Friday, August 29, 2008

Action Comics #727 (Nov. 1996)


written by David Michelinie
pencilled by Tom Grummett
inked by Denis Rodier

There's really not much to this story. While this is a Final Night tie-in, the main focus of the story is Superman battling a huge robot. 1996 was a year where Superman fought a lot of huge robots. Doomsday couldn't stop Superman but a big, hulking robot can. Granted, Supes is near powerless in this issue but the battle isn't even worth showcasing. This is also one of the many issues that showcases a human element--in this case, a businessman can't get home because of the three feet of snow so decides to hole up in a drainage tunnel with the bums but instead finds a bunch of punks beating the bums and attempting to rape their women.

Superman thinks about giving up since he's nearly worthless to the population and the businessman feels bad about abandoning the homeless people. Both notice the statue of Superman built after his death and decide to do the right thing. No matter what.

What's actually the important thing about this issue is that it features my very first thing published. I wish I could say it was an actual story but a letter to the editor works too.
Cute little 13-year-old Brian wrote that. And believe me, it shows. I had one other letter published a few months later. Now I see comics don't even have a letters page anymore. So I guess the terrorists have won.