Nothing demonstrates the difference between the "impulsive" Green Lantern and the "cool-headed" Superman quite like the temptation of alien fruit!

Today's C-List Villain made his debut early on in Byrne's run, but never quite caught on with any sort of lasting impact.



Yeah, he managed to show up a handful of times here and there, but I defy anyone to name for me the definitive Bloodsport story that wasn't Superman #4.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Someone must have thought the gimmick of teleporting weapons from a secret warehouse was a good enough one for a recurring villain, that they tried it again with another person taking on the persona of Bloodsport. Although this was the 90's by now, and it was no longer bad-ass enough to just have the word blood as part of your name. No, this time let's make him a hard core racist to boot!

Where are they now? I think they're both dead? Maybe? But someone is running around as Bloodsport again?

I suppose I could pull the longboxes and double-check, but after all, he's just a c-list villain.

I love how perfectly Dan Jurgens captures each of the different Supermen on the cover of Superman (Vol. 2) #138.

From the barrel-chested Curt Swan influenced Superman on the left to the Golden Age Superman climbing up from the palm to the brash Superboy in the back. It's an awesome composition, made even better by the fact that the "normal" Superman is the only one to realize where the true threat lies...that of Dominus leering in the background.

I'm envious of whoever owns the original artwork for this cover, as you have a hell of a piece celebrating Superman through the years.

Our next cover gimmick is actually one that I still have a lot of time for, the chromium cover!



From a visual standpoint, they hold up nicely and really make the colors pop. If any gimmick has to make a comeback, we could do a helluva lot worse than this one.

It's gotta be better than polybags, eh Johnny Storm?

All right, I've held off long enough and tried to spare you all the pain that those of us collecting comics in the 90's had to live through week by week. Whereas we had a whole decade of nonsense to put up with, I'm only going to hold this blog hostage for a week as we go through some of the most infamous cover gimmicks that found their way into the Superman titles.

That's right, it's time for our very first theme week here at Superman 101, so strap yourselves in and let's get started.

To kick things off, we might as well begin with the grand-daddy of 'em all. The Superman book that if you only have one in your collection and you're over the age of thirty, it's probably this one.

The Death of Superman (and conversely the birth of the speculator market).



Now that's actually not the cover, but the black polybag that held all of the extras in place. You don't think I'd be stupid enough to actually open it, do you?

If you did, however, you'd find items like a memorial poster, a black armband, a Daily Planet obituary, commemorative stamps, and a trading card! And for what was probably novelties sake, they did throw in an actual comic book.

All it's missing is a pog and something that glows in the dark and it'd be like the 90's went on a bender and threw up in the black polybag.

(And I did open up this copy, as that only increased the value of my other four unopened copies! That is how it works, right?)

Steve Epting has spent most of his career over at Marvel, but he did dabble with the Man of Steel for a half-dozen issues or so at the tail end of the nineties. I was a huge fan of his work from The Avengers, so I was partial to his pencils when he came onboard and there's something very "Superman-esque" about his rendition. Enjoy.


Classic stuff.

What better way to celebrate President's Day, than with Superman fighting Mt. Rushmore itself.

They say that every issue is somebody's first issue. For Superman, this was mine.

Drum roll please...

It's Superman #13!

It's a Millennium tie-in!

It's John Byrne!


And they are nobody you should concern yourself with, after all...this blog is all about you, Superman.

(Although is that Batroc the Leaper's boot in the upper right?)

So here's a post that I'm shocked took me a week to get to.

Superman 101 takes a look at Superman (Vol. 2) #101! I'd love to take a pic from volume one, but it's not in my collection. It was quite a pleasant surprise, however, to see some Gil Kane art pop up in the second series.


And who better to draw Superman in his best Conan pose than Gil Kane. Put a little fur lining on those boots and a sword in his hand, and you're all set!

That's also quite the contrast from yesterday's striking image of Clark Kent cool!