Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Superman: The Secret Years

Next up for the month is a trip to the 80’s… sort of. We’re still in the Bronze Age, but this story came out right as Crisis on Infinite Earths was ramping up. I guess one could consider this a farewell to a certain pre-Crisis feature of the Superman mythos: Superboy. Superman’s early adventures were still a thing even in the 80’s. Either he was getting into trouble in Smallville or hanging out with the Legion of Superheroes. I don’t know if there were any that talked about his college exploits. I know that there’s was a back up in Superman called “Superman: The In-Between Years.” Then, there’s this four issue story.

Superman: The Secret Years ran from February 1985 to May 1985. Bob Rozakis, the writer of the other college Superman backups, wrote this story. On pencils, we got Curt Swan, the face of Superman throughout the Bronze Age. On inks, we got Kurt Schaffenberger. Schaffenberger used to do inks for Superboy stories. Then, we got the covers drawn by Frank Miller… yeah, that Frank Miller! So, what happened during Clark Kent’s last years in college? Ohyeah, here’s a little mood music… 

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - The Master of Kung Fu #100

Next up for the month is a return to the Marvel Universe’s Master of Kung Fu. I’ve already looked at a few things involving Shang-Chi. I thought I’d come back to the guy since I got a random issue from his first series. Word on the street is that there may be a Shang-Chi movie coming one of these days. I don’t know how that’ll pan out, but hopefully that does get some traction. It’d be nice to see some more Marvel kung-fu action since The Immortal Iron Fist Netflix show is gone. More on that next week.

Today’s issue is The Master of Kung Fu #100.  I don’t remember where I found it at. This double-sized issue was written by Doug Moench. I probably remember Moench more for his Batman work, but he’s done some Marvel stuff as well. The artwork is handled by Gene Day and Mike Zeck. Jim Novak handles the letters and Bob Sharen does the colors. So, what happens in the 100^th issue of Shang-Chi’s book? Flashback time!!! (echoes)

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Superman in "The Day of the Krypton Man"

This week for Superman Month, it’s all about family. Clark’s got two sets of parents, so I thought I’d center on the ones who influenced Clark the most: The Kents. Yeah, the Els may have birthed them and maybe taught him stuff in the Fortress of Solitude, but the Kents were the ones who raised. They were the ones who instilled Superman’s morals in him. Considering how Clark turned out, I think they did a good job.

Jonathan and Martha Kent (or Pa and Ma Kent) were actually introduced a year after Action Comics #1 was released. You could say that they were there in the beginning, but they had no name yet and Superman’s history was still in flux. Their names weren’t set in stone until much later either. The Kents also didn’t live long in the pre-Crisis era since they died when Superman was still Superboy. The idea of the Kents living and interacting with adult Clark didn’t come to pass until the Byrne reboot in 1986. The Kents being alive was then undone with the reboot in 2011. They been all over the different media as well.

Today’s story is one I’ve wanted to get to for some time. “Day of the Krypton Man” was a multi-part story that took place in Superman #41-42, The Adventures of Superman #464-465, and Action Comics #651-652. At this time, the Super books started to fit more in line with one another. This took place during a time where Clark was having issues. Ever since he returned from his exile, stuff has been weird. He accidentally got Jimmy sick, he and Lois have been getting close, and he quit his job at the Daily Planet to become the EiC at Newstime. He’s also been dealing with that pesky Eradicator device and that’s going to hit him big time in this story. So, what happens when Clark turns a stogy, cold, violent (?) jackass? A lotta stuff, ‘yo!

“The Day of the Krypton Man”

Writers: Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens, and Roger Stern

Pencils: Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens, George Perez, and Kerry Gammill

Inks: Dennis Janke, Art Thibert, and Brett Breeding

Colors: Glenn Whitmore

Letters: John Constanza, Albert DeGuzman, and Bill Oakley

Editor: Mike Carlin and Jon Peterson

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Action Comics #647-649

Next up for the month is actually a double feature! I have two villains for this post and they are pretty well-known: Brainiac and Metallo. Since Metallo is less complex, I’ll talk about him first. Metallo was first introduced in Action Comics #252 as John Corben, a criminal. After a fatal accident, Professor Vale was able to save Corben's brain and put it into a robotic body with a heart of Kryptonite. After John died, his brother ended up taking the role until the reboot in 1986. Then, John Byrne brought the original idea back and gave it a more Terminator edge in Superman #1. At this point, Metallo was deactivated and under Lex Luthor’s possession.

