STEEL/LETHAL versus FELIPE DECLAUDE
Lethal Tendencies (DC comics)
Where: Steel #20 When: October 1995
Why: Ruben Diaz How: Roberto Flores

The story so far...
John Henry Irons was a man with many skeletons in his closet. Having moved to Metropolis to escape his past as an advanced weapons designer, he unceremoniously finds the BG-60 energy cannon in the present as part of a gangwar. Inspired by Superman, he turns his expertise to developing a suit of weapon that makes him a man of steel.

Having overcome humble beginnings in the ghetto; Irons is emotionally motivated to investigate when a high school coach, who was crucial to steering him away from violence and drugs, goes missing. He fears the worst, having discovered the coach's car hidden in the backyard of the Voodoo Crew.

Instead of a deceased friend, Steel discovers the slaughter of the entire crew, along with a brutal vigilante calling himself Lethal. Despite their ethical differences, the two heroes team-up to the follow the clues, finding a sleezy sociallite, and a restaurant venture that is dying to have the heroes for dinner...

Previous Form:
Steel (#24): Victories over Metallo, Plasmus & Lex Luthor.
Lethal/Felipe Declaude: Making their debut in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Steel 5 (Super Strength)
Intelligence: Steel 5 (Professor)
Speed: Lethal 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Steel 5 (Marathon Man)
Agility: Lethal 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Lethal 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Steel 2 (Projectiles)


- John Henry Irons is a brilliant technician and scientist, particularly affluent in the field of engineering and machinery. Though Irons has a close history with the design of elaborate weapons, as Steel he employed lo-tech options.
Though various iterations have existed, Steel's armor typically enhances his strength and durability, grants flight capabilities, carries a wrist-mounted pneumatic rivet gun, and carries his collapsable sledge hammer.

There has been vague suggestion that Steel was born with natural advantages as a 'meta human.' He is known for having exceptionally powerful arms, marrying his exceptional intelligence with muscle and skill.

- The man called Lethal is a ruthless vigilante whose methods buck against a prison system that all too often sees the same crooks back on the streets to reoffend. In an effort to stem the flow, Lethal boasts what his name suggests.

Wearing a suit that includes bladed weaponry, wrist-mounted projectiles, and a variety of other technologies; Lethal combines his small arsenal with fight training and a well conditioned body. Little more is known about him.

- Hidden beneath the facade of WASP, faux-French entrepreneur, Felipe DeClaude, is the dark identity of Royce DeClaude; a monstrous undead creature capable of raising an army of zombies.

Little is known about the origins of the creature, but he is capable of transforming from a hideous, fanged green creature, into the more kocher blonde fop that greets bookings at his restaurant - Man's Food.

The Math: Steel/Lethal The Pick: Steel/Lethal

What went down...
Following information obtained from the local police precinct, Steel arrives at Man's Food with a string of accusations and the intent to place Felipe DeClaude under citizen's arrest. DeClaude's denials of Steel's accusations are quickly squashed as the bombastic Lethal enters the scene.

Tossing a bodybag from the kitchen, Lethal parades soylent evidence infront of patrons ready to unwittingly devour the delicacy of human meat. The maneuver is enough to provoke DeClaude to reveal himself as he truly is, a self-described savage, who apparently feels persecuted by the hero's intrusion.

Seeking a final taste of vengeance, DeClaude snatches the girlfriend of the criminal foreman who had couriered the harvested meat of dead humans.
The waiting staff removed their masks to reveal decaying green faces, launching into combat with Steel and Lethal while their master toys with the woman.

Morally exonerated by the undead status of those that attack, even Steel willingly indulges in lethal force, as the pair of heroes cut through their pale green opposition. Steel knocks a jaw away, while Lethal cuts with blades.

Steel makes light work of the agile, but slow moving zombies, fully recognising the liklihood that they serve little more than a distraction.
Not wanting to allow himself to be distanced from the kitchen, Steel finishes the job with his rivet blaster, only to turn to discover DeClaude with his talons buried in Lethal's bloody chest.

