This review should have gone in last week’s October roundup, I suppose, but there was a mixup at my comic shop (by which I mean I think I forgot to order it) and I didn’t get my copy until a few days ago. So it gets a feature all its own. Lucky little comic book.
When DC did their Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special a few years ago, followed by one for Return of Superman, I rather thought this would be more of a regular thing: an oversized anniversary one-shot reuniting the original creative teams (as best as possible) to tell new stories either set in the timeframe of the original story or focusing on its legacy. It’s a pretty good idea. But the anniversaries of books like Knightfall came and went without fanfare. To the best of my knowledge, the only other such book they’ve done is a Zero Hour anniversary special. I wonder if they only want to do it when Dan Jurgens is involved.
Anyhoo, let’s take a look.
Superman: The Wedding Album 30th Anniversary Special
Chapter 1: Rainbow Rowell (Script), Cian Tormey (Art), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (Colors)
Chapter 2: Louise Simonson (Script), Jon Bogdanove (Art)
Chapter 3: Karl Kesel (Script), Tom Grummett (Pencils), Denis Rodier (Inks)
Chapter 4: Dan Jurgens (Script and Breakdowns), Jerry Ordway (Finishes)
Main Cover: Dan Jurgens & Jerry Ordway
Like the previous anniversary specials, this one kicks off in the modern day with Jon Kent. This time around, Jon realizes that his parents, being perhaps the two busiest people in the entire DC Universe, have never had a proper wedding anniversary celebration, and he sets out to arrange one as a surprise. But there’s someone who is still salty about not being invited to their wedding in the first place, so he’s planning a little celebration of his own. That’s right, Mr. Mxyzptlk is back in town.
Mxy is used really well here. As a character who’s always kind of straddled the line between menace and nuisance, here we see an incarnation that I prefer – someone who torments Superman because he genuinely likes him and wants to have a little fun with somebody he considers a friend. (I have no evidence, but I’ve always suspected that the relationship between Captain Picard and Q on Star Trek was based on this dynamic, at least later in the run.) While Jon is running all over Metropolis, trying to recruit his parents’ friends in his plans to give them the celebration they deserve, Mxy is tagging along trying to “help” as only he can.
Although the book is obviously set in the modern-day DCU (Lois is Editor-In-Chief of the Planet, Jon is Tomorrow Man, we’ve got the current Justice League lineup, and so forth), the creators did a fantastic job imbuing it with the flavor of the Triangle Era books of the 1990s. We spent a lot of time with characters who were more prominent in that era, like my old pal Bibbo Bibbowski, as well as a surprisingly heavy focus on Lois’s sister Lucy. At the time of the wedding, Lucy was either dating or married to Ron Troupe (I honestly don’t remember). And while I knew that they weren’t together in current continuity, with reboot after reboot I’d quite lost track of whether they were ever married in the first place. This issue confirms that they were, and that their son does in fact exist. If this were a book in the actual Triangle Era, it would feel as if they were moving Lucy into place for a larger story arc. The fact that none of the people working on this special are currently working on the regular titles makes me doubt that’s the case, but I wouldn’t mind being wrong about that.
This issue isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s a charming look back at one of my favorite eras of the Superman comics, celebrating the stories that were told at the time and righting a minor – albeit understandable – injustice that goes back to the guest list from 30 years ago. It’s always a treat to see Bogdanove, Grummett, and Ordway drawing these characters again, and the writing feels like I’m visiting with an old friend. I’m so happy that I managed to get a copy of this one, even if it was a little late.
Fingers crossed – will next year bring us a Superman Red/Superman Blue 30th Anniversary Special? We can only hope.
Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in the Year of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