Then, there’s Brainiac. Where do I even start? Ever since his first appearance in Action Comics #242, he's been revamped and retconned in just about everything. Let’s just go with the Coluan background here. There’s no need to mention the fact that he’s been a Kryptonian A.I. too. In this iteration, He was a scientist from Colu who was executed via teleportation. His consciousness ended up on Earth and found Milton Fine, a circus performer who had psychic powers. He took control of Fine and fought Superman a number of times until he ended up becoming catatonic. He also ended up being under the care of Lex Luthor.

Today’s story is “The Brainiac Trilogy” from Action Comics #647-649. At this point, Action Comics was back to being a main Superman book. Beforehand, it was weekly and being shared by multiple heroes. We haven’t gotten to the point where the Superman books were tying right into each other yet. Roger Stern was the writer. The artwork was done by George Perez, Kerry Gammill, and Brett Breeding. So, sit back and see how Brainiac got his groove back!

Action Comics #647-649

Writer: Roger Stern

Artwork: George Perez, Kerry Gammill, and Brett Breeding

Colors: Bill Oakley

Letters: Glenn Whitmore

Editors: Jon Peterson (associate) and Mike Carlin

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Prince and the New Power Generation: Three Chains of Gold

You know, I was saving this issue for one rainy day. Unfortunately, it had to be for this. As some you y’all might know, Prince suddenly passed away last week. It was a bit of a shock to me and pretty much everyone else. I’m not the biggest Prince fan out there, but I like some of his songs. I’ve listened to most of his stuff from his prime. I can say that he was really gifted musician. The guy could almost play anything and that’s really cool to me.

I found this issue during Free Comic Book Day last year. I even tweeted on it since it literally looks like one of the most random finds ever. I mean, a Prince comic book? I’m not surprised that there would be something like that out there, but seeing is believing in this case. This was done by Pirhana Music back in 1994 and was an adaptation to a video Prince released around that time. Prince and the New Power Generation was shockingly written by Dwayne McDuffie… yeah, that Dwayne McDuffie! David Williams (no relation), Steve Carr, and Deryl Skelton handled the pencils for this 48-page issue. Inks were done by long-time inker, Josef Rubinstein.

Prince and the New Power Generation: Three Chains of Gold

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie

Pencils: David Williams (pages 1-22); Steve Carr (pages 23-48); Deryl Skelton (pages 23-48)

Inks: Josef Rubinstein

Colors: Danny Vozzo

Letters: Robert Lappan

Editing: Andrew Helfer

Tale From The 50 Cent Bin! - Green Arrow #1 and #2

Next up on “Wanna-be Batman Month” (which isn’t a good title since most of these guys aren’t wanna-bes) is a guy who actually started out as a copycat: The Green Arrow. He first appeared in More Fun Comics in 1941. He was obviouly influenced by Robin Hood with the get-up and skills. Mort Wesienger (his creator) even pulled stuff from a movie serial called The Green Archer. The Batman part comes with everything else. He was a rich playboy, had a kid sidekick, and had a lot of crap that was based on his name. Let’s see, there’s the Arrow-Cave, the Arrow-Car, and the Arrowplane. If he also had some Arrow-Shark Repellant and we could call it a day.

He got retooled in 1969 to be more of his own character. He lost the money, grew a cool goatee, and became one of those annoying liberals you try to get away from. By the way, I also run away from the annoying conservatives because I’m just that guy. Anyway, this new attitude and look stuck with him for the longest time until the New 52 where… I don’t know what going on there. All I know is that his book (like most books these days) tends to have rotating teams.

After the Crisis On Infinite Earths, Green Arrow was reshaped into a grittier version of himself by Mike Grell. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters started that shift. In the mini, Oliver and Dinah (Black Canary) relocated to Seattle, WA and serious stuff happened. His new series after that mini-series kept Oliver in that direction. I picked up the trade Green Arrow Vol. 1: Hunters Moon some time ago. Today’s issues are from that trade. Green Arrow #1 and #2 were written by Mike Grell. Pencils are handled by Ed Hannigan and inks are brought to us by Dick Giordano.