Despite his injuries, Lethal manages to deliver a slash with his wrist-blade that tears through DeClaude's olive chest and stuns him sufficiently to send them both tumbling through the restaurant's high-rise window.

Steel leaps out after them, hoping to use his jet-powered DeClaude recognises his peril and cries to Steel for aid. Despite his greatest attempts, Steel proves too slow to catch the bulky undead villain in his descent.

The armored hero has no choice but to pull back barely a meter from a delivery van that makes for a harsh landing for DeClaude.

Back in the restaurant; Steel discovers holding pens hidden within the industrial refridgerators. Contained within are the many kidnapped, including Coach Burt Lawson, the man that had connected Steel to the bizarre scenario in the beginning.

The hammer...
Well, we can close the file on this case, with Steel and Lethal walking away the victors. Even though they were zombies, let the record show kill stats for the pair, four/three respectively.

Now, yesterday we discussed at some length the industry mystery of how Marvel continues to fail to capitalize on the multi-media success of everyone's favourite vampire-hunter -- Blade.
Here, we find ourselves staring down another bizarre mystery, this time one unique to the Infinite Wars. See, Bahlactus shon the spotlight on Steel during the week, and even though we're too late for the FNF, it was the perfect excuse to pull this Halloween hangover issue out for our holy day of fighting.

Thing is, presumably by pure coincidence, the Infinite Wars have suffered an uncharacteristic dip in hits every time I've featured Steel. Granted, it's only been three times [Steel #21, #28 & 52 #42], but it seems very peculiar that we'd make notable dips each time! I guess you could say missing out on FNF referrals is a good opportunity to see if we can break the curse.

I like Steel! Though much of the series is characterized by cheesy afterschool morality specials, and the epitomy of mindless 1990's action, it has a strange left-field appeal to it. During a period where Batman and other prominent DC icons didn't have an appeal to strike me, I delighted in taking full advantage of Steel's lack of popularity, sifting through longboxes to find the dismissive bargain purchases that came with the territory.

Ironically, I probably missed out on what many consider the best of the book, having drifted away during the mid-thirties. For me, instead of Christopher Priest hospital drama, Steel is typified by weird guest characters, and what seems like experiments with tech-savvy contemporary villain concepts and similar experiments with digital effects in comics. Granted, this was presumably going on across the entire DC line, taking full advantage of the acquisition of Wildstorm Comics and their digital colourists.

Lethal is a prime example of the atypical nineties "EXTREME" characters and storytelling getting a platform in Steel. The wise-cracking, murderous vigilante, equipped with tech and 'tude, is the very epitomy of the post-grim and gritty characters that mischaracterize the 90's as a lost cause.

This issue, with a fill-in creative team, sits obscurely as a stand-alone tale that has no effect on Steel past, present, or future. Lethal, who makes his first appearance here, literally teleports out of the issue, never to be seen again.
Likewise, Felipe DeClaude registers a one-time appearance with, like Lethal, no developed history, or depth as a character. As a monster, DeClaude at the very least benefits from associated motivation, even with a hilariously benign European villain-name.

Lethal, in an incestual sort of way, reads a lot like a non-specific knock-off of Deadpool. I wouldn't imagine that's the case, but I would love to know the circumstances behind this story that feels so bizarrely out of context.

Double would be an obscure guest-character that I would recall more fondly, appearing with the familiar grounding of mystery men similar to The Shadow, or The Sandman, albeit with a modern tilt. Double had the benefit of making a small handful of appearances throughout the series, best noted for aiding Steel in relocating after his identity was exposed, and family endangered.

So, what is it about this issue that affords a concession that Ultimate Spider-man #96 doesn't receive? It may very well be an unfair double standard, but on the merits of the work and the context of the period, it's hard for me to come down on this book with too much venom. It never really has the potential to rise to the heights that an Ultimate Spider-man does. It isn't reinventing the wheel with the benefit of hindsight, in fact, it's blindly groping around an industry being led by flashy gimmickery, instead of more cerebral conceptuals.

