Adventures of Superman #473
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAdventures of Superman #473 serves as the narrative capstone of the multi-issue Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught saga that Dan Jurgens had been threading through the Superman titles since the late 1980s, bringing their alien-master backstory to a full resolution. Equally important on the character front, the issue uses Clark and Lois's public engagement announcement as its emotional spine, a landmark moment in the Triangle Era's long-building romance that the entire group of Superman titles was jointly developing. The pairing of both active Green Lanterns — Hal Jordan, fresh off his restored solo series, and the abrasive Guy Gardner — with Superman previews the Superman/Guy Gardner dynamic that Jurgens would later explore extensively in his Justice League run.
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The issue was written and drawn by Dan Jurgens, with inks by Art Thibert, colors by Glenn Whitmore, lettering by Albert DeGuzman, and editing by Mike Carlin — the central creative and editorial team guiding the Superman line through its coordinated Triangle Era. It was published with a cover date of December 1990 and falls directly after Superman (Vol. 2) #50 in the reading order, situating it at a particularly busy convergence of ongoing story threads. The Hal Jordan Green Lantern appearance is specifically timed to that character's re-launch as a solo series following his long run in Action Comics Weekly, a context the issue's storytelling reflects visually.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Story title: 'Rings of Fire'; cover date December 1990 (published December 10, 1990).
- Written and drawn by Dan Jurgens; inked by Art Thibert; colored by Glenn Whitmore; lettered by Albert DeGuzman; edited by Mike Carlin.
- Clark Kent and Lois Lane publicly announce their engagement to Jimmy Olsen and the Daily Planet staff — a key milestone in the Superman Triangle Era's ongoing romance subplot.
- Both Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner appear alongside Superman; the issue explicitly positions Hal as the 'real' Green Lantern in Superman's eyes while establishing a contentious dynamic with Guy Gardner.
- Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught return for their third major story arc, with their origins fully explained: they were created by a centuries-old giant alien pilot whose ship had been buried under a Wyoming Air Force base, who had captured Hal Jordan to drain his Power Battery for fuel.
- The issue resolves the cliffhanger from Adventures of Superman #469, in which Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught's ship had entered a secret military base — now revealed to be the buried alien vessel.
- Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught's next appearance after this issue is Superman (Vol. 2) #105.
- The catalog indexes several pop-culture figures (Marty McFly, Doc Brown, Clara Clayton Brown, Elvis Presley) and Tim Drake/Robin among the issue's characters, consistent with the era's practice of including background cameos at social gatherings such as the engagement party scene.
Cast · 17 characters
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Superman and Guy rescue Hal from an alien that's been trapped on Earth for centuries.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
Key issues in Adventures of Superman
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