Superman #5

May 1987 · DC · 0.75 USD; 1.00 CAD; 0.40 GBP

📊 ~81,339 copies sold its debut month

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“The Mummy Strikes”

★ 1st appearance — Allie

About this Issue

Superman Vol. 2 #5 (May 1987) marks the first appearances of two Daily Planet supporting characters — Alice, an intern whose background would be fleshed out in Adventures of Superman #462, and Whit, a staff employee — who became small but persistent fixtures of the post-Crisis Metropolis. The issue also does important emotional housekeeping for the nascent Byrne-era continuity: Clark's lingering preoccupation with Wonder Woman, triggered by their shared Legends experience, is the engine that drives him to South America and frames the issue's adventure, subtly establishing a Clark-Diana dynamic that writers would revisit for years. As Part 1 of 'The Mummy Strikes!', it also begins the introduction of the Host — a robot housing the preserved consciousness of an ancient civilization — a concept that extended Byrne's habit of grounding Superman stories in science-fiction mystery rather than pure superhero punch-ups.

writer, artist John Byrne · inker Karl Kesel · colorist Tom Ziuko · letterer John Costanza · cover John Byrne

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $6

CGC 9.8 · 29 in census $50

CGC 9.6 · 8 in census $23*

CGC 9.4 none in existence

CGC 9.2 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 1 in census $20*

Show all 7 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

This issue arrives in the immediate wake of the Legends crossover event, DC's first major universe-wide event after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Byrne uses it to decompress: it is one of the first issues of his run not bearing a Legends chapter designation. Written, penciled, and inked by John Byrne and Karl Kesel — the same artistic team that had produced the flagship run since issue #1 — it was edited by Andrew Helfer and Mike Carlin, the editorial duo overseeing the newly restructured Superman line. The story picks up threads directly from Legends #6, making it a clear transition chapter between DC's event storytelling and Byrne's more self-contained monthly plots.

Trivia · 8 facts

Title: 'The Mummy Strikes!' — Part 1 of 2; story concludes in Superman Vol. 2 #6.
Written and penciled by John Byrne; inked by Karl Kesel; colored by Tom Ziuko; lettered by John Costanza; edited by Andrew Helfer and Mike Carlin.
Cover date: May 1987; published by DC Comics as part of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman relaunch begun with The Man of Steel #1–6 (1986).
First appearance of Alice, a Daily Planet intern, whose background is later expanded in Adventures of Superman #462.
First appearance of Whit, a Daily Planet staff employee, who next appears in Superman Vol. 2 #9.
Wonder Woman appears in a dream sequence only — the dream is a direct emotional callback to events in Legends #6, establishing an early romantic tension between Clark and Diana.
The antagonist encountered in this issue is the Host, a giant mechanical mummy housing the preserved souls of approximately 500 people from an ancient civilization predating modern society by over 100,000 years.
Reprinted in Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 3 (2004) and in Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 2 (2021 Edition).