Comic Covers Sunday: The Blue Man

First they killed him.  Then they brought him back.  Then they killed his secret identy.  Then they brought the secret identy back.  After all that, what's a company to do with their flagship character?  Call him a clone and write him out of continuity for 2 years????  Naahhhh, that was done by the competition.  How about radically change his powers and costume?  Puuuurrrrfect.  And so was born the year long Electric Superman event.

Superman #123, [Glow-in-the-Dark Edition], May 1997

Pencils: Ron Frenz
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
What better way to celebrate a new costume and new powers than a limited edition, super rare, highly collectible glow in the dark cover?  Sadly, I don't even remember this cover.  I wonder if it's buried in my collection somewhere.  I hope not but, sadly, I wouldn't bet against it.

Man of Steel #68, June 1997
Pencils: Jon Bogdanove
Inks: Dennis Janke
I have to hand it to Bogdanove because this cover makes a really silly idea look very cool.  That is one angry looking Superman.

Man of Steel #73, November 1997
Pencils: Jon Bogdanove
Inks: Dennis Janke
And, a double nod to Bogdanove, because I love this cover too.  It's so obviously inspired by Kirby but it's not slavish about it.  It just looks cool.

Action Comics #741, January 1998
Pencils: Stuart Immonen
Inks: Jose Marzan, Jr.
If you remember, at this time Superman had four titles so that you could get your Supes fix every week of the month.  It was quite a feat that DC managed to keep it together shipping and plot/story wise for as long as they did.  Sadly, the Electric Superman covers in Action were pretty dull.  I really like this one and it's certainly different from Bogdanove's punching covers.

Superman #132, February 1998
Pencils: Ron Frenz
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
And just to prove that no good idea can't be further exploited, we have Red Superman.  Question #1 of the day:  What's better than one electric Superman?  TWO electric Supermans!  You have to love comic book marketing logic somedays.

Adventures of Superman #555, February 1998
Pencils: Tom Grummett
Inks: Denis Rodier
Question #1 of the day: What's EVEN better than TWO electric Supermans? TWO electric Supermans fighting!! YEAAHHHH!  My inner fanboy is full of joy at this cover.



Aaaahhh, well, that's all my inner fanboy can take.  Now he is going outside to enjoy his Sunday.  You should too.