Confederacy of Independent Sovereigns
Abbreviated to CIS, and otherwise known as the Separatist Alliance, the Separatist Order, the Separatist Confederacy, or simply referred to as the Separatists is a international confederation formed by various nations and major governments which had withdrawn from the United Nations or have otherwise opposed the Globalization Movement, following a period of political turmoil.
Established by the Russian magus known as Eric The Red as the Head of State, the Confederacy was founded from a belief of excessive sanctification and corruption within the United Nations as well as a general feeling of dissatisfaction towards and neglect by the more influential western nations such as The United States of America and Great Brittan. Furthermore, the confederacy was secretly supported by several international corporations such as Romefeller Industries, Asgard Pharmaceutics, Heisenberg Electronics and the Herrschild Banking Clan.. In truth, these corporations served HYDRA and had supported the CIS for the purpose of paving the way to the rise of the International Empire of HYDRA.
Representatives from these corporations would be used to form the confederacy’s legislative council, who would be nothing more than pawns for both sides.
In 2017 AD, a political crisis had begun which led to escalating tensions between the reigning United Nations and the rising Confederacy, established in a International-wide secessionist movement orchestrated by Eric the Red. Many within the Confederacy, including its parliament of senators, had no desire in fighting their adversaries, as they sought to be free of what they saw as the corruption and tyranny of the UN. However, in 2023 AD, both parties and their respective military forces became enmeshed in the International Civil War, also called by some as World War III.
In the years before the war, the Confederacy would make multiple attempts to cease the influence of the nations of the International Alliance such as spreading Propaganda to poorer nations to rally them against the leading nations like the US, and even acts of espionage. However, unknown to the global public or either party, the conflict and later war was a ploy designed by Aleister Romefeller, founder of Romefeller Industries, Director of the Global Order Coalition, and secretly known as Lord Satanis. The conflict would be his means of manipulating individuals and world events to his favor in order to establish himself as the leader of the New World Order.
Confirmed Nations Part of the CIS
Iraq
Russia
China
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ecuador
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
North Korea
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ACTION COMICS #537 - 541
NOVEMBER 1982 - MARCH 1983
BY MIKE W. BARR, MARV WOLFMAN, GIL KANE, IRV NOVICK, BOB ROZAKIS, ALEX SAVIUK, JOHN CALNAN, GENE D’ANGELO, JOE GIELLA, TOM ZIUKO, FRANK MCLAUGHLIN, TATJANA WOOD AND DAN ADKINS
SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)
Superman takes Lois to her apartment and tells her how he was split by Lord Satanis and Syrene into two halves, one of which is stuck in the past. Right now he lacks his invulnerability and heat vision.
Meanwhile, a dock worker steals a machine component.
After heading out of Lois' place Superman attempts to streak into the time-barrier, but he is unable to without his invulnerability and with his speed halved. Superman heads towards his Fortress of Solitude and tries to start a Time Bubble, but it shatters. Then a vision of Satanis appears and warns he's shut down to the past every door to the past Superman knows about. Superman wonders how he can fight back.
Meanwhile, his other self remains trapped in the past. Syrene has dragged him to her infinite castle and gets ready to filter the Runestone of Merlin's magical energy through Superman's invulnerable body and into her. Such an action would kill Superman but Syrene isn't concerned about it. Superman tries to stall for time but she guesses his intent and begins the process.
The morning after his failed attempts on time-travel, present-day Clark Kent heads towards the Daily Planet and finds out the Mole has gotten the word out regarding his invulnerability's loss. Clark gets worried about his enemies mass-attacking him.
Somewhere else, Jackson Hammersmith has read the news and is putting the finishing touches on his gear. Previously he intended to leave the town and start out his criminal career elsewhere, but now he thinks he'll make a name for himself by killing Superman.
