Superman # 29

I put this one on hold once I decided to do Superdickery month. This is sort of an extra since I missed one day. Superman vs. Starfire which also has Lobdell writing her before he returns to RHATO in a couple of months.

Superman: This should do until we can get them to a place where they can be helped.
Starfire: I'm beginning to understand why no one on your planet had the good sense to leave before it exploded.

SPOILERS AHEAD



This is an ongoing story so I might miss a few details that were covered in earlier issues. Regardless this was so much fun because Superman and Starfire don't like each other, which is always entertaining with Superdickery. It's not mentioned here but they first met (in the relaunch) in RHATO #14 also under Lobdell. Superman didn't like her way of doing things and liked her less when Kori revealed her people aren't fond of anything from Krypton. Although she did admit he wasn't nearly as bad as she suspected it looks like she may be reconsidering here. Superman wants to protect someone that Kori is intent on killing. There's a good reason for this of course since he and many other humans are actually being used as host for the Daemonites in the latest invasion plot.

Gangs have willingly been injecting themselves with the Daemonite essence to gain more power. Superman can't tell a Daemonite from a normal human but Kori can. She blames it on his upbringing on Earth and wants to stop the invasion before it's too late by destroying the aliens now. Superman of course isn't thrilled with this and has some of the host frozen--which is pretty pointless since even the lab agrees with Kori that the human can't be separated from the alien now.

Subplot with Cat Grant not wanting to sell the website Clark and her set up.

Starfire and Superman team up to take down the Daemonites although Clark still wants to do things his way. He doesn't get why Kori is involved in this and she asks how much he knows about her world. Her past as a slave is brought up and Kori says the idea of humans being used as such ticks her off. They find a kid that she points out is just a host when Superman makes the mistake of comparing the boy to her.

Superman: He's every bit the victim you were at his age.
Starfire: I was never. A. Victim.

The kid transforms only to kill himself leading the two to wonder what happened. It turns out Blackfire was involved since she's trying to save her people and needs to work with those she despises to do so. Oh and Lois might be possessed or something. I'm guessing that because Lobdell is leaving the title soon this story might show up in RHATO.

For the most part I got a kick out of seeing these two bickering. There were some things that didn't work for me though. Superman was a little too matter-of-fact when mentioning Koris' past which I suppose was still done in character since he at least understands why she's mad. I wasn't as thrilled with Kori saying the only reason she stays on the planet was because humans always try. What about Roy and Jason? Or the fact she loves the beauty on Earth? Those things were fleshed out in RHATO under Lobdell. Maybe she's just being distant because of Superman but it doesn't read that way.

Say What?: Komand'r was 14 when she ruled and had to turn Kori over.

This is the first time she's referred to as Blackfire although there's no reason given for the name.

Questions Raised?: It doesn't affect the story since problems between Krypton and Tamaran aren't mentioned but I'm curious what happened. Why did it affect Kori so strongly since Kyptons' was gone for a few years before she was born? She says he has the Kryptons' arrogance so maybe his people did things that affected other planets perhaps leading to hers being enslaved?