Superman: Strange Attractors

Superman: Strange Attractors 

By Gail Simone, John Byrne & Nelson

(DC Comics)  ISBN 1-84576-249-5

Here’s a Superman collection that’s tailored to the fight fan, as the mighty Man of Steel takes on a bevy of baddies in short, terse tales designed as an antidote to all those multi-chapter epics. First up is a battle against the incredibly mad Master of Magnetism, Dr Polaris, aided, if not abetted, by the Egyptian super-being Black Adam. The original run of these stories was interrupted for the “Sacrifice” storyline (collected as a Graphic Novel of the same name), so this volume reconvenes with the episode after.

Dr. Psycho is an old Wonder Woman villain, an evil, sadistic dwarf with the power to control minds. When he arrives in Metropolis intent on mischief, Superman finds that every citizen is a foe and hostage at the same time. Once again, Black Adam is on hand to render ambivalent assistance, before it all devolves into the obligatory fist fight. Devil-surrogate Lord Satanus and the Spectre use the city as a phantasmal Ground Zero next, and, after refereeing that little cataclysm, Superman finds himself the target of a psychic and spiritual assault from old JLA foe The Queen of Fables. The fun concludes in a duel with Livewire, that perky punkette with absolute control of all things electrical.

Originally published as Action Comics #827-828 and #830-835, these yarns from Gail Simone and returning veteran John Byrne more than live up to that promise. Not overly complicated, concentrating on exhilaration and excitement, but still managing to sustain some tense sub-plots involving Lois and the venerable supporting cast, these stories are just plain fun. Let’s hope the fashion experiment catches on.

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