Meanwhile, Clark is working in his office. Lois wants to have a private conversation with him, but Clark heads off when when he hears Perry White shouting. Clark finds out some crook who calls himself Jackhammer wanted the Daily Planet to print his challenge to Superman. Perry has no intention of publishing an ad bought with stolen money, but he wants Clark to write the story so Superman finds out.
That night, Jackhammer draws Superman's attention by wrecking a train track. Superman engages him, but Jackhammer throws the first punch. Superman gets nearly knocked out, but he has no time to recover due to an incoming train. Superman prevents it from derailing thanks to a precise use of his super-breath, but he collapses on the train roof afterwards, feeling injured and exhausted.
Bruised and half-conscious, Superman makes it to Jimmy Olsen and asks his friend to use his disguise skills to help him hide his bruises.
The next day, no one of his co-workers seems to notice Clark's injuries, although Lois Lane takes a hold of him to discuss the news of Superman's defeat at Jackhammer's hands and give him self-help books. When Clark brushes off her concerns and insists he likes himself just fine, Lois storms out.
For the next nights, Superman keeps a low profile and uses his other skills to bust robberies from a distance as his wounds heal. At the same time, Jackhammer exploits his newfound fame to become the chief enforcer of every crime boss in Metropolis and goes on a crime spree.
After one week goes by without a Superman sighting, the Daily Planet staff starts wondering what has happened to Superman. At night, Clark Kent privately admits to himself he is afraid. Thinking of his parents, Clark remembers Pa Kent saying facing up your fears and beats them is the measure of a man. Clark suits up and heads out.
Later, Jackhammer and his crooks attempt to rob a theater. Suddenly, Superman freezes their weapons and baits Jackhammer out of the place. Superman fights hard, but Jackhammer's hydraulic punches and armor give him an edge. Nonetheless, when a crowd sees Superman being beaten they attack Jackhammer to save Superman. Jackhammer turns around to shout he'll come after them as soon as he kills Superman. His distraction gives Superman an opening and he knocks Jackhammer out by punching his unprotected lower face.
Superman receives the multitude's congratulations, but he insists he's the one who is grateful. Because they fought their fears and faced a danger, they gave him one chance to win.
Superman tries to go back to the past via the Atom's Time Pool, but he discovers Satanis has also blocked that access. He also tries the Flash's Cosmic Treadmill to not avail.
In the past, the other Superman is still Syrene's prisoner. Syrene starts to filter the Runestone of Merlin's energies through his body and in hers when she notices her husband Satanis storming her castle. Satanis and Syrene begin their magic duel as the latter absorbs the gem's magic. Satanis manages to blow up a hole in her castle's walls and strides in.
In the present, Superman makes it to the Daily Planet, changes clothes and walks in, but he has barely greeted his friends when he passes out. Lois Lane calls the doctor in the staff and doctor Judy Prusha examines Clark Kent before declaring him dead.
In the past, Syrene has just absorbed the sum of the Runestone's powers, killing Superman in the process. She sets to kill Satanis in revenge for her father's death. Feeling the need to show off her powers before killing him painfully, Syrene shatters a faraway planet and tosses the fragments at her husband. Satanis swiftly leaps inside Superman's inert body, which shields him from the avalanche of meteorites. Now possessing Superman's powers as well as his own magic, Satanis is ready to fight his wife.
In the present, Clark Kent's body has been taken to a hospital for an autopsy while the Daily Planet staff mourns him.
In the 14th Century, Syrene and Satanis, who has taken over Superman's body, start their magic duel to death.
In the 20th Century Metropolis, Clark Kent comes back to life on the autopsy table as a result of his past-half being reanimated by Satanis. Neither the coroners nor his co-workers can understand his return, but Clark talks his friends into getting him out of the hospital. Jimmy, Lana and Lois take Clark to the latter's apartment. The trio stays with Clark for a while, but eventually they leave so he can rest.
