Superman and The Authority #1
Washington, Dc. November 1963.
The World Is Waiting For You To Come Out Of The Shadows And Show Yourself, Superman.
Right Now, With Tomorrow Dawning On Our Doorstep.
You're What America Needs.
I'm Not Sure I Understand.
You Brought Me Here For A Reason, I Presume, Mr. President.
You Need My Protection In Dallas?
No--
I Need You To Do Something Way More Important.
You Represent Progress, Hope, The Future...
You're The Man Of Tomorrow.
Superhuman, Honest, And Intrepid.
The Wartime Justice Society Tried To Make A Difference Where The Law Couldn't.
The Mystery Men Played Their Part In Ending World War Two, But You--you And Your Kind--and There Are Others--
I Want You To Stand Tall, To End War Itself And Take Us To The Stars.
I'll See What I Can Do, Sir.
I Know You Will.
I Know What You're Capable Of, Superman--
I'm Committed To Putting An American Astronaut On Mars By The End Of The 1960s And That's Without Your Help!
I Want Human Ingenuity To Lead The Way.
But If Something Should Ever Go Wrong, If Anything Were Ever To Happen To Με...
...Can I Count On You And People Like You?
Can I Trust You To Make It So That Future Generations Won't Have To Fight For A Better World?
A Finer World?
A Finer World.
You Have My Word, Mr. President.
Jack--
Superman.
You Can Call Me Jack.
Black!
Black!
Manchester Black!
Urrrllmm...
...Who Wants To Know?
We Know You're In There, Black!
We Have You Surrounded!
Not Again!
South London, United Kingdom.
Come Out With Your Hands In The Air!
Now.
Fffpth
Ug-lug-lug-ug
This Is Your Final Warning, Manchester Black!
Ah-Hurrcch!
Ah-kuff!
Hakk!
Hakk!
Hark!
Aahh
Hukk!
Ah-kukk-fftt!
That's Better--
Karre!
All You Had To Do Was Ring The Bell!
...Let The Lads Off The Leash, Sir.
We're All Itching For A Crack At This Creep.
Whoa!
Sir, Just Say The Word--
Sir--
The Word.
The Word.
Oh God!
Sir!
Sir, You're Not Wearing PSI-blocks!
Wurrrdddd?
Soldiers.
Mannie Says--
You Come Out First Darling
Oh God!
Sci-fi Insect Robot Hell!
None Of It's Real!
Black's Tenth-level PSI-talent!
He's Using Mind Control, You Idiots!
Where's Your PSI-block Helmet?
Sir, I'm Wearing Mine--
It's You, Sir!
No--no You're Not--
We're Not--it's Him--
None Of This Is What's Really Happening...
PSI-blocks On!
On!
Save Us.
Boys, Boys, Boys.
Everywhere I Look It's A Shambles.
PSI-block!
He's Too Big To Block!
He's Black!
Boys With Guns.
Boys With Choppers.
Boys Who Seriously Think I Give A Flying @$#%.
Boys In Uniform, Obeying Orders 'cause It's Easier Than Thinking.
Kill Me While You've Still Got A Chance--
I Dare You.
Nailed Him.
You'll Never!
Never Have Us!
Do What You Like!
The Rebels Always Defeat The Empire Or There's No Story!
That's Enough.
I'll Take Over Now, Gentlemen.
Ladies.
Others.
Leave Mr. Black Το Με.
Gibber Gibber Gubble Gummm...
Gubble...
When Did The Idea Come To Me?
When Did I Decide To Go Through With This?
It Must Have Been Around Winter 1963--six Months Before The Beatles Hit It Big In The Usa...
I'd Been Lost In Time.
I Said I'd Do My Best.
I Vowed I'd Find The Others And Somehow, Together, All Of Us, In This One Brilliant, Brief, Unrepeatable Moment When We Were All Alive Together--
Somehow, We Could Pool Our Resources To Make The World A Better Place.
Maybe It Was Never Going To Work.
Not On This Planet.
But I Made A Promise To Poor, Doomed Jack Kennedy.
Gunn...
Then I Forgot What I Meant.
Hang About!
I Know That Smarmy, Treacly Midwestern Drawl--
After That Day, It All Came Down Like Dominoes--bobby Kennedy--martin Luther King--the Space Race--
Intergang--darkseid--
Doomsday.
I'm Losing The Power Of Flight, But I Keep Myself Active By Levitating Three Whole Inches Above The Floor Six Times A Day, So I Hope You're Impressed.
Me, The "Justice League", We Looked Up To Find We'd Run Out Of Time To Deliver The World We Promised.
We'd Made It About Us--our Needs, Our Special Enemies, Our Deaths And Rebirths, Our Crises.
You!
