Millennium
It's been less than a year since Legends, but it's already time for the next crisis in the DC Universe: Millennium.
Straying from the normal monthly crossover structure of Crisis and Legends, Millennium was an 8-issue series that came out weekly for 2 months. Unlike Legends where each tie-in was uniquely numbered, each Millennium tie-in is identified by week, but it has nothing to do with the sequence of the story aside from letting you know which issue of the main series was released that same week.
This story is basically borrowed from Invasion of the Body Snatchers: the Manhunters--the rogue police force originally created by the Guardians of the Universe before they founded the Green Lantern Corps--have been planting sleeper agents on Earth, some of them embedded deep in the personal lives of the planet's superheroes.
The Toyman makes his post-Crisis debut. Disgruntled toy maker Winslow Percival Schott is terrorizing Metropolis with deadly children's toys to get back at his former employers, his ultimate target being Lex Luthor. Superman saves Luthor and stops the toys, but the Toyman is mysteriously abducted before Superman can find him. His captor stands hidden in the shadows, but seems to have a glowing ring like Luthor's kryptonite ring. Note: pay close attention to one panel where Lex complains to his aides that his hand aches all the time.
At the end of the story, Lana Lang creates a scene when she storms into the Daily Planet and tries to expose Clark Kent as Superman. Luckily, he's not wearing his Superman suit when she rips his shirt open. Lana transforms into a Manhunter and flies away, Superman follows her back to Smallville.
Millennium week 3
John Byrne takes over writing series now too.
Superman changes into Clark Kent to discretely look for Lana in his hometown, but everyone there including his childhood friend Pete Ross are acting strange. Superman is taken prisoner by the Manhunters, and Smallville's town doctor gives some useful exposition as Superman is helplessly bound inside their hidden flying saucer. The Manhunters had been watching Krypton before it exploded and even followed Kal El's rocket to Earth, but they were stopped by the Green Lanterns before they could get to him before he was found by the Kents. It's revealed the Manhunters actually artificially induced the blizzard that kept the Kents snowbound for the months when they claimed Clark was born. The Manhunters replaced Doc Whitney with one of their own, who then turned every child delivered in Smallville into a sleeper agent who he could now control. Though totally immobilized, Superman discovers that if he starts to fly he can actually move the Manhunters' entire ship, which he causes to crash.
Millennium week 4
The Spectre (also a Jerry Siegel creation) senses a disturbance and is drawn to a now empty Smallville. While searching for signs of life, he flashes back through the history of the Guardians of the Universe from Krona at the creation of the world to the present. Eventually, he finds the wreckage of the Manhunters' ship that Superman crashed in the previous issue, surrounded by dead residents of Smallville. The Spectre reveals himself to the mourning townsfolk and offers Superman a way to save the dead by sending him to the realm where their departed souls now inhabit. In a ghostly version of Smallville between the real world and the spirit plane, Superman encounters the Manhunter disguised as Doc Whitney. There they destroy the Manhunter and wake up again in the real world where the dead people of Smallville all come back to life. The Spectre goes back to the Kent farm with Superman and Lana Lang (now back to normal) and spends several pages trying to explain what just happened, but it still doesn't make very much sense.
Not a Millennium tie-in
Our story continues to follow a Kryptonian named Van-L long before the destruction of Krypton. This issue gets deeper into Krypton's reproductive politics, as most of society has abandoned emotions and sexual reproduction except for a few rebels. It's revealed that the city of Kandor has already been destroyed; although this seems to prevent the city from being used again, two different cities of Kandor would appear much later in the post-Crisis era.
Straying from the normal monthly crossover structure of Crisis and Legends, Millennium was an 8-issue series that came out weekly for 2 months. Unlike Legends where each tie-in was uniquely numbered, each Millennium tie-in is identified by week, but it has nothing to do with the sequence of the story aside from letting you know which issue of the main series was released that same week.
This story is basically borrowed from Invasion of the Body Snatchers: the Manhunters--the rogue police force originally created by the Guardians of the Universe before they founded the Green Lantern Corps--have been planting sleeper agents on Earth, some of them embedded deep in the personal lives of the planet's superheroes.
Superman #13
Millennium week 2The Toyman makes his post-Crisis debut. Disgruntled toy maker Winslow Percival Schott is terrorizing Metropolis with deadly children's toys to get back at his former employers, his ultimate target being Lex Luthor. Superman saves Luthor and stops the toys, but the Toyman is mysteriously abducted before Superman can find him. His captor stands hidden in the shadows, but seems to have a glowing ring like Luthor's kryptonite ring. Note: pay close attention to one panel where Lex complains to his aides that his hand aches all the time.
At the end of the story, Lana Lang creates a scene when she storms into the Daily Planet and tries to expose Clark Kent as Superman. Luckily, he's not wearing his Superman suit when she rips his shirt open. Lana transforms into a Manhunter and flies away, Superman follows her back to Smallville.
Adventures of Superman #436
John Byrne takes over writing series now too.
Superman changes into Clark Kent to discretely look for Lana in his hometown, but everyone there including his childhood friend Pete Ross are acting strange. Superman is taken prisoner by the Manhunters, and Smallville's town doctor gives some useful exposition as Superman is helplessly bound inside their hidden flying saucer. The Manhunters had been watching Krypton before it exploded and even followed Kal El's rocket to Earth, but they were stopped by the Green Lanterns before they could get to him before he was found by the Kents. It's revealed the Manhunters actually artificially induced the blizzard that kept the Kents snowbound for the months when they claimed Clark was born. The Manhunters replaced Doc Whitney with one of their own, who then turned every child delivered in Smallville into a sleeper agent who he could now control. Though totally immobilized, Superman discovers that if he starts to fly he can actually move the Manhunters' entire ship, which he causes to crash.
Action Comics #596
The Spectre (also a Jerry Siegel creation) senses a disturbance and is drawn to a now empty Smallville. While searching for signs of life, he flashes back through the history of the Guardians of the Universe from Krona at the creation of the world to the present. Eventually, he finds the wreckage of the Manhunters' ship that Superman crashed in the previous issue, surrounded by dead residents of Smallville. The Spectre reveals himself to the mourning townsfolk and offers Superman a way to save the dead by sending him to the realm where their departed souls now inhabit. In a ghostly version of Smallville between the real world and the spirit plane, Superman encounters the Manhunter disguised as Doc Whitney. There they destroy the Manhunter and wake up again in the real world where the dead people of Smallville all come back to life. The Spectre goes back to the Kent farm with Superman and Lana Lang (now back to normal) and spends several pages trying to explain what just happened, but it still doesn't make very much sense.
The World of Kyrpton #2
Our story continues to follow a Kryptonian named Van-L long before the destruction of Krypton. This issue gets deeper into Krypton's reproductive politics, as most of society has abandoned emotions and sexual reproduction except for a few rebels. It's revealed that the city of Kandor has already been destroyed; although this seems to prevent the city from being used again, two different cities of Kandor would appear much later in the post-Crisis era.
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