Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - The Adventures of Superman #544

Next up for the month is actually an organization this time: Intergang. The Metropolis-based gang was first introduced in Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen #133 (1970). Yes, Jimmy Olsen had his own book and it lasted that long. This was during Jack Kirby’s run with the series and it heavily tied into his Fourth World work. The group was led by Bruno Manheim and they used advanced technology to do their thing. They’d usually get their tech from Apokalips itself. They were a major threat during the post-Crisis run but they did disappear for a time.

Instead of being stuck in the late 80’s/early 90’s, it’s time to go ahead a few years. Today’s issue is The Adventures of Superman #544. It’s right after the wedding and right before Superman gets electric. More on “Superman 2: Electric Boogaloo” later. The issue is written by Karl Kesel. The pencils were handled by Stuart Immonen and the inks were done by Jose Marzan Jr. So, let’s see what happens when you combine a plot from a TV show with the comics.

The Adventures of Superman #544

Writer: Karl Kesel

Pencils: Stuart Immonen

Inks: Jose Marzan Jr.

Colors: Glenn Whitemore

Letters: Albert De Guzman

Seperations: Digital Chameleon

Editors: Joey Cava Mike McAvennie

“Dead Men Walking”

The story starts out with Clark Kent being killed by a guy with a machine gun… yeah, that can happen in Metropolis. The most puzzling thing is that Lois and Clark come upon the crime scene that’s in front of the Daily Planet. Clark checks the body which turns out to be a clone. It also turns out that his clone was in the Daily Planet researching  the dead gangsters of Metropolis. Superman gets Cadmus on the case of the double and it turns out that it was an unfinished clone. Meanwhile, Lois looks into the clone’s killer. It turns out that he looks exactly like a younger version of Mike “Machine” Gunn, an old gangster who’s still alive.

Lois: Another clone, Clark? Haven't we gone through this storyline?

Lois and Clark go meet Gunn before the cops arrive. The only thing they get out of him is that he’s planning on living a long time. The cops arrive and try to apprehend Gunn, but Gunn shoots himself. Later, Superman finds what’s revealed to be Gunn’s clone at the fairgrounds. Gunn turns his hands into machine guns and uses them on Superman. It turns out Gunn “killed” Clark because of the Intergang work he did some time ago. Of course, this does little against the Man of Steel. Before Superman can get anything out of Gunn, he combusts and falls apart. When Lois and Clark make it back to the Daily Planet, they are greeted with a surprise. Franklin Stern has brought on Simone DeNiege for a marketing consultant and Clark isn’t exactly thrilled. He and Simone were kinda close back in the day.

We then cut to a board room where Vincent Edge is meeting with old members of Intergang. The plan is to reorganize the gang under Boss Moxie, the father of Bruno Manheim. Before Moxie can do more talking, he falls over dead and blows up the room for good measure. It turns out that Moxie also got himself a new young body. He wanted to take the competition out. The young Boss Moxie enters the room with other young, formerly dead gangsters and they also have superpowers. It’s revealed that Dabney Donovan, a former scientist from Cadmus, has made this possible. The issue ends with Moxie proclaiming that Intergang is back.

………………………………………………

This was a decent issue of the book. It reintroduces Intergang who at this point haven’t been around for a while. I find it hilarious that the team took a plot from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and made it work in comics. If you’re wondering, that episode was “That Old Gang of Mine” and it wasn’t a good one.  The concept is definitely better here than there even if it’s dead gangsters. The writing was also fine. From what I remember, Kesel was a nice writer for the book. The art team was also pretty good.

Overall, this was a decent issue from the series. There isn’t really much to say about it. It’s not bad but I can’t say it’s one the best issues of all time either. It’s just average and that is a good thing. Intergang was an alright enemy for Superman. The place where they were probably best used outside of comics was on Superman: the Animated Series. That show did a lot of villains well. Maybe I’ll go back to it again for another villain. For now, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.