Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Superman #36

Remember when I said that the next villain would probably not too cool? Well, your mileage will vary on this next pick. Next up is the Prankster, another C-lister. His name in the comics is Oswald Loomis and he uses pranks to commit crimes. It’s all in the name with this guy. He first appeared in Action Comics #51 (1942) and has been around since then. He’s also one villain that’s appeared in other media. He appeared on a couple of episodes the older Superman cartoons, an episode from the 80’s Superman cartoon, and on Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman.

Today’s issue won’t look at his first modern appearance. I actually don’t have that issue yet. Instead, it’ll be Superman #36. The writer and penciller for this issue is Jerry Ordway. Beforehand, Ordway was penciling Adventures of Superman with Marv Wolfman writing. After Wolfman left the book, Ordway became the writer as well. Eventually, he moved over to the Superman book while Dan Jurgens took Adventures. Dennis Janke was the inker.

Superman #36

Writer/Penciller: Jerry Ordway

Inks: Dennis Janke

Colors: Glenn Whitmore

Letters: John Constanza

Editors: Jon Peterson (associate) and Mike Carlin

“Laugh… I Thought I’d Die!”

The story starts out with Superman cleaning up damage leftover by an Intergang robot. Afterwards, he goes off with the Guardian to Cadmus. Meanwhile, Cat Grant’s ex-husband, Joseph, goes to meet Morgan Edge in the hospital. Edge’s here because of his Intergang activities and Cat was involved with taking him down. Even though he doesn’t like Cat that much, he still loves Adam, their son, so he “politely” threatens Edge. Afterwards, Edge gets another visitor, Oswald Loomis, the Prankster.

I see why he and Cat aren't together. Just look at that fourth panel!

At Cadmus, Superman has Dubbilex probe his mind to uncover memories from his time as Gangbuster. At the hospital, Prankster starts to torture the crap out of Edge. It turns out that Edge was one of the men who got Loomis’s  kids ‘show taken off the air, it’s time for Edge to pay. Elsewhere, Jerry White brings a date to his parents’ home. Perry and Alice White are a little surprised to see Tammy, his date, is black, but Perry’s more shocked that she wants to work at Lexcorp.  I can’t blame him. Let’s just say the date doesn’t end well since Jerry is a tool.

Superman heads back to the Daily Planet and finds out that Cat Grant has been fired from GBS. This was Edge’s way of getting back at her. Clark’s worried she might go back to drinking again, but that has to wait when he hears about the Prankster. He changes into uniform and heads to the hospital. It doesn’t take long for him to take care of the villain and save Edge. Afterwards, we find out why Loomis did what he did: to get noticed by the media again. The story ends with him in cuff and adoring the attention.

……………………………………………………….

I thought this was a fine issue. It seemed to be a “Let’s Catch Up With Stuff” issue. At this point, Superman had just made it back from his self-imposed exile in “Exile.” He had a slew of stuff to deal with and his supporting characters did too. Pretty much everything was fine for the most part. The Prankster is kind of a lame villain, so he just leaves the issue with a “fine” feeling. I did think his parts of threatening Edge were kind of funny.

Ha ha!

While the issue is just okay, I did like some moments from it. The stuff with Cat and Clark were nice. The scene involving Joseph Grant is funny. I think this is the only time I’ve seen him and I can see why those two aren’t together. Get some anger management classes, man! Jerry’s date was also kind of funny since he’d thought Perry would slip up on the fact he was dating a black woman. Jerry White was always prick, wasn’t he? Also, the artwork was good as usual. This art team always brought the goods.

In the end, it’s a fine issue for a lame villain. Even though the Prankster isn’t great, everything else worked. As you can tell, the Prankster isn’t one of my favorite villains. He’s probably at the bottom of the list. He’s like Toyman but lamer. Still, I gotta make this month all-inclusive and what not. The next villain will certainly be better than this. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t be a prick.