What can I say? I’m beyond late on my column. I could fill your eyes will all sorts of excuses, but… I WILL… to a small degree. It’s that time of year for me that’s particularly busy; there’s school, the two jobs, and Fright Factory, a local charity haunted house I’ve been working with for nine-count ‘em--nine years.

It sure doesn’t give a guy a whole lot of time to do stuff, but you know what? I’m here kicking one of the ol’ DBNO’s at ya right now. So, let’s enjoy it, shall we?

This week we’re going to take a look at one of the best things to come out of the whole Death of Superman story. Also, since he’s making some waves in 52, I figure it’s a good time to jump back to the first issue of…

Steel #1 – “Wrought Iron”
Original Release Date: February 1994
Words: Jon Bogdanove and Louise Simonson
Art: Chris Batista
Inks: Rich Faber
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Colors: Gina Going
Edits: Frank Pittarese

John Henry Irons has returned home to Washington, D.C., a place of great importance in the world. For John, it’s about much more than all the national hub-bub; it’s about family. As soon as he steps off the bus he’s greeted by his excited niece, Natasha.

A she jumps into his arms, exclaiming “Unca Hunk”, John reminds her to keep things low, he’s not actually supposed to be alive. Natasha, in return, reminds her Uncle of just how inconspicuous he is, considering how massive his frame is.

Unfortunately, the pleasantries come to an end as an explosion tears the bus apart that John had just exited. Irons instantly pulls Natasha to the ground as debris and flames lick at their heels.

Shouts from a nearby car are the only thing that can be heard as two thugs scream about the bus stop being in their territory. The firepower, Irons notices, isn’t just something any ordinary street hood should be carrying; they’re Toastmasters, BG-80’s, a high-powered energy weapon that he helped create! Now, they’re being used to mow down innocent people by hoods that are nothing more than children themselves!

Back in Metropolis, while Superman was dead, John, as Steel, had been trying to rid the city of these nasty guns. It had been John’s intent to track the things back to their source, which just happened to be his old home town. Unfortunately, he didn’t know he’d be getting an eyeful of them as soon as he stepped off the bus!

The hoods’ car tires spin as they try to gain traction on the pavement, leaving a rubber smell behind that’s unmistakable. John only has moments to stop them before they get away, so he grabs a large duffle bag and sprints toward the car. With a swing of his muscular arms, the duffle bag is launched toward the car… and it connects, ripping a giant hole in the front, ‘causing the driver to lose control; the car hits a light pole and comes to an immediate stop.

As the thugs climb out of the car, trying to gain a sense of what just happened, John is on them! He grabs up one and demands to know where they got the Toastmasters; before he can get an answer, a giant fist lands on his face, knocking him back. The owner of the fist proclaims that these goons are his; they were attacking him and his gang, so John should leave ‘em be so they can handle ‘em!

John, gathering his senses, watches as the gang that had been attacked on the bus corner begins opening vials of liquid and downing them. Nearly as soon as the stuff is swallowed, these guys’ muscles and bodies hulk up to super human size!

The war between the two sides continues on as the massively mutated thugs attack the well-armed thugs. John stands, ready to stop them, but is sidetracked by something in his peripheral vision, “Jemahl…” Before he can finish his sentence, another fist connects with his skull, putting him down for the count.

Some time later John wakes to find an EMT tending to his wounds, with Natasha watching. After the EMT finishes bandaging Irons up, he and Natasha make their way home. Once they arrive outside the building that he calls home, he is attacked with a hug from his Gramma Bess. More catching up is done.

Unbeknownst to the excited family, a man across the street is making a phone call that he’d been instructed to do if ever a man matching John Henry Irons’ description ever showed up…

Back at the Irons’ family home, the whole crew is gathered around the dinner table. Irons’ dad lets him in on the fact that they knew the whole time he was Steel; his mother tells him that while you can keep things from some people, you can’t keep things from family; sometimes, they just know.

As has become customary for John, his family pleasantries are interrupted when soldiers from Amertek, the company John previously worked and developed weapons for, crash through the side of the building. They proclaim him under arrest, but since they’re not cops and John knows exactly who they are, he’s not having any of it.

While the family rushes to leave, Johns’ grandfather gets hit in the side by one of the energy weapons the Amertek soldiers are using. Gramma Bess evacuates him from the room, but not before throwing John something he can use: an iron frying pan! With a swing of his arm, the pan connects with the soldiers’ armor, which he originally designed, putting them down in a matter of seconds.

After the battle, Gramma Bess returns from the basement to look at what has gone on. John is saddened by his grandfather’s wound and claims it as his fault; he’s the one that designed these godforsaken weapons. He should have known that coming home would bring trouble. Gramma Bess tells him that they’ve been in trouble before, but John interrupts and tells her that this is something he’s going to clean up on his own.

John strips the men of their armor and grabs his duffle bag, which is filled with parts from his old Steel armor. Days pass and John is consumed by his work; he’s brought nothing but danger to his family’s home; it’s time he took the danger to the people that sought to hurt him.

Finally, stepping into his new armor for the first time, Gramma Bess asks where the “S” shield is. John replies that he doesn’t deserve to wear it; Gramma tells him that he will wear this… and she straps a bright, flowing red cape onto his back. She tells him that she’ll always think of him as the “black Superman” no matter what, “even if the rest of the world comes to know you as the man called Steel.”

*****

Ah, Steel, a memorable part of 90’s comics for me. I always thought he was the coolest of the bunch of Supermen that came out of the Death of Superman story. They could have easily went a couple of ways with the character, but he turned out to be the most unique; the one that could stand on his own. I suppose DC knew that when they gave him his own series.

Steel first appeared in Adventures of Superman #500 in full armor. John originally worked at Amertek as a weapons designer, but faked his death to get away from that job. John moved to Metropolis and gained a job as a construction worker. One day, while working high up on a building, Irons saved a co-worker from falling only to fall himself! Fortunately, Superman was there to save the day.

On the day that Superman died in his fight against Doomsday, John was buried under rubble that resulted from the clash. Upon waking up, he found that gangs were using weapons he had designed during his days at Amertek to fight turf-wars that were raging in the absence of Superman. Donning a suit of armor designed in tribute to Superman, John began taking down crime as Steel.

It was always cool to see strong black characters in comics. Most of them never really reach any sort of potential and are just thrown in for the ethnic variety, but there have been a couple that were more than that: Storm and Bishop of the X-Men always come to mind; they’re characters that don’t necessarily have to rely on their skin color to be characters, because they’re so much more than that; they’re people. Over at DC, for me, Steel fell into that category. Nowadays we have Mister Terrific and a host of other African American characters that are easily identifiably not by their skin color, but by just how freaking awesome they. Back in the 90’s, we had Steel.

This particular issue is really good, because it sets up what Steel is all about now that Superman retook his mantle. The question on the minds of people about Steel at that time was, “How can he survive in the DC Universe without his ties to Superman?”

This book answers that completely. He’s a character all his own with enough supporting characters and interesting back story to make him worthwhile. Irons didn’t need Superman to be recognizable and cool anymore. Louise Simonson, whose work on X-Factor is very well known, does a good job along with Jon Bogdanove on making all of this possible.

The art, though, is pure, over-the-top muscles, which was a staple of the 90’s and, for this book, fits. I take nothing away from Chris Batista’s work, because it’s quite good; his style is normal for that period in comics.

This is a character that I’m happy to see making something of a comeback. DC has a wealth of characters that really need the spotlight on them and I think Steel is no exception.

If you get the chance and come across some of these old back issues, grab ‘em. They’re good stuff.