Green Arrow #1 and #2

Writer: Mike Grell

Pencils: Ed Hannigan

Inks: Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin

Colors: Julia Lacquement

Letters: John Costanza

Editor: Mike Gold

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Daredevil #159

Next up for this weird Batman month is a character that’s pretty cool: Daredevil. While I like the character, he’s not one of my favorite characters. I always thought he was cool though. He is also a Marvel mainstay and has been around since the 60’s. He’s also the reason Frank Miller is/was a name. For those who don’t know, young Matt Murdock went blind when his eyes were doused by chemicals in an accident. While he can’t see, the chemicals strengthened his other senses in a major way. He learned to hone his abilities and body to do awesome things. As an adult, he’s a defense attorney during the day. At night, he is Daredevil, a red-wearing vigilante who delivers a certain sort of justice to evil!

His similarities to Batman are few but they are there. They both lost a parent to crime, they experienced tragedy at a young age (going blind isn’t fun), they honed their bodies into fighting machines, and they dress in tights… or armor. Take your pick. They also try to do some good in their civilian lives. While Bruce puts his money towards his fight against crime, he does try to use his money to better the city. He is a philanthropist playboy after all. Their lives also tend to be very crappy though Daredevil takes the cake. One wonders how he has made it this far. The only major difference is that Matt has powers.

Today’s issue is Daredevil #159. I had gotten the first volume to Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller a long while back and this is one the issues in it. I was curious on Frank Miller’s start on the title and I was listening to Dave’s Daredevil Podcast at the time (I need to catch up with that). The writer is Robert Mckenzie. Pencils are provided by Frank Miller. This was actually his second issue on the title. Klaus Janson provided the inks, Glynis Oliver Wein does the colors, and Jim Novak provided the lettering.

Daredevil #159

Writer: Robert McKenzie

Pencils: Frank Miller

Inks: Klaus Janson

Colors: Glynis Oliver Wein

Letters: Jim Novak

Editors: Mary Jo Duffy and Allen Milgrom

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Icon #10

Today’s Super-Homage is one that I’ve talked about before: Icon. He was created by Dwayne McDuffie for Milestone Comics and was featured in his own title in the early 1990s’s. I talked about him back in February when I looked at a trade that has his series’ first eight issues. He shares some similarities to Superman in that he’s an alien who crashed on Earth and he has a secret identity. The similarities stop there though. Originally named Arnus, he crashed on Earth in 1839 and took the form of an African-American baby. He was named Augustus Freeman and kept his alien heritage a secret for over a century. It isn’t until the 1990s where he (at the behest of a young girl named Raquel) decides to become a superhero and clean up the city of Dakota.

Today’s issue is Icon #10. I did think about looking at an issue where he and Superman actually duked out, but it’s part of a crossover called "Worlds Collide." I haven’t read the total crossover, so this one seemed best. If you want to hear some discussion about those issues, head over to From Crisis To Crisis: A Superman Podcast where they went in-depth with that crossover between DC and Milestone. Dwayne McDuffie wrote the issue. M.D. Bright provided the pencils. Mike Gustovich handles the inks. James Brown (not the singer but that would be cool) and David Montoya handles the colors. So, let’s see what happens when Icon chases after some gangster

Icon #17

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie

Pencils: M.D. Bright

Inks: Mike Gustovich

Colors:  David Montoya and James Brown (Good God! Hey!... Had to do it.)

Letters: Steve Duturo

Editor: Matt Wayne

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Supreme #41

Next up on the list is a character I know little about: Supreme. He was created by everyone’s favorite 90’s whipping boy, Rob Liefeld. He first appeared in Youngblood and then got spun off into his own title. From what I’ve read online, he had the powers of Superman but not the morality. He wasn’t a bad guy but he was willing to have blood on his hands.  His origins were also pretty incoherent. The guy even went up against Thor and Loki… no, not Marvel’s Thor and Loki. This Thor actually had red hair but no beard.

Somehow, Liefeld was able to get Alan Moore, the bearded dude himself, to come write on the book. Apparently, Moore’s only condition was that he could pretty much ignore what came before with the character. From what I’ve seen online and actually read with those early issues, I can’t blame him. The ones I read (look, they were cheap) weren’t horrible but they weren’t any good either. Supreme #41 was published by Maximum Press aka Awesome Comics and released in 1996. All I know is that Liefeld was over that thing. Moore wrote the issue. Joe Bennett provided the main pencils and Norm Rapmund provided the main inks. There are also some pencils and inks done by Keith Giffen and Al Gordon. I’ll list the rest below.