By definition, the pencil-driven EXTREME of books like these never even pretend to have the soul of a lasting character or title. The action struggles to conform to any kind of spiney expectation, with word balloons and action spilling in and out of neighbouring panels like a game of snakes and ladders.

This comic succeeds in being fun. The oddities contained within it's pages are what makes it interesting to me. The critic could not deny that it fails to fully capitalize on the format or potentially iconic character that is Steel, but as we begin to examine zeitgeist more as 2007 closes, we can look back on this issue as being borne of it's time, and it's role.

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 4

It should come as no surprise that Steel has not been collected in paperback by DC Comics, who have been notoriously slow to tackle even the most critically acclaimed issues in it's 1990s back catalogue. You can find Steel currently starring in the 52-spin off, "Infinity Inc." For a history lesson, you might like to check out the Death of Superman, which inevitably gave birth to Steel!

STEEL versus PLASMUS
The Drowning Room (DC comics)
Where: Steel #28 When: July, 1996
Why: Peter J. Tomasi How: Andrew Robinson

The story so far...
Ever since John Henry Irons was outed as Steel, life's been just that much more hectic.
When Steel starts having nightmares about his family, he decides to move out, but not before real in-house fighting is caught by reporters -- literally leaning into their house!

Cut to "elsewhere," where in an abandoned warehousey type set-up, Plasmus just happens to be watching a TV on a diving board, while he tries to chill in the swimming pool.

Plasmus kidnaps Steel's niece Natasha, and when Steel catches up to the giant melting man, his plan becomes clear. He wants to be saved. From himself.

Recommended reading:
52 #1+: DC Universe without it's top heroes for a year. Features Steel.
Villains United #1-#6: If there's a more specific good Plasums read, let me know.
Steel #21: Steel battles Superman villain, Metallo.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Plasmus 5 (Super Strength)
Intelligence: Steel 5 (Professor)
Speed: Steel 2 (Average Human)
Stamina: Steel 5 (Marathon Runner)
Agility: Steel 2 (Average Human)
Fighting Ability: Steel 3 (Street Wise)
Energy Powers: Plasmus 2 (Projectile Weapon)

I'm going to immediately confess a degree of ignorance where Plasmus and his abilities are concerned. Obviously there are some innate and self-explanatory powers and strengths, but my palette of Plasums references just isn't strong enough to quote. Sorry about that.

You have a pretty basic set-up here of a guy in a suit of armor and a guy who's big, strong, oozy, and burning hot. They are Steel and Plasmus respectively.
You have to ask yourself a certain set of questions regarding this kind of situation.

What capabilities does the armor have?
He may have produced weapons in a past life, but Steel is not Iron Man. His armor is far less on the tech side, and more on the suspension-of-disbelief, with a twist of old fashioned elbow grease and manufacturing pride.

Offensively Steel uses his easy-to-carry extendo-hammer, and wrist-mounted projectile shooting rivet gun. While these are pretty decent basic offenses, against a guy made of burning goop, they're not going to be of great use. In fact, there's every possibility tiny rivets would probably melt to slag before doing any damage.

Steel's armor is clearly strong and versatile, but you'd have to think heat would be a real issue for him. Likewise, the armor only does so much where his strength is concerned, and physically you'd have to think Plasmus has the greater bulk of offense.

If it comes down to it, Steel's an incredibly smart and industrious guy, and no doubt he could think his way around the gooping Russian miner.
It might very well be that element that lends Steel the distinct advantage, but it would still no doubt be a mighty close bout.

What went down...
When Steel's niece is set upon by a stampede of reporters, things look pretty unpleasant, but it gets worse. Steel is on the scene just in time to see the sidewalk ripped through, and a big pair of pink mittens drag his niece into the sewers below.
No, it's not Krang, it's Plasmus!

Steel suits up and heads down, but in that short time Plasmus has managed to stash Natasha someplace else. He's pretty quick for a guy who's losing his physical integrity.

