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Superman (1987) #16

Superman (1987-2006) #16

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Superman can change the course of mighty rivers, move faster than the eye can follow and turn mountains into dust. Yet, he just can’t seem to contend with the whimsical Prankster. Meanwhile, a startling discovery is made in Antarctica.

23 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 31, 1988

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About the author

John Byrne

2,957 books360 followers
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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name


John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.

Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Cybernex007.
2,038 reviews9 followers
April 24, 2025
Well this is a pretty fun issue, and while not a totally nice break for Superman it does offer some fun hijinks to disguise the attempted murder. This issue opens up with Superman enjoying a nice fly through a snow covered metropolis…except it’s not snow at all. It’s soap bubbles?? And suddenly the soap bubbles are taking over the ground, making it impossible for cars and busses to properly move…sending a lot of them spiraling. On a second thought…this is going to be a long day for the man of steel.

But the troubles continue to grow, we see this through Jimmy’s eyes as he sets about his normal day. He starts his day as usual, sets the VCR to record “the uncle Oswald Show,” meets with his friend Pete and gives him some breakfast and makes sure he is working on finding a home in this increasingly cold weather, and finally he jumps on the subway train…only for the tunnels to be filled with popcorn!! Luckily for us our top reporter Lois Lane is forced on the case when she hops in a cab…only to be kidnapped by the prankster!! Perry gets into the office to find almost everyone gone because an electric blast last night caused 80% of the clocks in metropolis to roll back an hour. I have to admit that’s a pretty good prank.

All the while we see Superman scrambling to cleanup messes and figure out who could be doing this, it’s too soon for both joker and Mxyz. Lois is now held up in the studio the prankster has commandeered from his boss, Morgan Edge, and now wants to use her to tell his story and reasoning for doing this. Namely his growing hatred of cartoons that only sell toys, compared to his classic slapstick humor that kids aren’t satisfied with anymore. Yep…that’s the legit reason, lol. After getting interrupted during his apparent daily meeting with Darkseid…Morgan Edge was forced to storm down to the studio to try and get Uncle Oswald to surrender and open up. But Oswald prepared for this, he was able to setup all these traps with his sponsors over the years and apparently has been planning for his shows demise. Now with the pull of a lever, a trap door outside of his studio opens up and sends Morgan edge flying outside of the skyscraper. Luckily for Edge Superman just finished cleaning up a giant rubber flower that shot water…and he doesn’t discriminate when it comes to saving people. He was able to drop Edge back off at the office and find out the deal with the prankster. He knocked down the door and the prankster immediately surrendered. Legit this is what he wanted the entire time, to make a big fuss and get his name out there so he can get caught, do some jail time, then sell his story. But I guess he forgot that kidnapping and attempted murder are capital offenses and with the son of same ruling he wouldn’t be able to profit from his story. Or maybe he did remember…as he decided to spritz the guards with tear gas from his lapel flower and escape. To add onto that escape, he also decided to call Lois, blow a raspberry, and hang up. Hahahahah.

But the really interesting thing happens at the end, as we suddenly shift our focus to a research team in Antarctica that suddenly picked up a heat signature below the ice with their sensors. They land and start picking up temperatures over 100 degrees, as that start digging they suddenly find what looks like supergirl coming out of the ice…what?! She’s…dead?! WHAT?!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
220 reviews1 follower
April 26, 2025
A lighter romp that had a 5 star cliffhanger ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sophia.
2,758 reviews385 followers
April 11, 2023
Skimmed this one.

The Prankster aka Oswald Loomis rants and raves to a kidnapped Lois.

An intriguing moment between Morgan Edge and his ‘sire’ before he’s saved by the Boy Scout.

Prankster surrenders to Superman, only to escape police custody later.

The really interesting moment happens in Antarctica where men find a woman lying in the snow… wearing a Superman costume!

Four stars because… these issues are just so easy to get through.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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