Supreme #41

Writer: Alan Moore

Pencils: Joe Bennett and Keith Giffen

Inks: Norm Rapmund and Al Gordon

Colors: Reuben Rude

Letters: Todd Klein

Editorial Assistant: Brent Braun

Editor: Eric Stephenson

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel

Well, I’ve finally gotten to Superman Month aka “Superman Analogue Month”… I’m still working on the title. As I said before, I’ll be looking at different analogues/homages/rip-offs to Superman. I’ve looked all around for them and I’ve found quite a few. Today, I’ll be starting with one who is a little similar to another hero I’ll be talking about this month.

The Blue Marvel was one I actually came across a few years ago. I had heard about a mini-series featuring a long-lost forgotten black superhero and I was interested. It was actually a long time before I found those issues though. I found all five of them in the cheap bin. The character was created by actor/writer Kevin Grevioux, the writer behind the Underworld movies. He apparently came up with the idea as a child and was able to do the story for Marvel. Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel was released throughout 2009. While Grevioux handles the writing duties, the pencils are handled by Mat Broome and Roberto Castro.

Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel

Writer: Kevin Grevioux

Pencils: Mat Broome and Roberto Castro

Inks: Sean Parson, Alvaro Lopez, Lorenzo Ruggiero 

Colors: John Rauch

Letters: Dave Lamphear

Costume Designs: Kaare Andrews

Editor:  Alejandro Arbona

Tales From The 50 Cent Bin! - Batman: Gothic

While there is no Batman Month this year, I felt I needed to get my Batman fix. Not only is it a Batman fix, but it is a Grant Morrison fix. Yes, I had to go back to that bald, Scottish guy again. This time, I’ll be looking at Morrison’s early work with the Dark Knight. No, it isn’t Batman: Arkham Asylum (the graphic novel). Something tells me that I might not enjoy that story all that much. I may read it one day just to say “Hey, I read Batman: Arkham Asylum!”

This five-issue story arc comes from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (issues #6-10) which was essentially an anthology title. A creative team would come on and basically do a story for a few issues and then leave. From what I’ve read, they tended to show Batman in his early years. I’ve found quite a few issues from this series in the 50 cent bin like this story and others. As I said before, Morrison is the writer. Klaus Janson provided the overall art (pencils and inks) to the story.

Tales From the.. $4.99 Bin? - Star Wars: Darth Vader #1

It’s about time I’ve gotten to something that’s Star Wars related.  It just sucks that it almost cost five bucks… I think I know why I barely buy any new Marvel books. When Disney acquired the license, Dark Horse eventually had to end their time with the franchise. Marvel now has the license and it’s all that Dark Horse did is now considered to be non-canon (if it was ever considered canon in the first place). Since the only things that are considered to be canon now are the films (even the prequels, folks) and the animated shows, Marvel’s been putting out new books featuring our heroes post-Episode IV.

Today’s issue is Star Wars: Darth Vader #1. Since Darth Vader is considered to be one of the best villains/henchmen ever, I thought I would try the first issue out. It’s written by Kieron Gillen and he’s been on some books of late. I know he was writing an X-Men book before Bendis took over. Invincible Iron Man’s artist Salavador Larroca takes on the pencils an inks. So, let me talk about how Palpatine chews Vader up and spits him out.

Star Wars: Darth Vader #1
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Letters: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White
Cover Artist: Adi Granov

(I ain’t listing the rest)

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Captain America #1

Now, I’m in the present… or at least 2004. It’s close enough. Today’s issue is Captain America #1. This was the start of Ed Brubaker’s long run on Captain America and it all started with the Winter Soldier arc. As you can probably tell by the title, most of Brubaker’s arc influenced the recent movie from 2014. I don’t know if I picked up the first trade to Brubaker’s run because of the movie or because of word of mouth. The issue was written by Brubaker. I haven’t read much of his work outside his stuff on Captain America. I know he’s been on Batman and Daredevil. The artist is Steve Epting and I even know less about him. So, let’s get to it.

