Tuesday, June 01, 2010

A Nightmare Ordeal for Superman

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/Superman%20171/S171B.jpg

Here's the first page of our cover story from Superman 171, "The Nightmare Ordeal of Superman!"

Once again, Supes has ended up on a planet where his powers are negated. The good news is, Lex Luthor isn't here to beat him up. The bad news is, some Cro-Magnon creep is willing to step in and pinch-hit. And do we mean, HIT!

If you'll recall the cover art by the incomparable Curt Swan, the sun in the background was RED. Why is it shown as yellow here? Maybe the story will tell us.

By the way, the splash scene here, when compared with the Swan-Delicious cover, shows a stark contrast between the styles of Al Plastino and Sir Curt. One thing I have noticed is how many times Mr Plastino repeated a character's pose, almost as if re-tracing it from an earlier story.

Anyway, as to THIS story ...

Deep-Space Scientists are intrigued by the strange radiations sent forth from a faraway star. They would love to send a research rocket closer, but are afraid that the strange emanations might cease before the rocket is ready.

(But what if that star is many light-years away? Maybe the star's emanations stopped a decade ago, and the change hasn't yet been detected here. And besides, what makes them think that a mere solid-fuel 1960s rocket can make it to a far solar system? wait, it's a super-speed missile. That explains everything.)

Burning questions, indeed! Stay tuned!
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