Steel takes a swing, and sizzles his hand -- but it didn't melt, so we'll take Plasmus' word for it, and assume that is a good thing.

Ignoring the pain, John Henry opens up an old fashioned can of whoop, and pounds Plasmus into an unrecognisable, gelatenous mountain of slop, but the heat is still a problem.
Plasmus counters, snatching Steel's hands in his, and squeezes.

Plasmus yaps on some more, and Steel finally manages to swing his feet up, unleashing a blast from his jet boots, and turning the momentum around on Plasmus.
Pushing the hulking mass of... bleh... Steel drives him through a wall, and into a mass of sewer water stuff.

With a wiclked grin, Plasmus swims his way to Steel's feet, and then allows some of his gooey mass to solidify in the cool water, effectively weighing the armored hero down Mafia style.
Working his way to the surface, Plazzy then melts a bunch of brick onto the surface of the channel, where it solidifies into a thick crust.

Using his rivet gun, Steel blasts himself free, and then rocket boots his way back up, crashing through the surface seel with a, "SHAKOOM!" -- which reads quite a bit like Shaq and Doom put together. Sorta like the movie... Haw!

Anyway, burnt into the wall is a message, "She is safe unless you follow. Make suit. I be in touch." The message comes complete with a burnt in arrow, which points to a note left, marked specifications.

While Steel does his best Flashdance montage, working the steel into a suit of armor that will hold Plasmus together -- Natasha helps the sympathetic villain, pouring water into his abandoned swimming pool HQ.
As Plasmus heats up, the waters ceases to be effective, and when Natasha gets a little to close, the hose catches alight! Bummer!

Plasmus grabs her leg as punishment, scorching his way through her French Toast denims. Being Russian, no doubt he was thinking to himself, 'my pain, you taste bitch.'

Steel turns up with a big pile of metal, and it passes the melting test.
Plasmus doesn't let Natasha go just yet, though, wanting to try on his new togs, presumably to see if they fit, or make his melting arse look big.
When all is well, Plasmus turns the girl over to her uncle. But wait!...

When Plasmus starts to bubble and boil his way through the gaps in the suit, he curses up a bloody storm, "You will both die for this! Your entire family will die!"

Steel fires off a rivet as he flies away with Natasha, striking a button on the chest which in turn unleashes a shot of liquid nitrogen -- TO THE BRAIN!

Steel decides to leave him for STAR Labs to take care of, but feeling a little resentful toward her captor, Natasha decides to get a piece of her own back, smashing Plasmus to pieces with a stray crowbar.
Ironically, she cites him as a murderer, but for any concerned readers, he has showed up in Villains United, so... There you go.

The hammer...
I got to talk about it briefly the last time I featured an issue of Steel [Steel #21], but damned if this isn't one great, thoroughly underused character.

During the nineties Steel was a character I bought pretty regularly, and was certainly the only DC title I was reading. This was a time of electric Superman, and other wacky business, and for whatever reason, I just hadn't quite reconnected with DC after living life as a Marvel fan.

Really, it doesn't make a lot of sense that Steel would be the guy I would like, either. I mean, here's a guy who's atypical of bad minority characters, derving himself from another character. Obviously some efforts were made to give him his own direction, and I think losing the Superman S had to be one of the best things to happen to the guy, but that stigma is still there.

Then you look at the stories. This guy never came close to reaching his potential.
These stories are, even to the most generous reader, average. A lot of pretty standard superhero action, with some pretty standard nineties ghetto superstar swirls.

Still, there was just something about this character. Something mysterious that made him enjoyable right through all those early, cheesy, ugly stories.
Maybe it's the armor, or the cape, or the fact that, like Batman, this guy is just all the more impressive for earning his place amongst the Gods. Even with all that meta-human nonsense that worked it's way into things.

He's the 'Black Superman,' and a character of great inspiration and all that rah-rah, but just purely as a character, ignoring the angles... He's the crossroads of humanity and super-humanity. He's technology and magic. He's brain and brawn.
He's a great character who has just so much potential, and I think it's great that 52 to casting a spotlight on that.

