SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL # 37 (1994 DC Comics)

Written by Louise Simonson.

Art by John Bogdanove; Dennis Janke; Ken Lopez; & Glenn Whitmore.

Cover Art by John Bogdanove & Dennis Janke.

SUMMARY:

Released by DC Comics for September 1994, this preliminary Zero Hour crossover is entitled “Countdown to Zero.”  At a Metropolis city park amphitheater, a smarmy concert promoter flirts with Lois Lane while Clark Kent leaves to investigates Batman’s emergency summons.  At the same venue, Jimmy Olsen & Ron Troupe are The Daily Planet duo covering vampire Babe’s “Children of the Night” goth rock concert. 

Oddly encountering DC Comics’ Batman from the 1970’s, the Man of Steel soon finds that multiple Batmen across the space-time continuum are converging on Metropolis to warn him of imminent danger.  Though these Dark Knights are later replaced by other random Batman variants, they team up with Superman to thwart an assassination involving the Mutant goons from The Dark Knight Returns. 

Superman eventually meets up with the mainstream Batman, as their involvement in Zero Hour begins. In another time-altering shocker, the Kents receive unexpected visitors in Smallville.

Note: This issue is the thirty-third issue in 1994’s interconnecting Superman titles.

REVIEW:

Visually, witnessing this assortment of iconic Batman incarnations (especially the cover image), no matter how briefly, is worth the price of admission.  Still, Louise Simonson’s script is at best middling when it comes to exploring such an intriguing premise.  In the end, along with its average artwork, this issue’s plot twists are as blandly forgettable as Superman evidently finds them. 

Even so, at a modest price, the cover’s neat Bat-nostalgia in Superman: The Man of Steel # 37 is likely worth adding to any comics collection.   

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

There is a two-page “Tempered Steel” letters-and-answers column.  

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                          5 Stars