I Might Have Known!
Monster!
Look At You!
Mocking Us All With Your Chiseled, Airbrushed Perfection!
I'm Broken Now, Are You Happy?
I'm Running Out Of Time To Fix It.
I Need To Set Things Right, Whatever It Takes.
I Think You Can Help Me, Manchester Black.
Finally, I'm In Hell--
Punished For My Many, Many Sins.
Superman--
We Thought You'd Finally Done The Decent And Topped Yourself With A Kryptonite Milkshake.
I'd Like It On Record That I'm Only Sat Here Putting Up With Your Drivel 'cause I'm Powerless To Run Away!
This Is Your Revenge, Is It? For What I Done To You Over The Years!
You Put Me In A Wheelchair!
You Crippled Me, Finished Me As A Man, As A Human Being!
What Am I Supposed To Do Now?
You've Got Me Lined Up As The Disabled Professor In Your New Team Of Mentally Ill Super-dicks, Is That It?
What?
Actually, I Saved Your Life, Manchester Black...Calm Down.
You'll Only Need The Hoverchair For The Next Hour Or So Until The Nanoids Get Done With Repairs.
Repairs?
I'm In Agony!
I'm Undergoing Chronic Pain Reactions Right Now!
That's Good News--your Spine Was Severely Injured And You Shouldn't Be Feeling Αnything.
You Had Internal Bleeding.
I Saved You.
Shh...
...I Was Barely Anesthetized.
I Always Knew You Had The Makings Of A Sadist.
A Tyrant.
I Made An Executive Decision To Save You From Paraplegia.
Yeah, Right!
I've Tried To Kill You And Your Loved Ones Not Once But Numerous Times!
I Led My Own Super-team And I'm A Wanted Metahuman Terrorist. So Says My Wikipedia Page.
What On Earth Could Possibly Motivate You To Save A Wretch Like Me, Superman?
No Matter What Happens, I Will Make A Point Of Letting You Down, Seriously.
If You Can't See That, You Really Are Losing It.
From Here, I Can See Everything.
My Super-senses May Be Failing, But Kryptonian Super-science Is Still Up To The Task.
Never Mind Privacy, Ey?
The World Rejected You For Rummaging Through Its Underwear Drawers With Your X-ray Vision.
You Think Privacy Is Still A Thing, Mr. Black?
In My Experience, People Are More Than Keen To Share Every Moment Of Their Lives With An Online Audience.
Privacy, Really...?
What Is That Flashy Red Thing?
That, Mr. Black, Is An Alarm Connected To The Phantom Zone, Where Criminals Of My Homeworld, Krypton, Are Imprisoned.
When Kryptonian Scientists Discovered The Zone, The First Exploratory Probes Were Robots.
These Machines Have Gone Rogue. They'll Learn How To Crack The Zone Portal Locks In Exactly Twelve Minutes.
That's How Long I Have To Convince You To Lend A Hand...
You've Had So-called Criminals Locked Up In That Ghost-jail Of Yours For--
How Long, Is It?
They Dropped Litter On The Moving Walkways Of Planet Krypton, Did They? Failed To Pay Space Taxes?
Actually, They're Sociopathic Super-maniacs.
Singly And As A Group, They've Attempted The Overthrow And/Or Destruction Of Planet Earth Every Time They've Managed To Break Loose.
All These People Jumping On The Bandwagon, The Ones Who Hate You Now They've Got You Down As A Dodgy Reactionary Who Can't Be Trusted?
I Hated You First!
I Can Spot A Trend A Mile Off!
As For The Bleedin' Rest Of It!
In Case It May Have Escaped Your Notice--
--they Called Me A Sociopathic Super-maniac More Than Once!
It's An Offensive Term Of Abuse And I Tick The Boxes For So Many Oppressed Minority Groups You Wouldn't Have Time To List Them--
It's Hate Speech!
I'm Carrying The Emotional Pain Of Everyone From Prince Harry On Down!
And Another Thing--uh--
The Nano-frame Seems To Have Done Its Job.
Faster Than I Expected.
You Do Score Highly On The Hare Checklist, Mr. Black.
My Powers Are No Longer What They Were--
If I Can't Stop The Zonedroids, They Could Cause Untold Havoc.
Right Now, You Could Make The Difference.
Black, If I Was Trying To Appeal To A Sociopathic Super-maniac, I'd Say Something Like This...
You're Wanted For A List Of Crimes As Long As Plastic Man's Arm.
I'm Looking For Gifted People Forced To Live Beyond The Law, Beyond The Consensus--people With Something To Offer, Who Want Το Make A Difference.
People Who Can Duplicate The Powers I've Lost.
People Who Can Stand In For Me.