I just hope Steel can live up to the Steel I would like to see.
It's an opportunity that shouldn't be missed, if you ask me.

I mean, this is a guy you could literally go anywhere with, I think.
I didn't read a lot of the later Priest issues of the solo series, and I know the character shifted a little. He seemed to become a little more mature, but I'd like to think those varying character traits and faces just load the guy up with more potential.

I see him ranging everywhere from senior mentor, guiding voice of reason -- to very much an everyman, standing awkwardly with rookies in a room with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
He's the kind of guy who can seem so right with these guys [JLA], and yet, as a veteran of only a decade and a half, sticks out like a sore thumb. He's got the power to roll with those guys, but the touch to stay down on the streets.

I'd love to see an on-going mixing it up in exactly that fashion.
Put him somewhere where you can regularly throw super villain overflow in the mix, but at the same time let him deal with common crime. Put him in a world of character driven dilemma, and let him deal with the streets.
The first order of business, surely, has to be getting him out of STAR Labs, which I assume 52 is doing.

Not that he has to remove himself entirely from the group.
Maybe STAR Labs could provide some of the supporting cast and sets, ala the Flash TV series. There's just so much to draw upon, and I'm really failing to highlight that with specifics, but maybe next time Steel comes around, I'll be better prepared.

The Fight: 3 The Issue: 4.5

NEXT: Face the face! The bat-family do combat with one of Batman's oldest foes -- together again for the first time!

STEEL versus METALLO
"Stalker"
Where: Steel #21 When: November 1995
Writer: Louise Simonson Artist: Phil Gosier

The story so far...
John Henry Irons was a disillusioned former weapons designer, when he fell from a building construction site.
Rescued from his fall by Superman; John Henry was inspired by the hero's apparent death, and used his mechanical knowledge to fashion a suit of armor - becoming the black Superman, the man of Steel.

Setting out to right the wrongs of his past, Steel moves to Washington DC.

In the aftermath of Underworld Unleashed, an event that saw the wishes of villains globally granted by Neron; Steel struggles to control a city gone mad. It only gets worse from there.

Tale of the tape...
Being a Steel fan has proven to have a lot of unique pros and cons over the years.
Though involved in the hype of the Death of Superman, I didn't get into the character until his solo series began, and even then, I don't remember how that came about.

Steel's a character that, for me, goes against type. Generally speaking, I don't warm to spin-off characters that rely heavily on the characters they are derived from. This is perhaps why Steel has succeeded in raising my interests where characters like Superboy and Supergirl have failed.

When Steel lost the S, he essentially severed any immediately obvious connection to his Superman origins. Not only his appearance was distanced, but because of the very nature of the character, his powers and abilities were greatly removed.

Strength: 4 (Steroid Popper)
Intelligence: 5 (Professor)
Fighting Ability: 3 (Street Wise)
Energy Powers: 2 (Guns)

Though peaking on similar beats to Superman, Steel operates on a much lower field. That's not to say he's a weak character by any means, but his strengths are comparably lower than other Superman characters, and often different.

Against an opponent like Metallo, Steel has some very initial obstacles to overcome. His arsenal is entirely composed of metal, from his strength enhancing armor, to his wrist mounted pneumatic rivet shooter, or even his big ol' steel sledgehammer.

Packing a mean punch thanks to Neron, even beheaded, Metallo can reconstitute a makeshift body out of any available metals. Considering the nature of most populated areas the characters operate in, even if Steel manages to hold on to his armor through metahuman means, there's still a lot to worry about.

Strength: 5 (Super Strength)
Stamina: 6 (Generator)
Energy Powers: 3 (Explosives)

Potentially Metallo remains a volatile character regardless of whether he specifically incorporates explosives into his body, or if he just brings a full tank with him when he reshapes a nearby car.

The hero of the story always has an X-factor edge, especially a character with as much heart as Steel. That said, on paper and by the numbers, this is a fight Metallo should win.

