Adventures of Superman: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Reprints Superman #294, 301-302, 307-309 and 347 DC Comics Presents #1-4, 17, 20, 24, 31, and All-New Collector's Edition C-54 
Written by Martin Pasko, Gerry Conway, Elliot S. Maggin, David Michelinie and Len Wein.

Penciled by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

Inked by Dick Giordano, Steve Mitchell, Dan Adkins, Joe Giella, Frank Springer and Bob Oskner.

Over 350 pages of Superman action, featuring art from one of the finest pencilers of the Bronze Age!  Highlights include:

    

Solomon Grundy, the super-stong zombie from Earth II has arrived in Metropolis. In addition to generally trashing the city, he's turning the urban sprawl into a swamp. Clark Kent is in the middle of delivering a newscast on WGBS TV when he learns of Grundy's assault. If he wants to change into Superman so he can stop Grundy, he'll have to be in two places at once.

Something strange is happening to Superman. After a night of sleep, he wakes up and has grown a foot taller! When the Man of Steel apprehends smugglers in Metropolis Harbor, his new height and weight nearly causes a tidal wave. Superman is now nine feet tall!

We learn it's the work of his arch foe Lex Luthor. He zapped Superman with a ray that "super-activated" his pituitary gland. Luthor believes this will cause Superman to grow more clumsy and destructive.

The new height also causes Superman's brain to become overtaxed. His brain remains the same size as his body grows taller. It also complicates Clark Kent's life, since he can't show up to work as a giant. If he wants to solve his growing problem, Superman will need help from physicist Ray Palmer, better known as the superhero called the Atom.

Subsequently, Superman attacks a vinyl chloride plant outside Metropolis. The plant is a major source of pollution and Superman decides to destroy it. It's a move that surprises everyone, since Superman normally operates within the law.  

While he's wrecking the plant, Superman is confronted by a superpowered mutant who calls himself the Protector. He has the ability to change his molecular structure at will. At one point, he turns himself into a diamond to defend himself from Superman's attack. Protector disappears and Superman departs to a mountain where he does some serious thinking about the state of the world.

We learn that the Man of Steel is deeply worried about the state of Earth. He thinks of how his home planet Krypton was destroyed and worries that pollution will destroy Earth in a similar manner. He decides that he will continue attacking sources of pollution on his adopted planet. Suddenly, his cousin Supergirl shows up and points out that he's breaking the laws he's sworn to uphold. She has some surprising news that will shake Superman to his core.

Decades earlier, during World War II in the Pacific theater, Superman interrupts an attack by a Japanese submarine. When he questions the sub's captain, Superman learns that the purpose of the sub attack was part of a plan to disrupt the United States' top secret Manhattan Project. Navy Admiral Nimitz orders Superman to report to the Secretary of War, who explains the Manhattan Project to Superman.

At the same time, Superman's Justice Society teammate Wonder Woman learns about the Manhattan Project. She investigates the Project in the guise of her alter ego, Army Intelligence Officer Yeoman Diana Prince. The Amazon discovers it's a top secret program dedicated to building an atomic bomb. Wonder Woman is very disturbed by this prospect.  

She returns home to Paradise Island to seek counsel from her mother Hippolyta. She fears that the U.S. will build an atomic bomb and use it. Wonder Woman believes such a weapon would "unleash demons more terrible than those freed by Pandora!" Hippolyta says that after they discuss the issue, Diana's course of action should be clear.

On an island in the Pacific, a Nazi supersoldier named Baron Blitzkrieg meets with a Japanese samurai warrior called Sumo. The samurai has been brought in to interrogate an American scientist about the Manhattan Project. Sumo simply looks into the man's eyes and forces him to divulge information.

He tells Sumo and Blitzkrieg where they will find components to build an atomic bomb. The two axis villains then plan to attack the United States.

Back in the states, Wonder Woman learns that the Manhattan Project is being conducted at the University Of Chicago. She attacks the university and goes on a rampage. Her activities attract the attention of Superman. She explains that she must prevent the bomb from being built for the sake of the world. The Man Of Steel intervenes and a battle of titans begins.  

Can the two heroes find some common ground in time to unite and stop Baron Blitzkrieg and Sumo? Or will Nazi Germany steal the plans for the Manhattan Project and build an atomic bomb?

Back in the "present' day (1978), members of two alien races beam Superman and the Flash up into space. The aliens' planets have been battling each other for so long that the cause of the conflict is "lost to history." They ask Flash and Superman to run and fly through time to prevent the conflict from ever starting.  

However, their journey through time will not be easy, since forces who want to continue the war have planted booby traps along the heroes' path. Plus, when Flash reaches the 25th century, he encounters his greatest foe: Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash!  

At the New York branch of S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman is assisting scientists in un-freezing the ice-based criminal known as Killer Frost. She is believed to be deceased, but when the Man of Steel hits her "corpse" with heat vision, she returns to life! Killer Frost uses her freezing powers to freeze Superman's brain, turning him into her servant.  

