Been A Long Time ...

So here we are.

The economy tanked and so did my comic book search. I plan on getting back into it but not any time soon. So I think I want to start reading and posting on the issues again. I know I said I was going to do this before but this time I'm kinda serious. I have plenty to read still and that should take quite a bit of time. So expect more posts.

Superman #313

Just like the last issue this one has almost a full quarter of the comic dedicated to recap.

We left off with Supergirl held captive by Amalak. Nothing major there except that Superman left his cousin to heal the reporters (and by reporters I mean Lois Lane.) This turns out not to be a big deal because S disabled Amalak's Star Cannon. Now Supergirl has the chance to escape. But before she has a chance Amalak is able to summon the Particle Warrior to fight for him again. This struggle goes on until the Star Cannon that was disabled decides to go supernova on them. the explosion destroys the cleverly disguised spaceship that Amalak was using.

After this the story turns to Superman back on earth. He has all but healed all of the reporters from the plague when he and the little kid that found the dog (see issue #311) notice that the reporters around them are getting sick. With this the dog decides to run away.

Shortly after the dog takes off Superman is flying around the convention center when he is blindsided by a pointy eared guy with fins on his boots. Weird. They battle for a little while until S figures out that the new foe can take on the shape of anything he wants to. Including a little dog! Say it ain't so!

The story abruptly ends with S in a moral dilemma about having to break his #1 rule to eliminate his new villain. There was also no mention of what happened to Supergirl after the explosion. And, as far as I can tell S has no idea that the explosion took place.

Superman #313

Superman #312

On to the next thrilling issue!

This issue starts with a recap. If you need one then read the post for issue #311.

Now that we have that part out of the way. We can join Superman while he is building a new hospital for the sick journalists. After that the comic takes a serious tail spin. When S threw Nam-Ek in the kryptonite volcano he thought that he had broken is code to never kill anyone. S sulks about this for a few pages and then gets talking to Supergirl and Green Lantern.

GL tells S about some static particles that came from the area where S threw Nam-Ek in the volcano. Why is this important you ask? Because Nam-Ek is still alive and is currently in space riding on a spaceship disguised as an asteriod. Yeah. Really. 

Who saved the immortal Nam-Ek? Amalak the Kryptonian Killer! This guy is a real goon. He even has a charged particle warrior to fight for him. So anyway, they fight some. S figures out that Nam-Ek's horn has healing powers. This leads to a dramatic fight where S and Nam-Ek fight in space and Nam-Ek ends up encased in glass that can filter out sun rays. This causes Nam-Ek to lose all his powers. 

while all this is going on Supergirl was still on the ship trying to fight Amalak and his charged particle guy. Short fight even shorter ... Supergirl ends up tied to a chair with the handheld Star-Cannon pointed at her. Superman ends up taking Nam-Ek to Central City. 

Nam-Ek's horn has healing powers and S left it sticking out of the glass container that Nam-Ek is in. This is all done to try and heal the reporters that got sick. Oh and Amalak reveals that he is the cause of the sickness. Like we didn't know that already!

Superman #312

Superman #311

As usual the cover of this issue shows Superman getting an old fashioned beat down.

And that theme is carried on to the first page. There S and Flash are being tossed around by the immortal Nam-Ek. in case you thought this was a carry over from the last issue, it's not. This is a new story that will span a few issues. 

After Flash gets knocked into orbit ... literally, the story does a flash back.

Here we have Clark being clumsy Clark at some reporters convention. At this conference for all the worlds greatest reporters this dorky kid that's with Clark finds a stray dog. I know it's really dumb but I had to include it because it's important. Anyway, all the reporters start getting sick. Like really really sick. While S is busy scooping up sick reporters Flash shows up to help out. He was on his way to meet his wife for lunch. Not important other than it's a guest appearance.

While all this saving people stuff is going on S notices a dark, evil looking person wandering around the rooftops. First attempts at finding the cloaked figure failed. But, S always gets his criminal. He finds him and after some introductions a battle breaks out.

During the battle Nam-Ek reveals that he is not responsible for the plague that has the reporters dropping like flies. Good to know. So the battle rages on and finally meets up with the first couple pages with Flash getting KO'd to orbit. 

Fear not! Green Lantern saved Flash while in space. That takes a little off of Superman's plate. As the battle rages on S traps Nam-Ek in a kryptonite volcano. After that S heads back to the convention of reporters only to find Lois is sick.