What went down...
They say ignorance is bliss, so Steel must've been in seventh heaven while he scrambled across DeeCee trying to help those in need, narrowly avoiding being hit with a couple of rockets.

On the way back from saving a few people in distress, Steel finds himself on the receiving end of an electro-cannon fire blast. Understandably, our hero was beginning to feel a little perturbed as he spun around to face his mystery attacker.

Steel wastes no time beheading Metallo, recalling Superman's previous encounters with the metallic fiend. Unaware, of course, that by knocking his head into a scrap yard, he was loading Metallo up with a whole new bag of toys.

Absorbing portions of nearby cars, Metallo finds his new torso with a full tank of gas. Not terribly bad news for a character who doesn't use heat vision, but unfortunately some jerk conveniently left a cigarette lighter lying around. Those are Metallo's words, not mine.

From a shoulder mounted hose, Metallo lets the petrol fly, covering Steel in flames. The hero, however, remains unphased, laying claims to a new strategy of pulping Metallo's head, rather than just removing it.
Steel swings in with his hammer, but Metallo is able to catch it, and swing back with a running motor for a fist.
Locked up, either character is unable to move, prompting Steel to throw a hydrolically empowered leg up to punt Metallo's head a coinsiderable distance.

The head comes to land in a river, leading our hero to believe the threat of Metallo was now officially averted. Unfortunately inner city attitudes had led to considerable pollution in this particular river, giving Metallo adequate materials for a body strong enough to reach a boat looming overhead.

While helping firemen fight a fire, Steel finds himself struck once again my a mystery blast. Lamenting on the origin of his new powers, Metallo attempts to absorb Steel's own armor into his body, but is unable to budge it, giving Steel the chance to send the head bouncing once more with a super right hook.

Steel leaves the head with police, to resume serving the public at a neo-Nazi bomb threat. Of course, it's not long before he's struck again by a mystery attacker.

Metallo begins making plans for Superman, as he fires off a laser cannon at Steel, who just happens to be carrying the terrorist bomb.
Steel blasts Metallo with his jet boots, and attempts a further get-away, only to be pursued by his new, ever persistent nemesis.

Making it to a clear area, Steel prepares to toss the bomb loose, but Metallo has other plans. He strips the casing, and prepares to make himself a living bomb, until Steel delivers some rather grim news - "... the explosive mechanism's plastique."

The hammer...
Whew! Well, that was a long one.
As you hopefully guessed, this time Metallo wasn't coming back, making Steel our winner. Which is pleasing, because I always like it when my favourites win. It's true.

As I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of interesting advantages and disadvantages to being a Steel fan. One of the few Steel fans at my preferred comic store. Which, as you can imagine, meant prospective prices as issues moved off the shelves were considerably less than other titles, which meant I could buy up on any I missed.

Of course, this lesser demand also meant there were less issues available.
Likewise, it also meant the title began disappearing, most notably from local venues, like newsagencys, where the title had previously been sold.

The supply versus demand pendulum was an on-going theme, it seemed.
Perhaps what I find most peculiar about the character, is that despite being relatively unpopular, he not only endured, but also extend beyond the point of most nineties DC characters.

Another prime double edged example was the Steel feature film.
Positive, because this was a time when very few new DC properties, let alone most comic features, were making any leeway in effort to get to the big screen.
Unfortunately, Steel went the way of the Batman films, and was really quite a substandard effort. Shaq maintains a season record for most shitty films in a decade.

Still, peculiar highpoints would continue. Steel would be the only other superhero featured in a Superman action figure giveaway at McDonalds, and there would be great Steel action figures, and even a video game appearance. Eventually the on-going series was finally cancelled, but the character still maintained appearances as part of JLA, which is pretty impressive, if you ask me.

Now, as Infinite Crisis bleeds into 52, John Henry Irons prepares to have another shot at the big time. I hope, this time, the character has more consistent success.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 3

NEXT: The Boy Wonder versus the Girl Mutant!