In the 14th Century, Satanis and Syrene continue their battle. Satanis expects Syrene's lack of experience wielding the powers of the Runestone of Merlin give him an edge, but even so she's too powerful. Growing larger than any planet, Syrene turns the world they're standing on into a snake that swallows Satanis, and then molds it into a ball. Seeing Syrene is about to swallowing him whole, Satanis begs Superman's spirit for help.
In the present, Clark Kent wakes up after having dreamed the whole event. Superman just knows his dream was real and his self trapped in the past is about to be destroyed. He needs to get to the past, but Satanis has blocked every time-travelling method he knows of. Clark Kent goes to the Daily Planet with the aim of requesting a vacation when he overhears Perry White and Lois arguing about her piece on Forgotten Heroes. Lois brings Rip Hunter, the Time Master up, piquing Clark's interest. Clark discreetly x-rays Lois' notes. He had never heard or Rip Hunter until Lois mentioned him, so maybe Satanis hasn't shut down that opening to the past. Superman streaks towards Rip Hunter's Time Lab, meets Rip and explains his predicament.
In the past, Syrene is about to kill Satanis, but the mud ball where he has been emprisoned explodes. Superman has agreed to work with Satanis to defeat Syrene. However, Satanis doesn't want to stop her but kill her. After apparently destroying Syrene Satanis intends to claim her power and become the ruler of all eternity. He thinks Superman can't get his body's control back and stop him, but suddenly a Time Sphere appears and the Superman previously trapped in the 20h Century steps out of it.
Superman engages Satanis, determined to recover his duplicate whose body Satanis is possessing. He fights fiercely, but he only possesses half of his powers whereas Satanis possesses the remainder half as well as his magic skills.
In present day Daily Planet, Lois Lane gets into an argument with Lana Lang about her relationship with Clark. When Lana storms out, Jimmy Olsen asks Lois why she went off on Lana. Lois replies Lana's attitude rubs her the wrong way, but Jimmy believes Lois is hiding her true motives. Meanwhile, a certain Mr. Moore is having a job interview and looking forward to work in the Planet.
In the past, Satanis is going to rip Superman apart magically until the Superman whose body he is possessing starts to resist Satanis' control and turn his own magic on him. Satanis can't use his full power cause of Superman, so he frees a Superman and expels the one he is possessing out.
Both Supermen combine their powers to take Satanis out, but they're weakened and he can use his full power to throw all kind of spells at them. At one point, one Superman takes his fallen twin's hand and helps him up while they are being bathed with magical power. Satanis' residual energies merge into a malevolent energy Superman who attacks Satanis. Satanis blasts his own accidental creation to atoms, but in a last ditch rebellious act, the energy Superman merges both Superman back together.
Superman decides it's time to end their battle. He's vulnerable to Satanis' magic, but his foe is tired. As struggling to dodge or phase through Satanis' blasts, Superman manages to send him into the time-stream and back in his time, where Satanis will no doubt find Syrene waiting for him, and goes back to present-day Metropolis.
Superman changes into his civilian clothes and heads towards the Daily Planet. Upon seeing him, Lana hugs and kisses him as Lois glares.
Mera tells Aquaman that she is Lt. Miriam Bridgeman, and Adm. Murphy explains that Lt. Bridgeman joined them several weeks ago. Aquaman kisses her to find out if she is really his wife, and is satisfied by the response that she is, though she has no memory of being Mera... and the hard-water around the sea station convinces him further that she is really Mera.
When she is hooked up to the brain-print machine, her readings come out garbled. As a final test, Aquaman has Lt. Bridgeman change into a bikini and leap into the sea with him. She finds out that she can breathe water and has telepathic powers, though she still does not remember her Mera identity. But when she tries summoning other fish, she and Aquaman are beset by attacking dolphins, and she mistakenly encases most of Aquaman's body in hard water.
