InsaneJournal

Superman/Madman Hullabaloo! the conclusion!

From Superman/Madman Hullabaloo #3, 32 pages


So Frank and Superman have collected all of the fragments of Supes' powers out of Metropolis and have headed through the portal to Snap City. They arrive just in time for excitement!



Ham and Lois make for the manhole while Supes tries to reason with the beatniks. When they gang up on him, Frank runs back to help, holding one over his head and making a Charles Atlas joke ("Try kicking sand in my face now, ya bully, you!"). Supes traps them all in the car, beating down the roof so the doors won't open. The beatniks start crawling through the windshield, so Supes and Frank make for the manhole.


Poetry pals! Poetry pals!
With a rock facade covering the door, they give the beatniks the slip and take the rocket car tunnels back to Flem's lab. I really wish I had enough pages to include this part, because there's a great part where Flem's explaining about the renegade robots they had running about a little while earlier (in Madman Comics #'s 9 and 10) and how he's trying to collect whatever spare parts he finds in the tunnels, then the next panel shows Lois saying "Don't worry about it", crammed in the back of the station-wagon-rocket-car, with about three dead robots in her lap. :)
When they get back to the lab, Supes talks about Mxyzptlk, and Flem complains about having to tolerate such an unscientific answer. Ham, understanding where Flem's coming from, concedes that magic shares some properties with science.

News comes over the television of a superpowered feminist starting a riot then disappearing. Astro Man and Machina go to check it out (Astro Man leaving with a borderline misogynistic comment on his way out, Machina something clingy and jealous; man, robots are crazy).
At the same time, everyone else goes to the cemetery to check out a power signature there. Everybody splits up into pairs of two until Gail complains that it isn't a couples retreat and storms off back to the lab, having research of her own to see to.


It's kind of weird that Gail has barely been present in the mini till now. She's been at least pictured in a few of the pages I didn't include, but hadn't opened her mouth till now, so if you're wondering where she all a sudden came from, she's Flem's assistant, who, during a cloning mishap (in the second issue of the original Tundra mini), got forcibly tattooed all over by a bunch of Flem clones. She invented her chemically-treated bandages to remove the tattoos, but they ended up making her everything else invisible instead. She's hotheaded and logical, but ultimately reliable. But I digress.

Suddenly, everyone hears a scream that Flem identifies as Gail's. They run in to see what's wrong.

Malique couldn't deal with his brother's death properly, so he brought him back with voodoo. He found to his horror that his zombie brother had become superpowered and angry. As Supes and Frank fight off Zaleck, Malique sees the error of his ways and reverses the spell while they collect the superpowers. A moment later, the super-feminist appears from around the corner.



BAMF!
Mxyzptlk challenges Frank to a game of Frank's choosing. If Frank wins, Mxyzptlk'll set things right. If he loses, Frank spends an hour in a cage with the Mutant Street Beatniks. Supes tells Mxy to leave Frank out of it, but Mxy refuses. Apparently, watching Supes suffer on the sidelines is more fulfilling than having him run the gauntlet sometimes. Frank has just the game, but it's at his house. One BAMF! later and the stage is set for the one game Frank's never lost at...

Twister!

Joe's not as confident as Frank, so she reminds him he's only played against his friends, and they're kinda amateurs. He in turn reminds her that he's got an ace up his sleeve. Mxy promises no magic.


The game was over from Mxy's first move. That clearly isn't red. I guess Laura wasn't on her game that day?

Frank does a happy dance, Mxy's leaves in a huff. Supes' powers fly out of Frank and back where they belong.


And there you have it! Hope you had fun.
I might make a few more Madman posts in the near future. A Mutant Street Beatniks/Atomics post could be in order if demand is right.