Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Action Comics #650

Hello! I'm back for another tale from the bin. This is a little different though. Today's issue is Action Comics #650. The creative team is actually the same team from the Exile storyline. Also....Superman rarely appears in it. Yep, it's one of those oversized issues.

Action Comics #650
Writer: Roger Stern
Artists: Everyone from the Exile story line

Now the issue revolves around Draaga (one of the gladiators from the Exile story line) in an alien barlooking for a ride to Earth. He is trying to get to Earth to fight Superman again. See, he lives by the whole "Klingon Honor Code" thing or something like that. Since Superman didn't kill him back then, he's been dishonored and now he wants to reclaim that honor by killing Supes. He's even wearing a piece of Superman's old costume from the storyline. He's that obsessed. While he gloats about how he'll kick Superman's keister, the issue then moves to Earth to look at Clark's supporting characters, friends, and enemies.

The first character that gets the spotlight is Lois. While riding in a taxi to see Superman do some saving, she remineces on Clark a bit. At this time, Clark had become E-I-C at Newstime, and Lois misses him. She then reminiceses on the whole "the Kents raised both Clark and Superman" thing (...don't ask me) and thinks it was weird because no one heard of Superman till that day he saved the shuttle. Anyway, she and Perry White get to the accident and see Superman save a submarine.

Lois...honey, we need to talk about something called...common sense. 

We then switch bases a bit and look at the Justice League of America (Flash, Power Girl, Fire, Ice, and MM). Flash (Wally West) is gloating on how he beat Superman in a race. Martian Manhunter shows up and tells Wally to shove it. Fire wonders why Superman never became a full-fledged member of the JLA (at this time, he never joined the JLA for some reason). MM tells them about why he's not part of the League and even tells them of the times where he has helped the League.

Next, we look at Maxima's  minion, Sazu, who's being held by the police for trying to abduct the mayor. Things hit the fan when her defense attorney comes in. I'll just say this: OW. We then get to see the sultry villain herself and ...wow...if I were a drawing...nothing would still happen. She's even dressed in the latest fashion from Riza.  Anyway, she's looking for a compatible mate, and Superman is the "one". She even has a hologram of him. The funniest thing about this is that she changes a few things to the hologram and one of the things she changes is his hair...does it remind you of anything?

So this is where that hair-do came from!!!

We then look at Jimmy, who is peeved at Superman for giving him what I would like to call "The Skivis!!!" While he's healed from his sickness, he blames Superman for what happened. So, to keep from talking to him, he puts his signal watch in a bank vault. Smart move...not!

Finally, the last character we catch up with who isn't Clark is Amanda McCoy. She is still on the case for trying to reveal Clark's identity. She even asks a cab driver what he thinks Superman does on his free time and we get a pretty hilarious couple of pages. We also get some quick backstory on Amanda. She used to work for Lex Luthor and she even found out Superman's identity by using a computer. Fortunately for Clark, Luthor couldn't believe that Superman would live as an ordinary person, so he fires Amanda (Smart Move). Since then, she has been trying to find out about the truth of Clark and Superman.

Wow...that cabbie imagined my life perfectly....oh wait.

We finally get a little time with Clark as he gets back to his apartment.  He warms up some food, thinks about Krypton's way of life  (important plot point for the storyline I won't be looking at next time)  catches up on some TV and good reading.  The issue ends with Draaga catching a space cab to Earth just as Lobo, the lost member of KISS, shows up at the bar.

.........................................

And that's the end of the issue. What did I think? I thought it was pretty good. It was pretty much a primer for the next few Superman storylines like "Day of the Krypton Man" (which I'll look at another day) and "Dark Knight over Metropolis" (next time).  The artwork from the many artists was good as usual. The writing was good as well. While Superman was not in the book much, I didn't miss him. It was cool seeing what others thought about him at this time. I liked seeing the supporting characters a bit more as well. Well, it's that time. I'll be back with some of that Batman/Superman butt-kicking.

NEXT TIME: DARK KNIGHT OVER METROPOLIS!!!