Action Comics Annual #1

[superfangirl1]

Steel shows up in time to hit k-man as he's about to hit superman with a other radiation blast. Acting as a diversion distraction as superman super speeds to john lab to get a lead radiation suit to even the fight.





Loving clark giving and awesome respectful recognition to lois investigation skills.



I hate to imagine general Lane going to sacrifice a woman health and well being. Just to keep k-man happy and have a anti-superman weapon.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

well... looks like we are one step closer to the Lane that blew up new krypton...

[icon_uk]

Why the hell would Lane think someone who was a wife beater would be a good controllable soldier?

[espanolbot]

Same reason why they repeatedly hire Lex Luthor in various different continuities, and why the US army hired Nazi war criminals to assist in the space programme.

People do stupid things when they think they're in danger, so they hire people who they KNOW can do wrong to protect them from the possible wrongdoers instead of hoping that a regular person can do horrible things when push comes to shove.

[md84]

It might be difficult trying to find a decent soldier who is willing to subject themselves to freaky Kryptonite experiments just to be able to kill a superhero.

K-man doesn't need to be a controllable soldier. He just needs to be able and willing to kill Superman. General Lane seems like the kind of guy willing to overlook (and enable) K-man's domestic violence if it means he has a handy anti-Superman weapon ready.

[mrstatham]

So he's going to travel the world and take his awesome tech to the neediest countries on Earth to help people?

Can't wait to see how much non-progress John Henry manages to make with that aspiration.

[icon_uk]

It's the thought that counts?

[mrstatham]

True, but I just dislike having characters state these kinds of aspirations when we know full well the company will never let them succeed.

[darkknightjrk]

In the issue we do see a few months later John helping a remote Australian village get electricity by installing solar panels on their homes, so I can see them doing little things like that, but important to the people that live there.

[mrstatham]

Well, colour me surprised. I'm happily going to eat my hat, now, as sick as that might make me, and as sick as I am already.

[md84]

Was K-man's origin a callback to one of the original classic Superman comics? The one where Superman punched a guy who was abusing his wife.

[darkknightjrk]

Yep--Morrison also briefly mentioned it in his AC #1 in having Nxy mention that Superman got in the middle of a domestic dispute and threw the husband out the window and into the river, breaking his arm in the process.

[jaybee3]

One would have thought after the disaster of New Krypton's ending (which was villified as soon as it came out) they would have used the reboot to change Sam Lane from a xenophobic, hateful, genocidal carbon copy of Thunderbolt Ross. Sadly, no such luck.

And the reboot didn't do Steel any favors. His old costume was much better and sleeker.

[darkknightjrk]

Well, from what I remember of Perez's issues, Lane in the modern day still doesn't like Superman, but he's willing to work with him when it's needed, so it's possible that maybe in the modern day Lane isn't as willing to throw in K-Man at Superman.

Also, remember that this issue still takes place just shortly after the first Action Comics arc, so this is still five years ago. When we see Steel in Animal Man, his suit is basically a sleeker version of his 90s suit.

[md84]

Maybe after the whole "giving a wifebeating jerkass superpowers" thing inevitably backfires and Superman saves his paranoid ass, General Lane might be more willing to trust him.

[akodo_rokku]

K-Man actually got his powers from Luthor, Lane just picks up up afterwards, with no knowledge of where his powers came from.

[lonewolf23k]

Hopefully, General Lane still has enough of a "Family Man" moral center to NOT give Ramsay what he wants. ...Doesn't mean he can't string Ramsay along, though. "I'm using my resources, Ramsay, but there's a lot of layers of bureaucracy to go through, and we don't want it to get traced back to us, now do we? Just do your job, and I'll work on it."

[silverhammerman]

I think I like this take on Steel, but I really did enjoy the old version, where he was essentially a normal dude who wanted to carry on Superman's legacy. It showed Steel as a badass and really highlighted the inspirational qualities of Superman.
Not loving the whole "paranoid military wants to take down Superman even if it means dealing with unstable supervillains" I never like that sort of story. It works a bit better here with young Superman, since it's conceivable that they'd still see him as a threat, but I always just hate it when we see the government go after Superman once he's an established hero, it just comes off as dickish and evil. I'd really be interested to see a story like this, using these kind of Hulk-Buster anti-superhero squads being portrayed as reasonable and even likable.

[arbre_rieur]

"I'd really be interested to see a story like this, using these kind of Hulk-Buster anti-superhero squads being portrayed as reasonable and even likable."

There was at least one: Squadron K, from Busiek's vastly underrated SUPERMAN run. They were a military outfit designed to neutralize Superman in case he ever got mind-controlled. The leader was a decent guy who was even a Superman fan, and while Superman felt *uncomfortable* with the group's existence, for obvious reasons, his logical side could understand why they existed.

[blackruzsa]

"You have no right"
"I have a responsibility"

Strong line.