#apokolips

Hi! I'm Stellar. Artist and author of the New Gods web serial "Red Shift". I love anything dark, industrial, and science fiction.

Adventures of Superman #518 (December 1994)

"Dead Again!," Part 7! Superman's tour of all the people who hate him continues as he goes to Apokolips to check on Darkseid... and, while at it, the Cyborg Superman, who's currently trapped inside a Pokéball there. Using a Boom Tube provided by the nice space gods of New Genesis (see last issue), Superman drops into Apokolips right into the middle of a massive crowd scene. Uh-oh!

(That "uh-oh" was for artist Barry Kitson. I hope he likes drawing mean space gods.)

All Superman wants to do is have a chat with Darkseid, but Granny Goodness' forces are most uncooperative. On top of the 200 shock troopers and parademons trying to kill him, Superman has to deal with the Female Furies and their confounding double entendres. One of them manages to bring Superman down to the edge of the Armagetto, where he's recognized by the resident Hunger Dogs as the guy who almost freed them (and got a bunch of them killed) years ago, during the Legends storyline.

Meanwhile, Darkseid watches this from his palace and instructs his beret-wearing personal assassin, Kanto, to "get to work" on Superman. (Why does a space god who can evaporate people with his eyes need a personal assassin? This is not for mere mortals to know.) Kanto waits until Superman is at the edge of Apokolips' famous fire pits to launch a sonic attack that sends all the Hunger Dogs rushing towards him for help, the idea being that they'll fall into the fire and this will murder Superman... 's soul. Darkseid was probably like, "I really should have been more specific."

Superman prevents the Dogs from getting roasted and heads to Castle Darkseid, where Kanto reveals himself as the mastermind behind that evil plan. Superman, however, is no mood to deal with a guy in a beret right now.

(Kanto will survive. RIP the beret, though.)

Alone with Darkseid at last, Superman accuses him of being the one who put that Superman corpse in his tomb, thus making him responsible for this entire storyline. Darkseid points out it couldn't possibly be him, because he still owes Superman for saving his life (during Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey) and Darkseid is an evil space god of his word. He claims that the Cyborg, who was last seen getting Omega Beam'd by Darkseid (also during Hunter/Prey), ain't the one either, although "his death might not be as final as it seems." What?! Resurrection?? In a superhero comic??? Is that legal?

At this point, Superman is more pissed off than he's ever been, and even breaks one of Darkseid's fancy tables during a tantrum. Darkseid replies with this curious choice of words:

This does nothing to lighten Superman's mood, and he says (yells) that it's "time I shut this godforsaken planet down forever!" Instead, Darkseid shuts him down with the Omega Beams, and Superman finds himself back on Earth. However, Darkseid's cryptic mention of of a "carnival sideshow" has convinced Superman that he finally knows the identity of his tormentor, for real this time. See, carnivals are fun, and who's the funnest Superman villain of all?

Yes, the handsome Mr. Mxyzptlk! TO BE CONTINUED! OR CONCLUDED, POSSIBLY!

Plotline-Watch:

With the "carnival sideshow" clue above, Darkseid considers his debt with Superman paid, and gives us a little tease of his plans for the Cyborg... but that's a whole other storyline.

Don Sparrow says: "Nice that the Hunger Dogs that Superman betrayed as 'Savior' back in the day aren't holding a grudge." Yeah, so they remember Superman "almost freeing" them during the Legends storyline, but they don't remember him selling them out to Darkseid while he was under Amazing Grace's control? Then again, I guess all the ones who would remember that are dead.

It's unclear how much Superman himself remembers; Orion erased his memory of that whole incident at the end of that storyline to spare him the "I accidentally helped commit genocide" trauma, but Superman doesn't seem surprised to hear that the Hunger Dogs remember him as a savior. Maybe he got his memories back at the end of "Day of the Krypton Man," after finally solving his split personality issues (which, in my headcanon, are connected to the suppressed memories)?

This issue contains no references to the Apokolips-related Guardians of Metropolis miniseries that was coming out at this time (also written by Karl Kesel), but it's interesting to see Female Fury Gilotina get the spotlight for a whole page. She'll end up playing a big role in that mini and it works better if you know her as a Fury (I sure didn't before this issue, even though she goes back to Jack Kirby's original Fourth World comics).

Shout Outs-Watch:

Three posts in a month! (If you count the revamped Action #585 post.) This miracle is brought to you by our SUPporters, Aaron, Chris "Ace" Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Dave Blosser, and Bryan! Join them (and get extra articles) via Patreon or our newsletter's "pay what you want" mode! Both of those also have free tiers, if you just wanna get posts like this one in your inbox. NOTE: If you subscribe, please check your junk mail for the activation email!

This prolific pace is also spurred by Don Sparrow, who's perpetually ahead of me on these write ups. Here's the latest one: