DC Comics Presents #4 (1978)
by Len Wein & José Luis García-López
Now that we are past the roughly seventy-five consecutive team-ups with Batman, the Metal Men need to find something to do between the cancellation of their series and Crisis.
Might as well team-up with Superman!
We begin with Chemo rising from the ocean to attack a beach.
Meanwhile the Metal Men, after being evicted from their regular series, are squatting in a junkyard.
Playing tennis, because why not.
They eventually spot Chemo (he’s kind of hard to miss!), and after so many disappointing Batman team-ups it’s honestly refreshing to see the Metal Men do SOMETHING!!!
They completely fail because they’re the Metal Men, but hey, baby steps.
You regular reminder that Chemo is, in fact, freaking awesome.
While this is going on, Superman is handling a gigantic water tornado over the ocean, but when he tries to use heat vision he has troubles performing.
Don’t feel so bad, Supes, it happens to every superhero every now and again.
Superman takes care of the disaster with super-speed, but he heads over to S.T.A.R. Labs to get himself checked by a supporting character from his regular series, Dr. Klyburn.
The Metal Men are also there for a check-up, and as Superman points out this is the first time they meet. Not sure why they’re here, though: as mentioned this was published after the end of their series, so Doc Magnus SHOULD be available.
If the Metal Men were awe-struck to meet Metamorpho, you can imagine how their introduction to Superman goes.
Also Tina has the hots for the Man of Steel.
Dr. Klyburn has an explanation for why Superman’s powers are behaving erratically, and it’s a doozy.
Turns out someone is shooting magnetic energy into the Sun, enough to affect it. (!!!!)
This is a nice reminder that Superman’s powers had a slightly different origin pre-Crisis: solar radiation was the reason for MOST of his abilities, while others (super-strength, invulnerability and sometimes flight) were due to Earth having a weaker gravity than Krypton.
I was under the impression that by 1979 this had already been changed to having all of his powers deriving from solar radiation, but I guess not.
And of course in fiction it’s never a good idea to tamper with the Sun’s activity, so this is causing a rise in the UV radiation.
Well, I guess it’s also not a good idea in real life.
Superman asks the Metal Men to help him locate the source of the magnetic field affecting the Sun, since his super-senses are not working properly (and I guess Batman and the Justice League are on vacation?).
And the mind behind this is Hawkman villain IQ, who is also controlling Chemo.
Since I’m not a big Hawkman fan this is my first exposure to IQ. And considering he increased the Sun’s ultraviolet output because he believes sunlight makes him smarter… yeah I can see why I’ve never heard of this idiot before.
Think I’m being harsh on IQ?
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the dumbest super-genius you’ve ever seen.
Not insane enough for you? The reason why he summoned Chemo is that he wants to use a chemical reaction to prevent the Sun from exploding!!!
A chemical reaction. To cure. THE SUN.
Superman and the Metal Men find IQ pretty much immediately… thanks to Iron turning into a giant magnet. (WTF!?)
At least we get some explanation for why Doc Magnus isn’t around, which boils down to… he didn’t want to be around the Metal Men, I guess?
But they arrive too late, because IQ has already shot Chemo into the Sun at the speed of light.
Well all Superman needs to do is just arrest IQ, right? I mean Chemo is supposed to heal the Sun, it’s not like things can get more ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!?
Naturally overtaking something moving at the speed of light is child’s play for Superman, so he takes the bullet for the Sun.
The blast ricochets all the way back to Earth (WTF!?), splitting Chemo into several Mini-Chemos (double WTF!?).
Chemo seems to like IQ just as much as I do.
Now, the Metal Men were completely ineffective against the real Chemo, but now they are dealing with smaller imitations!!!
Which means they still lose. HOW ARE YOU STILL SO BAD AT THIS???
True to form, all the Metal Men die. AGAIN.
Hey, it’s been quite a while since they all died at the same time!
Superman has SLIGHTLY more success against the newly-recreated giant Chemo, which he defeats by turning into SUNSCREEN FOR ENTIRE PLANET.
And so we end with Superman rebuilding all the Metal Men…
…and instantly regretting it.
This is the last time Chemo fights the Metal Men.
He gets a rematch of sorts with Superman in Superman #342, where he gets sent into space.
He’ll show up in Crisis, where he has a surprisingly big role which I’ll cover.
Metal Men significance: 3/10
There are only two team-ups between Superman and the Metal Men published before Crisis, but he’ll be the superhero who interacts the most with them post-Crisis. So while there’s no direct influence, I guess this helped suggest that maaaaybe he was a better fit than Batman.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Everything related to IQ. And I mean everything.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
The basic concept is fine (even if the science is a bit far-fetched even by comic book standards), but there are way too many contrivances. The Metal Men just happen to be recruited for a mission against a supervillain who just happens to have their worst enemy under control!?
Plus while the interaction between the robots and Superman is genuinely entertaining, there isn’t a whole lot of it.
Times Nameless has died: 5
Times Platinum has died: 21
Times Mercury has died: 22
Times Gold has died: 23
Times Iron has died: 27
Times Tin has died: 28
Times Lead has died: 29