, but Superman aided them in quarantining themselves, begging on their behalf. JImmy knows that his pal has not changed and devotes himself on helping others first before himself, and as his friend, Jimmy Olsen wheels Superman to a specialist, who asks him when he noticed his powers beginning to fade, and hooked up to the neurological monitors, The Man of Steel recalls the extremely frustrating circumstances.

His life-saving missions had taken a new turn: a damaged boat was able to stay afloat due to its flotation collar (Holy Ring-Around The Collar, Batman!), a cryogenic ray froze the flooding waters into a huge dam of ice, and a pollution alert turns out to be a vital experment where the smoke contained a new self-decontaminating chemical being tested. The scientists had him feeling like a fool, as he watches the sunlight turn the smoke into a rain of jewel-like droplets, while he notes how the sun turned red. (Holy B.J. Thomas, Batman! I wouldn't want any of those raindrops falling on my head!) The chemical shower forms an instant fertilizer which makes crops grow before their eyes, as the laughing scientist notes that with their advances, who needs a Superman? (Hmm, let's let this guy stop the meteor from smashing into Earth or stop a speeding bullet, shall we? Or tell him to leap a tall building.)

It was after this incident that Superman lost the ability to fly and wonders if the red sun effect had something to do with it. With the exception of his super-vision, super-hearing, and invulnerability, he's lost his other powers, but the specialist has discovered what has gone wrong. The instruments reveal that Superman never lost his powers and that he is suffering from a form of mental hysteria which blocks their use, a panic syndrome which arose when he discovered that he was in a world which no longer needed him or his powers. Superman's fist batters his wheel-chair as he asks the doctor how he can access his abilities and knows that there are no answers. As Jimmy implores him to undertake some therapy, Superman wheels out of the office, determined to deal with his fate on his own.

In the abandoned building, Superman uses his heat-vision to dry his laundry, but the heat-vision has started a fire, surrounding him and the Reynolds in the flames, but the fire sensors in the lampposts have detected the blaze, and alerted the fire department, who respond, and although they use their wall of fireproof foam to stop the blaze from spreading, they leave the abandoned buildings ablaze since they believe that no one is inside. (A flaw in an otherwise cunning plan.) Superman is invulnerable, but The Reynolds are not, and The Man of Steel begins to struggle with himself in the wheel-chair, knowing that he can't give up since they are depending on him...

He must try! He has to help them... save them! They need him! They need SUPERMAN! (And brother, as written by Leo Dorfman and drawn by Swanderson, they sure as heck get him!) His flying abilities have returned, as The Man of Steel takes both of them under each arm and takes them to safety, only to see them succumb from their illness, their deaths have caused the rebirth of Superman.

Superman places their remains in an underground tomb beneath the Earth, where their bodies will not spread the contamination. He soars towards the familiar Metropolis skyline, intending to announce his return, but realizes that the world no longer needs him with all their advanced Nineties science. Believing himself to be obsolete, Superman soars from Earth and heads out for the millions of galaxies out there, where there is need of a Superman.

A superb cover by that Adam Strange team of Infantino and Anderson. It's interesting that Lois' spouse resembles Clark Kent.

In this version of the '90s, folks are wearing retro-'70s clothes, and the paparrazi were certainly an example of foresight by Leo Dorfman, as they descended upon a once-celebrity, The Man of Steel, himself.

Superman is regarded as a quaint curiousity in this story, with only Jimmy Olsen remembering his true significance as a hero, him and the children who admire his image in asking help for others in the name of charity. Without the "super-abilities", the determination about helping others before himself is what makes him "Superman."

I can't help but regard this world from which even The Man of Steel has left as not some much an Earth, but a new version of Krypton, which depends on scientific advances, and will probably be as oblivious to its inevitable fate than the late planet was. Supes can be seen as a type of "Jor-El", as we see how the system affects and displaces him from having that no one is inside. (A flaw in an otherwise cunning plan.) Superman is invulnerable, but The Reynolds are not, and The Man of Steel begins to struggle with himself in the wheel-chair, knowing that he can't give up since they are depending on him...

A superb cover by that Adam Strange team of Infantino and Anderson. It's interesting that Lois' spouse resembles Clark Kent.

In the first Superman movie, we got to see what it was like to observe the arrival of Superman on the scene and save the day for Lois and that helicopter. A breathtaking moment, but I really got into that moment in this story where Superman rises from his wheel-chair and in the name of The Reynolds, is reborn, using his ability of flight to save them from the fire which threatened them. Yup, I love The Big Red "S."

A world without Superman? Obsolete? I sincerely hope not, and thanks to back issues, we can savor the creation of Siegel and Schuster in many tales from years past by the likes of Swan, Anderson, Kaye, Sprang, Boring, Plastino, Sikela, and others.

As our own Bob Rozakis has put it, "Keep Looking Up In The Sky!" You can bet I most certainly do.

Review by Steve Chung