So far so good .... see you next issue.

Superman #311

Superman #310

Time to start fresh with a whole new Superman adventure!

This episode of the Superman tale starts with some members of the skulls stealing rare elements from scientific locations. Innocent enough. Naturally Superman intervenes and gets a large number of the baddies arrested. And only one casualty during the fighting.

But S is unaware that the casualty of the fight was the brother of Metallo! Those skulls are a sneaky bunch. This was all by design to create a new Metallo. This new villain is cleverly named Metallo II. Just like the old Metallo this one has a heart made of Kryptonite. But this is man made Kryptonite!

As you would expect, there is a battle between the two super beings. The interesting part of this one is that Metallo's Kryptonite radiation is reduced when he exerts himself. So, S tries to make Metallo work his heart ... until Metallo gets a flying machine that enables him to rest. S destroys the flying thing and metallo falls to the ground. S takes advantage of Metallo's fall and increased heart rate to seal shut the heart chamber. It's not enough to kill Metallo but does prevent him from hurting S.

All in all this is a good issue and was fun to read. Bring on 311!

Superman #310

Superman #309

This issue is less than good. In fact, it's borderline junk.

Here is the rundown ...

S is guilted into fighting the aliens ... Guess what! He wins!

While the alien fight is going on S figues out that Supergirl lied about the whole Krypton thing. He confronts her and then decides to forgive her and move on.

And with that we move on to the next issue.

Superman #309

New Comic Count

I updated the comic count from 300 to 460. I think that number might change a little after I remove some duplicates that I have in the collection. Who cares! Progress is progress.

Superman #308

The action continues ...

Not much happens in this issue. Well, thats not exactly true.

Supergirl called someone and let them know that she has told Superman that Krypton doesn't exist and never did. Not sure what that's all about yet.

The Protector woke up from the whoopin that Superman gave him in the previous issue and flew away as fast as he could. Then he joins up with his old buddy Radion. Radion happens to be a nuclear accident survivor. Super powerful guy. Moving on, the plan is to blow up the nuclear power plant and cause lots of mayhem.

S wants nothing to do with this kind of thing and tries to intervene. But, the baddies were ready and trapped S in a radioactive bubble. But, as expected S uses some heat vision to stop the reactor from over loading. After freeing himself from the bubble S uses his speed and superior intellect to fool the destructive duo into using their powers against each other.

With those guys out of the way S heads home for a bubble bath and a slice of pizza. Thats not true at all. As if on queue we find out that aliens are headed to Earth. That part is true.

Whew! What's next!

Superman #308

Superman #307

I finished Superman #307 yesterday at lunch. Not sure what I was expecting but this issue was a little weird.

I'm not going to go into a bunch of detail on this issue. Not because I don't think it's interesting, but because I'm not sure you care. So here goes ...

Superman has decided that he needs to take this whole "living green" thing a little too far by destroying a factory that creates pollution. This is because he got a tip from one of the factory workers. Long story short. S thinks that he needs to save the planet and put people out of work. But, no sooner had he started his anti-pollution rampage when a new villain named "The Protector" showed up.

This new villain is great. He feeds on the pollution to get his power. So, he protects pollution causing industry! Genius! He can manipulate molecules to make himself a fairly formidable foe too. Needless to say he beat ol' Supers up. This caused S to get even more depressed.

Good thing Supergirl came to save the day! Actually, Supers got beat up and they scrambled outta there.

Supergirl tried to convince S that Krypton is a myth and that he is from Earth. And to do this she decided to take S to the Krypton museum he made in the arctic. She then decided to destroy all the sweet memorabilia.

While this is going on our new super villian "The Protector" had followed S and S to the super secret hideout and decided that it was time to finish the fight they started earlier (the same fight that S and S ran away from ... nice.)

As you might expect S figured out a way to defeat "The Protector". This is where the issue ends. Issue #308 should be a doosy!

Superman #307

Captain America (Vol. 1) - Complete

Picked up the last issue I needed from Acme in Normal today.

This was one of the first series that I started and I finally focused on getting it done. Probably could have had it done sooner but I was too caught up with getting massive numbers of issues to get things rolling. Anyway, the covers are posted in the usual place and I'll have another post in another day or so covering the last Daredevil issues.