The only person who can free Superman and stop Killer Frost is her arch nemesis, Firestorm, the nuclear man!  

Lastly, the Sterling Circus sets up its tent in Gotham City. Dick Grayson, better known as Batman's partner Robin, recognizes his old friend Waldo the clown working at the circus. When Dick approaches Waldo, the clown doesn't respond or acknowledge him.

Grayson gets suspicious and changes into Robin to investigate the circus. He's hit with a mental attack and collapses. Robin discovers that Waldo and the other circus performers are under mind control. But it gets worse when Grayson discovers that Sterling Circus' strongman is none other than Superman! How can Robin defeat the mind-controller if he has Superman on his side?

Review:

The stories are a mixed bag, but the focus of this hardcover (as its title suggests) is one of the best artists of the Bronze Age.  

Story:

This is mostly a collection of one-part stories penned by six different writers

I enjoyed Gerry Conway's stories the most. The highlight of the book is the battle between Wonder Woman and Superman. It feels a lot like an episode of the Wonder Woman TV show (a hit show when the story was published), and that's a good thing.  

Most "hero vs. hero" fights of the Bronze Age (and Silver Age, for that matter) were usually based on a misunderstanding. In this case, Superman and Wonder Woman are friends and teammates who have very different opinions on the atomic bomb and decide to settle their arguments with a brawl. It's a very refreshing change of pace.  

It should also be noted that when it comes to slugging it out, Wonder Woman is shown to be a worthy opponent for the Man Of Tomorrow. 

Baron Blitzkrieg is also a great antagonist for a story that takes place during WWII. 

Conway also writes historical figures like Albert Einstein, Adm. Chester Nimitz, and Secretary of War Henry Stinson into the story. I have a degree in history, so I appreciated their inclusion.

Conway also wrote the story that features Superman's fight with Protector and the Superman/Firestorm team-up. The latter tale marked the return of Firestorm to comics, which is fitting, since Conway co-created the character.  

Martin Pasko wrote a good two-part time-travel team-up tale where Superman teams with Flash. I'm a big fan of good time-travel stories and Pasko added a short fight between the heroes and Professor Zoom, who is one of my favorite Bronze Age villains.

That story also features a brief meeting between Superman and his younger self when he fought crime as Superboy in the 30th century. They shouldn't exist in the same world at the same time, so they crash into each other, which sends them back to their rightful times.

I don't think the other stories featured in this book are bad, but they can be a bit silly at times. For instance, Solomon Grundy attacks Metropolis during Clark Kent's evening newscast. So Superman hypnotizes Steve Lombard and disguises Lombard as Clark Kent, so that "Clark" can be in two places at once. It's harmless, but it also seems silly and feels like something that belongs in the Silver Age.

About half the stories reprinted here originally ran in DC Comics Presents. This was a B-level team-up series (sort of DC's version of Marvel Team-Up) that usually featured tales that were done in one issue. It was a fun enough series (I occasionally bought issues), but don't expect to read anything too groundbreaking.   

Art:

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez was one of the greatest pencilers of the 1970s and 80s. For years, he drew images of DC characters used in licensed products like t-shirts or lunch boxes. His art in this book always looks good in these stories and occasionally looks fantastic. 

As good as Garcia-Lopez was, sometimes I feel like his art is watered down by inkers. In the early stories reprinted in this book, I get the impression Vince Colletta, Bob Oksner, Frank Springer and Dan Adkins are trying to make Garcia-Lopez' art conform to the "traditional" look of Superman. 

But even with inkers who weren't the best fit, Garcia-Lopez' talents still shine through. He does some great stuff with layouts and unusual angles, such as this two-page spread from the Wonder Woman/Superman fight:

The only downside to that story is that it was originally published in the tabloid-sized All-New Collector's Edition #C-54. In this hardcover, it's reprinted in the size of standard Bronze Age comics.  It still looks great, but loses a little something in the process. 

In some of the later stories, Garcia-Lopez inks his own work and it's a major improvement. Here are some pages that he inked, that were originally published in DC Comics Presents #24:

Garcia-Lopez also served as both inker and penciler on the scan below:

The last story reprinted in the book features inks from Dick Giordano. He was one of the best inkers of his era and he does a nice job enhancing Garcia-Lopez' pencils without overpowering them. The story features Robin teaming with Superman. Here's a scan that features Garcia-Lopez embellished by Giordano:  

Excellent art from two great Bronze Age talents.  

How Does It Look?:

Here's a scan I found on the net, taken from All-New Collector's Edition #C-54:

This is how the same pages appear in Adventures Of Superman:Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez:

Remember, this story was originally printed on tabloid-sized newsprint, so the original version shows some wear and tear.  But I don't see any weird recoloring in the reprint version.

Adventures Of Superman: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez contains some fun stories that feature one of the greatest superheroes of all time with some great art. But the criticisms I mentioned prevent me from giving it a higher rating. Fans of Garcia-Lopez should definitely seek out this book. 

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.