Aquaman and Mera are beset by the attacking dolphins, and Mera's continued attempts to communicate telepathically with them electrify the porpoises like electric eels. Aquaman manages to get three of the dolphins to smash into his hard-water block, freeing him. But a dolphin's electric charge stuns Mera, and, going to her rescue, Aquaman receives Mera's image and her call for help in his mind.
The Mera-image declares that she is trapped, “imprisoned somewhere else!” When Mera (as Bridgeman) awakens in his arms, she says that the real Mera is her prisoner, and that she shares Mera's body, but dominates it. Then she starts to strangle Aquaman.
Even though Aquaman cannot bring himself to hit Mera, he has swordfish swim about them at such a speed it creates a whirlpool, dizzying Mera and enabling him to break her grip. She passes out, and Mera is thus able to override her captor's dominance and send Aquaman telepathic messages.
He learns that the woman in possession of Mera's body now is Vlana, the woman who ruled her dimensional world of Xebel after she left to marry Aquaman. When Mera returned, she found Vlana unwilling to leave the throne, but removed her by force and incurred her wrath. Later, she lured Mera into a trap, and used her enhanced mental powers to take over Mera's body telepathically. After that, she warped into Earth, assumed the Miriam Bridgeman identity, and infiltrated the S.T.A.R. project to learn how to communicate with fish, so that she could use them as “troops” to help her retake Xebel.
Aquaman takes himself and Mera through the warp that admits them to Xebel. When she awakens, Aquaman fears that he will be facing Vlana again, but the crossing has returned Mera's control of her own body to her. Mera leads Aquaman to Vlana, who now has fish-summoning powers and draws an army of octopi, sharks, swordfish, and electric eels through the warp to menace them. Aquaman is stunned by her telepathic strike, and Vlana tells Mera to choose which fish shall kill her.
Mera and Vlana engage in a vicious hand-to-hand fight, though Vlana cheats by using members of her fish “army” to attack her rival. To prevent the interference, Mera creates a sphere of hard water around herself and Vlana, keeping out the fish. Then she and Vlana continue their battle, until the bikini-clad Mera finally defeats her.
Aquaman breaks through the hard-water sphere a few seconds later, and an electric eel follows and kills Vlana with its charge. Mera tells Aquaman that Vlana must have committed suicide by ordering the eel to shock her when she realized she would be defeated.
Later, back in her regular outfit, Mera once again gives up the throne of Xebel to return to Earth with Aquaman, the man she loves.
BEHIND THE CURTAINS
With the end of Aquaman’s story, Action Comics goes back to being just one story per issue (for Superman).
By 1983, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” was still being called “History of the DC Universe”. It doesn’t seem like, at this point, a reboot was in sight.
There are also references to the botched projects for Titans/X-Men and JLA/Avengers.
REVIEW
Fight scenes are boring, or perhaps it’s just me. I think they are a bit more boring when they involve Lord Satanis. Or any of the villains involved in this long story.
I find the character interactions to be the best. Lois is getting closer to Superman, but clearly further and further away from Clark. She doesn’t accept him for who he is, so she wants him to change (of course, the Clark she sees is not even the real Clark Kent).
In that regard, Lana has an advantage, she wants Clark, not Superman, and she knew him all her life, so there would be no need for her to see him change. Lana is clearly winning the fight.
One of the great things John Byrne did, was removing the love triangle. It wasn’t completely erased, but it changed considerably (Lana knows Clark’s secret post-crisis).
Jimmy Olsen has a make-up desk. Just so you know.
The Aquaman back-story is not bad, but it suffers of the same problems his back-ups had in Adventure Comics. Not having a title makes writers do forgettable stories. It is nice to see the couple happy again after all that happened. But Mera renouncing the throne for her husband doesn’t feel very progressive. Especially since Arthur is no longer king of Atlantis.
The art has a lot of fluctuations. From a very clean Irv Novick, to a psychedelic Gil Kane, there is no tone to this story.
I give the whole thing a score of 5
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