Picnic on Warworld

Superman #171

Written by Jeph Loeb
Pencilled by Ed McGuinness
Inks by Cam Smith
Colors by Tanya & Richard Horie

Hmm . . . another DC comic? I need to shuffle the longbox up a bit, it seems. Anyway, let's get down to business. Today's pull is an issue of Superman by Loeb and McGuinness. These two had a nice run with the character, but I remember liking Joe Kelly's work on Action Comics more. Loeb is fine at plotting and setting a scene, but Kelly is the master of dialogue and snappy banter. However, I feel like Loeb's strengths as a writer are on display in this particular issue, which acts as a prologue to the "Our Worlds At War" event.

"Our Worlds At War" was a DC Universe-spanning epic that took over nearly the entire line back in 2001. Imperiex, a cosmic baddie in the Thanos or Anti-Monitor mold, wreaks havoc against puny Earthlings and super-folks alike, all while Brainiac schemes and President Luthor tries to keep his reputation (and planet) intact.

In this beginning chapter, Supes zips through space in search of the missing planet Pluto and stumbles onto an all-new Warworld instead. Warworld used to be a gladiator arena planet ruled over by the malicious space tyrant Mongul, but in this issue someone else has rebuilt and repurposed the weapon planet for their own purposes.

There's some continuity stuff from that time here that I had completely forgotten about. The biggest thing is Lex's deal with Brainiac 13. Apparently (and I may have these issues lying around if I look hard enough), Lex traded his infant daughter to Brainiac in exchange for control over Brainiac's B13 technology, allowing him to win public favor by giving Metropolis a high tech makeover and turning the place into a literal "city of tomorrow".

This was the era of Superman, both here and in the Dini/Timm animated shows, where I really started to dig Lex Luthor as a character. Prior to this, my main exposure to Luthor had been Challenge of the Super Friends and the red-headed clone Luthor from the early 90's. The saga of President Luthor captured my young imagination. This was just before my cynical teenage years when I determined that every president was, in fact, a supervillain of some sort.

Really wish I had one of those "Vote for Lex" buttons I've seen around at shows. Help a brother out . . ? (@ChrisBComics)

But yeah, Loeb writes a fun little action ditty here, with McGuinness's hulking, square-jawed Superman making his way through the new Warworld while guided by Professor Emil Hamilton via comm link back home. Obscure future baddies The Fatal Five also make an appearance in this issue as hard light constructs crafted by Brainiac to keep Superman distracted while he makes his real moves back on Earth.

I miss seeing McGuinness draw DC heroes. Aside from the Hulk, I never thought his art was a good "fit" for Marvel characters. Not sure why. Maybe it's the saturday morning cartoon quality he brings. And unless my taste buds are mistaken, is that a dash of manga I'm detecting? I dunno, somehow his art just works better for me in the DCU.

That's the dive for today! Thanks for reading and follow me on Twitter at @ChrisBComics if you'd like to help a struggling narcissist.