Retrospective on Superman's Triangle Era Part 2: 1992

In anticipation of the upcoming Superman film from James Gunn and the newly forged DC Studios, I decided to revisit an unfinished reading project: going through all of the Post-Crisis Superman comics. In doing so, I realized that there's very little discussion concerning Superman's stories after John Byrne left the title outside of a few iconic stories such as The Death and Return of Superman. So I decided to add my two-cents to the discussion, beginning with some retrospectives on the "Triangle Era.” This is the second in my series which covers the 1992 calendar year of Triangle Era Superman stories. I do end things slightly early to accommodate the beginning of the Death and Return of Superman epic which I plan to write a separate post about. 

To kick things off, 1992 introduces villains Jolt and Blockhouse to the Superman mythos. Two extremely poorly designed costumes with bland characters behind them. It feels a bit like the superhero stuff is taking a bit of a smaller focus over the personal dramas of the main and extended cast. Jimmy’s descent into houselessness and the constant tormenting the writers put him through has gotten exhausting. And Lana Lang and Pete Ross are getting married as well which is taking focus. 

I am a sucker for holiday stories. I think they are able to take superheroes and put them into some extremely relatable situations, but also emphasize the best aspects of themselves because of the nature of the various holidays. So, Christmas stories with Superman are always a treat. Superman (Vol 2) #64 is an unforgettable example of that. The framing device of the story is that Lois and Clark are reading the fanmail that Superman receives which is full of people propositioning him for business ideas, people thanking him for what he does, and most importantly people asking for help. In the span of the issue’s 22 pages, Superman helps a Holocaust survivor reunite with her long-lost sister, consoles a child grieving the father he lost to cancer, delivers a much-needed heart transplant, and gives some children in need a Christmas with a “real” Santa Claus. A Superman who doesn’t just punch monsters and robots and lecture Lex Luthor is shown here and I love that very much.

“Panic in the Sky” is the first real major crossover arc of the year, and it rules. Brainiac, Warworld, and an assorted group of extraterrestrial nasties are heading to Earth to conquer it and Superman has to assemble a team of more or less every superhero active at the time to try and stop them. Even Metron and the New Gods get involved. The 7-part arc is almost non-stop action with plenty of character moments for the various guest-stars. I especially enjoyed Guy Gardner, Kilowog, and Shazam’s scenes. Really great finale to the Warworld and Brainiac stories. 

In Superman (Vol 2) #67, Lois and Clark are discussing the first movies they saw as children and Clark mentions that when he was a kid for his first movie he had the choice between seeing one of the Zorro films or To Kill a Mockingbird, he chose the latter. This sits as an interesting parallel to Batman’s iconic connection to The Mask of Zorro. I love little character details like this; they add a lot of depth to the character dynamics.

Superman: Man of Steel (Vol 1) #14 is the beginning of an incredibly fun two-part vampire story. Jimmy Olsen and Tim Drake team-up to investigate vampiric killings going on in Metropolis. The whole story is a lovely little celebration of vampire media, full of cameos from famous vampire depictions from film with Jimmy dressed like a superheroic version of one of the vampire hunters from The Lost Boys (1987). The second part, in Superman (Vol 2) #70, is largely a punch-fest where Superman, Tim, and Jimmy dive in to fight the vampires. It ends with a cliffhanger leading to the next larger story, “The Blaze/Satanus War”.

“The Blaze/Satanus War” does not feel like it has to be a Superman story. In fact, I think many other characters would work in it a lot better. Superman fighting demons and devils has never particularly interested me much; magic has a “normalizing” effect on Superman, meaning when fighting magical threats, he is in my ways as vulnerable as a normal person as well as his powers not being as effective as they normally are. I am not inherently against weakened Superman, but he just frankly feels ill-equipped when fighting particularly powerful magical threats in a way that makes the story a bit boring. I also don’t think that either of the demonic characters in this story were particularly memorable or interesting, especially considering both of them are traditionally Shazam villains, and work a lot better with the Big Red Cheese.

A regular running joke in 1992 Superman is Jimmy Olsen’s budding career as a turtle themed mascot character for a local pizza joint. An obvious but charming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reference, as well as a call-back to the iconic Turtle Boy story in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (Vol 1) #53 in the Silver Age. It is cute and as a fan of the TMNT, I always get a nice smile seeing the gag.

After the War with the demons, Superman meets and interacts with the Lords of Chaos and Order. Particularly a neutral member introduced as “Kismet” in Adventures of Superman (Vol 1) #494. This acts as a reflection story before Superman’s impending demise. They cover his killing of Zod, his friend’s drunken car accident (discussed in my last post), and Clark’s engagement and relationship with Lois. Specifically, the looking back is to ponder what could have happened if Superman had made a different choice, or no choice at all. There’s even an arguable look ahead at the Injustice version of Superman. The story here is a really excellent look at who Superman is, why he does what he does, and the changes he’s made to the world because of that

For the next paragraph, there’s a trigger warning for domestic violence. 

In the same vein as the Kismet issue, there’s a following two-part storyline titled “Crisis at Hand.” Clark overhears domestic violence occurring in the apartment next to his, which leads him to change into Superman and try to stop the man abusing his wife. In response to Superman’s interjection, the woman calls the police to remove Superman from their apartment. This causes an internal crisis of morals for Clark. His interjection actively made things worse and reminded him of a previous failed attempt at stopping an abusive relationship which ended in the abuser murdering his victim. The story itself is handled very deftly and carefully with a rather great ending, and a very memorable scene with Pa Kent giving advice. I do not want to spoil it, and would encourage everyone to go read the two issues - Superman: Man of Steel (Vol 1) 16 and Superman (Vol 2) 72. 

The rest of the time before the oncoming Death of Superman is spent tidying up any lingering plot threads, and telling some one-shot stories to fill the time before the gigantic epic event. The only real thing of note is that Adventures of Superman (Vol 1) 496 is another charming Mr. Mxyzptlk story.