You know what, I haven't thanked my sponsors yet. So, thank you, Matt "Doc" Martin, mom and Melissa for pledging a total of $40. You are giving what you can and I really appreciate it. Forty bucks is fantastic as far as I'm concerned as it's forty dollars more than the Alzheimer Society of Canada would have got otherwise.
Superman is consulting with the doctor in charge of treating the heroes who have fallen at the hands of the Hollow Men when a child in costume is rushed in and Superman recognises him from Heroville.
Cut to: Heroville and completely drained heroes. Superman and scientists arrive, ready to help. Superman finds Dr. Camel in the middle of town, in a costume and using some sort of energy gun to keep the Hollow Men at bay. But, Superman makes the mistake of landing in the middle of it all and the Hollow Men attack in a triangle formation. He screams/whispers/whimpers "No hope... Pointless... Why aspire to--?" before Camel rescues him using the energy gun.
Superman, still shaken from the experience decides to stay and stop the Hollow Men, first by finding the only other normal superhero in Heroville, a young boy called Kid Scout.
After rescuing Kid Scout, we get a flashback about how Ben Conrad wrote the book. It was a response to the government banning superheroes and he had to include his next three non-fiction books in the deal. It received middling reviews and low sales. Clark read it in high school after a teacher showed it to him. He connects the book and the incident with the mystery strongman from issue 612 and sends Kid Scout to find Conrad and bring him here so he can destroy his creations.
We don't get a complete picture of who Superman is here because this is a two-part story (well, really it's parts four and five of a story, but the other issues stood on their own, for the most part) and we've only got half the picture. But, he's the guy who draws the line in the sand. He doesn't give up and he knows good will triumph over evil. Hope will beat hopelessness.
In 30 minutes, the issue that changed everything. Casey has Superman say something that is brilliant and goes against everything we know.
Dead X-Men #4 annotations
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