THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KERNELS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 70 lines
LOOK! UP IN THE SKY! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's . . .
Is that you, Superman?
In March, thanks to a costume makeover by DC Comics, The Man of Steel will become . . . The Man of Teal.
Out is the familiar red, yellow and blue. And the cape.
It's white and . . . electric blue?
Maybe.
This isn't your father's Superman.
DC, Superman's owner, has a history of showing no mercy in making The Man of Steel earn a paycheck.
DC has killed Superman. Only to bring him back to life.
DC broke off our hero's engagement to Lois Lane. Only to marry them.
Now this.
``Basically, this is the next storyline up for Superman,'' said DC executive editor Mike Carlin. ``It's not just an arbitrary `Let's change my shirt.' It's literally `I can't stay alive in my suit.' ''
The storyline: Superman loses his powers while trying to save the planet from a malevolent being that ate the sun's energy.
The sun is eventually reignited and our hero, after considerable effort, gets his powers back. Sort of.
Sparks soon start to shoot out of his eyes, and his body crackles with electricity. His X-ray vision is gone. So, too, is his super-hearing. Bullets don't bounce off him anymore - they go right through him.
No more up, up and away, either. He just kind of zaps around from place to place. And, oh yeah, kryptonite is no longer a problem.
Said Carlin: ``He's turned into a being of pure energy.''
A special suit seems to be the only thing that will hold him together if he wants to catch bad guys.
Clark Kent is different too. Seems Superman's powers shut off when he takes his regular-guy form. Meaning, for the first time, he really will be a mild-mannered reporter vulnerable to head colds, deadlines, drive-by shootings, Mexican food and anything else that affects us mere mortals.
Said Tony Udarbe, 31, manager of Trilogy comics in Virginia Beach: ``When Clark Kent was his alter-ego, it was Superman wearing a suit. Now, he's really Clark Kent.''
Readers will get glimpses of these changes in any of the four Superman titles out this month. Then on March 12, the new costume is unveiled in Superman No. 123.
The last time DC tried a plot twist like this one was in 1992's ``The Death of Superman.'' The ``Death'' issue set a record for sales, with more than 2.5 million copies.
DC waited a year before returning things to normal. This time? DC won't say when. If ever.
``It's a carefully orchestrated event,'' said Michael Dean, news editor of the Iola, Wis.-based Comics Buyer's Guide. ``The only reason something like this means anything is because people speculate that this might be permanent.''
Kevin Kais, who manages Tekno-Comix, a Boca Raton-Fla.-based chain of 28 stores, including one in Lynnhaven Mall, said that while reaction at his store had been mixed, other managers have told him some die-hard fans have asked that their subscription be canceled ``until this costume thing is over.''
``I don't like it,'' said Chris Benton, a webmaster for a small company in Virginia Beach. ``They destroyed the whole mythos. The whole idea about Superman is that he's all-powerful and can do just about anything he wanted. But he had a conscience at the same time, a sense of good, right and wrong.
``And now all that's gone.''
``Superman is Superman,'' said Chris Holland, manager of Comics N' Things in Virginia Beach. ``You don't tug on Superman's cape. Not only are they tugging on it, they're ripping it off.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DC Comics