Captain America #1

Writer: Ed Brubaker
 Artist: Steve Epting
 Colors: Frank D’Amata
 Letters: Randy Gentile
Editors: Tom Brevoort, Andy Schmidt, Nicole Riley, and Molly Lazer

Tales From The 50 Cent Bin! - Captain America #247

Now, I’ve gotten to Captain America aka “Mr. Stars and Stripes.” While he’s not one of my top 10 comic book heroes, I’ve always liked the guy. To me, the Avengers don’t feel like a thing unless he’s around. Unlike the other two heroes, I’ve looked at, I actually own some stuff related to Captain America. I’ll be looking at two first issues that are part of trade I own. Today, I’ll be looking at Captain America #247 from the War and Remembrance trade.

This issue started a short but good run for the character. The writer was Roger Stern while the penciller is John Byrne. Both also co-plotted on the issue. I actually looked at an issue from this trade last year that had Cap almost run for office. Joe Rubinstein handles the inks for the issue.  So, let’s see what happens while Cap is out doing his thing.

Captain America #247

Writer: Roger Stern

Pencils: John Byrne

Inks: Josef Rubinstein

Colors: George Roussos

Letters: Jim Novak

Editor: Jim Salicrup

Tales From The 50 Cent Bin! - The Incredible Hulk #335

While I’ve always had a fondness for the Hulk, I didn’t buy any of his comics. Frankly, I just didn’t know where to start since I’m mostly a DC guy. That changed when I came across a podcast about Peter David’s run called PADSmash: An Incredible Hulk Podcast. It was being done by J. David Weter, a guy who knows a lot about many superheroes. I mostly knew of Peter David as a Trek writer and I didn’t know about his run on the Hulk.  The podcast is on hiatus (I haven’t heard anything else about its status) but it’s out there somewhere. I’ve got most of the run through 50 cent bins, but today’s issue comes from the first Visionaries volume that came out on this run.

Today, I’ll be looking at The Incredible Hulk #335. I’m mostly looking at this one because unlike most of David’s issues, this one doesn’t tie into much. All you need to know is that Bruce is now transforming into the Gray Hulk. Unlike the Green Hulk, the Gray Hulk is not as strong, is pretty smart, and wants to get rid of his weak side (Bruce). Peter David is the writer. Instead of the regular penciler (Todd McFarlane) drawing, we have John Ridgway of Hellblazer fame as the guest penciler. So, let’s see what happens when the Hulk faces… some guy with issues.

Incredible Hulk #335

Writer: Peter David

Artist: John Ridgway

Colors:Petra Scotese

Letters:Rick Parker

Editor: Bob Harras

Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter

Tales from The $3.99 (I think) Bin! - Indestructible Hulk #1

Current-day Hulk is weird. I mean, there’s a Red Hulk, Hulk’s got a son, and I think Banner and Hulk got split again with Banner going mad. I actually don’t know what was going on with that since I never read it. Anyway, I decided to jump into current Hulk with the launched title, Indestructible Hulk. It was part of the Marvel NOW re-launch that happened after the Avengers Vs. X-Men crossover. I found the first three issues somewhere but I don’t know where I got them. It might have been part of some deal, but I’m not sure. I know it wasn’t when they came out. Today, I’ll be looking at the first issue.

I was mostly interested in seeing how this was going to be because Mark Waid is writing the book. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to read some of his older books and more recent ones. I’ve began to like his writing. The penciler and inker on the book is Leinil Francis Yu. The two created had collaborated before on the awesome mini-series, Superman: Birthright. Sunny Gho handled the colors and Chris Eliopoulos handled the letters. The book is edited by Mark Paniccia.

Indestructible Hulk #1

Writer: Mark Waid

Artist: Leinel Francis Yu

Colors: Sunny Gho

Letters: Chris Eliopoulos

Editor: Mark Paniccia

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Black Panther (1988)

You know, I realized something back in December during my DC kick: I haven’t looked at anything Marvel-related since April of last year. I knew I liked DC, but dang! I left Marvel out in the cold like a dog. My excuse is simple: I had no time for it. So, I think I need to make up for that time with a hero who I really don’t know much about: The Black Panther. For those who don’t know, T’Challa is the king of the African country, Wakanda. Whenever someone becomes the king, they take the title of the Black Panther. He was also one of the first black superheroes in comics which makes it even nicer since it is Black History Month. If you want to know more about the guy, go to Wikipedia or something  since I don’t know everything about the dude.

