The Best Mongul Story--Superman Annual #11

[Domino]

Do you want to see what Mongul is really like? Check out Superman Anuual #11 (I think it was 1985). It features the pre-Crisis Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Jason Todd before he was turned into a jerk.

Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman visit Superman for his birthday at the Fortress of Solitude to find Superman attacked in a most clever way by Mongul.

AND...it was written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons. Sound familiar? This story was also reprinted in The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told. Check it out and then I challenge you to say that War World parts 1 and 2 represented Mongul well!

[The Guard]

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons...

Nope, never heard of 'em. :)

QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES!

Sorry...I do that sometimes...

[Web Head]

I know the story that you speak of and I think it would make a great episode of JL. And it would redeem Mongul by making him look like a real menace.

And wouldn't it be

heart-breaking for the audience to see Kal when he realizes that it was all a dream and his family wasn't really alive and well on Krypton? If done well this could be JL's answer to Perchance to Dream.

[katarhol]

I've always thought that this could be nicely adapted to JL. Replace Robin with the Flash, tone down the religious aspects of the dream, play up the fight versus Mongul, and you've got a pretty sweet four-Leagueers ep. Heck, with enough additions, it could probably fill their two-ep rule.

[Frank White]

Does Superman kick the crap out of Mongul in this ish?

[Joe G.]

Actually...it's kinda funny...

Mongul is kicking the crap out of Superman, when Jason Todd takes the plant that Mongul had used earlier to subdue Superman and throws the thing onto Mongul. That was Jason Todd's proudest moment :)

It really is a GREAT story, one of the best Superman stories I've ever read.

[Frank White]

LOL!!! But Mongul does kick the crap out of Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman right? Oh and in the comics Mongul can actually take Superman?

[Joe G.]

To answer your questions (and provide a synopsis of the issue):

Mongul doesn't actually fight Batman and Robin. B, R, and WW arrive to find Superman in the little dream world that the plant is providing him. Mongul then gets introduced to the three of them and asks who wants to be the first to die. Wonder Woman volunteers, and she and Mongul fight for a little while. Mongul pretty much kicks the @#%$! out of Diana. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin are able to get Superman free of the plant, but in the process, Batman is captured by the plant. Superman is PISSED, and he saves Diana from Mongul. The two of them fight for a while more. Meanwhile, Robin is able to get the plant off of Batman (he wraps the thing in his cape, then uses the gloves that Mongul had previously been wearing to hold onto it (so he can put his cape back on later)). Mongul is beating on Superman, and the fight leaves some holes in the floor. Robin ends up on the floor above where the two of them are fighting. As Mongul is beating on Superman, Robin appears on the floor above, holding the plant with the gloves that Mongul was wearing before. He drops the plant, it lands on Mongul and traps him in a dream world of his own making (Mongul's little dream is really interesting). So, to answer your question, Mongul beats on Superman and Diana pretty freakin' good, but Batman and Robin don't get physically hurt by him (I can assume from the beating that Diana and Supes took that, if Mongul had attacked either B or R, he would have killed them).

*whew* Long answer to a short question. It's a GREAT issue, if you haven't read it you should check it out.

[RorShaq]

I would say the fight was pretty even until Supes got distracted. Mongul was a far more serious threat Pre-Crisis, but he never defeated Superman in any of the issues I read.