Grave Obsession
Pencils: Tom Grummett
Inks: Doug Hazlewood
Scripts: Jerry Ordway
Letters: Albert De Guzman
Colors: Glenn Whitmore
Assists: Jennifer Frank
Edits: Mike Carlin
Cover Date: February 1993
Cover Price: $1.25
Published by: DC Comics
We open with Lex and Supergirl finding an alarm going off…it’s from Superman’s tomb. Movement’s been detected, so Lex sends Supergirl to investigate. In her investigating the site, she inadvertently winds up getting the SCU involved as THEY investigate the movement of the grate over an airshaft that she opened. While she investigates the tunnel she’s found, we cut to Jose Delgado–Gangbuster–as he ponders where to go and what to do; as well as check in on Lois and the Kents as each feels they’ve been no good to the other(s). Supergirl finds Underworlders and winds up fighting them–as does Turpin (without the SCU actually present). Meanwhile, Gangbuster’s back in action. Supergirl and Turpin get away from the Underworlders, as they realize that the culprit behind the missing body has gotta be Cadmus.
Over the years, I’ve read the comics, read the novelization, listened to the audio drama…and there’ve even been a couple animated films. The films of course rushed through the funeral stuff as if the POINT of the story was to kill Superman and then bring him back. My understanding and how I feel is that the point of the story was to detail a world without Superman…just that after that story, it was necessary with a corporately-owned character such as this to return the status quo–eventually–hence the eventual return. But with the various iterations of the story over the years, it’s interesting the elements that stand out and I remember, and the stuff I forgot.
So this issue is a lot more "action-oriented," rather than character-focused. We get SOME of that character stuff, but it’s brief and primarily contained to Gangbuster, Lois, and the Kents (with no mention of Lana). I’ve never cared for the Underworlders…not in 1992, not in 2022, nor the decades between. I remembered Supergirl investigating the motion sensors and finding tunnels…but I think the Underworlders may have been left out of the novelization and audio drama, so I’m less familiar with their part–and Turpin’s dragged-out fight with them.
I do feel like this chapter was dragged out quite a bit, and while I don’t recall specific details now from the next chapter, the tunnels and such I thought I remembered from that issue.
Story-wise this is a solid issue, if rather boring due to my distaste for the Underworlders stuff. Carve that out and the fact of Luthor’s motion sensors picking something up, Supergirl investigates, and Lois with the Kents could be tacked into another issue, perhaps. It’s not bad, just not to my taste…and probably a reason I remembered more from the first few chapters of Funeral for a Friend than latter stuff. The "Sequence Number Seven" move of an Underworlder dropping a grenade with someone to cover an escape rings a bit of a bell for me as a recurring thing…but it’s been so long now that I’d all but forgotten.
Visually this is a definite treat again…and as much as I don’t care for those Underworlders, Grummett gives us a great Clawster! The cover is also rather iconic, giving us a great look at the Superman statue…and that may be the best part of this issue!
This is definitely my least-favorite chapter of the story so far…though I’m sure it serves its purpose in bridging parts of the story, going from the immediate reactions to Superman’s death, the obvious funeral, and the other heroes doing stuff to honor their fallen friend…to Cadmus getting the body and setting up stuff for the rest of the back-half of the story.
Unlike other chapters, I wouldn’t particularly recommend this one in a vacuum…it’s worth getting if you find the series in a bargain bin, and the art is great just to look at. But while the issue is fairly well contained, it’s not all that interesting or stand-out to me as a single, isolated thing.
I do look forward to getting to the next chapter and seeing what ELSE I’ve forgotten and see how that hits me!
Filed under: 2022 Posts, 2022 Reviews, The '90s Revisited, The Death of Superman Revisited | Tagged: 1990s, Adventures of Superman, Albert De Guzman, DC, DC Comics, Death of Superman, Doomsday, Doug Hazlewood, funeral for a friend, Glenn Whitmore, Grave Obsession, Jennifer Frank, Jerry Ordway, Mike Carlin, Superman, Tom Grummett, World Without a Superman | 2 Comments »
Comic Reviews by Walt 