REVIEW CORNER: Superman # 165

Writer: Jeph Loeb

Artists: Ed McGuinness & Cam Smith (w/ Humberto Ramos & Wayne Faucher, Rob Liefield, Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund, Mike Wieringo & Cam Smith, Arthur Adams & Joe Madureira and Tim Townsend)

Letterer: Richard Starkings

Colorists: Tanya & Richard Horie

Cover Date: February 2001

Rating:

Now that this is the week before Christmas, this installment will take a look at Superman # 165 as I feel is one of the few jewels from the Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuinness run and serve as a great Christmas story.

This issue finds Superman still in a funk, mainly due to the fact that Lex Luthor was declared President of The United States (In the DC Universe) and truth to be told, the plot thread of Luthor becoming president really holds up in the present day due to the aftermath of the whole Trump/Biden election so this was something that struck me as being cool; I also like how Superman spent his holidays finding solace from his fellow teammates in the Justice League by visiting them as well as gifting them some rather unique Christmas Presents, but what will immediately have all eyes on this issue is the various artists who showed up to illustrate some special sequences that Loeb wrote for them.

The Superman/Flash piece by Arthur Adams, The Wonder Woman sequence by Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund, The Green Lantern bit by Mike Wieringo (Still miss him) and Cam Smith, and finally, The Batman sequence by Joe Madureira and Tim Townsend were all amazing and the only ones I felt were out of the place where the Martian Manhunter & Plastic Man sequence by Humberto Ramos (I just didn’t feel like his style worked for Superman) and of course, The Aquaman sequence by Rob Liefeld (His facial expressions were just hard to look at- VERY HARD to look at!); I do feel very strongly that McGuinness should have done the artwork for this issue, but seeing the various artists on here gave this issue a nice touch so there’s no need for nitpicking. Seeing Superman go to his JLA teammates to get their thoughts on Luthor being president really shows the close connection that he has with each and every one of them and that alone made for a very warming Christmas story and one that will really get you in the holiday spirit.

Next week, I’ll be back with another review that will wrap up my Christmas in Comics concept (I’m thinking about reviewing another non-superhero X-Mas story) so thanks for sticking around and I will see you all next time.