I’ll go on and admit that T’Challa isn’t one of my favorite superheroes but I do like him. I’ve tried to get into some of the different runs in the last few years, but I haven’t made the chance to do it. I think I like it more when he interacts with other heroes like the Avengers or Marvel’s Illuminati group. I enjoyed the character in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as well as Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers run which is something I need to catch up on one of these days. I haven’t gone past issue 5 yet since Marvel had the “bright” idea to have their books cost about $4 an issue.

I found this four-issue miniseries in the 50 cent bin some time ago. Since it had Black Panther and all four issues were available, I decided to get it. It was released in 1988. I haven’t heard of any of the creators on this except for the editors and the penciler. So, let’s get to it.

Black Panther (1988)

Writer: Peter B. Gillis

Pencils: Denys Cowan

Inks: Sam de LaRosa

Colors: Bob Sharen (#1-#3) and Max Scheele (#4)

Letters: Rick Parker

Editor: Mark Gruenwald

Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Tales From the $3.99 Bin! - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret History of the Foot Clan

It’s time to step back into the sewer and look at IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. I actually haven’t been keeping up with the title recently. I actually dropped it from my pull list though that decision was based on money instead of the book sucking. After the “City Fall” arc, I kind of lost interest with the book. I actually got issues at the house I haven’t read yet, so I may add it back to my list eventually. I was wondering what would be good to do for this month, so I’ve decided to look at a mini-series that tied into the main series: The Secret History of the Foot Clan.

TMNT: The Secret History of the Foot Clan was a four-issue mini-series that was released at the end of 2012. The story was done by the artist of the mini: Mateus Santolouco. Say that name three times. Erik Burham and Santolouco handled the script together. The colors are handled by Joao Viera and the letters were handled by Shawn Lee. Bobby Curnow is the editor. I’m not going to beat around the bush with this one. This mini-series was awesome.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret History of the Foot Clan

Story and Art: Mateus Santolouco

Script: Erik Burnham and Mateus Santolouco

Colors: Joao Viera

Letters: Shawn Lee

Editor: Bobby Curnow

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Action Comics #9

Well, I’ve finally made it to the end. After this post, I’ll have a couple of more things to say about Superman. Since I’ve done two Grant Morrison stories this month, I might as well do another one. Today’s issue is Action Comics #9 and it actually features a completely different Superman… or at least different in that he’s got my skin tone. Not only is he black, he’s also the President of the United States. “Hmm… I wonder who he’s based off of,” I sarcastically say.

This isn’t the first time this Superman has made an appearance. The Superman of Earth-23 made his first appearance in the weird event known as Final Crisis. He’s actually made a bit of a comeback in another Morrison-penned book called Multiversity. In a lot of ways, this issue is kind of a prequel to that new book. Of course, Grant Morrison is the writer of the main story. Sholly Fisch handles the back-up. Gene Ha handles the art duties on the main story for this issue while Cully Hammer handles the back-up.

Action Comics #9
Writers: Grant Morrison (main) and Sholly Fisch (Back-up)
Artists: Gene Ha (main) and Cully Hammer (back-up)
Colorists: Art Lyon (main) and Dave McCaig (back-up)
Letters: Patrick Brosseau (main) and Carlos M. Mangual (back-up)
Assistant Editor: Will Moss
Editor: Matt Idelson

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Superman #13

It’s time to come back to the present… or at least 2012 to look at what’s going on in the other Superman book. While Action Comics had Grant Morrison consistently putting out stuff, Superman was pretty inconsistent. George Perez and Jesus Merino did an arc and left. Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen did an arc and left. It seemed like no one was staying on the book or most books with DC Comics for that matter. Then a man named Scott Lobdell came in. All I can say is that at least he stayed on for more than six issues!

While Superman #0 was his first issue, I’m looking at Superman #13 since that officially started his time on there. Lobdell was also writing Teen Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws, and Superboy at this time. He had also worked on the X-Men books in the 1990s. The art is done by Kenneth Rocafort who was also on Red Hood and the Outlaws with Lobdell. Rocafort also did pencils for Action Comics before the New 52 and did a lot of stuff for the publisher, Top Cow.

Superman #13

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Kenneth Rockafort

Colors: Sunny Gho

Letters: Rob Leigh

Assistant Editor: Darren Shan

Editor: Eddie Berganza