You Have Nowhere To Go, Black. Nothing To Live For.
But You Could Stay Here.
You Could Stop Running, And Together We Could Do Some Good.
Is That Right?
Is This You Trying To Intimidate Me Now?
Shall I Tell You Where You Can Go?
Hell, Mate.
Hell.
Go To Hell.
Hell's Coming To Μe, Mr. Black.
Phantom Zone Incursion--
Right Around Now The World Could Use Another Hero, Manchester Black.
I Hope This Works Out...
Phantom Zone Breach Imminent!
Phantom Zone Breach Imminent!
Zzkktizzzhhh
Hero, My A***!
Phantom Zone Breach!
Zttkk-kk-kkill
Killkilltzzzk
Kkzzzahaha!
Kh-hhzz-i Have Him!
Let Ursa Deliver The Killing Blow!
The Seed Of Jor-el Is Weakening!
Kill It. Kill It!
Kill The Son Of El!
Die, Son Of Krypton!
Die Die Die!
Die Die Die!
...That's It...?
That's All You Got?
Try Harder!
What's That Sound?
Haven't Heard That Since-
-since Krypton Died...
Thought-beast!
Magnificent!
Too Bad It's Not Real!
Die, Superman, Die!
Nah.
That's My Line.
'spose My Illusions Don't Work On Artificial Intelligence.
Stands To Reason When You Think About It.
Oh Well--
Telekinesis it is.
Ffzzzkkt!
Due! Die! Greah!
Looks Like They're Re-phantomizing, Mr. Black!
Thanks For The Save.
I Kept Hoping You'd Come Through.
Hmm.
I Could Rebuild And Reprogram This Drone To Finally Map The Phantom Zone--
...I've Been Thinking About What You Said--
You And Your Justice League, If You'd Done Summink About It When You Had The Chance, The World Wouldn't Ever Have Turned Out Like This--
You Were At Your Peak, Back In The Day.
I Know, But We Made A Fatal Mistake.
We Were So Certain We Were Winning.
We Thought We Didn't Have To Try.
Never Τακε Ανυthing For Granted, Mr. Black.
Nor Anyone.
Earth's Orbit.
...Years...
Decades I've Endured--waiting For This Day To Come At Last.
For Him To Get Weak.
While I Grow Stronger.
Finally, Circumstance Conspires To Put My Oldest Enemy Exactly Where I Want Him.
Superman Lied.
He Lied About His Secret Life, He Lied About His Son, And The Biggest Lie Of All--
--is This.
Only I Know The Truth About Kryptonite.
Only I Know How To Really Destroy Him.
...You Made The Right Decision, Mr. Black.
Now We Can Get Started.
--wait A Minute--you Just Said What--?
This Is King Arthur's Round Table--
The Actual Round Table?
I Fought At The Side Of One Or Two Of The Various Arthurs.
I Rescued This From The Second Fall Of Camelot.
Arthur Entrusted The Table To Με.
And What Did Bleedin' King Arthur Have To Say For Himself, Then?
Like Kennedy, He Told Me To Resurrect The Spirit Of Collective Action In My Own Time.
I Guess That's The Real Reason I Brought You Here, Mr. Black.
To Succeed Where I Failed With The Justice League.
Never Mind That.
You Say You Can Keep The Law Off My Back?
Seriously?
If You're Willing To Make Yourself Less Conspicuous, Black.
I'll Be Straight With You...
There Are Few People In My Life Who I Instinctively And Viscerally Dislike, And You've Always Been One Of Them.
But I've Been Thinking--
I Think You Can Help Me Save The World For Real This Time, Manchester Black.
Shortly...
...Right, I've Got Just About Every Washed-up Antihero On Speed Dial.
We've Had Confirmation From At Least One Big Hitter.
There's Two A-list Names Saying I'll Have A Yes Or No When Their Current Mission's Out Of The Way.
A-list?
I Suppose I Should Feel Privileged.
Lot Of People Still Want To Work With You, Superman. Don't Ask Me Why.
Shall I Tell You What I Believe?
If I Were You, I'd Get My Revenge On The Whole World That Rejected You For Telling "Your Truth" About Who You Are Inside.
Why Would I Do That?
'cause It Feels Great To Get Even And Make Other People Squirm.
I Disagree.
I Like To Do Things Differently.
A Toast, Manchester...
Here's To A Brighter World, Mr. Black.
Here's To A Finer World.
A Finer World?
Tchaa!
Faach!
Mineral Water!
Mineral Water!
I Have A Preexisting Medical Condition Where If I Don't Consume Alcohol On An Hourly Basis I Go Into A...Kuh...Kuhhh...
Horve--
Verk--
Houll--
Rekt--
A Finer World Indeed.
To Be Continued...
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